Image processing based drape measurement of fabrics using circular Hough transformation

Abstract

The drape behaviour of fabric is regarded as an aesthetic property, especially in the apparel and home textile industries. It has an influence on how well the appearance of a fabric in the end use. Fabric drape testing instrument developed by Cusick has been commonly used for the objective measurement of fabric drape behaviour. The device and the classic cut-and-weigh procedure is still the standard method of measuring drape. This method needs consumables and skilled operator for drawing, cutting, and weighing operations. To eliminate the disadvantages of this conventional system, image processing algorithm based on the Circular Hough Transform is developed to calculate the drape coefficient of fabrics in this study. Various woven and knitted fabrics were tested by both the conventional and the developed image processing methods. Drape results obtained from both systems represented a very strong relationship with a correlation coefficient of 0.99. As a result, fast, accurate and robust objective fabric drape test method has been developed.

Keywords:

• Hough transform
• drape
• fabric testing
• image processing

Acknowledgements

Woven fabrics were produced at Ustaoglu Tekstil Industry and Trade Co., Bursa, Turkey. Their support is gratefully acknowledged. The author would like to thank Mr Melih Yilmaz for his support for the production of the knitted fabrics.