MARCH2001 26 1

Automatic Structure Analysis and Objective Evaluation of Woven Fabric

Using Image Analysis
TAEJIN KANG, So0 HYUNCHOI,AND SUNGMINKIM
Departrnent of Fiber arid Polytner Science, Seoiil National University, Seoril, Soiith Korea

KYUNGW H A OH
Department of Honte Economics Ediication, Cliung-Ang University, Seoiil, Soiith Korea

ABSTRACT
An automatic fabric evaluation system has been developed to automatically analyze
the structure of woven fabric and objectively evaluate fabric quality. Fabric images
are captured by a CCD camera and preprocessed by Gaussian filtering and histogram
equalization. Fabric construction parameters such as count, cloth cover, yarn crimp,
fabric thickness, and weight per unit area are measured automatically from planar and
cross-sectional images of woven fabric with image processing and image analysis.
Results obtained with the system show good correspondence with experimental
values. In order to evaluate the quality of woven fabric, defects such as slubs or
missing picks are detected successfully from defect images, and the uniformity of yarn
spacing and orthogonality of the yarn intersecting angle are determined from normal
fabric images. The coefficients of variation of yarn spacing and the yarn intersecting
angle are measured quantitatively so that quality can be compared using these values.

Fabric count, yarn crimp, cloth cover, fabric thick-
ness and weight, as well as material, weave pattern,
and yarn count are basic construction parameters that
characterize the structure of woven cloth and deter-
mine its end use performance. Therefore, numerous
researchers after Peirce [S] have devoted their work to
understanding the relations between these parameters
[4,6, 7, 101. However, despite recent advances in
computer technology that have brought process auto-
mation to many areas of the textile industry, analyzing
woven fabric structure to measure these parameters
still mainly depends on manual work. When fabric
construction parameters have to be measured manu-
ally, a longer time, a large fabric sample, and many
testing tools are required. Moreover, the results may
not be reliable due to variations in testing methods,
tools, and instruments or the tester’s skill.
Quality evaluation of woven fabric is also very
important for determining its commercial value. Even
though many researchers have worked on the automa-
tion of quality evaluation [5, 111, it is still accom-
plished by human inspection and remains just at the
level of pointing out defects. Many experts are needed
for quality evaluation because the speed of manual
inspection is very slow compared with that of fabric
production, and the results may not be the same be-
cause decisions are made by the subjective judgement
of each expert.
Therefore, in this study, we attempt to develop a
system for automatic structure analysis and objective
quality evaluation for woven fabric, which allows
quick, precise data acquisition. For this purpose, we
use image analysis techniques that permit not only
rapid and objective measurements but also easy sta-
tistical analysis of the results by managing numerical
data [3, 91. The image analysis system consists of a
CCD camera as the input device, a lighting device, a PC
as an image analyzing device, and software that pro-
vides all the necessary image processing and image
analysis. We report on image preprocessing methods
to suppress noise and enhance contrast in the images,
and we perform a structure analysis using image pro-
cessing and image analysis to measure woven fabric
construction parameters.
To confirm the validity of our results, we have also
made a manual structure analysis and compared the
results from our system with the experimental values.
Furthermore, for quality evaluation of woven fabric,
we have studied a method to detect defects in fabric
images that cause principal quality deterioration, and
to evaluate criteria determining the quality of normal
fabric.

Tenrile Res. J. 71(3). 261-270 (2001) 0010-5175/S2.00

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262 TEXTILE JOURNAL
RESEARCH

System Configuration and Image Automatic Structure Analysis

Preprocessing COUNT
FABRIC
Figure 1 shows the configuration of the image ana- We determined fabric count from the image profile
lyzer system used in this study. A Hitachi KP-C551 color in the warp and weft directions, which is an indication
CCD camera and JVC TK-I070U color video camera
of the gray values of pixels on specific vertical and
captured fabric images. A hand-operated zoom lens was horizontal lines in an image. In a fabric image illumi-
attached to acquire magnified images. For the lighting nated transmissively, the dark area indicates the
devices, an LG cable fiber optic illuminator GLS VlOOD location of warp and weft yarns and the bright area
was used for reflective light and a 3M overhead projector represents the spaces between interlacing yarns.
was used for transmissive light. The program for the Therefore, the outlines of yarn positions can be rec-
necessary image processing and image analysis was de- ognized from image profiles.
veloped using Windows 95/58 with Borland C + + We then obtained an average profile by averaging all the
Builder 3.0 as a software development tool. vertical and horizontal profiles in the image. The minimum
points of an average profile were taken as the central posi-
---.rq tions of warps and wefts. We determined average yam
, spacing by averaging the distances between the minimum
1 points and converting the unit from pixels to an actual
distance. However, sometimes it was difficult to detect
minimum points when there was irregular winding in an
average profile. In that case, wve detected minimum points
after smoothing an average profile with a l-D Gaussian
tive Eight filter. Figure 2 is an example of an automatic measurement
of yam spacing, and from 2d we see that all central posi-
:' tions of warps 'and wefts are correctly located. Finally, we
deternuned fabric count, the number of warps and wefts in
a unit length in the weft and warp directions, from the
inverse value of average yam spacing.

CLOTHCOVER
FIGURE I . Image analyzer system configuration. Cloth cover is defined as the ratio of the area occupied
by yarns to the total fabric area. In a transmissively
To capture planar images of fabric, we used transmissive lighted image, yams appear to be dark and spaces appear
light to clarify the positions of warps and wefts and to to be bright. In order to calculate cloth cover, we filtered
minimize the effect of fabric color or protruding fine hairs all images and converted them to black and white binary
in images. To capture cross-sectional images, reflective images by selecting the mean gray value as the threshold.
light was positioned at a 30" angle to the perpendicular line We then obtained threshold values from the mean gray
of the fabric sample fixed vertically in a holder. To distin- value of the background image without the fabric sam-
guish the yam parallel to the cut plane from the perpendic- ple. The pixels that were the same or brighter than the
ular yam, we detected the difference in reflectance. The threshold value were converted to white and the darker
spatial resolution of captured images was 640 X 480 pixels, pixels to black. We then calculated cloth cover from the
corresponding to approximately 1.9 X 1.4-5.5 X 4.2 mm2 ratio of the number of black pixels to the total number of
in actual area. The captured images were converted to 8 bpp pixels in the image. Figure 3 is an example of cloth cover
(bits per pixel), 256 gray level, to enhance the analyzing measured using this algorithm.
speed and reduce the image file size.
During image capture and digitization, noise can be YARN CRlalP
present in the image to some extent due to external or Yam crimp c in a woven fabric, is defined as the
electrical causes [9], which may result in errors in the distance between two points on a yarn as it lies in the
image analysis. Therefore, Gaussian filtering was applied fabric If and its straightened distance 1,:
to minimize noise in the image. A histogram equalization
was performed to enhance image contrast for easier
c ( % ) = - 100 . (1)
recognition or demarcation of specific regions. If

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MARCH2001
n I
FIGURE 2. Automatic measuremenl of yarn spacings in a plain weave:
(a) histogram equalized plain weave image, (b) horizontal and (c)
vertical average profile, (d) detected yam positions superimposed on
the original image.
The horizontal yarn image-parallel to the cut direc-
tion-needs to be segmented to measure yam length.
However, the existing algorithms commonly used for
edge detection or contour extraction, such as a Laplacian
operator, Sobel operator, horizontal derivative, or verti-
cal derivative [3, 91, were not satisfactory for this pur-
pose. Thresholding was not effective either, for there was
no objective reference to determine the threshold value,
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263
' FIGURE 3. Automatic measurement of cloth cover by image thresh-
olding: (a) fabric image, (b) background image (mean gray value
= 189.53). (c) cloth cover calculated from thresholded image (thresh-
old value 190).
nor were the gray values of the horizontal yarn image
uniform over the whole image. As shown in Figure 4a,
even though the gray values of the horizontal yarn image
were not uniform, they were the brightest parts in the
vertical lines. Therefore, we could segment the horizon-
tal yam image by selecting the brightest pixel in the
vertical profiles, up to the nth brightest pixels in each
column. The number ii was selected from 1 to 5 in
proportion to yarn thickness. Figure 4 shows the seg-
mented yarn image, with 12 being 1, 3, and 5.
Next we used the common morphological operation of
erosion and dilation to reduce or increase the size of a
black object within the fabric image. After removing
small undesirable black pixels located far from the center
of the yarn, we obtained a completely connected yam
264 TEXTILE
RESEARCHJOURNAL

n, = -
1 /-”f(x)cos
” Il.rdT ,
7i

b, = !
r-
J”(r:.)sni n.rcix ti = 1,2,. .. . (3)

To calculate the Fourier coefficients as described above,

however, we must evaluate the integrals for all coeffi-
cients, and this may be ineffective. Therefore, we have
adopted a jump method to avoid integration. With this
method, the jump of functionf(x) at x,, j,. is defined as
I I
j , =f(.xs + 0) - A x , - 0 ) , (4)
and iff(x) is a periodic function that has period 27i and
jumps at xo, x,, . . . , x,,,, we choose the following
notation:
j, = jump offat x,

j,‘ = jump off’ at x, (s = 1.2, ... ,111) .

j:’ = j u m p off’at s,
(5)
FIGURE 4. Original image (a) with the results of horizontal yam
image segmentation by selecting (b) the brightest point, (c) up to the
Iff(x) is a periodic function that has period 2L, and
third brightest point, (d) up to the fifth brightest point, and (e) final the jumps of second and higher derivatives are neglected,
filtered image. . the Fourier coefficients a , and b,, of Equation 3 are
approximated as

image by successive operation of erosion and dilation. L

2 j,’cos -Lx ,
IlT
We then obtained the skeIetonized image by deleting the --
117i
I
boundary pixels if the black region was not to be divided 5=

or cut into two or more regions when the boundary pixels r _I

were deleted, and repeated the procedure until no more 117r L

boundary pixels could be deleted. Figure 4e is the result I1 T 12 7i
I= I
of skeletonization.
Since a skeleton is an assembly of discrete pixels, the n=1,2, ... (6)
length of a yam cannot be measured from it, so the
skeleton needs to be converted into a continuous func- Before applying the jump method to an image, a
tion. For this purpose, we used a Fourier series expan- skeleton should be made in periodic form. Therefore,
sion. The Fourier series of functionf(x) is expressed as we have to obtain a symmetrical image about the right
Equation 2: side of the original image in the form of an even
extension so that the skeleton has a period 2M, where
M is the width of the original image. Let the coordi-
nates of an image be (xi,yi) and define the jumps at xi,
ji,and j i ‘ as below; then we can obtain the Fourier
coefficients and function Ax):
and the Fourier coefficients no, a , , O,, can be calculated
by Equation 3: .
, i = 1 , 2,... , 2 M - 2
Yitl - T i - !
J . =

1
2
1 ”
no= -
27i f(.r)dx , -ji-i
, i = 2, 3 , . . . , 2111 - 3
jiti
ji‘ = . (7)
-z 2

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MARCH2001 265

Fourier series, but the integral of the length of a trigo- "

7>
/

nometric function is very difficult to evaluate. Therefore,

b I
I, = lab = 2 \[Xi - xi-J + [f(x;)-f(xi-,)]2
i=a+l I I

In the case of the magnified images used in this study,

an integer multiple of the crimp period should be con-
sidered in crimp calculation, so we found the maximum
and minimum points of the function and calculated the
crimp from the average crimp values between the max-
imum and minimum points.
In addition, to calculate yarn crimp by the Fourier
FIGURE5. Fourier series expansion of skeleton: (a) skeletonized
series, we summed up to the 10th term, since the local image, (b) partial sum of Fourier series up to 5th term, (c) 10th term,
irregular windings of the skeleton would increase yarn (d) 25th term, (e) 50th term.
length. If we summed up to too high a term, the shape
of the yarn would not be reflected as well as if we
summed up to the lower terms. The number of terms to
!
be summed up can be easily changed in the system
program. Figure 5 is an example of the Fourier series
of a skeleton summed up to 5th, IOth, 25th, and 50th
terms. Figure 6 is an example of the crimp calculation
of a satin weave.

FABRIC
THICKNESS
T o measure fabric thickness from a fabric cross-
sectional image, the whole yarn image of warps and
wefts has to be segmented. For this purpose, we use
the gray value difference between the upper and lower
pixels in each column. Since there is abrupt change in
brightness at the edge of the yarn against the back-
ground, the yarn image can be segmented. We con-
verted the pixels to black when differences in the gray
value with the next pixel in a vertical line were the r- - -
(el
same or more than the predetermined threshold value,
and converted the rest to white. Figure 7 b shows the
segmented yarn image when five is taken as the thresh-
old value in this study.
After we determined the upper and lower limit lines FIGURE 6. Automatic measurement of yam crimp in satin weave: (a)
cross-sectional image of satin tveave, (b) segmented yam image, (c)
from the segmented yarn image, we measured the skeletonized image, (d) Fourier series expansion and crimp calculation,
fabric thickness from the distance between these two (e) superimposed on the original image.
lines. The limit lines were considered as the first
horizontal lines from the center of the fabric upward contained in an image, about 5 % , we took the first line
and downward, so that the average gray values of the where the average gray value exceeded 95% of 255 as
lines became 255. However, since some noise could be the limit (Figure 7c). W e then obtained the fabric

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where 1 2 , and 1z2 are warp and weft density (threadcm),
c1 and c2 are warp and weft crimp fractions, p , and pz
are warp and weft linear density (tex), and the unit of
calculated fabric weight per unit area w is g/rn2,
A fabric design plan can be drawn up with our system
from the measured woven construction parameters. Fab-
ric material, weave pattern, and yam count can be filled
in manually, and the planar image and warp and weft
side cross-sectional images of the fabric can be shown in
the plan. Figure 8 is an example of such a fabric design
plan.
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The typical physical defects of a fabric are a non-
uniformity of yarn spacing, yam knot, slub caused by a
thick yarn or double yam, broken yarn, and missing yam,
etc. The existence of defects in a fabric results in prin-
cipal quality deterioration [2]. Most physical defects
exist in the warp or weft direction, so we detected these
defects by analyzing vertical and horizontal profiles. In a
transmissively lighted image, defects occupy a larger
area than normal parts and have an effect on the distri-
bution of gray values of average profiles, as shown in
Figure 9.
At first, we detected the points of average gray values
at the average profile and divided the average profile into
two parts according to its shape between every two
points. We assigned the width of the image profile be-
tween two points as yam parts l,., where the profile
between them lay below the mean gray value line, and
those as interyarn space parts I,, where the profile lay
over the mean gray value line. Then we calculated the
average ill,. and 111, and standard deviation u,,and usof
the length of both parts to determine the criteria C, as
below. We considered the part where the length was
longer than the upper bound or shorter than the lower
bound to be the location of the defect (Figure 10):
MARCH2001
FIGURE9. Effect of fabric defect on the average profiles.
FIGURE10. Division of imige height (or width) into yarn parts
and interyam space parts.
were successfully detected when the factor z was set to
1.44-2.42, and the results are shown in Figure 11.
QUALITY OF NORhlAL FABRIC
EVALUATION
For a normal fabric without defects, the uniform ar-
rangement of yam and the orthogonal intersection of
warps and wefts are desirable in general. Therefore, we
propose these properties as the standards for objective
quality evaluation.
Uiiiforinity of Yam Spacirig
The standard deviation of yam spacing can be consid-
ered as a measure of yam spacing uniformity, but the
images of different magnifications are hardly comparable
by standard deviation. Therefore, we adopted the coef-
ficient of variation-standard deviation divided by
mean-for normalization. The coefficient of variation of
yam spacing can be calculated easily from yam spacing
measured previously for fabric count:
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FIGURE1 1 . Results of fabric defect detection: (a) slub by thick pick,
(b) dub by double pick, (c) missing pick, (d, e, f) defect detected and
marked as white line. (9, h. i) vertical average profiles.
standard deviation of yarn spacings
CV% =
mean of yarn spacings
x 100 .
(1 1)
Ortliogortality of Yarn Intersecting Angle
The location of yarns can be assumed to be the Ioca-
tion of the minimum points on an average profile. If
warps or wefts are out of the vertical or horizontal
direction, the gray values of the minimum points would
be greater than when warps or wefts are exactly on the
vertical or horizontal direction. The gray values of min-
imum points would be minima if warps or wefts are
exactly on the vertical or horizontal direction. Therefore,
a yam intersecting angle can be obtained from the angles
where the gray values of minimum points of an average
profile in the x and y directions become minima during
rotation of coordinate axes (Figure 12).
In a practical application, in order to reduce the time to
measure, we obtained the deviation angles in the x and y
directions that had minimum gray values by rotating the
coordinate axes from -10" to +loo and rotating the
+
coordinate axes stepwise from - lo to 1" of the angles
by 0.1". The ynm intersecting angle could then be ob-
tained from the deviation angle of the warp from the
vertical line Owq and that of the weft from the horizontal
line Ow,, as below:
Yarn intersecting angle = 90" - IO, - OHef,( . (12)
268 TEXTILE
RESEARCH
JOURNAL

Y Y' The results from our automatic structure analysis sys-

ii
tem and the experimental values are compared in Figure
minimum gray values 13. The fabric counts measured with our system are very
of average profile close to the experimental values. For cloth cover, the
results obtained with the system show close correspon-
dence with the experimental values within a 5 % discrep-
ancy, except for CPI (6.63% discrepancy). The sample
PT is a very closely woven fabric in which the warp
diameter exceeds the warp spacing so that yams cover
the whole fabric area. However, we measured the cloth
cover of CP1 as 98.07% with the system. We think the
reason is the effect of transmissive light diffraction
through the slits between the warps.
For yarn crimp, our results with the system corre-
spond with the experimental values as a rule, but there
are some discrepancies. As shown in Figure 13c, the
FIGURE 12. Schematic diagram for measuring yarn intersecting angle
by rotation of coordinate axes and comparison of gray values at samples with larger discrepancies tend to have larger
minimum points. standard deviations in the experimental values. There-
fore, we believe that an average closer to the experi-
mental values can be obtained if more images of the
same sample are captured and analyzed. The fabric
Results and Discussion thickness values measured by this system are slightly
smaller than the experimental values. Probably this is
AUTOMATIC STRUCTURE ANALYSIS
due to the effect of hairs protruding from the fabric
In order to compare the results from the automatic surface, which increase the thickness when measured
fabric evaluation system developed in this study with experimentally. The fabric weights per unit area cal-
experimental values, we made a manual analysis of the culated from the system correspond well with the
structure of selected fabric simples. Specifications of the experimental values.
samples used in this study are shown in Table I. The test
methods we used are as follows: fabric count, ASTM D QUALITY EVALUATION
3775-85; cloth cover,

d": + 2 t;)
Uniformity of yam spacing: The results of measuring
the coefficient of variation for fabric samples are shown
Cloth cover (%) = - - - - x 100 , "
in Figure 14a. The coefficients of variation of PT, PP,
and WP are relatively smaller than others, so they can be
where p l , p 2 = spacing of warp and weft and d , , d , said to be superior in the uniformity of yarn spacing. On
= diameter of warp and weft; yam crimp, ASTM D the other hand, the yam spacing of CS and CP3 can be
3883-90; fabric thickness, Kawabata system KES-FB-3; said to be irregular. The reason for the larger coefficients
and fabric weight per unit area, ASTM D 3776-85. of variation of wefts than of warps is that weft density is
smaller than warp density for most fabrics.
Orthogonality of yarn intersecting angle: The re-
TABLE I. Fabric sample specifications.
sults of measuring the deviation of yarn intersecting
Yarn linear angles from 90" are shown in Figure 14b. CPI and
density, tex CP2 seemed to be superior in the orthogonality of their
Sample
code hlaterial Pattern Warp Weft yarn intersecting angles, and WT and PT can be said to
have skewness.
CPl cotton I X 1 plain 12.8 13.7
CP2 cotton 1 X 1 plain 10.5 9.1
CP3
WP
cotton
WOO1
1 X 1 plain
1 X 1 plain
13.0
26.6
11.4
26.0
Conclusions
PP polyester 1 X 1 plain 14.5 15.5
CT cotton 2/1 twill 15.9 14.4 We have developed an ,automatic fabric evaluation
\vT \VOOl U l twill 28.0 23.9 system that enables automatic structure analysis and
PT polyester 2/1 twill 23.2 8.2 objective evaluation of woven fabrics. Fabric con-
cs cotton 5-end satin 21.3 24.6
struction parameters such as count, cloth cover, yarn

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MARCH2001 269

m Automabc l a b x evaluabon rys:em

0 Expenmental
60

cs

-
W w( W w( Wp Ul 'tQwI UP UI Wp UI UP u( Wp wl Wp wI CP1 CPZ CP3 W PP CT WT PT
CP1 CP2 CP3 WP PP CT WT PT CS Sample code
Sample code

Ii -II-
0Expenmental
Automa:iC faSnc eva!ua:m system
0Ewenmental

CPl
n
l
lll
L
CPZ CP3 W PP

Sample code
CT
4
WT PT
ICL
cs
CPl CPZ CP3 W PP CT

Sample m d e
WT PT c!

FIGURE13. Comparison of results obtained with the automatic fabric

evaluation system for fabric constructing parameters with experimental
values: (a) fabric count, (b) cloth cover, (c) yam crimp, (d) fabric
thickness, (e) fabric weight per unit area.

up wt up wl np wt wp u1 W wI K? wI WP U* UP VA W
cpi CPZ C P ~ WP PP CT WT PT CS

Sample code

crimp, fabric thickness, and weight per unit area are
measured automatically by analyzing fabric images
captured by a CCD camera and preprocessed by Gauss-
ian filtering and histogram equalization. The results of
the automatic structure analysis correspond well with
the experimental values. For quality evaluation, de-
fects such as dubs or missing picks are successfully
detected by analyzing average profiles. The uniformity
of yarn spacing and the orthogonality of the yarn
intersecting angle are the criteria for quality evalua-
tion of normal fabric. We expect this system can be
used for automating quality control on the loom or as
a supplement to the objective gradation of woven
fabrics.

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 RESEARCHJOURNAL
TEXTILE

Literature Cited

1I
1. Booth, J. E., “Principles of Textile Testing,” 3rd ed., But-
tenvorths, London, 1983.

l r 2. Goldberg, J. B., “Fabric Defects,” Goldberg, NY, 1957.

3. Gonzalez, R. C., and Woods, R. E., “Digital Image Pro-

u
.. . cessing,” Addison-Wesley, MA, 1993.
4. Hearle, J. W.S.. Grosberg, P., and Backer, S., “Structural
Mechanics of Fibers, Yams, and Fabrics,” vol. 1, John
Wiley & Sons, NY, 1969.
5. Jasper, \V. J., and Potlapalli, H., Image Analysis of
Mispicks in Woven Fabric, Textile Res. J. 65, 683
CP1 CP2 CP3 w PP CT PT
(1995).
Sample code
6. Jeong, Y. J., On the hlechanics of Woven Fabric Defor-
g 35,
mation, Doctoral dissertation, Seoul National University,
1995.
7. Kemp, A., The Extension of Peirce’s Cloth Geometry to

L
the Treatment of Non-circular Threads, J. Textile I m t . 49,
P44 (1958).
8. Peirce, F. T., The Geometry of Cloth Structure, J. Textile
Inst. 28, P45 (1937).
9. Russ, J. C.. “The Image Processing Handbook,” 2nd ed.,
CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 1995.
10. Yukhim, S. S., and Yukhina, Y. A., A Theoretical Con-
sideration of the Warp and Weft Contractions in Woven
Fabrics, J. Textile Inst. 87, P532 (1996).
CPl CP2 CP3 WP PP CT WT PT CS
11. Zhang, Y. F., and Bresee, R. R., Fabric Defect Detection
and Classification Using Image Analysis, Textile Res. J.
Sample code
65, 1 (1995).
FIGURE14. Results of measuring (a) CV7o of yarn spacings and (b)
deviation of y a m intersecting angle from 90’ measured with automatic
fabric evaluation system. - .
Afaonirscrint received Ocmber 22. 1999: acceored Alarcli 6. 2000.

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