Analysis tool for cataloguing textile and tile pattern designs

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis tool, part of an integrated management system for pattern design in the textile and tile industries, that provides automatic cataloguing capabilities based on the application of the scientific theory of symmetry groups. To do this, a process of analysis is performed which starts from an initial digitized image of the decorative element, which in turn is subjected to a number of segmentation and labelling operators that allow to detect the objects present in the image. These objects are vectorized, compared, and their isometrics obtained; subsequently they are grouped and the isometrics of the groups of objects detected. Finally, a composition analysis is carried out that, on the basis of the repetitions and symmetry axes existing in the design, provides the fundamental parallelogram and the plane symmetry group. This paper summarizes the results obtained from processing 95 pattern designs using the analysis tool developed by the authors. © Springer-Verlag 2003.