EVALUATING CARPET APPEARANCE LOSS - PERIODICITY AND TUFT PLACEMENT

Changes in carpet appearance brought about by mechanical wear may be e valuated with respect to changes in heterogeneous image properties, e. g., periodicity and tuft placement. In this paper, we discuss using gr ay-scale image analysis to measure texture periodicity and tuft spatia l distribution. The techniques described are appropriate for ''ordered '' textures with relatively well defined objects. We use the gravity c enters of local intensity maxima to indicate the position of tuft cent ers. The placement of these points may then be analyzed with respect t o average distance, density, and spatial pattern. Our samples show tha t mechanical wear causes increased average tuft-to-tuft distance, decr eased spatial density, and a tendency towards randomness.