Material surface processing with a laser that has a scan modulated effective power to achieve multiple worn looks

• US 6,819,972 B1
• Filed: 09/01/2000
• Issued: 11/16/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/05/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: RevoLaze LLC (Lear Corporation)
• Original Assignee: TechnoLines LP
• Inventors: Martin, Clarence H, Costin, Darryl J.
• Primary Examiner(s): PATEL, RAMESH B
• Application Number:
  US09/653,997
• Time in Patent Office: 1,537 Days
• Field of Search: 700/130, 700/131-132, 700/133, 700/129, 700/137, 700/142, 700/166, 700/119, 700/122, 700/127, 219/121.68, 219/121.69, 219/121.85, 219/14.85
• US Class Current: 700/166
• CPC Class Codes: D06B 11/0096 to get a faded look
• CPC Class Codes: D06C 23/02 by singeing, teasing, shearing, etching or brushing

Abstract

Techniques which enable changing certain amount of energy being applied from a laser to a material during scan lines of the laser. Energy can be applied to a material to change its look. Different energies can be applied within a single scan line to the material. A display can represent the pattern, by showing different areas of change to the material as different colors/looks on the display. For example, the color of the display can represent the amount of energy being applied to a specific position represented by that color. Since the amount of energy that is applied can change within a single scan line, and in fact may change multiple times within that scan line, this enables freely setting the characteristics.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

storing information about effective applied power levels for a plurality of scan lines of a laser element, at least a plurality of said scan lines having levels of effective applied power which change within a single scan line; and

using a laser to process a material by controlling scan lines of the laser to have a controlled energy density per unit time which depends on said effective applied power levels.

2. A method as in claim 1 wherein at least a plurality of said effective applied power levels are values which do not undesirably damage a material.

3. A method as in claim 2 wherein at least a plurality of said effective applied power levels are values which intentionally cause a hole in the material to cause fraying.

4. A method as in claim 2 wherein said material is a denim garment.

5. A method as in claim 1 wherein said information is indicative of a simulated abrasion effect to create a worn look.

6. A method as in claim 1 wherein said information is indicative of simulated whisker effect.

7. A method as in claim 1 wherein at least part of said information is indicative of a simulated fraying effect.

8. A method as in claim 1 wherein said laser has an output power of 500 watts or greater.

9. A method as in claim 1 wherein said laser is one which has an output power of 1000 watts or greater.

10. A method as in claim 1 wherein said information represents an oval shaped pattern.

11. A method as in claim 1 wherein said control of effective applied power levels is carried out by control of duty cycle of said laser thereby controlling an effect of amount of power delivered by the laser in a pulsed manner.

12. A method as in claim 11 wherein said control of duty cycle comprises turning a laser on and off at specified rate.

13. A method as in claim 12 wherein said specified rate is fast relative to the movement of the laser.

14. A method as in claim 11 wherein said control of duty cycle comprises selectively blocking and unblocking an output of the laser to thereby control an effective amount of power delivered by the laser.

15. A method as in claim 1 further comprising changing the EDPUT by changing a speed of movement of the laser.

16. A method as in claim 1 wherein said change of effective applied power levels comprises changing an output size of a laser beam that is output from the laser.

17. A method as in claim 1 further comprising feathering an edge of the pattern by changing a power level of the image at said edge to form a more gradual change of effect at said edge.

18. A method as in claim 1, wherein said information is in a specified format, which includes an indication of an area and an indication of an effective applied power level to be applied to said area.

19. A method as in claim 1, wherein said effective applied energy is one of an energy density per unit time, power level of a laser, a duty cycle of an output of a laser, a speed of movement of a laser, or a distance of a laser.

20. An apparatus, comprising:

a computer controlled laser, having an output which impinges on a surface to be modified by said laser and which is controlled according to a computer file, said computer controlled laser producing said output beam having a controlled effective applied power level of application to the area, according to said computer file, wherein said computer file includes at least a plurality of scan lines in which said effective applied power level changes within a single scan line at least three times to at least three different values.

21. An apparatus as in claim 20 wherein said laser has a power output of 500 watts or greater.

22. An apparatus as in claim 20 wherein said laser has a power output of 1000 watts or greater.

23. An apparatus as in claim 20 wherein said effective applied power level is selected for a specific textile material to be lazed, and at least one of said effective applied power levels in said computer file changes the look of the textile material without undesirably burning, punching through or otherwise harming the textile material.

24. An apparatus as in claim 23 where at least one of the effective applied power levels in said computer file does cause burn through of the material to expose fibers in the material.

25. An apparatus as in claim 23 further comprising an in-line shampooing element, which provides a shampooing operation and a shampoo removal operation to a garment which has been lased by the laser.

26. An apparatus as in claim 20 wherein an effective applied power level of the laser is changed by turning on and off the laser at a specified duty cycle.

27. An apparatus as in claim 20 further comprising an adjustable shutter which modulates an output of the laser, and a control element which turns on and off said shutter, based on said computer file, to adjust said effective applied power level.

28. An apparatus as in claim 27 wherein said shutter is a piezoelectric element.

29. An apparatus as in claim 27 wherein said shutter is a mechanical shutter.

30. An apparatus as in claim 20 wherein said effective applied power level changes to at least five different values in at least a plurality of scan lines of said laser.

31. An apparatus as in claim 20 wherein said effective applied power level changes between a lowest value and a highest value, wherein said highest value is at least 125% of said lowest value.

32. An apparatus as in claim 20 wherein said effective applied power level changes between a lowest value and a highest value, wherein said highest value is at least twice said lowest value.

33. An apparatus as in claim 20 wherein said file represents a pattern which includes a feathering portion at an edge of the pattern where a change in effective applied power level is made gradual to gradually change an effect thereof.

34. An apparatus as in claim 20 further comprising a control console, having a user interface, said user interface graphically showing a pattern which is to be lased, said pattern including differently highlighted areas for different effective applied power levels.

35. An apparatus as in claim 34 wherein said differently highlighted areas comprise different colors.

36. An apparatus as in claim 35 further comprising a look up table which stores a relationship between an effect to a material, and a duty cycle of operation of the laser to provide said effect.

37. An apparatus as in claim 35 further comprising an editing tool which enables editing said pattern.

38. An apparatus as in claim 34 wherein said differently highlighted areas comprise different gray scales.

39. An apparatus as in claim 20, wherein said computer file includes a plurality of information parts, each information part associated with a specific area on an image representing a garment to be altered, and each information part including information indicating effective applied power level information for a laser.

40. An apparatus as in claim 20 wherein said file stores a pattern of a simulated worn pattern.

41. An apparatus as in claim 20 wherein said file represents a pattern which stores a simulated whisker pattern.

42. An apparatus as in claim 20 wherein said file represents a pattern which stores a pattern with a hole through the denim of a type which exposes fibers of the denim.

43. An apparatus as in claim 20, wherein said effective applied energy is one of an energy density per unit time, power level of a laser, a duty cycle of an output of a laser, a speed of movement of a laser, or a distance of a laser.

44. An apparatus comprising:

a controllable laser, which is controllable by a computer file, to produce an output on a desired area, said laser having a maximum output power which is 500 watts or greater; and

said computer file storing control information which adjusts a duty cycle of an output of said laser to control an effective applied energy applied to said area to a desired amount and providing said information for a desired energy density per unit time to said controllable laser for said area.

45. An apparatus as in claim 44 wherein said laser is controlled to scan in lines, and wherein a plurality of said lines have different effective applied area at one area than in another area.

46. An apparatus as in claim 45 wherein said effective applied energy changes to at least three different values within a single scan line.

47. An apparatus as in claim 44 wherein at least some of said effective applied energies is set to a specific value relative to a material in said area, which changes the abrasion or color of said material without undesirably damaging the material.

48. An apparatus as in claim 44 where at least part of said effective applied energies provides a desired punch through effect in said material.

49. An apparatus as in claim 44 further comprising a terminal, which provides an image of a simulated pattern to be applied to the material, said image having differently indiciaed areas to represent different effective applied energies.

50. An apparatus as in claim 49 wherein said indiciaed areas comprise differently colored areas.

51. An apparatus as in claim 49 wherein said indiciaed areas comprise different grayscales.

52. An apparatus as in claim 49 wherein the simulated pattern has a plurality of concentric oval areas.

53. An apparatus as in claim 44 further comprising a duty cycle controller comprising and on off control for the laser.

54. An apparatus as in claim 44 further comprising a duty cycle controller comprising a shutter, selectively opened and closed at an output of the laser.

55. An apparatus as in claim 44, wherein said effective applied energy is one of an energy density per unit time, power level of a laser, a duty cycle of an output of a laser, a speed of movement of a laser, or a distance of a laser.

56. A method, comprising:

defining a desired pattern of color alterations to be formed to a garment by selecting a plurality of areas on a display, defining a color that is associated with each of a plurality of abrasion levels, selecting a color to associate with each of the plurality of areas to thereby associate a level of abrasion with each of the plurality of areas; and

storing a computer file indicative of said selecting.

57. A method as in claim 56 further comprising enabling said display to be edited, to change color and or shape.

58. A method as in claim 57 wherein said computer file specifies information for use in forming control data for a laser to scribe lines on a desired garment, wherein at least a plurality of said lines specify an energy density per unit time which changes within a single scan line.

59. A method as in claim 58 wherein at least a plurality of lines have an energy density per unit time which has at least three values within the specified line.

60. A method as in claim 59 wherein a highest of said three values is at least 1.25 times as high as a lowest of said three values.

61. A method as in claim 57 wherein said editing comprises applying an abrasion using a spray tool.

62. A method as in claim 57 wherein said editing comprises decreasing a resolution of said image.

63. A method as in claim 56 further comprising storing, in a memory, a relationship between each color and an amount of effective applied energy representing the color.

64. A method as in claim 57 further comprising using a laser and controlling the laser to control an effective applied power applied to an area by controlling a duty cycle of the laser.

65. A method as in claim 64 wherein said duty cycle is controlled by selectively blocking and unblocking an output of said laser.

66. A method as in claim 64 wherein said duty cycle is controlled by turning on and off the laser.

67. A method of processing a garment, comprising:

defining a desired pattern to be formed on the garment and producing a computer file indicative thereof;

using said computer file with a laser having a maximum output power of 500 watts or greater, to scribe the desired pattern on said garment; and

using said laser for thirty seconds or less to form said entire pattern.

68. A method as in claim 67 further comprising controlling an effective output power of said laser by controlling a duty cycle of operation thereof.

69. A method of forming a pattern on a garment comprising:

determining a pattern to be formed on a garment;

determining an effect that a directional characteristic of the material will have on the pattern to be formed; and

specifying both said pattern and said directional characteristic.

70. A method as in claim 69, wherein said specifying includes forming a computer file indicative of areas, and effective power output levels associated with each said area.

71. A method as in claim 70, further comprising using said computer file to control a controllable laser, to form an effect on a material.

72. A method of processing a garment, comprising:

obtaining a first garment which has a desired look to be replicated;

determining color levels of different areas of a plurality of different areas of said first garment;

determining, from said color levels, an amount of effective applied energy of laser energy which will need to be applied to said each of said area to replicate said color level; and

forming a computer file which has a plurality of area representations, each area representation associated with a power representation representing said amount of laser power which needs to be applied to each of said areas to replicate said different areas of said first garment.

73. A method as in claim 72 further comprising using said computer file to control a laser to mark a second garment in a way that replicates a pattern of the colors on the first garment.

74. A method as in claim 73 wherein said laser marks said second garment by scribing a plurality of lines on said second garment using said computer file.

75. An apparatus as in claim 74 wherein at least a plurality of said lines define an effective applied energy which varies within each of a plurality of single scanned lines.

76. A method as in claim 72 further comprising storing information in a look up table, and using said information to determine said effective applied energy for each of said areas.

77. A method as in claim 72 further comprising displaying a graphical image indicative of said computer file to a user and allowing said user to edit said graphical image to thereby edit said computer file.

78. A method comprising:

defining a pattern to be formed on a textile material, which pattern represents different degrees of abrasion of said textile material at different locations, and which represents at least first areas which have no abrasion, and producing a computer readable file indicative of said pattern; and

controlling a laser to form said pattern by first controlling said laser according to said file to produce an effective output power in said first areas which is greater than zero, but is less than a threshold beyond which a visible change will be made to said textile material, and to increase the effective output power at a boundary between said first areas, and other areas outside said first areas.

79. A method comprising:

defining a pattern to be formed on a textile material, which pattern represents a plurality of sections, each section having a separately controllable amount of degree of change, said different degrees of change including at least a plurality of different levels of change;

randomizing a precise point at which the degree of change actually is bounded between two adjacent levels; and

forming a computer-readable file indicating said pattern and information about said degree of change, including the randomized boundary.

80. A method as in claim 79, wherein said degree of change information is information about an effective applied power level for a laser, and said file includes said information associated with location information.

81. A method as in claim 80, further comprising using a laser to apply said effective applied power levels at specified locations represented by said location information.

82. A method as in claim 80, wherein said effective applied energy is one of an energy density per unit time, power level of a laser, a duty cycle of an output of a laser, a speed of movement of a laser, or a distance of a laser.

83. A method comprising:

defining a pattern to be formed on a textile material, which pattern has different colors representing different degrees of change of said textile material at different locations, said different degrees of change including at least a plurality of different levels of change, each different level of change associated with an effective applied energy to be applied to said location;

defining a tool which allows a spray of incremental intensity onto the pattern, by defining a droplet size and trajectory, determining a location that is hit by a droplet;

adjusting a color level of said location based on said hit so that said effective applied energy is adjusted by said hitting.

84. A method as in claim 83, wherein said colors are one of full colors or gray scales.

85. A method as in claim 83, wherein said locations are pixels.

86. A method as in claim 83, wherein said adjusting comprises incrementing a color level of said location to a next higher color level.

87. A method as in claim 83, wherein said effective applied energy is one of an energy density per unit time, a duty cycle of an output of a laser, a speed of movement of a laser, a distance of a laser or a number of passes of a laser.

88. A method as in claim 83, wherein said adjusting comprises incrementing a color level of said location to a next lower color level.

89. A method of providing a variable effect to a material, comprising:

changing an effective applied power from a laser to a material by making multiple passes of laser scans along specific segments of the pattern, each of said passes being carried out at constant power, speed and laser distance, but the combination of said multiple scans providing a varied effective applied power at said material.

90. A method as in claim 89, wherein said changing comprises defining a file having different levels of effective applied energy, and using said file to control a number of said passes which are carried out in each of a plurality of areas.

91. A method as in claim 90, wherein said areas are pixels.

92. A method comprising:

authoring a special image intended for use in changing the color of textile fabric, which has differently colored areas representing different levels of change of color to said textile fabric; and

using said image to form a file that controls a laser to carry out said changing of color of said textile fabric.

93. A method as in claim 92, wherein said file includes levels of effective applied energy associated with said levels of change of color.

94. A method as in claim 93, wherein said effective applied energy is one of an energy density per unit time, power level of a laser, a duty cycle of an output of a laser, a speed of movement of a laser, or a distance of a laser.

95. A method as in claim 92, wherein said file includes a separate effective applied energy value for each pixel of the image.