Evaluation of colour and camouflage patterns designs

It is not always possible to produce the pattern on the exact fabric that will be used in the final product. However, it is much easier to evaluate the pattern and colours 

Certain inks can be printed directly on fabrics. A wide range of fabric printers is covered by the FLAAR reports (http //www.wide-fomiat-printers.org). Printable fabrics include polyester, cotton, poly-cotton. Lycra, nylon, and so on. The design is printed directly onto the fabric, and heat is applied to fix the inks to the fibres. This printing method is a very good alternative to produce designs for evalnation on the correct fabric. Small-scale print-runs conld be done very easily and at relatively low cost. Complex designs are also not a problem, because the design is directly transferred from the electronic sonrce onto the fabric. 

One of the possible problems that might arise is that the printer does not have a calibration profile for a specific fabric (e.g. a 60/40 poly-cotton mix). Quite an extensive process then needs to be followed to produce such a calibration profile. A second possible stumbling block is that the inks do not have the required gamut range in order to produce a specific colom in the desiga This might be especially trae for dark colours. Once the mut-limit of the inks is reached the only other alternative is to use the traditional screen-print process. 

The screen-print process is the traditional, high-volume process to print designs on fabrics. The two different types are flatbed or roller screens. The principle for 

Once the camouflage desigu is finalised and printed onto fabric, either a part of a uniform (like a jacket) or a full uniform is made to evaluate in the laboratory as well as the field. Field evaluations are of interest here. Two basic types are commonly nsed Probability of Detection (POD) and pairwise comparison. These techniques are described below. 

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