Colour matching comparison between spectrophotometric and multispectral imaging measurements

Abstract

This paper compares colour matching of yarn‐dyed fabrics by spectrophotometric and multispectral imaging techniques. While it is well known that multispectral imaging systems can measure the colour of fabrics that cannot be acquired by spectrophotometers, comparison of these two types of instrument has not yet been well explored. Colour measurements of 44 pairs of standard and batch solid‐colour yarn‐dyed fabrics by means of a Datacolor 650 spectrophotometer and an imaging colour measurement (ICM) multispectral imaging system were compared. Experimental results show that the ICM system has the capability to measure similar hue a* differences and larger lightness L* and hue b* differences than the Datacolor 650 spectrophotometer. When the tolerance of colour matching is set to 1.0 CMC(2:1) (colour difference) unit, the ICM system can achieve the same colour matching results as the Datacolor 650 spectrophotometer, except for two dark samples.