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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.