Scientifically measuring denim "wear!"

[dkatz]

**As a preface: I propose this idea as an interesting idea and nothing more, because I think it would be 99% impossible to do in real life! It served nicely, however, as a fun thought-experiment to distract me during my intensive Portuguese class...**

So this is my idea for how to potentially figure out an actual value/percentage of "wear" on a pair of jeans, as it seems so arbitrary when SFers talk about how much their jeans have "worn" or how much indigo they've "lost."

So what if you...

First: in a perfectly-lit environment (already almost impossible), photograph the pair of fresh raw jeans you plan on breaking in, making sure that the colors of the photograph are as close to perfect as possible (again, nearly impossible).

Next: using some program (the existence of which I do not know), analyze the photograph to determine the exact color-value of every pixel of the jeans. Store the color-value of every pixel (as in: pixel #1242835945 is Blue:X Green:Y Red:Z).

Third: wear jeans for a long time.

Fourth: when you want to find out exactly how much "wear" you've put on the jeans, take another picture of them in the exact same place, with the exact same lighting (difficult), in the exact same position (near-impossible - especially considering stretching/shrinking?).

Fifth: Have the mystery-program analyze the picture in the same way as before.

Sixth: you will now have 2 sets of data - a before and after. I imagine these sets as in 3 different spread sheets (1 for Green, 1 for Blue, 1 for Red), where you have each pixel down the Y column, and then have 1 column with each pixel's before-value and 1 with its after-value. For each pixel, calculate the percentage of color-change. By then going through and averaging the percentages (or averaging the before- and after-values and making a percentage out of the averages), you will be left with a percentage that can be taken as a percentage of total color-change (or color-loss), and thus "wear."

Wouldn't it be cool if someone could actually DO that? The next thing would be to figure out how to measure contrast...

[mr.indigo]

If you've done six impossible things this morning, why not round it off with breakfast at Milliways, the Restaurant at the End of the Universe!

[dasman989]

If you've done six impossible things this morning, why not round it off with breakfast at Milliways, the Restaurant at the End of the Universe!

not all it's cracked up to be... i ate there next tuesday

[jubei]

you could also weigh the jeans with an ultra sensitive scale to measure the amount of indigo lost... but in order to do that, you'd have to a) wash out all of the foreign particles in your jeans (impossible) and ensure that no threads of cottown were lost or keep every single fiber every time it falls off (impossibler)

[Thorns]

I can actually do that in my head... so how about everyone just sends me all their jeans and I will post the definitive comment as to wear.

[Guest StuckOnStupid]

**As a preface: I propose this idea as an interesting idea and nothing more, because I think it would be 99% impossible to do in real life! It served nicely, however, as a fun thought-experiment to distract me during my intensive Portuguese class...**

So this is my idea for how to potentially figure out an actual value/percentage of "wear" on a pair of jeans, as it seems so arbitrary when SFers talk about how much their jeans have "worn" or how much indigo they've "lost."

So what if you...

First: in a perfectly-lit environment (already almost impossible), photograph the pair of fresh raw jeans you plan on breaking in, making sure that the colors of the photograph are as close to perfect as possible (again, nearly impossible).

Next: using some program (the existence of which I do not know), analyze the photograph to determine the exact color-value of every pixel of the jeans. Store the color-value of every pixel (as in: pixel #1242835945 is Blue:X Green:Y Red:Z).

Third: wear jeans for a long time.

Fourth: when you want to find out exactly how much "wear" you've put on the jeans, take another picture of them in the exact same place, with the exact same lighting (difficult), in the exact same position (near-impossible - especially considering stretching/shrinking?).

Fifth: Have the mystery-program analyze the picture in the same way as before.

Sixth: you will now have 2 sets of data - a before and after. I imagine these sets as in 3 different spread sheets (1 for Green, 1 for Blue, 1 for Red), where you have each pixel down the Y column, and then have 1 column with each pixel's before-value and 1 with its after-value. For each pixel, calculate the percentage of color-change. By then going through and averaging the percentages (or averaging the before- and after-values and making a percentage out of the averages), you will be left with a percentage that can be taken as a percentage of total color-change (or color-loss), and thus "wear."

Wouldn't it be cool if someone could actually DO that? The next thing would be to figure out how to measure contrast...

This could quite possibly be the nerdiest thing i have ever read. i would advise you not to breed, but for some reason i don't see you getting enough pussy that pregnancy could fall into the equation.

[dkatz]

This could quite possibly be the nerdiest thing i have ever read. i would advise you not to breed, but for some reason i don't see you getting enough pussy that pregnancy could fall into the equation.

Hah, thanks for that. I'm sure you've never had an elaborate, nerdy thought train while sitting in a 4-hour class?

And you'll be happy to know I'm currently avoiding pregnancy like the plague...

[bruised]

so then if someone just bleached ther jeans, the program would interpret that as crazy amounts of wear, thus making them cool?

[jubei]

that's what we call an outlier, sonny

[dkatz]

so then if someone just bleached ther jeans, the program would interpret that as crazy amounts of wear, thus making them cool?

absolutely.

Get on it