Spreadshirt GmbH

Intetics Co. solves artwork nesting problems for Spreadshirt GmbH.

Client

Spreadshirt GmbH is a micro-merchandising service specializing in online-marketing. The company has been one of the most successful Internet start-ups in Germany in the last years.

Challenge

Spreadshirt wanted to improve their printing technology which worked in such a way that artworks were first printed on a layer and then transferred to the product surface. The company's aim was to speed up the whole process and save layer material by nesting various artworks on one layer before printing. Two related nesting problems had to be solved: auto-nesting of SVG (scalable vector graphics), and auto-nesting of pixel images. The nesting was to be produced so that the non-used area in printout as well as calculation time and load would be minimal. To solve the problem adequately, it was necessary to create a new application.

Solution

Our team had to develop software that would be able to perform auto-nesting most efficiently and with maximum material economy. We wanted the application to be able to arrange a set of irregular shaped patterns on a sheet of material with non-overlapping configuration and with minimum cut wastes. The work was split into four successive tasks:

1. Image shape recognition;
2. Inscribing the image into a regular figure;
3. Bin-packing;
4. Nesting a set of images on a layer.

Simplified regular-shaped areas were used for image shape recognition. We also optimized image representation, which made it possible to reduce the number of operations in the process of inscribing the image into a regular figure. The output plate was represented as a grid, and each source image as a figure that could be completely arranged in the grid cells. Optimal bin-packing and nesting were achieved by using Hybrid approach which combined Genetic Algorithm and Local Minimization Algorithm to determine positions and directions of layout images so as to minimize the total space.

Technologies Utilized

• Windows, Linux, Solaris
• Java (SDK 1.5, Idea)
• Batik SVG Toolkit, ImageMagick, JAI, IText, Log4j

Results

The solution that we have implemented enables Spreadshirt GmbH to make the printing process fast and efficient. It saves layer material providing tightest fit of images in a printout and reducing the non-used area to the minimum. Increased printing speed and significant material economy can result in the output growth and profit rise for the company.