This document specifies a method for the automatic determination of the deformability of textile fabrics, including continuous-fibre reinforcement textiles. This method is not applicable to resin impregnated fabrics. The method is suitable for use with fabrics such as woven or knitted fabrics, nonwovens, non-crimp fabrics, fabrics made of glass rovings or untwisted carbon filament yarns intended for reinforced composite materials. When applying the method to multi-axial non-crimp fabrics, the evaluation of the fibre orientation and gaps only incorporates the uppermost layer. The method can be used for fabrics treated with powder binder.