NTC Project: F02-NS08 (formerly F02-S08) 1 3D Virtual Draping with Fabric Mechanics and Body Scan Data Project

Leader: Traci May-Plumlee, NC State College of Textiles Project Team: Jeffrey Eischen, NC State Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering David Bruner, [TC]2 (Consultant) Students: Narahari Kenkare, Ph.D. student, Textile Technology and Management Pradeep Pandurangan, M.S. student, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering JiHyun Bae, Ph.D. student, Textile Technology and Management Brienne Powell, Undergraduate student, Textile and Apparel Management Project Goal: The objective of this research was to develop methods for accurate virtual 3D draping of apparel on a digitized 3D model of the human body considering variations in fabric mechanical properties. The research examined existing work to understand baseline capabilities for simulating fabric drape, and built on those baseline capabilities to incorporate fabric mechanical properties such that variations in those properties were represented by the virtual simulation. Over a three year time frame, the research progressed from understanding how variations in fabric mechanical properties could be translated to virtual simulations via examination of simple forms to representation of apparel items on the body. In conjunction with this effort, this research developed and utilized methods and metrics for measuring effectiveness of the virtual draping techniques and accuracy of the simulated garments. Abstract: 3D virtual representation of garments holds great potential for design, product development and marketing efforts in the business to business environment, and for mass customization efforts geared toward the ultimate consumer. But, it can not be used effectively until virtual images accurately represent reality. Fit of a garment is tremendously influenced by the fabric mechanics. The objective of this research is to develop methods for accurate virtual 3D draping of apparel on a digitized 3D model of the human body considering variations in fabric mechanical properties. We have conducted basic research examining the draping behavior of circular samples of a variety of fabrics and utilized the data in developing a relationship between measured fabric mechanical properties and input parameters for a particle model simulation. Utilizing the established relationship, garment simulations have been created. Metrics for assessing the success of garment simulations were established, and improvement opportunities for the simulation process have been identified. Additional work with garments allowed derivation of measures to quantify garment drape. Project Background: The apparel industry is characterized by complex supply networks, and by businesses with divisions spread around the globe. As individual apparel firms and supply networks become more geographically dispersed, communication among business divisions and between business partners is an increasing challenge. Electronic communication of 3D virtual simulated garments would allow distances to be bridged easily as virtual samples could be sent between locations almost instantaneously. Working with a virtual representation would enhance speed, reduce costs and facilitate a more flexible design process. However, virtual modeling of garments cannot provide the basis for visual evaluation and design decisions unless virtual images accurately simulate real garments. The appearance and drape of a garment vary with the properties of the National Textile Center Annual Report: November 2005

NTC Project: F02-NS08 (formerly F02-S08) 2 fabric, and a single design may look very different when constructed in different fabrics. Virtual simulation of garments is an important component of an effective system for utilizing CAD in garment development (Gong, Hinds and McCartney, 2001). Finding methods for accurately modeling fabric properties is key to development of virtual 3D garment design capability (Hardaker and Fozzard, 1998).
FABRIC SELECTION Mechanical Properties Fabric Shape Proceed to garment phase Select garment pattern and mannequin

Drape Particle Model Simulation

Drape 3D Body Scanner

Scan mannequin & Import it into Modulate

Cut & Stitch

Extract Drape Parameters Extract Drape Parameters Drape Variability Test

Drape Simulation: Input the parameters from relationship

Scan Garment using 3D Body Scanner

Set Criteria for each Fabric sample

Evaluate Drape Characteristics & Set Criteria

Criteria not satisfied

Compare Scan & Simulation based on

Criteria satisfied

Compare based on Criteria

Generate alternate Simulation with Varied Input

Use simulation for the development of relationship

Relationship is valid only if criteria is satisfied

Figure 1: Research Approach

Our research approach is outlined in Figure 1. In the final year of the project, we have built successfully on the work of previous years. Specific accomplishments related to the goals of Year 3 are described in the following paragraphs, then detailed in later sections of the paper. 1. Construct garments from selected fabrics and use the scanning method developed in the first two years to create 3D surfaced virtual models of the actual garments. Eleven white or off white apparel fabrics were used to construct two garments for this research. The limitation to very light fabrics facilitated scanning, a challenging process in that we applied the white light scanning technology to a purpose beyond its intended design. 2. Simulate actual garments using data from the fabric properties library. During the first two years of the project, fundamental research was conducted on cloth modeling in a virtual environment using mechanical properties determined for a diverse range of fabrics using both FAST and Kawabata systems. This allowed curves representing the

National Textile Center Annual Report: November 2005

NTC Project: F02-NS08 (formerly F02-S08) 3 relationship between bend spring constant input to a particle model and matching flexural rigidity from theoretical model to be obtained for different combinations of input constants. With data from fabric testing, the spring constants for input to the particle model were obtained from the curves and a variety of fabrics were modeled. 3. Apply the metrics we devised for measuring drape to evaluate the accuracy of the simulation in relation to the actual fabric properties. We devised a method for bringing both simulated fabric drapes, and 3D digital representations of actual fabric drapes into a single 3D graphics software. The digital representations are the result of a multi-step process which involves scanning with a 3D body scanner, cleaning the point cloud data, and then applying a surface to the point cloud. This allows us to directly compare simulations of garments with actual garments. The process was detailed in the Year 2 Annual Report. This work, though more challenging than anticipated, resulted in the establishment of suitable measurements to use in assessing the accuracy of the simulations. We are also using additional traditional and non-traditional methods for measuring drape. Applying these measures effectively required that we understand how much variation in these measures can occur when an actual fabric is draped repeatedly. To determine this, we conducted a sub-investigation into the repeatability of drape behavior for actual fabrics. In the third year of the project, we applied the learnings from the work related to the goals of the first two years to simulation of apparel. We also constructed those garments and used a scanning method to create 3D surfaced virtual models of the actual garments. Then, we applied the metrics devised for measuring drape to evaluate the accuracy of the simulation in relation to the actual fabric properties. Through the rest of the project, we will use the results of our comparisons to improve our system for providing input to the simulation software and expand our investigation of garments. 4. Use the results of our comparisons to improve our system for providing input to the simulation software. We continue to revise our simulation processes and share our learnings in order to improve accuracy of garment simulation. Year 3 Accomplishments: Garment Construction and Measurement Garment styles that cling to the body and exhibit very little variation in appearance when made of different fabrics (for example, a straight fitted skirt) are less interesting for drape experimentation than those that fall and drape. Two variations of a flared skirt that fits on the waist line and drapes over the body with minimal contact were selected for examining garment drape. The first pattern was a three gored skirt with three seams (Figure 2). The second pattern was a princess skirt pattern with eight seams (Figure 3). The patterns were developed using commercial pattern making software (Optitex-PDS), converted to DXF format and imported into Gerber Software Suite for suitable modifications. A marker (cutting layout) of the file was created using Gerber Software and was cut using a Gerber Sample Cutter for accurate transformation of pattern pieces to garment parts. The three gore skirt pieces were cut in the warp direction and the princess skirt pieces in the bias direction. The cut pattern pieces were stitched using a 301 lockstitch (ASTM standards, SSa-1) seam structure with a seam allowance of 0.5 inch throughout. The stitched garments were then ironed to flatten the seams and remove creases, and then placed for conditioning in the standard

National Textile Center Annual Report: November 2005

NTC Project: F02-NS08 (formerly F02-S08) 4 atmospheric condition for at least 24 hours. For the purpose of experimentation, zippers, buttons and pockets were not included in the construction of the garment.

Figure 2: Three Gore Skirt Pattern Capturing data using 3d body scanner The [TC]2 three dimensional body scanner was used to capture the draped image of garments. There are four cameras in the body scanner that capture point cloud data from front and back of the object Figure 3: Princess Skirt Pattern without capturing the sides of the object. A single scan is sufficient to capture the human form because the processing software will interpolate data to fill the sides of the human figure. On the other hand, when a draped garment is captured in the body scanner, it is not advisable to fill the empty sides automatically (Figure 4a) as much of the draped form will be lost. To overcome this limitation and to capture the complete image of a skirt, multiple scans were taken at different angles and then combined using a standalone software (Raindrop-Geomagic was used in our research) to get one complete image (Figure 4b). The kind of scanning angles needed to capture a complete image depend on the type of garment. If the garment is of very short length and has (a) (b) fewer nodes, then two scans at 0 and 90 are sufficient to capture a complete image. On the other hand, if the skirt is Figure 4: Processed single scan (a) and merged sufficiently long (longer than knee) and multiple scans (b) has many nodes, then more than two scans are required to complete the configuration. For the selected garment samples in this experimentation, it was determined by trial and error that three scans at 60 degrees apart would provide nearly complete configuration of the draped garment. A mannequin was selected to drape the constructed skirt in the 3D body scanner. A mannequin was preferred in place of a human model to avoid the variation caused by human movement and breathing. It was also thought that it would be difficult to maintain the same dimension of human form over the period of experimentation for accurate comparison of garment drape.

National Textile Center Annual Report: November 2005

NTC Project: F02-NS08 (formerly F02-S08) 5 Since the garment drape needed to be captured by rotating the mannequin, it was draped over the mannequin that was placed on the turntable in the [TC]2 three dimensional body scanner. The turntable was marked with 0 to 360 degree for precise rotation of the mannequin. The draped garment on the turntable was rotated at 0, 60, and 120 degrees and the image was captured at each angle. The three captured images were converted into VRML files for processing on Geomagic software. Processing the Scans in Geomagic When the garment is scanned using the 3D body scanner, the output will be a point cloud data set that documents X, Y, and Z coordinates of the draped garment. Typically, each scan contains more than 50,000 individual points. The number of points captured in a scan is dependent on the dimensions of the object and the density at which the object is scanned and on the geometric features of the garment. Scan Data Processing The major steps involved in processing the data can be outlined as Clean data, Align Data (Registration), Merge Data, and Refine Polygonal mesh. Raw scan data will contain noise (i.e., stray data points) and unwanted features, for example, the base stand on which the mannequin was mounted. The first cleaning step is to manually select the noise data and unwanted features and delete them from the point cloud. Any remaining noise is automatically detected by the software and removed from the point cloud data during the registration process. Aligning the individual scans has two steps, manual registration and global registration. In the manual registration process, two scans were aligned side by side within a single registration window. With a distinct feature as the common point (or points), two scans were aligned into one common image and a group was formed. This grouped image was further registered with the remaining scan (120 degree scan) by following the same procedure. Then, the combined image (grouped as one) was registered using the global registration tool for further aligning the common points in the image. Merging data creates a unified data set from all of the individual, aligned scans. The output is a raw polygonal mesh that Before Relaxing requires further processing and refinement. This process is fully automated and user does not have control over this procedure. In our work, the combined registered images (0, 60, and 120 degree images) were merged to get a polygonal model. The immediate step that follows merging After Relaxing of data is the relax polygons operation. This operation smoothes a surface by changing the coordinates of Figure 5: Relaxing process of a polygonal model input vertices based on averaging the

National Textile Center Annual Report: November 2005

NTC Project: F02-NS08 (formerly F02-S08) 6 surrounding points to create smooth surface. This image resulting form this process is a smooth polygonal model. Figure (5) shows the difference in a polygonal model before and after this operation. Next, the model requires filling of holes and sharpening edges. The holes in the model result from regions of the draped skirt hidden from the camera or sparse data points in a localized area. Small holes can be either manually or automatically filled while large holes require careful consideration of contour before selecting the tool to fill them. After all of the holes on the surface are filled, the edges of the garment need to be sharpened. This is done by manually deleting the extraneous point on the edges. Following these processes, the polygonal model is ready for use in evaluating garment drape. Garment Drape Parameters As described in the previous section, the processed polygonal model was used to characterize garment drape after raw point cloud data of the draped garment was converted to a processed polygonal model. Currently, there is no standard quantitative term or coefficient in use in the textile and apparel industries to characterize garment drape. In this research, simple and easy to calculate new parameters such as; Garment drape coefficient, Drape distance ratio and Number of nodes, were derived as the quantitative terms for garment drape evaluation.

Figure 6: Process of Capturing Garment Volume using Geomagic Software The steps in manipulating the processed image using Geomagic software to obtain the volume are as shown in Figure 5. Figure 6(a) shows the image after processing the raw point cloud data of the draped garment and mannequin into a polygonal model. Figure 6(b) shows the selected garment polygonal model. Figure 6(c) shows eliminating unwanted parts and closing of holes to compute volume of the garment in draped form. The volume is automatically computed using a built-in volume computing tool in the Geomagic software. In this work, Garment drape coefficient was defined as the ratio of the volume of a garment when it is draped with the full geometrical volume of garment form, expressed as percentage. When a garment is draped freely with its only support at the waist line, it falls into a characteristic configuration. The appearance of the garment depends on numerous factors such as fabric type and constructional features. Each fabric has different physical and mechanical properties influencing characteristic feature for each garment. In this research, size, pattern, seam

National Textile Center Annual Report: November 2005

NTC Project: F02-NS08 (formerly F02-S08) 7 type, seam size, and all other construction parameters are kept constant, so that the variation in configuration could be characterized using newly developed parameters. Figure 7 shows the process of converting the processed image of a skirt into a modified form of the polygonal model that is used to calculate A B C Drape Distance Ratio. The polygonal model is selected (Figure 7b) and the top surface (waist line) is projected to a common surface (Figure 7c). Next, the bottom surface (hem line) is D E F projected to the previously selected common surface (Figure 7d). The projections from the waist line and hem Y line are extended parallel X to the skirt axis without changing the size or G H shape of the contour. A thin slice of 10 mm in Figure 7: Calculating Drape Distance Coefficient dimension of the extended polygonal model contour was retained for measurement (Figure 7f-g). The measurement of the Garment Drape Coefficient (Three-gore Skirt) lowest point of a node to the nearest waist line 2.2 contour (minimum 2.15 distance, X) and the 2.1 highest point of a node to 2.05 the nearest waist line Max 2 contour (maximum Min 1.95 distance, Y) are shown in Average 1.9 Figure 7h. The average 1.85 values of the maximum 1.8 distance and minimum 1.75 distance from all the nodes in the draped garment contour were Sam ples used to calculate drape Figure 8: Garment Drape Coefficient (GDC) Three Gore Skirt
GDC
Mo m ie Cha l li s Pl a in2 4 Sat een She etin g c or du r oy O xf ord Law n Pl a in Tw Tw il l11 il l3

National Textile Center Annual Report: November 2005

NTC Project: F02-NS08 (formerly F02-S08) 8

Drape Distance Coefficient (Three-gore Skirt)
6.5 6 5.5 5

DDC

4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2

Max Min Average

distance coefficient defined as the ratio of the average value of maximum node dimension with the average values of minimum node dimensions. Parameter Validation: The results of GDC for the three gore skirt are shown in Figure 8. The average variation of three reading is 3.41% three gore skirt. The maximum variation is noted for the lawn fabric sample and minimum for challis fabric. Most of the fabric samples considered for this experimentation followed a similar trend of values for both varieties of garments. This suggests that even with the change in pattern, number of seams and grain line, the values of Garment drape coefficient remains relatively proportional

ie xf or d

s co rd ur oy La w n

Pl ai n2 Pl ai n 4 Sa te en Sh ee tin g

Sam Figure 9: Drape Distance Coeff.ples (DDC) - Three-gore skirt

Number of Nodes (Three-gore Skirt)

10
Number of Nodes

9 8 7 6 5 4
ie ha l li s co rd ur oy Pl ain 2 Pl ai n 4 Sa te en Sh ee tin g M om La w xfo rd Tw Tw il l1 1 il l3 n

Tw il l3 Tw il l1 1

C ha lli

M om

Max Min Average

Sam ples

Figure 10: Number of Nodes for Three-gore skirt showing that garment drape coefficient could be used to characterize garment drape. Figure 9 shows the drape distance coefficient of three gore skirt. Three values (maximum value, minimum values and average value) from testing each sample three times for both three gore skirt and princess skirt are plotted. It is clear that the fabrics with light weight and lower stiffness

Sample B Figure 11: Sample A image cross section of sample skirts Draped

National Textile Center Annual Report: November 2005

NTC Project: F02-NS08 (formerly F02-S08) 9 (limp fabric) have lower values of drape distance coefficient. Figure 10 represents the three values (maximum, minimum and average values) for number of nodes for three gore skirt. Lawn and Sateen samples have the largest variation. It must be noted at this point that after ironing and conditioning of the garment, the number of seams does not contribute to induce extra nodes in the skirt. Garment deformation is based on its weight, stiffness (its ability to bend) and the construction of the garments. Each garment falls in different configurations when it is draped on a mannequin based on its characteristics. Figure 11 shows the variation in draped configuration of garments of the same style and size but made of different fabrics. Sample 1, a cross section of a limp fabric has lower stiffness, more nodes and lesser node dimension compared to Sample 2, which is a stiff fabric having higher stiffness, fewer nodes and higher node dimensions. Garment drape coefficient was developed based on the concept of characterizing stiffness in garment and drape distance coefficient along with number of nodes demonstrating the aesthetic configuration in the draped garments.

6 5 4

3 2 1 0

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

Ch a c o l li s rd ur oy La w M n om ie O xf or d Pl ai n Pl 2 ai n Sa 4 te Sh en ee t in g Tw il l Tw 3 i ll 1 1

Samples

DDC - 3G Avg NN-3G

Figure 12: Comparison of Drape distance coefficient and Number of nodes for Three-gore skirt Figure 12 shows the comparison of drape distance coefficient with number of nodes. The values t are inversely proportional to each other providing evidence that higher the value of the drape distance coefficient lower the number of nodes. i.e. when the drape distance coefficient, which is a measure of distribution of nodes in the cross sectional image of the drape garment increase in garments, it result in decrease in number of nodes. This provides us an objective means to visualize the characteristics of a garment. Thus, we created and evaluated measures of garment drape which are then applied to assessing success of garment simulation. Conclusion It is clear that the practical approach to simulating fabric drape is to minimize the number of input variables without compromising on the resemblance of a simulation to reality. We have learned that there is no precise target that the simulation of a particular fabric must achieve,

National Textile Center Annual Report: November 2005

Number of Nodes

DDC

NTC Project: F02-NS08 (formerly F02-S08) 10 rather the results of the repeatability tests suggested that the term accurate virtual drape could refer to a range of simulations. The simple line obtained through earlier work as a relationship between bending stiffness values of fabric and those input into Modulate led to a simplification in the process of selecting simulation input parameters. Work with garments, showed some success in applying the learnings from the study of circular samples to complex garment forms, though we found that additional drape input parameters were required for successful simulation. Fabric properties, shape of the garment, pattern, and numerous other factors influence on how a garment drapes on an object. In this research, simple and easy to calculate parameters such as Garment drape coefficient, drape distance coefficient and number of nodes were used to characterize garment drape and allow evaluation of simulation success in a 3D virtual environment. We developed a methodology to characterize garment drape using the three-dimensional body scanner. Based on garment work the simulation process can be improved. We continue revising our metrics to improve garment simulation and to better understand the accuracy of garment simulations. References: Gong, D., Hinds, B., and McCartney, J., 2001, Progress Towards Effective Garment CAD, International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology, 13, 1, 12-23 Hardaker, C., and Fozzard, G., 1998, Towards the Virtual Garment: Three-Dimensional Computer Environments for Garment Design, International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology, 10, 2, 114-127 Project web site:
http://www2.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/project/ntcprojects/projects/F02-S08/

Acknowledgements: OptiTex software company and company personnel including: Mark Mandrano, Sagi Shani, Gadi Zadikoff, Yoram Burg, Julia Shaw GeoMagic software company staff [TC]2 Personnel: Elizabeth White, Kim Munroe, Mike King

National Textile Center Annual Report: November 2005