Marzia Fontana

3D virtual apparel design for industrial applications

The integration of physics-based models within CAD systems for garment design leads to highly accurate cloth shape results for virtual prototyping and quality evaluation tasks. To this aim, we present a physics-based system for virtual cloth design and simulation expressly conceived for design purposes. This environment should allow the designer to validate her/his style and design option through the analysis of garment virtual prototypes and simulation results in order to reduce the number and role of physical prototypes. Garment shapes are accurately predicted by including material properties and external interactions through a particle-based cloth model embedded in constrained Newtonian dynamics with collision management, extended to complex-shaped assembled and finished garments. Our model is incorporated within a 3D graphical environment, and includes operators monitoring the whole design process of apparel, e.g. panel sewing, button/dart insertion, multi-layered fabric composition, garment finishings, etc. Applications and case studies are considered, with analysis of CAD modelling phases and simulation results concerning several male and female garments.

A CAD-oriented cloth simulation system with stable and efficient ODE solution

Cloth modelling is a research field of increasing interest both for computer animation and computer-aided design purposes. Aiming at being closer to cloth manufacturers needs, this work proposes an integration of a particle-based modelling approach within a CAD oriented system for real design of apparel and complex-shaped cloth. The particle-based model, originally defined on single textile layers, is extended to take into account the physical effects of seams and darts, construction constraints, layered parts, and other manufacturing processes that contribute to the final shape of the garments. Starting from an initial 3D configuration of the particle grid consistent with mannequin and support geometries, the physical simulation process is then computed, based on constrained Newtonian dynamics laws. Stable and efficient algorithms for the time discretization of the Newtonian ODE problem are proposed, based on implicit and semi-implicit BDF(2) or hybrid Euler-BDF(2) techniques. As applications, several test models are considered, simulated on rigid supports or mannequins, for both numerical comparisons and global shape analysis, from simple cloth geometries up to complex-shaped models for real apparel manufacturing.

ClothAssembler: a CAD Module for Feature-based Garment Pattern Assembly

AbstractThis work presents a CAD prototype, named ClothAssembler, targeted at complex-shaped apparel design for real manufacturing. The intent is to fill a gap in the current CAD technology for garment design as it is mainly conceived for 2D/3D geometric modelling of cloth shapes, but generally does not provide high level operators that allow interactive and easy design of aesthetic/functional features that characterize the garment pieces, and relations/connections between parts. Though still an academic prototype, ClothAssembler allows to define/choose in an interactive way all the necessary geometric and functional information for the design and finishing of 2D pieces, such as insertion of textile layers, reinforcement lines, pockets, cut lines and pleats, as well as topological information about how pieces are pair-wise connected and assembled, by definition of seams, darts, zips, constraints such as buttons and hooks, etc. A taxonomy and parametrization of cloth tailoring features is discussed, and sy...

Computer-aided apparel tailoring with virtual simulation

A physics-based cloth modelling system has been proposed, targeted at the virtual prototyping of garments of real interest and production. The system should allow designers to validate their styling/design choices on a digital apparel model before (or in place of) any physical prototyping. Taking into account the design complexity of real tailored apparel, CAD apparel models can be defined incorporating information about tailoring/assembly features. A graphical interface allows a user to create his/her garment by interactively specifying design elements such as layers, seams, pockets, constraints, aesthetic and functional lines. A discrete Newtonian particle-based model is considered for physics-based cloth simulation, originally defined for single textile layers and then extended to real-shaped apparel, by taking into account structural properties of materials and the previously defined design/assembly rules. Several garment models are proposed as test cases, designed for real apparel manufacturing and simulated on virtual mannequins.

Towards Virtual Prototyping of Complex-shaped Multi-layered Apparel

Cloth virtual prototyping has recently become a topic of increasing interest both in computer graphics and computer aided design for industrial fabric or apparel production. Aiming at an accurate garment shape simulation, this paper presents a physics-based system for virtual cloth design and simulation specifically conceived for design purpose and targeted to clothing industry. This environment should allow the designer/modelist to validate her/his style and design options through the analysis of garment virtual prototypes and simulation results in order to reduce the number and role of physical prototypes. To this end, it has been defined a complete physics-based model for complex apparel incorporating aspects related to garment shape and structure (e.g., 2D profiles of basic patterns and multi-layered parts), mechanical/physical properties of fabric and multi-layered parts, and design and manufacturing processes (e.g., ironing, starching). The garment physic-based model has been developed upon the particle-based model embedded in constrained Newtonian dynamics and collision management. The system has been validated within European and national projects simulating several female and male garments with different levels of design complexities and directly provided from involved clothing companies.