The overall objective is to revolutionise the design and prototyping of garments by the development of a 3D Virtual Prototyping platform targeting the reduction of : the number of required physical prototypes, the time to develop a new collection the cost of the complete new product development cycle from sketch drawing to pattern making.

SPECIFIC SCIENTIFIC & TECHNOLOGICAL PRINCIPAL OBJECTIVES

• Material characterisation for simulation and fabric selection for the development of generic physical models of materials as well as the estimation of fabric behaviour under production processes and during the product life cycle.
• Human body characterisation leading to simplified digital models of human shape for the development of standard patterns, as well as accurate fit and comfort analysis (derivation of a range of representative morphotypes from 3D human body data).
• Development of a revolutionary design methodology and tools enabling direct garment design in 3D which will automatically be flattened into 2D patterns, permitting designers with no pattern making capabilities to create and evaluate complete new garment designs form just a sketch.
• Radical rethinking of the design process in view of the breakthrough in the 3D shape formation process expected as a result of work in Research Module B , with the overall aim of reducing the number of parts to be joined.
• Development of a range of innovative simulation, animation & design optimisation Components for Virtual Prototyping, enabling a new approach to Fit and Comfort evaluation, by the simulation of multiple interacting garments and deformable body models which when combined with animation will allow to compute the accurate behaviour of cloth in different contexts (e.g. moving from one posture to another). Development of tools enabling manufacturing, costing and fabric optimization (3D garment models and simulation of fabric behaviour.
• Development of an Innovative Customised Product Configuration Framework enabling multiple interactions by internal organization actors, and business partners aiming to the collaboration in the development of new products and the configuration of personalized garments by the consumers.

TECHNOLOGIES EMPLOYED

Modelling human bodies based on statistically significant parameters: Identify through multivariate statistical analysis representative human body morphologies (hierarchical clustering) Develop methodologies to reproduce representative, realistic and adaptable virtual mannequins from selected sets of parameters, by interpolation in the space of human body shapes.

Libraries of representative virtual 3D mannequins : Use representative virtual 3D mannequins to enable the design according to the real morphologies observed in target markets. Facilitate the interpretation of fit in terms of garment volume & allowance. Control the size gradation process. Use representative 3D morphotypes directly in a 3D CAD system. Facilitate designing for Mass Customisation.

Library of fabrics : Development of libraries of fabric mechanical and chemical properties pertinent to all stages of the product lifecycle, as well as to the realistic simulation of fabric drape. Enable new experiences on comfort & well-fit prediction using 3D CAD systems. Enable the prediction of fabric behaviour to improve the manufacturing process. Develop tools to estimate the cost impact of different design selections (e.g. fabric) on product.

Direct 3D garment design : Enable the design and prototyping of garments in a more natural 3D environment with automatic 2D-3D interactivity. Enable the manipulation of contour lines in 3D. Enable the manipulation of properties of any garment surface (physical characteristics, textures, colour, etc…). Automatic Flattening into 2D patterns.

Virtual prototyping components: Generate animatable 3D bodies taking into account body deformations influenced by body composition data. A new retargeting method that will handle not only the skeletal animation, but also the skin deformation of the character. Real-time cloth simulation integrating a body and cloth-sizing module.

EXPECTED INNOVATIVE RESULTS

IMPACT ON CLOTHING INDUSTRY