Abstract:

Fabric drape simulations accomplished by computer graphics software can provide  the basis for effective communication among designers, manufacturers and other players in the apparel industry. The goal of our study was to investigate various 1D and 2D shape descriptors used to characterize renderings of 3D drape simulations in dependence on  the geometry of collision objects and fabric type. Image processing routines were implemented to extract and compute the shape descriptors while principal components analysis was applied to interpret the relationships among the  parameters studied. Drapes on cube, octahedron and prism were found to behave in a distinctively different manner compared to those produced using the other six collision objects: cone, cylinder, dodecahedron, gengon, sphere, and tube. A first principal component can be, to a large extent, represented by the following mutually strongly correlated 2D shape descriptors: area, major axis length, minor axis length, equivalent diameter, and perimeter. Analysis using 1D shape descriptors confirms these findings and additionally suggests that rubber-based drapes contain  the lowest number of folds while those on polyester, wool, and sometimes silk and/or satin are characterized by the highest number of drape folds. These results were confirmed by visual examination of the  drapes simulated.