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COMPUTER GRAPHICS AND THE INDUSTRY Extended Summary

Jane Nisselson Computer Graphics Laboratory New York Institute of Technology Old Westbury, New York 11568

Abstract immediacy and capture the imagination in a way This paper examines the role of computer graphics which is true to fashion. and new media technologies in the fashion industry. The three phases of computer graphics application / are: The computer is a natural medium for the mass (1) Design/ Visualization, production of perspective images; this makes it an (2) Pattern Creation/Manufacturing, and effective tool for and architectural design. (3) Presentation/Promotion. Garments however are characterized by neither rigid This paper focuses on the third application, illustrat­ surfaces nor simple geometrical construction. ing some of the new directions in computer graphics To accurately model a garment requires a data and fashion with examples of the author's work in format that can represent flexible materials and the fashion videos and interactive systems. effects of physical forc es such as gravity and surface tension. Hierarchical solid modeling operations are KEYWORDS: , pattern CAD/CAM, one technique for simulating twisting, bending, taper­ stereoscopic, fashion video. ing and other such transformations of objects. Introd uctlon "Deformations" [1], a form developed by Alan Barr, can be used to simulate fl exible geometric objects Computer graphics has made its impact on most made of fabric. This technique obtains a normal vec­ fields which entail design and imaging: movie and tor of an arbitrarily deformed smooth surface that can television special effects, computer-aided design and be calculated directly from the surface normal vector manufacturing, computer-aided engineering, molecular of the undeformed surface and a , medical imaging, seismic analysis for oil pros­ matrix. The deformations are combined in a hierarch­ pecting, as well as on video-games and flight simula­ ical structure. tors. One design field for which the assimilation and creative use of computer graphics still poses a chal­ Furthermore, fr om the of detail of fib er and lenge is the fashion industry. Computer imaging sys­ fur to a pattern on a fabric, modeling a garment tems are being applied in three areas: Design, requires sophisticated techniques such as texture syn­ Manufacturing, and Presentation. thesis and stochastic modeling [2] . Patterns on flat fabric can be texture mapped onto the curved surface The fashion industry is built around a process of of the constructed garment [3]. Also, methods are producing a new look. The fashion business is an being created to warp the surface of an analytically unending visual modification of the definition of defined object [4] . society and its image. Ironically, its link to one of the newest image making media is not implicit. The The jacket design for a computer generated char­ motivation for using computer graphics systems is acter, Us er Abuser, demonstrates a method developed clearly defined only in the manufacturing phase: to at the Computer Graphics Lab, NYIT, for creating a obtain the advantages of an automated system. In realistic three-dimensional model of a garment. The the design and presentation phases, it is not yet evi­ jac ket was modeled as a non-closed surface defined by dent that the computer medium can enhance produc­ polygons in a format. This format consists of a tion and creativity. In these areas, traditional list of 3d vertex coordinates, with normals and texture methods are neither easily simulated nor improved. coordinates, topologic ally connected into a grid with a This paper gives an overview of some applications of certain number of rows and columns [5] . new media technology in the fashion industry. An One of its most important features is flexible emphasis is given to the final phase; examples from joints at the shoulders and elbows, modeled with flex the author's work are included to demonstrate how software by Richard Lundin [6] . These are necessary computer graphics animations can generate an to correctly deform the surface when rotations are

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early 19th century, Joseph Jacquard developed performed at a joint in a tree structure of a three­ In the cards as a means to control dimensional mode\. Each flexible joint is composed of punched in mills. Charles Babbage used these a single polygonal surface in mesh format which machines a model for the cards he used to cOlltrol the changes shape as the joint is flexed; the joint begins at as operations of his calculating machine [7]. a particular body part in the model tree and ends at sequencing there are computer-interfaced which can another body part. A bezier spline curve, which Now, control the pattern and handle complex as defines the centerline of the flexible joint, is created as simple ones. Computer imaging systems can from control points which include the end points of easily and visualize weave structures. Designs can the flexible joint and the coordinates of any joint analyze be scaled, repeated, recolored, and modified nodes between the end points. The flex software quickly having to laboriously redraw them by hand. determines the joint axis, calculates the two end coor­ without can then be produced using of the joint, and finally distributes and orients The new design dinates looms. the mesh rows, with respect to the centerline of the computer-interfaced flexible joint. This allows the arms to be freely For example, a textile call create . moved , while leaving the garment's seams intact! with a microcomputer by means of the A VL can be generated in full color with the The jacket can be rendered with any texture and Textile designs automatically calculating an accurate color and displayed from any point of view [Figure 1]. AVL software of the . Via an RS232 The appearance of the jacket also depends on lighting representation the A VL then can control the pattern as which, in this case, creates the jacket's specular sur­ connection, the loom is actually weaving it off, draw the pattern face. with a color plotter, or produce a black a..nd white of the computer graphics From the vantage printout. industry, the simulation of three-dimensional gar­ The direction of the industry has been to tighten ments is a technical problem which will probably gain link between design and manufacturing p:hases. In more attention. In part, this is because the efforts to the this is because the most efficient way to give model and animate the human figure are achieving part, data to a CAM system is to create the gar­ more and more success. Obviously, this will converge pattern ment on a compatible design system. Thus, systems upon the next challenge: designing and animating dedicated to the design phase have tended to evolve clothes for this figure. closely with those for manufacturing. Without a practical means for representing A system for designing textiles and previewing three-dimensional garments, computer graphics design them on garments has been developed by Computer systems in the industry have been geared towards Inc (CDI). Compatible with traditional design manipulating two-dimensional designs. The thrust of Design, this system is a tool for rapidly visualizing these systems is to provide (1) an efficient means for methods, variations without extensive sample a..nd sketch visualization and (2) an optimal way to create a design The data describing designs can subse­ design to be readily used in a CAM system. making. quently be manipulated with a variety of CAM sys­ to the fashion Textile design is an area related tems. The menu driven system uses an Iris Worksta­ graphics are widely industry where computer tion, from Silicon Graphics, Inc., which has a 68000- activity from employed as a design too\. A separate based processor, Geometry Engine, alld raster only garment construction, textile design requires subsystem; this system has 1024 x 1024 resol-ution and textile two-dimensional representations. Weaving and 24 bits of color. A more powerful version uses the Iris graphics. design have long been familiar to computer Turbo which has a 68020-based processOT_ Fabric designs can be created on the system with its paint program with an electronic tablet or mouse. The sys­ tem can calculate the number of threads, warp and weft for a given weave (such as or o:dord) and size. Characteristics such as color, scale, and repeats can be readily manipulated. Fabrics can then be mapped onto garment patterns. One of the system's features is tint designs from other sources, such as samples and SKetches, can be scanned in with a camera and then manip ulated by the paint system with elaborate functions. Using the paint system and mapping functions, a d esign from any source can be viewed instan tly in a repertoire of colors, patterns or textures. Although the system works only with two­ dimensional images, its functions preserve tbe dimen­ sional effect created by textures or shadows in a or photographic image of a garment. When Figure 1 Suit jacket with texture map. drawn

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the garment is specified in a new color, a transparency ing markers on spread fabric. A Winchester-based function preserves these visual cues which suggest module with a networking controller provides extra folds and curves. The texture mapping also takes into storage. Modules can communicate between different account light intensities so that the fabric pattern is locations over telephone lines by means of a modem. realistically mapped onto the garment. The next step in manufacturing is a system In many respects, the role of computer graphics which can model three-dimensional garments and then in the fashion industry's design and presentation unfold them into two-dimensional patterns for subse­ phases is similar to its role in movies, television, and quent manipulation on a CAM systems. GGT is . Its use in these areas is not always cos t­ developing a three-dimensional modeling system that effective. For lines of clothes which are not mass­ can display rigid models of garments in high resolu­ produced or mass-marketed, using computer graphics tion (1280 x 1084), using z-buffer algorithms for hid­ for design alone may be too expensive. Furthermore, den surfaces, and Gouraud shading. While it may be cost alone may not be an adequate motive for a expensive -- in computer time alone -- to accurately designer to make use of the technique. Thus, the role model many of a garment's physical characteristics of computer graphics in creating designs in many (such as draping), their impact on the geometric lay­ ways remains subject to the public's demands for out must be evaluated and accounted for in the pat­ aesthetic effects. tern. GGT is currently researching how to reflect In many ways, haute couture has an image which engineering concerns including the effects of gravity is antithetical to automation and thus does not seem and warping of a fl exible surface when translating the likely to embrace technology in any highly visible model from three dimensions to a two-dimensional phase of its production. It is in ready-to-wear fashion , pattern. an industry directed to the "modern" woman, that cm is marketing a system for making shoe computer graphics may prove to be in demand. There designs and patterns which is compatible with its are some instances of who actually reflect design system described earlier. Shoes are character­ the image of computer technology in their work rather ized by having rigid forms which closely fit the model. than using it as a hidden process behind it. The Thus the problems posed by fl exible surfaces are designer, Jurgen Lehl has used computer chips and minimal. A shoe form which is input on a three­ highly pixellated images as patterns in his individual­ dimensional digitizer can be manipulated as a three­ istic and symbolic textile designs [8] . The fashion dimensional, smooth shaded image. The design is designer, Elisabeth de Senneville bases her line on the then unwrapped from which point it can go on to theme of new images. Dresses, sweat shirts, sweaters standard pattern engineering and CAM systems. oft en have prints with computer and video images. COl's garment system, under development, also She exp lains that when she designs a garment she begins with a digitized mannequin. The image can be always asks herself if it could be worn in the year displayed fr om different points of view in four win­ 2001. dows on the color monitor. The designer draws style lines which the system accurately maps to the surface; Pattern Creation / Manufacturing changes are updated in all windows simultaneously In the fashion industry, the adaptation of com­ [Figure 2] . Mirroring functions can automatically puter imaging techniques in the area of manufacturing reflect designs. is more prevalent than in its other phases. The The problems are more complicated for the overall goal is to automate and manage quality con­ design of garments whose fabrics and construction do trol in all phases of design and production. Computer not adhere to the mannequin's shape. At present, graphics appear in the form of CAD/CAM systems for digitizing, grading, marking, and sizing patterns in two dimensions. These are formulaic and mechanical operations which do not rely on creative decisions. Systems are designed to depend on expertise in pattern marking or marker grading -- not computer knowledge. The Lectra System CAD/CAM systems give an example of a highly modular .system in which each unit is dedicated to a particular subset of the traditional tasks. Each component has 68000- based processor and disc storage that can range from 256 to 1024 kbytes. Pattern pieces are input on a digitizing table. Next, t.he pieces can be manipulated -- graded, sized, and markers made -- in real time on a color vec­ tor graphic display workstation with a pen and tablet. The pieces can also be "dragged" around and magnified on the display in real time. The plotter Figure 2 Smoothshaded three-dimensional image of unit is used for either single-ply laser cutting or draw- digitized mannequin with pattern lines.

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marketing department has observed that potential CDI is not attempting complete physical simulation of customers are often reluctant to experiment or invest garments under the assumption that the level of detail in a new product. With electronic makeup, a custo­ may have applications in engineering but is not abso­ mer can experiment not only without being lutely necessary in garment industry. threatened, but without removing the makeup being worn. Presentation / Promotion The skin analysis system demonstrates the ways of shopping over­ The technology for new importance of having a human tending the interface new ways of entertaining, laps with the technology for between "science and beauty". Based on a personal . In many ways, promoting, educating, and informing computer, Arden's skin analyzer scans in the visu­ much as it is in the design phase: it is a tool for customer's skin with a black and white video camera. mak­ ally exploring a database of images, editing and The computer constructs a three-dimensional image of ing final selections. the skin surface texture from light intensity informa­ informa­ The cosmetics industry is one sector of the tion. The data is normalized with additional type. Origi­ fashion industry which explores this. New technologies tion such as the customer's age and skin value to the and cosmetics have a certain compatibility. "Science" nally, the system assigned a numerical using a is perceived as the means for attaining a variety of skin type and recommended specific products 94 pro­ technological "miracles" that range from anti-aging logic system with a hierarchical database of numer­ products to long-lasting lipsticks. Most people wel­ ducts and regimes. However, an uninterpreted customer. come the association of technology with cosmetics ical skin rating can alienate a potential con­ because they perceive it as being particularly accurate The computer thus works as an assistant to the and recom­ and scientific. In the past year, "makeup computers" sultant by performing the skin analysis have been introduced by Elizabeth Arden and two mending an overall product line. Japanese companies, Shiseido and Intelligent Skincare The notion of using simulations with which a (I.S. ). customer can interact has been e:x plored in the area of in Paris These systems offer two kinds of services: com­ fashion as well. The Magic Mirror, designed system puterized techniques for (1) makeup application and by Jean-Claude Bourdier, is an interactive visual effect for a (2) skin analysis. Basically, the makeup systems use a which uses simulation to create the clothes. The system standard computer graphics technology - a paint sys­ customer that he is "trying on" interface between cus­ tem - as an innovative way to present the makeup. wittily updates the traditional tomer and garment: the mirror. Set in an environ­ All of these companies have systems which pro­ ment that is like a darkened dressing room, the Magic vide environments where a trained makeup artist can Mirror optically combines the reflection of the simulate the application of "electronic makeup" to customer's face with the reflection of a slide projection the customer's face. For instance, Elizabeth Arden's of an clothing outfit. In the L.S. Ayres store in Indi­ Single Unit System called Sue (refined from its origi­ anapolis and Galerie Lafayette in Paris, a trained nal 3-station system, Elizabeth) houses all of its com­ operator uses a computerized focusing system with a ponents in a tall unit which is similar in appearance pushbutton interface to project the slide at a scale to a commercial video game. The customer's face is that fits the customer's figure (size and height). In instantly scanned in, by means of a standard video stores in Japan, the customer simply operates the camera, and digitized. The screen's 512 by 512 raster Mirror himself. Although the system is pri­ image is divided into four quadrants: one for display­ Magic based on "low" technology, it is easy to ima­ ing the initial image of the customer's face and the marily the visual database updated so that it is accessed others. for three different makeup applications. A gine from a videodisc or computer genera. ted . menu provides palettes for blending suggested colors, novel selecting brush type and stroke firmness. Software The video image and fashion are not a magazines," can magnify the face to focus on details. A tran­ combination. Often in the form of "news inter­ sparency function maintains the face's original texture fashion reportage typically consists of interviews concen­ while makeup is applied. At the end of the session, a cut with videotapes of fashion shows which . print-out with suggested makeups scrolls out from a trate on good of runway presentations which slot on the unit's side. Basically, these presentations are documentaries a canned look. Videotapes are frequently The systems cost each company about $1 million often have in various departments of stores. And of to develop and thus may not be offered by every running television broadcasts a barrage of commercials cosmetic company. They have had an enthusiastic course, cosmetics, perfumes and blue jeans. By adding response. Shiseido, for instance, quintupled its sales, for computer graphics and interaction, the customer can it introduced its system at Bloomingdales in when gain a fresh look at the product. New York City, in the autumn of 1984 [9J . The Fizzazz store, designed by Music Video Pro­ The appeal of these computer graphics systems is ductions, uses interactive computer graphics systems that they allow the customer to interact with the pro­ to present Murjani International's line of CocaCola duct by means of a simulation. Elizabeth Arden's clothes. The centerpiece of the store is a pair of telev-

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ISlon displays on which a customer can browse through images of the clothes. Each system appears to be simply a television, sheathed in a pared down chrome housing which is mounted on a slim column. Transparent touch sensitive plasma screens cover each of the screens. A computer generated graphical menu is corn posited with the video images; special hardware was designed by Sony to composite the videodisc (ntsc) and computer graphics menu (rgb). The inter­ 1. Polhemus source face is direct: no keyboards, cursors, mouses or com­ 2. t1enu 3. Semi-transparent puter languages. The hardware is placed behind the mi rror glass windows of CocaCola coolers, off near the dress­ 4. Video monitor ing rooms. 5. hiding Customers call up pictures of the clothes which Polhemus source are stored on videodisc by touching menu items on 6. Images : 11 . monitor the screen. The images are drawings of the garments b . • 1l"ror c. virtual depicted in various colors and from different points of 7. Y-uis : view (front and back) and at various level of detail a . of moo; tal'" b. on mi nor (pocket, cuff, sleeve, etc.). They can be viewed by C. vi r tua l touching the appropriate selection on the screen. The 8. ::ye presentation is geared for a young market which is already used to browsing television for visual stimuli and fashion ideas. Multiple video projection systems display computer graphics animations and stills from Figure 3 Diagram the videodiscs on a wall. Visible from the street, the of stereoscopic computer video systems run twenty-four hours a day and the graphics workstation. animations are changed weekly. Murjani is gearing the store towards twenty-four hour shopping where the customer electronically looks through the clothes, mount.ed on a small "wand" with a pushbutton purchases by means of a credit card, and has the mounted in [Figure 3]. The viewer could goods delivered the next day. The designers of the browse through different views of the garment which system note that it is important that the clothes are he had placed in the workspace [Figure 4] . available in the store to be handled and tried on. When the modeling techniques and adequately Like the makeup systems, fashion presentation powerful technology become available, such systems systems introduce customers to a broader "database" can also be imagined as a tool for the designer to pre­ of products than they might otherwise consider -- and view a design. Rather that working with a database give them a tool to manage it. These systems put to of digitized pictures, the designer creates a three­ use the same shopping techniques exercised without dimensional model of a garment which can then be technology: collecting and editing data with the goal displayed in the workspace from any point of view, at of making a purchase. various levels of detail, and with colors and textures Developing the notion that interactive computer defined on the fly. graphics can provide a medium that can evoke the "presence" of the garment, the author designed a sys­ SHOW M tem (at the Machine Group, Mas­ sachusetts Institute of Technology) where a joystick can be used to interactively rotate a garment. This was accomplished by photographing a coat [10) from a series of points of view. The photographs were digi­ tized and laid out in a grid as one picture. This was then displayed in an AED frame buffer which could i' f , I1 pan to and zoom up the appropriate image in real time as the viewer moves a joystick to indicate the direction from which he wants to view the garment. In another project, the same database of multiple images could be manipulated interactively in a . < J stereoscopic computer graphics workstation [11, 12] . If The workspace combines a stereoscopic video display with a real by means of a semi-transparent mir­ Figure 4 Coat displayed from different viewpoints in ror. Images were placed and moved in the space using workspace. Both left and right images of stereoscopic an electromagnetic 6 degree of fr eedom digitizer pair are visible.

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One shortcoming of a video image of a garment is - such as gleams and glitters, highly reflective sur­ that a person cannot touch the fabric and have direct faces, or wireframes -- are not necessarily a()propriate exposure to its colors and its quality. Computer to the style conscious subject matter. Othe:r popular graphics must be able to create visual effects that techniques such as fly-through camera mo-ves, that evoke the immediacy of a garment. Fashion videos rely on creating three-dimensional models, are not which use computer animation may be one such inherently the best way to present the subjed matter means. Unlike a video recording of a fashion show and can be cost-prohibitive. which can seem diminished on tape, animations can The control which the computer gives to the be used to show fashion on the move. It can be seen video image is suitable for making an empbatic state­ as an effective extension to the controlled illusion ment. Rather than falling short of real lile, the effect created by fashion photography. "Attitude", which in of a computer animation can be thought of as a many ways is the essence of any particular style, can caprice on real life -- much as fashion is. be evoked in an animation or using computer pro­ cessed photographs intercut with live action. Rererences In a fashion video produced by the author at 1. Barr, Alan, "Global and Local Deformations of Computer Graphics Lab, NYIT, still photographs are Solid Primitives," Siggraph '84 Conference Proceed­ processed and animated. An experimental video was ings, Vo!. 18, no. 3. , pp. 21-30. used to explore relatively low-cost techniques for using 2. Fournier, A., D. Fussell, and L. Carpenter, "Com­ the computer to animate fashion images. The data­ puter rendering of stochastic models," Communica­ base of images was just two still photographs of tions of the ACM, 25, 6, 1982, pp. 371-384. models in clothes by the design company Body Map 3. Williams, Lance, "Pyramidal Parametrjcs," Sig­ and "soft fonts" P3] . The two images were digitized graph '83 Co nference Proceedings, Vo!. 17, ()p. 1-11. and processed with Ikonas frame buffer software 4. Williams, Lance. developed at the Computer Graphics Lab. Pictures 5. Coat modeled by Glenn McQueen and Theresa Bllis were then zoomed up, sharpened and blurred with low at the Computer Graphics Laboratory, NYIT. and high pass filters, and recolored by merging 6. Lundin, Richard V., "Motion Simulatioll," Nico­ different colormaps [see Figures 5-6] . Mattes were graph '84 Conference Proceedings, pp. 9-11. produced from the pictures and used for selectively 7. SRA Data-Processing Curriculum Grou(), Computer using parts of images and putting the images against Concepts, Science Research Associates, Inc. 1970, p. 8. different backgrounds. The mattes were also used for 8. Tadanori, Yokoo, Made in Japan: The lex/iles of animated shadows. The type was seven letters from Jurgen Lehl. Parco Co. , Ltd. Tokyo. 1983. an alphabet of two-bit Clarendon soft fonts which 9 . The New York Times, "Th e Computer Is a Hit at were zoomed up, blurred, recolored and warped. the Cosmetics Counter," Anne-Marie Shim. October Ul\lJX shell scripts [14] were used to define the 29, 1984. animation sequences. Each movement was specified 10. Virginia Hatley, New York City, 1981 Collection. as an interpolation between a beginning and end posi­ 11 . Schmandt, C., "Spatial Input/Display Correspon­ tion over a given number of frames. Interpolation was dence in a Stereoscopic Computer Graphic Work Sta­ determined by linear, ease in and ease out functions. tion," Siggraph '83 Conference Proceedin.gs, Vo!. 17, no. 3, pp. 253-261. Many of the techniques are similar to those used 12. Nisselson, J., " A model kit: a system for to optically process photographs. The computer offers constructing three-dimensional interactive graphic the advantage of special filters, enhanced color mani­ models ." M.S. thesis, MIT 1983. pulation with a range of 24 bits of color, control of 13. Negroponte, N., "Soft Fonts", Proceedings, level of detail (such as magnifying accessories and Society for Information Display, 1980. fabric patterns), changing text, and most important, 14. UNIX is a trademark of Bell Laboratories. UNIX is movement. Many standard computer special effects a multi-user, interactive operating system.

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