My first experience of 3D body scanning was
standing dead still in my undies in a curtained cubicle to capture my form
using a Cartesia Body Scanner at the Kangan Institute’s Textile and Fashion Hub
in Richmond
During a recent lecture of 3 Explorations
in 3D, Kate Kennedy from RMIT University London
- New Materiality in terms of 3D printing and the new polymers, also touching on laser cutting technology not just as a surface treatment, but as a way of integrating modern technology into commercial garments. Ms Kennedy referenced The Cutting Class blog quoting “…it is going to be essential that the technology serves the design, and that the design has not merely been shaped to fit with the technology.”
- New Media and the changing environment for business that comes with enhanced access via Social media. Me-commerce; as the personalisation of e-commerce when consumers look for customised, bespoke products and experiences. 3D printing in the home makes this possible, taking manufacturing from the factory to the studio or garden shed. Currently platforms like Etsy.com and madeit.com.au create unique hand crafted products using an e-commerce platform to sell their wares. Re-commerce; or reverse commerce refers to the recovery of products, whether it be recycling or re-selling. Some designers will exchange clothing and accessories for vouchers or discounts, as well as designer vintage clothing shops going online, BuyMyWardrobe. There is a plethora of new ways to sell online and these are just the tip of the iceberg.
- New Fast Fashion - consumption of a purely virtual clothing collections or “assets” shown by example from Marvellous Designer (MD) a website creating digital clothing for the online world. MD – is a 3D virtual database of fashion and costumes, the software uses pattern making and simulated draping techniques to create digital images of clothing, with various features such as quilting, pleating, darts, top stitching and trims. Instead of illustrating garments in a sketch, the garment illustrations are based on pattern making principles and technical drawings, giving realistically proportioned and functional looking apparel. Whether these patterns would actually sew together correctly in ‘real’ fabric is perhaps a FAQ. However, that is not the point, and it’s hugely advantageous to show/sell a virtual range without having sewn a thing, another case for pre-commerce – (selling something you haven’t actually made yet ;-). Not to overlook the obvious benefits of receiving feedback from buyers and taking pre-orders before you engage in manufacturing costs or contribute ultimately to landfill.
- New Luxury – as I understand it is defined
as the coming together of creativity and craft with innovative methods and
cutting edge technology. Local innovator Douglas McManus an artist and textile
teacher at
Body scanning technology has been around
for 15 to 20 years. Now with either direct body scanning or image capture from a
webcam or mobile phone camera, a series of photos can be converted into a 3D
model using software for example, Autodesk 123D. 3D body scanning
allows us to generate measurements for a very wide range of human shapes and
analyse them accurately. As an industry we cannot afford to be locked into a
stereotypical (standardised) and binary (male and female) vision of the ideal
size because it’s counter intuitive when faced with mass market customization.
We are also missing the opportunity to wear clothing that actually fits!
“Going toward Z” was the way that Ms
Kennedy described the upskilling from traditional clothing design to computer
based design. The drivers being a shift in the clothing industry from flat 2D paper
pattern making cut and sew model to a new community within a 3D virtual and
digital space. Clothing factory practice in Australia
Having the correct size mannequin and body
forms to work on within the studio is also vital to achieve excellent fit
results. Toni Stalls proprietor of Integral-T has been a pioneer in
understanding and using a broad variety of mannequins not only in standard
shapes but also customised size forms. Toni who has taught me Grafis this year
also attended the lecture, Ms Kennedy mentioned how lucky we are in Melbourne University of Sydney
Ms Kennedy has been analysing body scans to look at shape definition and new classifications. Within her lecture she described the discussion around male and female shapes, in relation to menswear/womenswear and how today’s students are increasingly gender neutral in designing unisex clothing.
Body scanning in 3D allows you to look at the
human form on every level in a topographical way. “A landscape of mass” a
“somatic topography” is how Ms Kennedy describes it. The transverse body
sections in slices, like bacon, reminded me of the exhibition Body World by Gunther von Hagen, fascinating and remarkable work of real human bodies displayed in slices. Extending this idea it’s possible to build your own bodies
and models using the bifurcated body areas. These are then used to build, compare, describe and categorise particular sets of shapes. For example scale and repeatability – select
a minimum number of lines to be used on the body as landmarks. The more complex
an area, the more lines there will be needed to describe it i.e. shoulders and
bust. The lower body by comparison needs fewer lines to describe the shape as
it is a simpler form i.e. waist to hips. The students realised this by experimenting
with cardboard, creating human forms in 90 minutes, much in the same way that
the elks head is sculptured.
The cookie cutter way that the clothing
industry currently manufactures clothing is systemically wrong when reflecting
on the variety of human shapes and sizes observed with 3D body scanning
surveys. Ms Kennedy showed a slide of two waist circumferences superimposed
one on top of the other, one waist measurement a solid line (female) and the
other a dashed line (male). The waist measurement was taken from a 3D scan of
the cross section of male and female model of approximately the same age. The
only difference was in their Body Mass Index (BMI ). The male model had
a BMI of 23 and the female model a lower BMI of 18. The fact is
that the lines followed the same path and only deviated slightly from each
other. Within this size category the waist is very similar and debunks the
girls have smaller waists and guys are broader through the waist myth.
The subject of 3D printing and body scanning is very new and still on the periphery of the fashion industry, but the implications that it has for the future of the industry are indisputable. The way we buy clothing online these days is to select category of men women child, then the garment type ie jacket, skirt, trousers, tops etc and then the size. Perhaps this will be turned on its head when everyone knows their size, because its part of their online profile. Instead we put in our size spec and the store returns clothing that would fit our individual frame perfectly, this would mean that clothing sold online would have to be tagged with accurate specs in the metadata. Maybe this is asking to much? I for one don't think so.
I would like to thank Ms Kennedy for the inspiration to write this blog and furthering my interest in 3D technology. The in-depth and insightful research that went into this lecture is built on years of work in this field. Her lecture was both informative and thought provoking.
Have a go and get into it with the
following links!!
MD – virtual pattern making
Scultptris – digital art without barriers
Autodesk 123D – turn ordinary series of
photos into 3D models
No comments:
Post a Comment