A Comparison of Fit and Appearance between Real Pants with 3D Virtual Pants

Several retailers such as Target and Kohle’s and their vendors have piloting the 3D clothing simulation programs to produce garment samples. However, few studies have verified the virtual fit information and 3d visualization process for pants, and no study compared the commercial 3D virtual programs. This study is designed to analyze similarity of fit and appearance between real pants with 3D virtual pants based on three 3D virtual programs (Optitex, CLO 3D, and i-Designer), three lower body types (slim, normal, and thick waist type), and fit status. We selected a representative model for each lower body type, produced their custom pants according to Lee and Nam’s method(2007), and took photos of front, side and back view for visual analysis. Then, we virtually tried each model’s custom pants on her parametric avatar developed by manually inputting their body measurements using the three 3D virtual program. Thirty fit experts compared the real fit to virtual fit. This study found that ‘Optitex’ and ‘i-Designer’ can visualize more effectively than ‘CLO 3D’ in many fit locations. Regarding the body types, 3D virtual program can visualize pants fit for ‘thick waist body type’ more preciously than the other body types. With respect to fit status, it does not affect much on the similarity overall.