3D CAD for Garment Design

The quality of graphics on modern workstations has improved to the stage where photographic image standards are possible. The difficulty now is that to use such equipment effectively, a designer has to create a complex image without the burden of excessive data input. Describes a system which meets this challenge by allowing the designer to enter and modify the complex edges and surfaces comprising the garment. Advantage is taken of the closed nature of the design problem whereby design takes place with respect to an underlying body form. The form is first represented as a shaded image. The designer can then move around the body form inserting style lines where desired, while making a visual assessment of shape and position. Further software tools allow the lines to be edited and the interpolating surfaces between the lines to be added. As the entities created are specified mathematically in 3D space, the required pattern shapes can be derived. To add visual realism to the images, fabric textures can be rendered onto the garment pieces while rotate and zoom facilities allow viewing from any angle and relative distance.