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Nice Threads! Computer Scientists Develop New Model to Simulate Cloth on a Computer With Unprecedented Accuracy


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A simulated image of different types of fabrics.

The model used to create this image of simulated fabrics is based on a novel approach that simulates the interaction of light with cloth by simulating how each thread scatters light; the model then uses that information based on the fabrics weaving patte

Credit: Iman Sadeghi et. al., Jacobs School of Engineering/UC San Diego

University of California, San Diego (UCSD) researchers have developed a model to simulate the way cloth and light interact. The researchers say the model can be used in animated movies and in video games to make cloth look more realistic.

"Not only is our model easy to use, it is also more powerful than existing models," says Google's Iman Sadeghi, who helped develop the model while a Ph.D. student at UCSD.

The model is based on an approach that simulates the interaction of light with cloth by simulating how each thread scatters light, and factoring in the weaving pattern. "It essentially treats the fabric as a mesh of interwoven microcylinders, which scatter light the same way as hair, but are oriented at 90 degrees from each other," Sadeghi says.

The model also can act as a framework to visualize what new fabrics would look like, and it can simulate any combination of weaving pattern and thread types, notes Canfield Scientific's Oleg Bisker, who helped develop the model while a student at UCSD. The researchers aim to demonstrate the model's ability to handle different types of thread and an unlimited variety of weaving patterns.

From UCSD News (CA)
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Abstracts Copyright © 2013 Information Inc., Bethesda, Maryland, USA


 

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