Experimental and numerical analysis of virtual fabrics shapeability

What is it about?

Virtual prototyping is integral to modern apparel design, yet a gap persists between a virtual material's input mechanical properties and its ability to conform to complex anatomical shapes. This study develops a novel framework to quantify the shapeability of virtual textiles on convex body areas. A library of thirteen parametrically-defined, body-mimicking forms was created, approximating the chest, stomach, blade and buttocks across standard male ASTM sizes. A regimen of 3,468 simulations tested 34 virtual materials, deforming them with varied dart widths. Fabric conformity was measured using the Hausdorff distance. The results yielded a new shapeability index (Sp), which normalises conformity by surface density. Validation through digital and physical experiments confirmed the index's consistency across body sizes and areas. A predictable relationship was found between Sp and surface density, enabling a new classification of materials into four shapeability groups. This study was supported by the Russian Science Foundation under Project № 25-11-00022 ‘A technology of testing textile materials in a virtual environment for 3D modeling of clothes’.

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Why is it important?

This study developed a novel framework to objectively quantify the shapeability of virtual textiles, providing a deeper understanding and improved prediction of virtual material behaviour in digital clothing simulation.

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