Posted September 15, 2014

 

A Cornell University professor aims to develop a method for 3D scanning of textile materials such as jeans and other soft objects like shoes.

 

Stephen Marschner, professor of computer science at Cornell University, has been funded by Research at Google, the Internet giant’s R&D division, to have 3D scanning of clothing that will fit against the body of a specific person.

 

According to a press release from Cornell, the project funded by Google will involve static scan of soft objects along with dynamic scan of the object in its full shape. The research will start with simple objects such as shoe and a cloth pouch and will eventually move into clothing.

 

The 3D scanning system, which can acquire realistic model of garments on a large scale, can potentially change the online marketing of clothing, Marschner said.

 

Scanning rigid objects has become routine, using 3D cameras or software that combines multiple still images from different angles into a 3D model. The model can be fed to a 3D printer to make a copy or be used as the basis for a computer graphic image.

 

In scanning clothing and other soft objects, there’s good news and bad news. It’s easy to move the object around to scan front and back, outside and inside, and in a variety of poses. But the computer can get confused about which points in the object are supposed to be connected: If the flap of a handbag is raised, should the front of the bag come with it?

 

Marschner and his team plan to combine static scans of an object in various positions with video of it in motion to capture the whole shape, inside and out, and end up with a working model of how it moves.

 

Dr. Seshadri Ramkumar is professor of Countermeasures to Chemical and Biological Threats, Nonwovens & Advanced Materials at Texas Tech.