An Interactive System for Original Necklace Design
Yuki Igarashi *Tsubasa Hiyama
Meiji University

Kaoru Arakawa

Figure 1: System Overview.

Abstract
We propose an interactive system to assist novices in the designand construction of original necklaces. The system consists of two
design tools, an interactive drag-and-drop design tool using
images of pearls and a design selection tool with an interactive
evolutionary computation (IEC) system. The system includes avirtual modeling simulation which allows users to superimpose anecklace design over their own photograph, taken with a webcamera. The system also provides a customized construction
guide to assist the user with the construction process. We conduct
a field trial to demonstrate that non-professional users can design
original necklaces using our system.
Keywords: interactive design, construction guide, fabrication
Concepts: •Computing methodologies→Computer Graphics;
Human-centered computing→Interaction techniques;

1 Introduction
Making original necklaces is a popular, traditional handicraft, andmany professionals design their own original work. On the other
hand, novices usually follow an off-the-shelf design or buy
necklace kits because it can be difficult for novices to visualize
and design their own necklaces successfully without assistance.
To address this problem, we have developed an interactive system*e-mail: [yukim@acm.org]
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SIGGRAPH '16, July 24-28, 2016, Anaheim, CA,
ISBN: 978-1-4503-4371-8/16/07
DOI: http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2945078.2945082

to assist novices to design and construct original necklaces. There
are many possible materials which can be used to make necklaces,but our prototype system is limited to one material, known as“cotton pearl beads”. Cotton pearl beads are an imitation pearl
material which is made by encasing compressed cotton with apearl coating. This material has become very popular recently
because it is cheaper, lighter and easier to work than natural pearls.

2 System Overview
Figure 1 shows the overall design system process. There are twoways the proposed system can be used to design an originalnecklace. The user can use an interactive drag-and-drop design
tool using images of “pearls” (Fig. 1(a)) and design the necklace
by manipulating the pearl images through trial-and-error on thescreen. The user has the option of creating a symmetrical designby using the “symmetry design mode”. The second method, theuser can use a design choice tool with an interactive evolutionary
computation (IEC) system (Fig. 1(b)). Since most novices needassistance in creating designs, we decided to focus on the secondmethod, which uses IEC. The system shows the user images ofnecklaces which have been designed by other users using theinteractive design tool. After the user chooses three preferrednecklace images, the system creates next generation options forthe user.
After the user has created a design for their necklace using thesetools, the system proposes multiple complimentary earring
designs (Fig. 1(c)). The system also includes a virtual modelingsimulation, allowing users to superimpose their designed necklace
and selected earrings on their own photograph using a web
camera (Fig. 1(d)). If the results are not satisfactory, the user canreturn to the beginning and create a new design. This closed-loop
framework allows users to experiment with various necklacepatterns before actually producing a real necklace in order toobtain the best possible results.
Finally, the system also provides the user with a construction
guide to assist them with the manual construction process (Fig.
1(e)). The user can then actually produce their original necklace
using the guide (Fig. 1(f)).

3 Implementation
3.1 Design using IEC
IEC is a technique for optimizing the operation of automatedsystems by supplementing them with human input in the form ofsubjective evaluation. It also allows optimal design of complex,
nonlinear systems. IEC has been applied in several fields ofartistic design, such as 3D-CG lighting design [Aoki and Takagi
1997], montage face image generation [Caldwell and Johnston
1991] and office layout [Nakajima et al. 2006]. In this study, we
use a genetic algorithm (GA) for our evolutionary geneticalgorithm. This allows the system to present proposals based on
the subjective evaluation and preferences of the user, who has
selected which images the next generation of designs will bebased upon.

The distance from position vc is used for collision detection. After
convergence, the system only draws the lower portion of Snecklace,from vn0 to vn1 (Fig. 2(d)). The system also draws earrings to scaleusing positions ve0 and ve1 input by the user.

4 Results
Our prototype system operates in real time on a laptop PC (2.4
GHz CPU, 8 GB RAM) using JavaTM. It takes approximately 3.4
to 3.7 seconds for the system to calculate next-generation designs
using interactive evolutionary computation.

The system automatically generates necklace designs using thefollowing four criteria; 1) necklace length, 2) color, and 3)
component information. The system stores an image of eachnecklace design created. The system then calculates the entropy[Lee et al. 2015; Hiyama et al. 2015] of a design, which in thiscase represents the subjective value of “luxury”. Entropy H is256
calculated using the following equation:
1H   p ( y ) log
y 0p( y)The probability of image luminance value y is set to p(y). Ifluminance y is an integer value from 0 to 255, the backgroundpixels are set to y = 256.

Figure 3: Workshop for novices using our system.

The IEC based-system shows the user nine next-generation
versions of the three user-selected designs, based on the entropy
values of the possible images, which are calculated using theequation. The first three figures displayed are the three images
selected by the user, followed by three figures modified using
different colors selected by the user, in descending order ofentropy. The system also displays three versions of the design
with different necklace lengths, also in high-entropy order, andthe remaining three designs displayed by the system are mutationsof these generated designs.

We organized a small workshop for novice users (Fig. 3 and Fig.
4), at which 21 users (2 men, 19 women) designed necklaces
using the system. The participants gave us valuable feedback for
future improvements.

3.2 Virtual modeling

5 Conclusion and Future Work

Our system allows users to view images of themselves with
virtual representations of necklace designs. As shown in Figure2(a), the user clicks on two points on either side of their neck asshown in the image, at points vn0 and vn1, and on two earring
positions, points ve0 and ve1. When the user selects the “wearing”
option, the system generates a circle stroke (Sneck) centered on
point vc, which is the midpoint between vn0 and vn1, with adiameter of the distance between vn0 to vn1. This circle represents
a virtual neck, around which the system then draws the designed
necklace stroke Snecklace. We use 29.8 cm for the perimeter of theneck, which is the average neck size of Japanese women.

We proposed an interactive system to assist novice users in thedesign and construction of original necklaces. Overall, users
found the system helpful and easy to use. In the future, we would
like to explore other IEC metrics which will make it easier fordesigners to create the necklaces they envision. We also plan tofurther develop the construction guide to make it easier to use.

Figure 2: Diagram of virtual modeling simulation process.
The system then applies relaxation to Snecklace using a mass-springmodel, so as to not embed the virtual necklace in Sneck, while also
providing simulated gravity and collision detection (Fig. 2(c)).

Figure 4: Examples of actual necklaces created by users.

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