Uses of 3D visualisation in fashion
By: Kirke Leinatamm
Tags: 3d Modeling, Product Development, 3d Fashion, Fashion, Cgi

A short overview

What’s in common with the following pictures?

Yes, it’s all 3D. First, you can see a picture of a car commercial. For some of us, it can be a new thing, but it is normality already for a long time for the car commercials to be fully computer rendered. We don’t even notice it because it seems so real. And car commercials are not the only ones, most of the commercials nowadays are fully or partially made by a computer using 3D visualisation.

But before we dig deeper into this topic, it is important to understand what is meant by 3D visualisation. Although when mentioning 3D, most people associate it with 3D printing. But the 3D world is a lot bigger. When a 3D printer produces something tangible, 3D visualisation, as its name, visualises things or scenes using just the computer. 3D visualisation is used synonymously with 3D graphics, 3D rendering and Computer-Generated Imagery (or more commonly known as CGI) to name a few. It involves combining both technical, as well as artistic skills, including designing, composing, symmetry, photography, adding moods, structures, surroundings. All this is meshed into a visual story through digital technology, imagery, interactive presentations and videos to create realistic experiences (Business Partner Magazine, 2019).

We began with introducing 3D visualisation in advertising which is the most visible of the different uses for common people. But 3D visualisation can be used in many various fields besides advertising. For example, the real estate industry uses 3D for virtual walkthroughs and also rendered floor plans as detailed as the example picture at the beginning of this article. Pen and paper is also history for architects, 3D visualisation enables architects to show their vision with an extraordinary level of detail. Not to mention dentists — many of them use a 3D CAD dental program to capture x-ray images of damaged teeth before using the images to create customized 3D prints of a crown. What used to require several dentist visits along two to three several weeks of waiting now takes up only an hour of the patient’s time. (Cad Crowd, 2019)

In this article, we are going to focus on 3D visualisation in fashion. As you now understand, three-dimensional working is nothing new for many industries, but due to many reasons, the fashion industry has been reticent to implement this technology (The WhichPLM Report, 2015).

3D in Product Development

In fashion companies, the development of technology has mainly occurred at the factory level, being mostly about new machinery. Whereas in the product development area, companies are still using old tools and methods to communicate with vendors (Shalev, 2017). One of the most time and money consuming phase of product development is the sampling process. Companies develop 5–6 prototypes for each garment and this means repeating the path of cutting, sewing and shipping many times before the garment is approved, culminating in high cost, time and energy. (Papahristou, 2017)

The amount of samples usually comes from miscommunication between the designers and the product development department. Instead of 2D sketches that can be interpreted in different ways, brands can now use various 3D CAD programs to visualise their ideas. This way, the physical need for samples can be cut down by 50% (ColourCake.Medium, 2020). This saves time, money, and well of course our planet. In fact, the latter has significant value when you think of the material waste and all the deliveries had to be made (often long-distance shipping).

3D model of a dress made by Kirke Leinatamm using CLO3D

3D in Marketing

As the visualisation and realistic simulation of fabrics have become better and better, very close to the actual fabric's properties, using computer-rendered images for different marketing and selling reasons is now a possibility. 3D visuals of a garment can be used as product images in an e-store, cutting the cost of expensive and time-consuming photoshoots.

Moreover, brands can use virtual showrooms to showcase their products to their buyers without having to travel or send samples across the globe. Virtual showrooms have become especially popular during the pandemic, enabling the fashion industry to continue its business also during travel restrictions.

A virtual showroom of Hugo Boss

Custom-made garments and 3D avatars

3D visualisation in both product development and marketing require models, that is 3D avatars. 3D avatar development and 3D garment virtualisation go hand in hand because, in order to showcase an outfit, we need both the model and the outfit to put on the model. Today, the advanced 3D avatars together with body-scanning methods allow businesses to make custom-made apparel much more easily and quickly.

There are emerging businesses in the body-scanning field using different technologies. For example, you can download an app with which you have to take just 2 pictures of yourself and it generates your own avatar with your measurements. Businesses then can use your avatar to adjust the garments to your body using 3D CAD systems.

Virtual try-on

With a garment fully made in 3D CAD, it is possible to try it on any kind of avatars while the programme shows its real fit. This technology is already used by different businesses that offer virtual try-on platforms for e-stores. As a customer, you can go to a brand’s e-store as usual, but you can also generate your own avatar there. Then you can try on the garments offered at the webstore, being able to see if the garment fits or not. According to one of those platforms, virtual try-on is able to lower the return rate by 50%!

Virtual clothes that you can buy

Yes, you can buy virtual clothes. Why would you want to do that? They will edit the virtual garment on a picture of you and then you can share it on social media platforms without actually having to buy a physical garment. One of the brands that offer digital clothing is the Swedish brand Carlings. Their collection, which is priced between $10 and $30, consists of jeans, jackets, boiler suits and accessories, with a portion of the proceeds going to the charity Water­Aid. (The National News, 2019)

Digital collections solve the problem of fast fashion and people not wanting to be seen with the same piece of clothing many times. Or even, as the Carlings has stated: “Carlings created the range in an attempt to help combat the very real environmental threat posed by the fast fashion industry.” (The National News, 2019)

Carlings digital clothing

Would you buy virtual clothes?