Patent ID: 8364561

Claim:
A garment digitization system configured to operate on either or both of a desktop computer system and a specialized internet server computer linked over a network to at least one web-enabled device, said computer or combination of computers forming a system comprising: a capture apparatus including one or both of a camera and an image scanner, and further configured, when executed by suitable circuitry of a computing device, to process a physical garment sample into a digital representation thereof, the digital representation consisting of two-dimensional contours from a flat state of each panel of said garment sample; a three-dimensional template generation and storage mechanism configured, when executed on a desktop or server-based computer, to produce and store generalized three-dimensional templates reflecting the two-dimensional panel contours of garments that have been processed into panels, each template including a grouping of panels that are oriented, in virtual three-dimensional space, with their connections vis-a-vis each other defined, and each panel having default mechanical attributes thereof defined; a template transformation mechanism configured, when executed on a desktop or server-based, computer, to select a stored generalized three-dimensional template of a garment style that closely matches a style of a digital representation of a particular digitally captured garment sample, and further configured to transform the generalized template into a copy of the particular garment sample, wherein each panel within the copy assumes the precise dimensions of the particular garment sample; and a drape simulation mechanism configured on a desktop or server-based computer operatively coupled with the capture apparatus, the three-dimensional template generation and storage mechanism, and the template transformation mechanism, the drape simulation mechanism further configured to simulate a three-dimensional form fit of a garment sample onto a body represented in the simulator mechanism, the drape simulation mechanism configured to produce a representative drape of the garment sample, and the simulator mechanism further compiling the resultant representative drape together with the garment sample's mechanical and optical attributes into a digital instance of the garment sample suitable for further use.