Skinning a Parameterization of Three-Dimensional Space for Neural Network Cloth
Authors: Jane Wu, Zhenglin Geng, Hui Zhou, Ronald Fedkiw
Abstract: We present a novel learning framework for cloth deformation by embedding virtual cloth into a tetrahedral mesh that parametrizes the volumetric region of air surrounding the underlying body. In order to maintain this volumetric parameterization during character animation, the tetrahedral mesh is constrained to follow the body surface as it deforms. We embed the cloth mesh vertices into this parameterization of three-dimensional space in order to automatically capture much of the nonlinear deformation due to both joint rotations and collisions. We then train a convolutional neural network to recover ground truth deformation by learning cloth embedding offsets for each skeletal pose. Our experiments show significant improvement over learning cloth offsets from body surface parameterizations, both quantitatively and visually, with prior state of the art having a mean error five standard deviations higher than ours. Without retraining, our neural network generalizes to other body shapes and T-shirt sizes, giving the user some indication of how well clothing might fit. Our results demonstrate the efficacy of a general learning paradigm where high-frequency details can be embedded into low-frequency parameterizations.