Ubiquitous,personalization, convergence, media devices and SNS, UCC (User CreatedContents) and collaboration have recently emerged as key words of the era.Under the circumstances, more and more digital contents have been created through the use of 3D technology and introduced through the use of 3D displays.It is expected to become important elements in the clothing fashion industry.

The3D technology is mostly used in human body scanners, computer graphics, virtual reality, 3D printers and displays. If the 3D technology is applied to fashion,it is expected to play an important role in fashion business on the Internet,consumer-oriented industrialization, cultural industrialization, high value added industrialization and globalization.

In particular, only the 'customized products' had existed in the fashion industry for thousands of years in the past before mass products were introduced more than 100 years ago in line with industrialization. However, as it becomes possible to view Make To Order products in advance through application to a 3Davatar based on the 3D technology, a new market for consumer oriented mass customized products is expected to replace a market for 'mass products' to a great extent.

Functions of 3D digital fashion technology can be divided into hardware aspects and software ones. First of all, a non-contact 3D scanner has been developed in terms of hardware. As a non-contact 3D body scanner is commercialized to be supplied to business establishments, made-to-measure clothing befitting consumers have been realized. If the device is used, the shape of the human body expressed through information on size can be accurately represented.Measuring of body sizes based on a 3D body scanner is convenient and makes impossible to preserve data on a permanent basis. As it takes only one minute or less to finish measuring, it does not put bodily pressure on the subject, and-there is wide scope for use of source enabling scientific classification of the body. It not only gives shape to industrialized production of made to-measure clothing products but it also heralds rapid changes in an existing pattern-making method and a grading method based on information on size presently used by clothing manufacturers to design well fitting clothing.

Supply of 3D scanners has been facilitated at home, and they have yet to be applied to various apparel sectors, but 3D scanner-based technology has been applied to the underwear sector on a partial basis. In addition, the Korea Agency for Technology and Standards has used non-contact 3D body scanners for the purpose of conducting survey on personal sizes and posture through a national project titled Size Korea since 2004. Such 3D scanners as Cyber ware (the U.S.), Human Solution (Germany), Photonics (Japan) and Telmat (France) have been marketed. Until now, it has been focused on reconstituting measuring points of the body in a three-dimensional way to acquire sizes of desired body parts, but the entire process of measurement of the body, creation of patterns and fitting is expected to be automatically implemented on the Internet through the use of a 3D apparel CAD system.

'3D application technology' has become a hot conversation topic in terms of software. As advanced techniques including numerical analysis, approximation technology, geometric modeling technology, computer graphics technology and computer vision technology and performance of personal computers have been rapidly advanced, it has become possible to express the body and clothing in a three dimensional way. The 3D application technology has been applied to i-Fashion and apparel CAD in the most vigorous way. If 3D technology is applied, apparel companies can acquire personal information on sizes by using 3D body data and create 3D avatars based on it while obtaining diversified standard dummies adopted by the industry.

In addition, it is possible to tryon actual clothes or products in the virtual reality by using a 3D subject based on characteristics of raw material and subsidiary materials and information on 2D plane patterns and sewing lines. At that time, silhouettes of clothes can be reviewed according to characteristics of fabrics, and wearing conditions, the amount of modification by part of fabric at a time of wearing, clothing pressure and a gap with the body can be confirmed. As simulation results at a time of wearing are 3Dbased data, a gap between body parts and clothing can be confirmed in a cross-sectional way.

A 3D clothing model required to manufacture clothing can be made through the use of a 3D dummy or the body, and outlines and sewing lines of clothing and the position of dart can be drawn directly on the model to make the most fitting 2D pattern. Although the 2D pattern-making method will not completely replace the existing pattern making method, a new concept pattern-making method based on 3D cutting will be introduced to a great extent in the future. It will be an innovative method according to which existing unskilled pattern makers can easily acquire patterns through the use of 3D. This method will drastically change the concept of grading pattern acquired through adjustment of the amount of grading from existing standard patterns. It is due to the fact that pattern-makers can automatically acquire the most fitting patterns by modifying the size of a 3D clothing model without grading.

In addition to the sale of fashion products on the Internet, high-tech digital stores and virtual exhibition halls to which a smart card system is applied are appearing. If the virtual exhibition hall is used, design of interior and interior space and arrangement of products can be realized through the use of a program, and it can be applied to actual exhibitions at a store. In addition, purchasers or users can select desired products, colors or designs through the use of a virtual exhibition hall, and a fashion show can be put on in the virtual space based on DIY (do it yourself). In the meantime, if users enter their size on the Internet, a web solution receives it to create a 3D avatar and compare it with a standard body type before management of customers' body type and order-made clothes. Due to limitation of communication speed and transmission capacity, dynamic movement or change of 3D images cannot be implemented on a real-time basis, but handling or simulation of static 3D images has been proactively commercialized in the form of web solutions. Furthermore, data compression technology aimed to transmit video or image is advanced at a rapid speed, so almost all application software is expected to be established based on the web in the not too distant future. This technology is expected to be applied to the game industry and the animation industry. In addition, if smart cards or mobile system within digital stores are used, information (measurements, clothing size and etc.) on customers visiting stores can be transformed into customer oriented sale system within stores through the use of a smart card or mobile system. It is expected to be rapidly applied by clothing stores.

Virtual Fashion

Cloth simulation, a technology that reproduces the appearance and dynamic behavior of cloth using computers, has been widely used in film, game, and fashion industries.

This article was originally published in the December issue of the magazine, New Cloth Market the complete textile magazines from textile technologists."