Complex physically simulated fabric folds generated using FoldSketch: (left to right) Plain input flag with user sketched schematic folds (a), original (green) and modified final (red) patterns (b); final post-simulation flag augmented with user-expected folds (c); real-life replica manufactured using the produced patterns (d); zooming in highlights the complex and evolving output fold profile shapes (e).

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While folds and pleats add interest to garments and cloth objects, incorporating them into an existing design manually or using existing software requires expertise and time. We present FoldSketch, a new system that supports simple and intuitive fold and pleat design. FoldSketch users specify the fold or pleat configuration they seek using a simple schematic sketching interface; the system then algorithmically generates both the fold-enhanced 3D garment geometry that conforms to user specifications, and the corresponding 2D patterns that reproduce this geometry within a simulation engine. While previous work aspired to compute the desired patterns for a given target 3D garment geometry, our main algorithmic challenge is that we do not have target geometry to start with. Real-life garment folds have complex profile shapes, and their exact geometry and location on a garment are intricately linked to a range of physical factors such as fabric properties and the garment's interaction with the wearer's body; it is therefore virtually impossible to predict the 3D shape of a fold-enhanced garment using purely geometric means. At the same time, using physical simulation to model folds requires appropriate 2D patterns and initial drape, neither of which can be easily provided by the user. We obtain both the 3D fold-enhanced garment and its corresponding patterns and initial drape via an alternating 2D-3D algorithm. We first expand the input patterns by allocating excess material for the expected fold formation; we then use these patterns to produce an estimated fold-enhanced drape geometry that balances designer expectations against physical reproducibility. We use the patterns and the estimated drape as input to a simulation generating an initial reproducible output. We improve the output's alignment with designer expectations by progressively refining the patterns and the estimated drape, converging to a final fully physically reproducible fold-enhanced garment. Our experiments confirm that FoldSketch reliably converges to a desired garment geometry and corresponding patterns and drape, and works well with different physical simulators. We demonstrate the versatility of our approach by showcasing a collection of garments augmented with diverse fold and pleat layouts specified via the FoldSketch interface, and further validate our approach via comparisons to alternative solutions and feedback from potential users.

@article{Li:2018:FoldSketch,
  author  = {Li, Minchen and Sheffer, Alla and Grinspun, Eitan and Vining, Nicholas},
  title   = {FoldSketch: Enriching Garments with Physically Reproducible Folds},
  journal = {ACM Transaction on Graphics},
  year    = {2018},
  volume = {37},
  number = {4},
  doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3197517.3201310},
  publisher = {ACM},
  address = {New York, NY, USA}
}

Vertical, diagonal, and horizontal folds and pleats added on various loose and tight fitting garments.

Folds and pleats created from designer annotations.

Extreme material experiment (left), tissue box cover and manufacturing (right).

Note: some of the input garments shown are copyrighted by third parties and used with their permission. See the Acknowledgements section of our paper for detail.