Knitwear customisation as repeated redesign.

Date
2003-10-06
Authors
Eckert, Claudia
Stacey, Martin
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
ISSN
0942-5098
DOI
Volume Title
Publisher
Technical University of Munich
Peer reviewed
Yes
Abstract
Producing large numbers of garment variants will only be economically viable if it requires very little human effort. But garment customisation cannot always be fully automated. Applying grading rules maintain the same details but sometimes achieves a different overall effect; but the customer expects the same overall effect and is less concerned about details. Choosing between alternative customisations requires a human designer's trained perceptual judgement. Therefore a viable mass customisation support system must support the repeated redesign of a garment by combining automatic design with fast human editing. Evaluating and modifying the suggestions of others is a natural and efficient activity for designers. This paper describes two prototype automatic design systems exploring techniques that could be used for mass customisation of knitted garments - in which the shape and patterns are indivisibly linked. An early pattern placing system that automatically altered both shape and pattern parameters in a variety of alternative ways. A shape design system that generates technically correct and consistent garment shapes from a set of measurements and a verbal description; it works independently of sizes, recalculating the shape for each new set of measurements. Starting from the system's suggestions, designers can very quickly tweak the new design to fulfil their aesthetic intentions.
Description
Engineering Design Centre, University of Cambridge
Keywords
knitwear design, mass customization, redesign
Citation
Eckert, C.M. and Stacey, M.K. (2003) Knitwear Customisation as Repeated Redesign, Proceedings of the 2nd Interdisciplinary World Congress on Mass Customization and Personalization, Technical University of Munich, Germany.
Research Institute