TEHRAN (ISNA)- An Iranian student along with his colleagues at California University, San Diego, has developed a new model to simulate with unprecedented accuracy on the computer the way cloth and light interact.
The new model can be used in animated movies and in video games to make cloth look more realistic.

Existing models are either too simplistic and produce unrealistic results; or too complex and costly for practical use. Researchers presented their findings at the SIGGRAPH 2013 conference held in Anaheim, Calif.

"Not only is our model easy to use, it is also more powerful than existing models," said Iman Sadeghi, who developed the model while working on his Ph.D. in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at UC San Diego. He currently works for Google in Los Angeles, after earning his Ph.D. in 2011.

"The model solves the long standing problem of rendering cloth," said Sadeghi.

The model is based on a novel approach that simulates the interaction of light with cloth by simulating how each thread scatters light. The model then uses that information based on the fabric's weaving pattern. "It essentially treats the fabric as a mesh of interwoven microcylinders, which scatter light the same way as hair, but are oriented at 90 degrees from each other," Sadeghi said.

Sadeghi is an expert on the subject of simulating light interacting with hair. While a Ph.D. student in Jensen's research group, he developed a model that does just that and that was later used in Disney's "Tangled," a retelling of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale Rapunzel. The animated movie's main character sported 70 feet of simulated blond hair.

By ISNA

 

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