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Virtual Dummy To Try On Clothes
Roland Piquepaille writes "BBC News reports that Toshiba is working with a Japanese software company to create a 3-D fashion simulator that will allow virtual modelling and coordination of clothes, cosmetics and accessories in real time. This means that by as early as 2006, you will no longer have to contortion yourself in a minuscule fitting room. 'Video cameras snap the shopper, then clothes and accessories are selected and displayed immediately. The process of turning the images of the shopper into photo-realistic avatar -- or virtual representation -- happens in real-time.' This summary contains more details and references. It also contains images of a virtual model trying different clothes and accessories adapted to different backgrounds."
Oh, great. A computer simulation of my big, fat butt. I am overcome with joy at the prospect.
Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
This means that by as early as 2006, you will no longer have to contortion yourself in a minuscule fitting room.
...
And there goes the hidden cam live internet feed porn business
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
People don't try on cloths to see what the cloths look like. They can do that by just looking at them. People try cloths on to see how they fit - ie, how big their boobs/asses look.
Quid festinatio swallonis est aetherfuga inonusti?
Africus aut Europaeus?
Is my coffee defective, or is this concept just underwhelming?
"Derp de derp."
After these roll out, how long would it be until the software is modified to bias how you look?
It could make you more "perfect," and you would buy that dress!
I don't think they should have used "start with a naked model" and "seduce even men" in the same article. :-)
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
I defy anybody to be able to make my clothes match up though, what with this being /. and all. We shall not be cool!
Gee, I hate when I have to contortion myself anywhere. To even have to contort myself, grammatically correctly no less, would be even more brutal.
Canadian Cynic, canadian politics is less boring than you
My wife has been calling me a "virtual dummy" for years! Think I should apply for this job?
"Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney
First of all, the same size is never the same size is never the same size. If you really want to know whether the clothes fit, you have to put them on. A second, related point is whether the clothes are comfortable. No matter how good they look, in the end you need to wear them.
The net will not be what we demand, but what we make it. Build it well.
I take the summary (about to leave work, can't RTFA) to mean that "Toshiba and a Japanese software company" haven't started the project, much less come up with a working prototype. Since getting stores to buy and use (and therefore test) this sort of thing would take a couple years, I'll believe this isn't vaporware when it's in the first store.
Maybe they're working on my flying car, too.
It's nothing but crumpled porno and Ayn Rand.
How long before the representations are secretly tweaked (displaywaist = size 6) so that the shopper will "look good" in the clothes? And I can see the tie-ins with advertisers, with avatars saying things like:
"Hi shopper, this is what you look like now, but here's what you would look like (shrinks waist) if you go the XXX diet!".
Just wait until the kids start hacking it!
What is the inverse of the Matrix?
I fully expect that most retailers would have a version of the software in which your big, fat butt doesn't look quite as big or fat in the clothes you're modeling. People want to buy clothes that make them look good and it is the job of the software to convince them that they look good in those clothes.
Mmmm.. Donuts
I don't see how you could buy clothing without trying it on.
I (and many other men, I'm assuming) do it all the time. We do the hold it up to our body thing (mentioned earlier), but frequently I'll just get my general size. Oh, I wear medium shirts so just buy medium shirts (especially if I stick with a certain brand). There's none of this garbage that women deal with where a size 1 at one place is a size 5 at another or whatever because pants are 33 inches in the waist and 34 inches long. Period.
I think that the problem with this is that it might be exceedingly clever if it weren't in between markets. People who simply don't care (for argument, I'll just say "men") might use it and take a look, but they couldn't care less if a store didn't have the feature, because it's not too influential in their decision. Those who do care ("women") wouldn't be satisfied with this sort of technology (especially if it hasn't yet been proven) and would insist on trying the clothes on regardless, to ensure the colors look right "in this light" or some similar thing, to see how the clothes hang, how they move when she walks or whatever.
It's like selling the hybrid manual/automatic gearshifts in cars (though I don't know if this has been at all successful). Those who hate having to worry about shifting would just as soon go with an automatic, and those who really enjoy the control and fun of driving a manual would probably prefer a manual (of course). So I don't know if it's a winning tactic trying to market to this middle, "grey" market where there might not actually be many people.
Land's End (www.landsend.com) has had a jr. version of this for a long time.
The model shows how dumpy I really look, regardless of color or outfit. As a result of experiencing the preview, I haven't bought anything from them in a couple of years.
So using this technology this company is going to sell more clothes why?
Live Long and Prosper - Thanks Leonard. You are missed.
To see it in action, go to their site. and click on 'My Model' in the upper left corner.
Which is a 16 year old cheerleader.
There's a company in Burbank called CyberFX which has been doing 3D scanning for years using Cyberware scanners. They did all the obvious things with the technology -- reverse engineering, prototyping, sculpture scaling (they did the massive baseball glove a PacBell park), porno (scanning and sculpting rich guys' girlfriends), scanning actors for CG doubles in movies.
What they really hit it big with, though, is dressmaking dummies. In the past, dummies were built by hand, and they were just not very good. They didn't match people very well, and each one was different. Now, (say) DKNY sends their size 4, 6, 8, 10 models to CyberFX, they get scanned, and perfect copies are sent to all the dressmaking facilities around the world. Actors have dummies made that match them perfectly, so wardrobe departments can make clothes that fit perfectly.
Dick Cavdek, who runs the company, has come up with significant mechanical advances on dummies, too, so that they are sturdy, light, and can be broken down to be shipped easily.
I went by there a few years ago, and was absolutely amazed by how one guy just revolutionized an industry.
thad
I love Mondays. On a Monday, anything is possible.
'Video cameras snap the shopper, then clothes and accessories are selected and displayed immediately.
And I suppose the virtual models tell you which bits chafe?
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
Reading the article, I notice that the digital model starts off nude, then has clothes rendered onto it. In order for these photorealistic images of a person in new clothes to be generated, it would seem that the software requires a nude scan of said person. Of course, the person could be scanned while clothed, but you'd really just be rendering new clothes on top of the old ones (which, in the software, would take on the rigidity of flesh). It might be possible to design an algorithm to "strip" the scans, but the accuracy would be limited by the varying bagginess of whatever the person is wearing.
Naturally, privacy and convenience concerns arise when one is asked to submit to a nude, full-body digital scan in order to use the new fitting system. The store could keep scans on file, making this a one-time affair, but unless a secure crypto system (wherein only the customer possesses the key) is implemented, the potential for creepy abuse is enormous.
One solution I can think of, however, is to do the scan in a private booth while the customer is only wearing underwear (most undergarments being tight-fitting enough as to not affect the image of the clothing being worn). This is still more convenient than going through a stack of clothes to try on, as the user needs only "change" once. The model for the system could be deleted after use, or the customer could elect to store it on a USB memory stick they bring with them, updating it only occasionally as their physical appearance changes significantly (it could even be stored centrally if a department store chain, or better yet a consortium of them, decides to implement a truly secure system).
It's true that this system doesn't offer as good a "feel" for clothing as actually trying on outfits. For men or women on the go, however, it could drastically reduce time spent clothes shopping. Imagine browsing through the latest fashions at home, picking out a few you like, then heading to the Department store, where they have everything you picked out, in your size, ready for you to try on (and you'll still want to, if for no other reason than to gauge the comfort of the clothing and verify the program's accuracy). An hours-long shopping trip could be reduced to a managable 10-15 minutes.
Of course, my wardrobe consists mostly of items from Goodwill or Thinkgeek, so this is of little utility to me. Nonetheless, it has some potential to make life a lot more convenient for my girlfriend, my sister, etc.
Anonymous Luddite: "What do you think of the dehumanizing effects of the Internet?"
Andy Grove: "Not Much."
Hey, it's better than looking at a picture in a catalog, and people have been buying clothes that way for years.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
During the dotcom years, I remember meeting with a client who represented a company that was going to put 3d scanning stations in malls for this very purpose.
"It's simple!" sez their Marketroid. "You go into the booth, strip, get a full body scan, and then we upload the 3d model to our Microsoft Passport(tm)-like service. Then, any participating online retailer will be able to recommend sizes, show you how you personally would look in any outfit, and do dynamic upselling by showing how much better the Gucci looks."
They even had a plan to implement realtime draping/rendering software so you could get photo-realistic images of yourself in those clothes. They thought that boyfriends would finally be able to buy clothes for their girlfriends. They thought that geeks would start getting color coordination.
My first thought was: how many people are going to let some bizarre company photograph them in their underwear (or less), just so that company could better market to them?
My next thought was: nobody reads the disclaimer they sign. I'll set up booths in malls, and run a voyeur web site, and people will even pay to model!
My next thought was: Jesus, I've gone as insane as these lunatics. I need a drink.
Needless to say, they burned through a lot of money, and it never went anywhere. Some guys got some nice SGI hardware out of it for the software side. The "idea people" probably got nice fat salaries for a while, and then had to go back to selling life insurance or flipping burgers or something.
Jesus, do I miss those days!
Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachtani?
www.fogbound.net
I don't try on clothes to see how they look - I can see what hideously colours and styles they have just by looking at the rack. I try on clothes to find out how they feel - if it isn't comfortable, I ain't wearing it (even if my bum doesn't look fat...)
My Virtual Model Inc. has set the standard for online apparel shopping. Two core technologies - the My Virtual Model(TM) Dressing Room and My Virtual Model(TM) Fit - enable consumers to 'try on' clothes on the Internet. 2002 saw the introduction of a third product, My Virtual Model(TM) Imail. This innovative marketing tool offers a unique, fun and simple interactive My Virtual Model(TM) Dressing Room integrated in an e-mail.
For merchants, deploying My Virtual Model(TM) technology improves bottom-line profitability by increasing revenues while cutting costs. Shoppers using My Virtual Model(TM) solutions spend more, buy more and return far fewer items - resulting directly in reduced shipping and handling costs.
My Virtual Model Inc. was co-founded by Louise Guay, Ph.D., and Jean-Francois St-Arnaud. In 1990, the two entrepreneurs joined forces to build one of Canada's leading multimedia agencies, Public Technologies Multimedia Inc. (PTM). The first release of My Virtual Model(TM) technology in 1997 was a major breakthrough in online customer service. In 2000, PTM became My Virtual Model Inc., in recognition of the company's focus on the online apparel shopping market.
--- Worst tagline ever.