Toward ‘RealTime’ Made In Code

Project partners: University of the Arts London (UAL), Numerion Software

A collaboration between UAL’s Fashion, Textiles and Technology Institute (UAL FTTI) and Numerion Software is exploring the power of supercomputing to create believable, interactive, real-time virtual garments for use on Virtual Production (VP) projects.

Digital renditions of fabric and the clothed body in gaming, screen, and wider cultural and commercial contexts are slowly evolving, however due to significant complexities aligned to this field of practice, depictions of textile and dress tend to be considered unreal or cartoon-like. 

Toward ‘RealTime’ Made In Code will use Numerion’s Carbon software to create a complex theatrical garment as a proof of concept for Virtual Production. The project will also explore how high performance computing can address restrictions around real-time rendition.

As VP practice and technologies continue to evolve, the high-level rendition of textiles and dress represents a unique and specialist area of development for the UK’s creative economy. Across fashion and textiles, culture and heritage, performing arts and the screen industries there is increasing demand for sophisticated, believable digital renditions of moving fabric and clothing.

The project builds on a former collaboration via the BFTT creative R&D partnership as part of the UK-wide Creative Industries Cluster Programme. The BFTT supported development of an initial proof of concept enabling Professor Jane Harris to work with Numerion, Happy Finish, Move AI, Holition, UCL Anthropology department, and fashion designer Maria Grachvogel to achieve Made in Code which was realised as an installation  at the V&A Museum. 

Toward ‘RealTime’ Made In Code is one of five projects supported by the XR Network+ Embedded R&D funding call, with grants of up to £60,000 awarded to researchers at UK universities to explore the transfer of knowledge between academia and industry in areas aligned with VP. 

Categories: Arts, Film, Performance, Research, Technology