Croney [22] defined anthropometry as ‘the practice of measuring the human body’. He also recommended that the static and dynamic anthropometric data will provide the designer with an armature of dimensions around which ideas can grow. Pheasant [23] expands this definition to ‘applied anthropometrics’, which include numerical data concerning size, shape and other physical characteristics of human beings that could be applied in the design context.
Traditionally tailors have accurately measured the human body size for garment making with measuring tape based on their experience. They recognized similarities between the garments they made for individuals and began to think in terms of proportionally scaled patterns for people of different sizes, known as “graded” sets of clothing sizes [24]. As a
result ready-to-wear is now the principle source of clothing production available to the global mass market. Efficient mass production of clothing requires a method of producing accurate size of garment which will fit properly. The traditional methods of body size measurement are time-consuming, chances of human error, inaccuracies of measurement and most important is that one has to touch the body physically during body size measurement. Fan et al. [25] mentioned that each size has a distinct code (e.g. small, medium, large or 10, 12, 14) to guide consumers to choose apparel which fits their body properly. They have also emphasized the importance of a 3D digitization of body form and clothing surface to assist the spatial analysis of clothing appearance, body measurement and garment fit.
3D laser scanning is a process used to build a digital 3D copy of a physical body surface very accurately without touching. The development of 3D laser scanning technology has solved many of the problems associated with the traditional body size measurement systems. This system generates the accurate body size of a person in seconds. At present this technology is used for different purposes, namely apparel design (protective wear, wearable technology, thermal comfort, athletic equipment/uniform, mass communication); ergonomics (validation of models, seat design);
reverse engineering (finite element analysis solution, rapid prototyping, standard/tolerance); and biomedical applications (obesity determination, body asymmetries, rehabilitation engineering) [26]. Figure 8.4 shows the principle of 3D laser scanning system of human body size measurement.
The system consists of two primary components: (i) A hardware system
Scanning assembly
Scanning assembly
Scanning assembly
Scanning assembly
Laser source
CCD Cameras Enlarged view of
scanning assembly
8.4 Schematic diagram of 3D laser scanning system of body size measurement.
which consists of charge coupled device (CCD) camera, laser source and computer, and (ii) image recognition software.
It can be observed from Fig. 8.4 that the scanning assembly consists of a structural frame to keep the scanning devices in their required positions. Curtains are generally hung from the frame to minimize the interferences of outside light. The vertical columns, located in the four corners, are containing the scanning assemblies. The scanning assembly (shown in enlarged view) consists of a laser and two CCD cameras. All the four scanning assemblies are connected with an elevator assembly that travels up and down in the vertical columns. After the proper calibration, all the four elevator assemblies travel downward direction in unison and sweep the scanning zone with a horizontal plane of laser light. During this process the laser light illuminates the contour of the human body standing within the scanning area and the CCD cameras record discrete points on these contours at each horizontal point [26].
The total scanning process takes few seconds. The data from the CCD cameras are then transmitted to the computer through the A/D converter and the image recognition software finally creates a point cloud representation of the body contour. The point cloud data are then used for the representation of human body size.
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