An effective method for modelling flexible surfaces of cloth objects

Abstract

In this paper a method for modelling the deformation of flexible objects such as cloth is presented in which the physical analysis can be imported into the geometric simulation. The geometric representations as well as the physical properties of flexible objects are considered. A so-called basic configuration and a constraint finite element method are given to improve previous methods for modelling flexible objects. The basic configuration is a primitive 3-D surface of a flexible object, and the constraint finite element method is a special finite element method with respect to the constraint conditions of the deformed flexible objects. The basic configuration of a deformed flexible surface can be directly obtained from its initial 2-D shape by using some control points and curves. Subsequently, according to the geometric constraint conditions of deformation, the basic configuration is adjusted to a satisfactory flexible surface by the constraint finite element method