Read Issue 72 of Digital Art Live Magazine

Welcome again to your monthly magazine. Few people are in the mood for a gloomy Halloween issue at present, so this is a fun “Costume” themed issue. Here we offer readers a focus on stylish futuristic clothing, rather than fantasy or historical.

From this issue onward your unique magazine expands, adding ten new features! For instance there is now a substantial and timely set of “News‟ pages, which we hope will save busy people much time. We also uniquely cover news for comics makers and the NPR crowd. We even digest the tidal-wave of art-generating AI news, into just one handy page with Web links.

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Inside this issue…

MARK FLORQUIN

We interview a leading practitioner of 3D scanning for clothing and theatre costumes, who now has his own studio.

3D SCANS | DAZ STUDIO

“I was able to build a life-size man-doll out of 17 3D printed pieces. I also designed and built a hanging scanner. Now the mannikin is done I can scan clothing items and fit them to a digital avatar immediately after cleanup. It all just works!”

ELIA NECK

We’re pleased to have a new interview with superstar 3D artist and product designer Elia Neck of Brazil.

DAZ STUDIO | LIGHTING

“[If I were able to talk with the great Elon Musk about] how to have a robot be sexy, I would say it is not in the clothes nor the shape of the body. I would talk about creating an android with a penetrating gaze, and one speaking in an affectionate voice.”

“KEN1171”

Ken is a veteran of both the early 3D and Poser scenes, and designed many clothes for classic 3D toon manga figures.

POSER | PYTHON | TOON “One of the things I have learned from this market is that versatility is one of the most sought-after qualities people want from a product. The more they can use it with other contents they already own, the bigger the value customers see.

Also in the issue…

• EDITORIAL
• FREEBIES
• SOLUTIONS
• CONTESTS
• RYZOM
• DIGITAL FABRIC TOOLS
• NEWS FOR COMIC MAKERS
• SOFTWARE NEWS ROUND-UP
• DREAM PATROL (Art AI news)
• HARDWARE
• IMAGINARIUM (expanded to six pages)
• TUTORIAL

Interview Snippet from Issue 72

In Belgium, Mark Florquin has become an expert at scanning 3D clothing and theatrical costumes. He has built his own scanning studio, with a custom camera rig and even his own special 3D-printed mannikin!

DAL: Mark, welcome to Digital Art Live magazine. Many thanks for agreeing to an interview.

MF: Thanks its a pleasure to be in the magazine and to talk about my passion and main work in 3D scanning.

DAL: Great. How did you first become interested in clothes and costume? Perhaps when you were younger? I assume it might be an interest that pre-dated your interest in digital formats?

MF: Yes, I have been fascinated by fabrics for as long as I can remember. But actually, music is even more dear to my heart. I played violin, piano and guitar and then eventually made videos and that sparked my interest in photography. I attended the Sint Lukas high school in Brussels for three years, and it was there that I realised I wanted to be a fashion photographer.

DAL: I see. Have you had any experience in the real-world fashion design industry, or in theatrical costuming, movie outfits and suchlike?

MF: After Sint Lukas, I started working as a photographer and worked for fashion brands, Ballet Het Danshuis, Flanders District of Creativity and Flanders Fashion Institute. Since I was self-taught as a 3D artist, they were the first to know my skills in photogrammetry. I did mostly event photography and portraits at Flanders. I would like to thank my mentor, Frank Uyttenhove, at Sint Lukas for teaching me how to compose images. This later led me to explore 360° photography, 3D scanning, and rendering.

DAL: Wonderful. Now we can see that you‟ve been doing some fascinating things with 3D clothes. Namely 3D scanning real clothes with whats called “photogrammetry”. For those unfamiliar with the idea, or perhaps only familiar with the idea of 3D scanning rocks and tree-stumps for videogames, what is “photogrammetry for clothes” at its most basic?

MF: The principle is the same as scanning any other object in real life: you create diffuse light and make pictures from different angles such that the images overlap. Scanning clothing is a little trickier because it can move, and some fabrics — especially shiny and transparent ones — require a special approach. Typically, one uses a powder spray or cross-polarized light to overcome these challenges.

DAL: Thats very clear, thanks. And I see on ArtStation that you’ve built a 3D printed studio manikin of your own, because of the special requirements for 3D clothes scanning. What were the special requirements and the challenges of the figures on which the clothes hang? And were you happy with the results from your manikin?

MF: In games, A or T poses are used for avatars, and clothing must be modeled accordingly, as well as scanned clothing. So I looked for existing mannequins that were posed symmetrically with arms facing away from the body. A museum mannequin with movable joints, went in the right direction, but it had empty spots where the limpers could fit when turned, and that was then visible in the scanned clothing. The only way out was to create my own “real life” avatar. I got a large format printer, and after a few tries, I was able to build a life-size doll out of 17 pieces