Modeling Method of Metaball Human Body based on Range Data of Various Body Sizes

Abstract

We propose a modeling method of a human body for dress simulation using computer graphics. The body is modeled by primitives called metaballs which are useful for representing smooth surfaces. The method proposed here has two phases: In the first phase, we generate a human body model by adjusting the input of the metaballs by hand based on measured data obtained by the range data. In the second phase, the standard human model is deformed to other size bodies based on the range data. That is, once a standard human model is generated, various body types can be easily obtained. In the previous work, approximation precision was not enough sufficient. Our method can generate a human body with a small degree of error by using the following procedures: 1) metaballs are roughly set on the cross sections obtained by data sliced from the range data; these cross sections are selected so that they include special features such as nipple and waist point, 2) the metaballs on each slice are optimized by using the Steep Decent Method, 3) After combining these metaballs on slices, total metaballs are optimized using the Steep Decent Method again. In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, we show two examples of metaball human bodies based on the range data; a standard body model and a fat body model are deformed from it.