Body Scanning & OptiTex

The School of the Professions, in conjunction with the Technology Department and Fashion and Textile Technology (FTT) program (at Buffalo State College) hosted a reception to demonstrate how the NX-16 3-D body scanner works in conjunction with OptiTex PDS yesterday. The short video below shows you how the body scanner operates.


The video below demonstrates how the custom body scan can be easily integrated into the OptiTex PDS program.

The Acquisition of the body scanner will increase technology capabilities for FTT program curriculum, research capabilities and collaboration opportunities.

February 8, 2012 at 7:12 am 3 comments

OptiTex for Handbag Product Development

Garments are not the only fashion items that can be developed using the OptiTex multidimensional application. It can also be used for 2D/3D fashion handbag development. I have pasted  some video clips and photos of handbags that were developed using the OptiTex 2D/3D application. For more information about the variety of industries that use the application visit the OptiTex site directly.

Handbag developed using OptiTex

July 11, 2011 at 1:27 pm 2 comments

Real and Virtual Buffalo State Loves Cotton Exhibitions

A number of class projects from the Buffalo State College Loves Cotton education grant sponsored by Cotton Inc. have already been completed.

REAL WORLD EXHIBITS
During the summer of 2011 [June & July] a real world exhibit will be on display in the E.H. Butler library on the campus of Buffalo State College. This exhibit will be changing and installed by Dr Lynn Boorady, the project director for this Cotton Inc. education grant. Another real world Buffalo Loves Cotton exhibit is planned for 234 Gallery September 18 – 24, 2011.

VIRTUAL WORLD EXHIBIT

A virtually created exhibition [video above] of the Buffalo State Loves Cotton project has been developed by Elaine Polvinen and is currently open on the Buffalo State Island in Second Life. This exhibit will be in place until 12/31/11. You are invited to visit the exhibit in the virtual world of Second Life.

There are several options for you to visit the virtual exhibition. The first option [if you are not already a member of the SL community]  is to download and join Second Life [It’s free to join].

  • Link to What is Second Life HERE .
  •  Link to Download Second Life HERE.  
  • Link to Join Second Life HERE.

Install the Second Life application on your computer. Then go to the link to join Second Life. You first choose an avatar, then register for Second Life [remember it is free to join] and get a user name and password. Once you complete the registration and select and avatar you can open the second life application. You will need to type in your user name and password. The first time you enter the world of Second Life you will experience about a  30 minute self-help tutorial on Orientation Welcome Island  that will guide you through the steps of learning how to communicate, walk, move around [using move tools], camera controls, how to sit, fly, and change you avatars basic appearance. I believe also covers the basics of search, using the map, opening a note card and buying things in Second Life.

Here is a video to show you with the Welcome Orientation island is like HERE

Once you have completed the tutorial you can teleport over to the Buffalo State region by clicking on the SURL.

Clicking on this SLURL [Second Life URL] will take you to the landing location [image on left] on the Buffalo State island.

When you land on the Buffalo State island [sponsored by the Research Foundation] turn around and you will see the posters for the Buffalo Loves Cotton exhibit in the back of the first floor of the Research building. The actual BLC exhibit is up the curved ramp to the second floor.

Here is a link to my slideshow in FLICKR that will familiarize you with the exhibit area before you go.

Another option is only open to educators. If you are an educator and would like to get a virtual tour of the Buffalo Loves Cotton exhibit for your students please contact me at polvinem@buffalostate.edu

June 4, 2011 at 9:24 pm Leave a comment

Buffalo Loves Cotton Texture Gallery for Second Life

Very soon there will be a Buffalo State Loves Cotton virtual exhibition opening in Second Life. All of the final selected Buffalo Loves Cotton seamless textures that were used to create the Fashion Mash Collection for Runway 4.0 are here in this gallery and will also be available at the  exhibition in Second Life [free with all permissions opened] for you to use for your virtual creations.

So you can either right mouse click and copy them from this blog post and upload them for $10L each or you can visit the exhibit when it opens and get them all in world for free. They are all 412 X 512 pixels.

May 27, 2011 at 8:01 pm 1 comment

Second Life Buffalo Loves Cotton Project

Buffalo Loves Cotton in Second Life

The spring 2011 FashionCAD class worked on a Buffalo Loves Cotton in Second Life project. This was but one of many class projects for the FashionCAD class and one of multiple Fashion and Textile Technology course projects that are part of the Buffalo State Loves Cotton Inc. Education Grant. Students signed up for Second Life and first learned the basics of moving, flying and communicating before all meeting up on the Buffalo State island in Second Life. [note: The Buffalo State island in Second Life is sponsored by the Research Foundation at Buffalo State College]

Once there they were able to practice snapshots with the poseballs. They familiarized themselves with the Appearance menu to develop clothing inside Second Life before learning how to develop a customized design using a UV map. Their first UV map project students worked on was with a t-shirt using one of their custom designs. Once they became familiar with how a UV map could be used to develop custom garments, they uploaded some of the custom repeat patterns they developed for previous assignments. Their final Second Life project goal was to replicate the Buffalo Loves Cotton garments using surface patterns and garment designs developed by a previous group of students. They used Robin Wood’s Second Life UV maps to draw garments similar to the ones that were developed and constructed for the Runway 4.0 event. Once their Buffalo Loves garments were created they used the poseballs to take snapshots of their avatars [image above].


The conclusion of the Second Life module was a Buffalo Loves Cotton fashion show. Students activated an animation object and practiced walking their avatars before the final video [above] on the runway.

Buffalo Loves Cotton Posts:

May 20, 2011 at 12:54 pm Leave a comment

OptiTex: Buffalo Loves Cotton Fashion Mash

The Buffalo Loves Cotton Fashion Mash line-up is a group of 15 garments that were developed sequentially with a collaborative series of projects in different fashion classes. The Fashion Mash line up will be a featured scene in the upcoming Runway 4.0 that will take place this Saturday, April 16th, 2011 at the Pierce Arrow building  on Elmwood Avenue  in Buffalo, NY at 4PM and 8:30PM. More information on the BSCRUNWAY blog. The fabrics were selected from projects in FTT304: Adobe Pattern Development for Industry. Garment designs were part of a larger project in FTT308: FashionCAD. Garment patterns were developed on the OptiTex multi-dimensional application in the FTT327: Computerized Patternmaking class. Some garments were draped in FTt328: Draping and garment construction took place in FTt324: Industrial Apparel Assembly.

The Buffalo Loves Cotton Fashion Mash line-up is part of a larger year long Cotton Inc. education grant. More information can be located by goggling “Buffalo Loves Cotton.”

 

April 13, 2011 at 7:39 pm Leave a comment

Buffalo Loves Cotton: OptiTex Project

The students in the Fashion Technology program at Buffalo State College working on the collaborative Buffalo State Loves Cotton project [sponsored by Cotton INC]  recently completed computerized flat patterns for garments that were designed by students in another class. Once the garment patterns were developed using the OptiTex PDS application they were stitched together and the repeat designs that were developed by another class were applied to them and then simulations were created using the OptiTex 3D module. Pasted below is a four-way image of a 3D garment simulation using the OptiTex system.

To see many more of the OptiTex students designs and video rotational views of their garment simulations CLICK THIS LINK to access the FTT Adobe Student Gallery Buffalo Loves Cotton OptiTex post. These garments will be featured in Runway 4.0. The April 16th, 2011 Runway 4.0 event tickets are currently on sale. CLICK HERE to get ticket info.

Optitex has an online 3D virtual clothing application where you can try on garments and view them in 3D mode. CLICK HERE to link to it.

Buffalo Loves Cotton Posts:

March 19, 2011 at 9:30 am Leave a comment

Buffalo Loves Cotton Fashions

Another phase of the Buffalo Loves Cotton concluded when a grouping of print repeat designs that the students created as part of the Buffalo Loves Cotton project were selected along with fashion flats from another group of students. The selected prints were combined with the fashion flats to develop the Buffalo Loves Cotton fashion grouping. You can view the selected prints on the garments by CLICKING HERE.

The garment grouping will be featured in Runway 4.0. The April 16th, 2011 Runway 4.0 event tickets are currently on sale. CLICK HERE to get ticket info.

Buffalo Loves Cotton Posts:



March 18, 2011 at 7:47 pm Leave a comment

Buffalo Loves Cotton FashionCAD Project

Another Buffalo Loves Cotton class project took place last fall in the FashionCAD class. In addition to developing a concept board, color palette, fabric board and print protypes, students developed flats, line boards, detailed specification sheets and window display concept boards.

Buffalo Loves Cotton: FTT308 Student Concepts

Buffalo Loves Cotton: Fashion Flats Vote

January 5, 2011 at 9:44 am Leave a comment

Buffalo Loves Cotton Surface Design Project

As I mentioned in the last post, I have started a new blog that features the work of fashion students in my Adobe CS5 classes. The work will be from my Adobe Surface Design for Industry class and my FashionCAD classes. I try to incorporate a variety of special projects in the classes as well as continually upgrade on skills sets.

The post below focus on the Adobe Surface Design for Industry Buffalo Loves Cotton project from fall 2010 but do no include all student work. The major presentation  projects students completed are include on the individual Web galleries that students created as part of the class. Their gallery links are provided. They also had weekly skill set assignments, many are listed on the tentative course content link.

I encourage everyone to help us select the best 10-12 fabric pattern design from the Buffalo Loves Cotton project. We will have the best designs printed on to fabric and students in spring 2011 classes will create garments from the fabric.

  • Buffalo Loves Cotton: FTT304 Student Concepts
  • Buffalo Loves Cotton T-Shirt Graphic Contest
  • Buffalo Loves Cotton Print Design Voting
  • Buffalo Loves Cotton Adobe Class Project
  • What is the Buffalo State Loves Cotton Project?

    •  

    Once the voting for the best fabric design ends on 1/1/11, I will upload the Buffalo Loves Cotton projects completed by the FashionCAD class.

    December 17, 2010 at 9:12 am Leave a comment

    FashionCAD sp10′ Student Gallery

    Sorry for my absence – now that fall 2010 semester has ended I will try to catch up by posting some new material. I will start off with providing you with a link to some students work from my spring 2010 FashionCAD class. I just started a new blog specifically to spotlight fashion student work in my Adobe classes as Buffalo State College.

    CLICK HERE to visit the FashionCAD sp10′ Student Gallery

    December 17, 2010 at 8:52 am Leave a comment

    Transition a Company to OptiTex

    Transitioning over to OptiTex can position a company on the leading edge of Technology.  A multidimensional easy to learn Windows based application like OptiTex can shorten the development time and expand communication and collaboration between product development team members.

    Destination Maternity’s New CAD System is a Perfect Fit by Stacey Kusterbeck, Apparel Contributing Writer  is an article about a the Destination Maternity company (NASDAQ:DEST) that tested various CAD systems before settling on the Optitex system. Implementation of the system in the company was swift and seamless. “The company designs everything from bras to swimsuits to wedding gowns, for its brands A Pea in the Pod, A Pea in the Pod Collection, and Motherhood Maternity, sold at more than 1,000 retail locations and online.”

    Mari Alessi-Kowalski, director of technical design stated that “To be able to switch out of the old technology in a relatively painless process, and increase the pattern skills and confidence in such a short period of time, is pretty amazing.”

    The article details the process of a company first researching and testing applications  to locate the most advanced pattern and marker making application and then shifting over to the new system without affecting the production process. The company is now in the stage of integrating the 3D aspects of the Optitex multidimensional application into the product development process.

    A quote from the article relative to 3D Technology”

    “Team members can review and approve product faster, because the initial sample starts out in a better place. “It could prevent the need to sew two or three additional fit/drape samples per style. That would mean a savings of two or more weeks in any given production cycle,” says Alessi-Kowalski.

    Alessi-Kowalski sees being ahead of the curve with 3D as a big competitive advantage. “More and more companies are adopting 3D technology to speed up the lifecycle of their product,” she says. “Probably in the next 10 years, fitting virtually will be done in most large apparel environments.”

    From a training and development perspective, team members have much more opportunity to grow and refine their CAD skill set in OptiTex than they could in the prior system. “The sky’s the limit for them,” says Alessi-Kowalski. “Switching our CAD system and adopting 3D technology was a step in the right direction for the future. “”

    August 13, 2010 at 7:16 pm 3 comments

    OptiTex at Buffalo State College Update

    We have successfully integrated the OptiTex multidimensional application at Buffalo State college. The company is wonderful to work with. We had to integrate the application first with 2d only due to the initial hardware limitations in our lab. The students had no trouble learning the 2D applications but they were anxious to work on the 3D aspects of the OptiTex system. 

     

    Our OptiTex instructor, David Brinson has been preparing for full integration of the 3D aspects this coming fall 2010.  According to David,  his goal “was to see if there were any limitations  to the program. It ‘s based on a virtual gravity field that the operator can control. The operator must place the pattern pieces so they will drape over the areas where clothing naturally hangs on the body.”

    I am attaching some OptiTex draping images that he has created this summer from 2D patterns. The fashion students at Buffalo State college are very fortunate to have an opportunity to work on this exceptional  multidimensional application.

    Search “OptiTex” on this blog to review past posts.

    July 8, 2010 at 12:36 pm Leave a comment

    LUXE Fashion Show at Genesee Community College

    Yesterday I attended the LUXE Fashion Show at Genesee Community College in Batavia, NY. The show directed by Professor Rick Dudkowski is in it’s 29th year. The experience of all the participants in the show annual event  is very obvious from the moment you walk in – everything runs like a seasoned and well oiled production.

    It seems that every year the students outdo themselves from the year before. Many different areas of the college participate in the production of the show. The proceeds from the show are used to fund students events. Here is a link to the students in Professor Dudkowski’s class that produce the show. There were 11 scenes and students assumed all production aspects associated with the scene they coordinated. Several scenes had fashion items that were original creations of the students. The first scene in particular has a  Eco-Couture collection created by Brittany Moose and Kayla Palmer.  Brittany will be continuing her professional education as an apparel design student at the Fashion technology Program at Buffalo State College next fall. She is pictured on one of the slides below with Professor Dudkowski.

    There was a lovely reception held after the show where light refreshments were served, a raffle was held and various fashion items were for sale. Here is a FLICKR link to some images from the show. Sorry about the image quality but I was sitting several rows back from the runway.

    This slideshow requires JavaScript.

    Here is another link that details the LUXE event by Brittany Baker titled “GCC fashion show set to dazzle.”

    April 25, 2010 at 10:52 am 3 comments

    BSCRUNWAY 3.0 FIRST REVIEW

    BSCRUNWAY 3.0 FIRST REVIEW

    BSCRUNWAY 3.0 Blog Postings List

    April 9, 2010 at 1:42 pm Leave a comment

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