Psychophysical Testing of Virtual Fabric Drape

In this study, we tested five woven fabrics and observed their virtual drape behaviors. Fabrics’ mechanical properties were measured by Fabric Assurance by Simple Testing (FAST) system and simulations were created by O/Dev simulation software by Optitex. Drape behaviors of fabrics on a circular disc model were simulated and obtained virtual drape images were processed by image analysis software to calculate drape parameters. The purpose of this study is to understand the visual perception of people when looking at a fabric drape simulation. Which feature of drape is actually more significant to human eye? A psychophysical test was developed to understand human selectivity for drape geometry in virtual environment. Finally, 27 participants’ psychophysical test results were compared to calculated values. Participants found to be most sensitive to evenness and placement of folds while they were least sensitive to fold sizes.