An Analysis-by-Synthesis Approach to Tracking of Textiles

Despite strong interest in cloth simulation on the one hand and tracking of deformable objects on the other, little effort has been put into tracking cloth motion by modelling the fabric. Here, an analysis-by-synthesis approach to tracking textiles is proposed which, by fitting a simulated textile to a set of contours, is able to reconstruct the 3D-cloth configuration. Fitting is accomplished by optimising the parameters of the mass-spring model that is used to simulate the textile as well as the positions of a limited number of constrained points. To improve tracking accuracy and to overcome the inherently chaotic behaviour of the real fabric several techniques for tracking features on the cloth¿s surface and the best way for them to influence the simulation are evaluated.