Nicola Davison, an MA graduate of Nottingham Trent University, is looking at ways of furthering commercial development of her research into adding touch and feel of fabrics in computer programmes.

Nicola Davison’s ‘Click 2 Touch’ software uses a series of interactive 3D animations to mimic movement of the surfaces of fabrics as the mouse pointer is dragged across.

The software provides realistic sensations for 10 feelings such as softness, fullness, smoothness, hairiness, prickliness, drape, thickness, elasticity, rigidity and warmth. Different 3D animations are used to convey each sensation.

For example, for the ‘hairiness’ sensation a close-up image of the surface of a garment is shown in strong backlight. By moving the mouse up and down it you can ‘stroke’ the fibres and watch them ripple in a realistic way.

The thickness section allows you to lift up the edge of a garment and drop it back down. Thicker garments are heavier and much harder to lift and will drop down again much quicker than a thin one.

The software uses high quality images of a selection of different garments each chosen for their special properties shown as 3-D objects. Using the mouse the images can be rotated, and the user can also zoom in for a close up look at details such as necklines, patterns and seams.

Nicola said: “You can get a feel for the fabrics using your eyes instead of your fingertips. By moving over it you can see the effects of the friction that would be caused by your finger, but instead it is caused by the mouse. It is not designed to be a replacement for touch, but to be complementary.”

From The Telegraph, New Media Zero and Hotel Designs.