Computers and knitting DO mix!

Paul found this in the list of papers for the Siggraph conference this year --
Simulating Knitted Cloth at the Yarn Level

(Yes, that is a computer-simulated scarf!)

Basically, they turned knitting into mathematical equations, and recreated it computationally.

To simulate complex knitted garments, we propose an implicit-explicit integrator, with yarn inextensibility constraints imposed using efficient projections. Friction among yarns is approximated using rigid-body velocity filters, and key yarn-yarn interactions are mediated by stiff penalty forces. Our results show that this simple model predicts the key mechanical properties of different knits, as demonstrated by qualitative comparisons to observed deformations of actual samples in the laboratory, and that the simulator can scale up to substantial animations with complex dynamic motion.

(and no, I don't actually know what all of that means...except that their simulation is very realistic!) ;)

The paper shows real knitted swatches and simulated ones. Can you guess which is which?



The video is really cool too (it's 9.5MB).

At my office, we support all kinds of research that is changing the world and the way we think about it, but this is the "fun" research I love to see!