Cloth Modeling - Particle/energy Methods

Particle/energy Methods

The last method is more complex than the first two. The particle technique takes the physical technique from (f) a step further and supposes that we have a network of particles interacting directly. That is to say, that rather than springs, we use the energy interactions of the particles to determine the cloth’s shape. For this we use an energy equation that adds on to the following:

• The energy of repelling is an artificial element we add to prevent cloth from intersecting itself.
• The energy of stretching is governed by Hooke's law as with the Physical Method.
• The energy of bending describes the stiffness of the fabric
• The energy of trellising describes the shearing of the fabric (distortion within the plane of the fabric)
• The energy of gravity is based on acceleration due to gravity

We can also add terms for energy added by any source to this equation, then derive and find minima, which generalizes our model. This allows us to model cloth behavior under any circumstance, and since we are treating the cloth as a collection of particles its behavior can be described with the dynamics provided in our physics engine.