U3M

Driving the Fashion Industry’s Digital Transformation through Consistent and Unified Data

ALIGNED VISUALIZATION FOR EFFECTIVE COLLABORATION

Materials are typically defined by their physical properties, for instance, thickness, stretch, and bend. When vendors output digital materials, the data is displayed in a proprietary format or embedded directly in their styles. This information is then transferred across the pipeline to various platforms. However, when working with a range of different file formats, this often leads to incompatibility.

Unified 3D Material (U3M), a unique single open-source format developed by Browzwear & Vizoo works to combat this challenge by providing a brand new, standardized format for digital materials to create visual alignment between applications. This includes physical properties data and texture maps, all combined into one file. Having the ability to depend on a single format for fabric means that vendors and suppliers can enjoy a more efficient process for transferring or sharing digital materials. In addition, the openness of U3M enhances their collaboration by allowing everyone involved to contribute to the process.

ADD RAW PHYSICS DATA TO THE FORMAT

To take this a step further, the latest version of U3M now gives users the ability to extract the material physics from Browzwear’s Fabric Analyzer (FAB) in its raw form, drastically increasing the level of accuracy when it comes to interpreting and applying the data across the board. By having the ability to obtain raw material data, users can view any fabric’s exact composition, analyze its behavior, such as the folds and drapes, and see how each aspect impacts the final result.

ALL MATERIALS CAN BE EXPORTED IN A U3M FILE FORMAT WHICH INCLUDES:

Textures folder
U3M core file
physics.json file – calculated physics data from the FAB
Image file

SCALE THE FABRIC DIGITIZATION PROCESS

Before being able to utilize fabric data, the fabric itself will need to go through multiple tests. However, the results can vary depending on the software used, making it difficult to apply across applications. With access to the raw fabric data, the often time-consuming task of carrying out multiple tests before inputting it into your system is ultimately eliminated and can be done in one single test. This works to facilitate a far more scalable and efficient material digitization process.