Taipai, Taiwan-based Frontier, the developer of collaboration software as a service (SaaS) designed to digitize fabric materials, enhance supply chain management, and boost 3D design capabilities, has introduced the new 3D Fabric Creator on its platform.

The 3D Fabric Creator uses AI technology to convert 2D scanned textile images into 3D design compatible assets by generating essential texture maps needed for use in virtual prototyping – much like a topographical relief map – so 3D designers can import material files directly into any 3D design environment.

“Material scanning must be able to re-construct textural metadata such as roughness, displacement and physical values so these datapoints can be used across different design platforms,” said Moritz Sontheimer, Frontier AI specialist. “We have the luxury to build models from a very large and quality consistent data base, which allows us to continuously improve our accuracy.”

According to Frontier, there is a huge demand for digital product creation as more brands go-to-market with increasing speed. Not only does 3D Fabric Creator generate the essential datapoints of a fabric, it allows users to share material data for use across different design systems. As a result, brand designers no longer need to chase suppliers for digital materials or acquire them through third party platforms.

Frontier’s main objective is to work with the supply chain to help make digital 3D design as friendly as possible. It aims to bridge the technology gap between brands and the supply chain using AI/ML (artificial intelligence/ machine learning) to enhance all material relevant data from specs, text description, pattern description, fabric construction and material science through cloud applications. Frontier users a user content generation model giving users full control over product IP and access. It also employs a pay as you go model so there is no upfront investment.

www.frontier.cool