Projects
The CAA has a number of current and proposed projects utilising 3D body scanning technologies. There are many applications in graphic and industrial design, ergonomics, kinanthropometry, and health and medical areas.
Some of our specific projects are described below.
- Clothing size analysis
- Landmarking systems
- 3D software development
- The morphology of athletes
- Body image
Clothing size analysis
Almost everyone complains at some stage that clothing fails to fit them, and there is objective evidence that clothing sizes set by organisations such as Standards Australia fail to match the distribution of sizes and shapes in the Australian community. This project aims to use 3D measurements of young Australians (aged 18-30 years) to chart “clusters” of body shapes. Its aim is to provide new standards for garment templates. Ultimately, it may be possible to “mass customise” clothing to fit individuals.
Landmarking systems
In the course of the last 100 years, a number of different systems have been used to locate standardised landmarks on human bodies. These have usually been associated with underlying bony structures, such as the tip of the shoulder (acromion process). Although these systems can generally trace their genealogy back to one or two ancestor systems, there has been substantial definitional and technique drift over the years. Different landmarking systems make cumulation and comparison of data very difficult. For example, there are 15 different definitions of the waist-hip ratio, a measure often used in the diagnosis of diseases such as diabetes and obesity. The aim of this project is compare and combine the major landmarking systems, and to promote an international database based on standardised landmarks.
3D software development
- There exist a number of software programs designed to analyse 3D body scan data. These programs can extract point-to-point measures, circumferences, and generally contour measurements (following the body surface). However, few can calculate areas, either body cross-sectional or surface, and body volumes. This project aims to refine analytical software to include these functions, which would be useful for a number of applications, including:
- finding correlations between body part volumes and specific morbidities (e.g. breast size and upper back musculoskeletal discomfort)
- using 3D scans to estimate percentage body fat
- calculation of area affected by burns and rashes.
The morphology of athletes
In collaboration with the Australian Sports Commission, the Centre will be working on describing the body size and shape of elite athletes, comparing them with sub-elite competitors and non-athletic individuals.
Body image
People suffering from body image disorders sometimes exhibit either a distorted perception of their body shape, or unrealistic ideals regarding body shape. They may desire unrealistically slim or muscular physiques, for example. Current psychological instruments, often questionnaires or line drawings, make it very difficult to describe these ideals and expectations, relating as they do to specific 3D features of the body. The CAA is working on developing software which allows the user to manipulate 3D images to describe their present and ideal body shape.