By Ann Marie Shillito

From the HiddenFloors project, a virtual fashion event with 6 model avatars, this image shows Ava avatar modelling a shiny lilac coloured skin-tight top and shorts under a full length diaphanous lilac coloured gown created by Little Peril Studio. Her huge and sumptuous head dress of flowing multicoloured swirls floats above her red hair and as she walks she is followed by numerous colourful flying pet objects. She also wears a large decorative front piece of shiny metallic swirls.

This second post is about creating Ava’s accessories and garments, about my digital and VR process producing her accessories, while Little Peril Studio’s Megan Mackay created our avatars’ gorgeous garments.

This image is Ava, my avatar and one of six created for the HiddenFloors project introduced in my first post.

HiddenFloors was an amazing project to be part of. I gained so much from this project as it offered the opportunity to be more expansive, to scale up, play in new ways and collaborate with designers in the fashion sector.

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I wanted to explore further the potential for creating virtual pieces experienced in immersive technologies such as VR. The bonus of such a project is having a really great techie team supporting us from start to finish who worked their socks off to get our creations animated and exhibited.

(See team image at end of post)

Back story to Ava’s accessories and garments

As a designer-maker/jeweller I had participated in Applied Arts Scotland’s DISTANCE2 Project in 2022. I am really interested in how we use our tacit knowledge, how we combine our practical knowledge, creative thinking and making, and hands-on skills with digital and VR technologies. My post: Tacit knowledge and VR for Applied Artists

A further interest currently being worked on is about making our practice as responsible as possible and how working digitally and virtually might support this.

This image shows a person wearing a VR headset and working in Virtual Reality using two controllers to create swirling forms in GravitySketchVR

Programmes used for Ava’s accessories and garments

HiddenFloors introduced two technologies to all of us creatives: the apparel software Clo3d for creating the garments for the avatars, and GravitySketchVR (which I used in the Distance2 Project to create 3D objects). I had a go at learning Clo3D and it is an amazing programme for designing garments but the learning curve is steep. Megan eventually managed to have a go using GravitySketchVR but as we had a deadline to complete garments and accessories we took a fairly conventional path to collaborating: Megan would focus on creating the fashion garments and I would created the accessories.

This image shows a mood board of pictures used to conceptualised Avatars Lena's and Ava's accessories and garments.

She really got into Ai (Dall-E) to generate images for inspiration around her concepts for our Avatars’ garments. Megan also finalised the information, images and mood boards the organisers requested to promote the project. They set up a Google Drive account for all for information and images, and WhatsApp for all communications. For technical support we had online Clo3d tutorials and scheduled weekly progress meetings.

Megan and I set up our own WhatsApp account as well as scheduled zoom meet-ups. We both work in quite different ways which made our collaboration far more fruitful by adding new input to work with and accommodate. This was the first time that I had worked with a fashion designer so our discussions and sharing images were important for arriving at a consensus on colours, themes, effects and feel.

My mood board for Ava’s accessories and garments was minimal. It included an image of a stunning wrapped orange headdress and colourful eye makeup, flowing forms, colourful patterns etc..

My ideas and my inspiration come from exploring the potential of the technologies I am using and I enjoyed working within Megan’s themes as these developed.

Image of mood board pics that were used as starting points for inspiration within Ann Marie Shillito's process of developing accessories for a head piece for an avatar for a virtual fashion event: bright orange wrapped headdress, colourful eye makeup, colourful patterns etc.

Technical issues also impacted on how we worked. Megan struggled to get access to the 5G technologies that the project’s Dundee fashion designers were signed up for. Plus late access to a VR headset and controllers with the deadline looming meant a very short time within which to make good use of GravitySketchVR (GSVR). Clo3d didn’t work well with the type of graphics card embedded in my main laptop so my trial garment wouldn’t render on to a naked avatar!

The image shows Lena's accessories - earrings and tiara. Lena is an avatar and her accessories are designed to compliment her diaphanous and flounced transparent lilac coloured overdress and long separate sleeves over sparkly tight fitting short dress. The tiara is created from metallic purple swirling forms designed using GravitySketchVR

So Megan worked on Ava’s garments first giving me a clearer idea of the concepts behind her thinking and the overall feel that she wanted for both garments, including the colour lilac.

This helped me start pulling my ideas together in GSVR.

Megan’s avatar, Lena

Our two avatars are Ava and Lena. Megan wanted Lena’s accessories to be fairly conventional so I started with earring and necklace designs to complement the lightness of the fabric for the garments.

Megan designs and makes head bands to match the dresses she creates and these are part of her fashion branding.

So I also created a tiara as well and she used this instead of earrings, complementing it with a matching neckpiece.

Using GravitySketchVR

Having used VR in the DISTANCE2 Project I wanted to explore further gestural techniques that so easily produce flowing forms in GravitySketchVR (GSVR).

The fun bit is using the controllers to freely sweep and twist to create all the different pieces and this style gave the same level of coherence to the accessories as the fabrics with their effects and colour gave to both sets of garments.

In both GSVR and in Clo3d colours can be added to objects and in Clo3d Megan gave the pieces metallic properties which work so well with the shimmering fabric she dressed the avatars in.

The image shows Lena's accessories and garments as designed for the final fashion show event. Lena is an avatar and her garment is a diaphanous and flounced transparent lilac coloured overdress and long separate sleeves over sparkly tight fitting short dress. She has a large neckpiece and tiara created from metallic purple swirling forms. Her eye make-up is extensive and in a mix of pinks, turquoise and purples.

Ann Marie’s designs for Ava’s accessories and garments

Image of swirling and twisting pink and purple abstract forms created in virtual reality as ideas for possibly Ava's accessories and garments

In a metaverse, the physical constraints of worldly things need not be taken into account when designing. I therefore had huge freedom to play and explore form creation, making weirdly wonderful shapes to work with – forms that can only exist in this space.

Combining virtual things which have no material substance, with virtual reality’s ‘free from gravity’ environment, means mega objects can just float. What I had in mind was more experimental and unconventional, specifically, a large head piece that could float above Ava’s head as she walked down the catwalk.

Initially I just had the GSVR standard default head to wok with. Later we all had our avatars in .obj format to import into GSVR and having this full figure to design around made envisioning my concept more exciting and easier to proportion.

I was so caught up in creating various pieces that I didn’t capture any of this process as video and I didn’t spend precious time learning again how to use the video capture function in the VR headset’s software.

With play, my form creation became more fluid to the extent that my constructions needed few additions and tweaks.

Image of swirling and twisting pink and purple patterned forms around a head, created in virtual reality as ideas for possibly Ava's accessories and garments

One of my ideas was to also have small abstract forms as little ‘bat-like pets’ floating behind Ava as she walked

Images in a banner of swirling and twisting pink and purple abstract forms created in virtual reality as ideas for possibly Ava's accessories and garments.

This video is a screen capture (using Camtasia record) and made by opened up in GSVR’s LandingPad a version of the head piece which prototyped the various ‘pet’s’ and their possible positions as 3D objects in a 3D environment. The video is a bit jerky as it wasn’t easy rotating the model as it wasn’t positioned centrally. To get a half decent video to show the model from different sides I had to keep panning the frame. Otherwise everything disappeared off to the side and around the back of me!

From GSVR to Clo3d

What is really really strange about Clo3d is that it visually simulates the physicality effect of ‘gravity’ exceptionally well. I was amazed when, with my first ever attempt at making a garment for an avatar, I hit the button to sync the garment to the model, to see her trousers gently descend, ending up in a golden puddle around her feet. I was in fits of laughter, just wishing I’d caught this on video. This happened because I hadn’t properly ‘sewn’ the front and back of the trousers together! This realistic gravity effect built in to Clo3D is AMAZING and blew my mind regarding a general perception that software for creating and designing doesn’t have physics albeit virtual. This physicality which is a visual effect, and which Megan’s garments exploited so well by showing the qualities of the fabrics and how they behave is different from the sensations we feel such as weight, hardness, softness, etc.

This revelation did mucked up my thinking a bit and led down some rabbit hole thinking as described later! And there is also a video showing a similar ‘gravity’ event!

Image of possible garments for avatar for fashion event: created in Clo3d garment making software and in purple/lilac diaphanous material with long gathered flounces at the bottom of the trousers as an idea for Ava's accessories and garments

Megan designed Ava’s and Lena’s garments with the same theme: flowing flounced lilac coloured fabric that is light and transparent when rendered, which shows off the skin-tight garments underneath.

Now having an idea of the garments, I could finalise my designs and import both the headpiece and the bodice in to Clo3D and start attaching them to Ava’s garments. I still needed to sort out how to get the ‘pets’ to float and follow as the support team would need the completed avatars with all their attire, saved in Clo3d format for when they rendered and animated the avatars for action, walking and modelling in a fashion show.

Ava’s accessories and garments: File compatibility

Working between different software does have issues regarding compatibility of file formats. Once I knew the protocol for importing into Clo3d, and discovering that the scale units were different, it was then relatively straightforward getting the GSVR .obj files into more or less the same space as the avatar in Clo3d. Objects are imported as ‘trim’ and mine had to be scaled up by 400%, moved into the centre and rotated for fitting. These objects would eventually have to be ‘glued’ to garments in order not to be left behind when the avatars walk.

I designed the head piece so that it could either be attached to an invisible balaclava on Ava’s head or a section of it at the back be glued to the back of her top. For connecting the floating ‘pets’ the physical realisms of Clo3d, such as the necessity of having objects attached by ‘gluing’, became a bit of a red herring.

Banner Image of Ava's accessories and garments for a fashion event: created in Clo3d garment making software. Her clothes are in purple/lilac diaphanous material with long gathered flounces at the bottom of the trousers. The idea for Ava's accessories is a large bodice and a huge floating head piece. The images show methods tried out to have 8 small abstract forms float behind the avatar like little pet bats!

The image above shows two of possible methods that we tried. The first was having two fabric ovals sewn onto to the garment to which the ‘pets’ are glued. The fabric would be rendered invisible leaving the pets floating ‘freely’. The second was adding wires to the headdress, and in order to have the ‘pets’ sway and bounce, attach them to fabric ribbons glued to the wires. Wire and ribbons would be rendered invisible!

Then I had a light bulb moment!

Some of the sweeps and swirls that made up the head piece were not attached to each other yet in Clo3d the imported unit acted as a whole.

I had already created the ‘pets’ in GSVR and positioned them around the head piece. So by importing this version, without the wires, into Clo3d, all the parts should/would act as a whole.

Great! And this worked a treat with all the eight ‘pets’ hanging around and behind Ava as designed.

Ava’s accessories and garments: Finishing Touches

Megan used dark lilac fabric for the garments and and I had a colour swatch of this. There were also the colours we mixed with Madelaine’s help for the eye make-up we created for Lena and Ava.

As part of the process creating Ava's accessories and garments, this images shows the colour swatches in lilac, purples, pinks with a splash of turquoise used to pattern and colour the avatars' accessories: head piece, tiara, necklace, bodice and floaters.

Back in GSVR I had imported the colour swatches into the programme and mapped them onto the surfaces of the different flowing forms that made up both the head piece and the ‘pets’.

Some of the ‘pets’ have a metallic sheen as well as their colour but I preferred the head piece with a matt finish as the shiny reflections broke up the forms too much and marred the overall effect.

Image of Ava's huge floating head piece with the 8 small abstract forms that float behind the avatar like little pet bats! To colour the swirling and twisting forms, created using GravitySketchVR, colour swatches in lilac, purples, pinks with a splash of turquoise were used to pattern and colour the avatars' head piece and pet floaters.

Finally the head piece with the ‘pets’, and the bodice/front piece, all part of Ava’s accessories and garments, were imported into Clo3d and onto her to finish her attire.

The complete file was handed over to the support teams to render and work their magic.

……. as did Clo3d as in this hilarious video which captures beautifully what happens when garments and objects are not properly attached and ‘gravity’ does its magic when the button to render is pressed!

One of the things I noticed with their final rendering was that the techie team had moved the bodice forward, out from being tucked into Ava’s body! What! In virtual reality things can be ‘harmlessly’ imbedded into bodies and I wondered if this was ‘reality’ sneaking in or a programme not coping with this. My mind-set reis firmly in the corner where objects made for the metaverse do not need to conform to practicality and reality. Not only is this the fun part, playing in a risk-free environment really does enable fast and dirty concept development.

The next I saw of Ava was at the physical manifestation of the project, on a large screen in the V&A Dundee, the evening of 17th November 2023. This was the launch of Hidden Floors innovative research project and Scotland Re:Design‘s real-life Fashion Salon Shows and SRD Awards presentations.

It was also the first time we all saw each others’ work, the outcome of thee project. We had seen bits and snatches in the regular meet-ups and the tutorials we had with the rest of the team.

I found it fascinating to see how the other pairs of fashion designer and applied artist had worked together. I loved the way they combined their specific skills and expertise to bring into Clo3d the textures and structures of the different materials and processes they worked with.

To see the video of all the avatars, open up this link and scroll down to the very end.

For most of us it was the first time we had met face to face as we are geographically spread across Scotland, working and collaborating online. It was so lovely to finally meet Megan having worked so intensely with her for over 5 weeks.

All the people involved

All the people involved with HiddenFloors, the designers, support team, companies and associations, are here with their hashtags.

@g.i.l.l.i.a.n.m.a.r.t.i.n, @m_v_brown, @digital.soft.wear, @ciorstaidhmonk, @caitlinclairemiller, @mr_chris_hunt, @lynnesloom, @appliedartsscotland, @almaborealis, @anarkik3ddesign, @carriefertigart, @isolatedheroes, @littleperilstudio, @dreamlandclothing, @aubinjewellery, @joamistudio_, @steve_studio, @lateralnorthscot, @fashioninterrupted_ @scotredesign, @vadundee, The Scotland 5G Centre,

This image is a screen capture during a zoom debriefing, of the twelve out of 16 people involved with HiddenFloors project: the designers, support team, companies and associations.

The why!

I want to share what I have personally learnt regarding the benefits and implications of the digital and virtual technologies that I explored as an applied artist.

As a member of Making Design Circular, I want to know more about the environmental impact of digital and virtual technologies so that I can actively move towards a more circular economy and align and apply my values to my practice to lighten my own footprint.

Then there was also other programmes used by the techie team that I am mostly unaware of and which were important for bringing the whole project together.

I intend to find out as much as possible and share in another post.

Image of the Badge for membership of Katie Treggiden's Making Design Circular as Ann Marie Shillito is looking at creative solutions to use waste materials and make plastic so precious that it does not end up in landfill. Other aims for a more circular economy are using reclaimed, recycled and locally sourced material, supplied as locally as possible.

My next and third post in this series will be about the hidden floor that Megan and I curated in the virtual V&A Dundee construct. Four ‘hidden floors’ were created in total. This is where the four teams of applied artist and fashion designers curated exhibitions showing their process and progress. Sign up below to get my periodic newsletter to know when it’s published!