Modeling and visualization of knitwear

Visualization and modeling of textile materials has already been investigated in detail in the computer graphics literature. Most of the work, however, concentrates on woven fabrics. We present a novel approach to the modeling and rendering of knitwear. After the topological specification of a knitting pattern a subdivision into basic elements is done. The yarn microstructure within basic elements is approximated by volume data sets. The repetitive structure of knitted fabrics allows an efficient rendering technique. Resulting images are given that demonstrate the feasibility of our approach.