EP-4735681-A1 - SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ARTICLE DESIGN AND PRODUCTION

Abstract

Aspects herein are directed to systems and methods for designing and forming articles, such as articles of apparel. In some aspects, article design input data, such as a bitmap indicating a knit structure of an article, is received. A visual appearance of an article to be formed from the article design input data is predicted by modeling textile structures as springs attached to anchor locations. A shell mesh is created based on the predicted visual appearance. In some aspects, modifications to the shell mesh are received, and the article design input data is automatically modified based on the modifications to the shell mesh.

Inventors

• YAN, Diana

Assignees

• NIKE Innovate C.V.

Dates

Publication Date

20260506

Application Date

20240628

Claims (20)

1. 1. A computerized method for creating an article, the method comprising: receiving article design input data; generating a first mesh data structure based on the article design input data, wherein the first mesh data structure represents a plurality of knit structures in a first arrangement; receiving a modification of at least one knit structure of the plurality of knit structures, wherein the modification is received via a user interface design component that represents the plurality of knit structures in the first arrangement; and automatically modifying the article design input data based on the modification of the at least one knit structure.
2. 2. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein the article design input data is a first bitmap and the modified article design input data is a second bitmap.
3. 3. The computerized method of claim 2, wherein each pixel within the first bitmap and each pixel within the second bitmap represents one needle position within a needle bed of a knitting machine.
4. 4. The computerized method of claim 2, wherein the generating the first mesh data structure comprises: converting the first bitmap to a second mesh data structure; and mapping a plurality of units of the second mesh data structure to locations of the first mesh data structure.
5. 5. The computerized method of claim 4, wherein the generating the first mesh data structure further comprises: mapping anchor points within the second mesh data structure to corresponding anchor locations of the first mesh data structure; and assigning spring lengths to edges of the second mesh data structure, wherein the mapping the plurality of units of the second mesh data structure to the locations of the first mesh data structure is based on (a) the mapping the anchor points to the anchor locations and (b) the spring lengths.
6. 6. The computerized method of claim 5, wherein the anchor locations correspond to a throat region of an upper component for an article of footwear.
7. 7. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein the first arrangement of knit structures in the first mesh data structure has a shape corresponding to an upper component for an article of footwear.
8. 8. The computerized method of claim 1 further comprising transmitting the modified article design input data to a knitting machine.
9. 9. The computerized method of claim 8 further comprising generating computerized knitting instructions from the modified article design input data, wherein the computerized knitting instructions cause the knitting machine to knit the article.
10. 10. The computerized method of claim 9, wherein the article is an upper component for an article of footwear.
11. 11. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein the article design input data comprises a plurality of pixels, and wherein the first mesh data structure comprises a plurality of units, each unit within the plurality of units being mapped to a pixel within the plurality of pixels.
12. 12. The computerized method of claim 11, wherein each unit of the plurality of units comprises four edges.
13. 13. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein one or more edges of the first mesh data structure are assigned a spring length of zero to create wedging in the first mesh data structure.
14. 14. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein the modification includes an assignment of a yarn color to the at least one knit structure.
15. 15. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein the modification includes a change to at least one of (a) a shape of the at least one knit structure and (b) a location of the at least one knit structure.
16. 16. The computerized method of claim 1 , wherein the creating the first mesh data structure comprises creating a mapping between (a) locations within the article design input data and (b) locations within the first mesh data structure, and wherein the automatically modifying the article design input data is further based on the mapping.
17. 17. The computerized method of claim 16 further comprising: receiving a modification of the article design input data; and automatically modifying the first mesh data structure based on (a) the mapping and (b) the modification of the article design input data.
18. 18. A textile production system comprising: one or more non-transitory computer readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause one or more computing devices to: receive article design input data; generate a first mesh data structure based on the article design input data, wherein the first mesh data structure represents a plurality of textile structures in a first arrangement; receive a modification of at least one textile structure within the plurality of textile structures, wherein the modification is received via a user interface design component that represents the plurality of textile structures in the first arrangement, and generate textile production instructions based on the modification of the at least one textile structure; and a textile production machine configured to: receive the textile production instructions; and form an article based on the textile production instructions.
19. 19. The textile production system of claim 18, wherein the article design input data represents the plurality of textile structures in a second arrangement, and wherein the first mesh data structure is generated at least partially based on the second arrangement.
20. 20. The textile production system of claim 19, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more computing devices to: convert the article design input data to a second mesh data structure, assign spring lengths to edges of units of the second mesh data structure, and generate the first mesh data structure based on the spring lengths.

Description

SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ARTICLE DESIGN AND PRODUCTION HELD [0001] Aspects herein relate to systems, methods, and computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions thereon for designing and manufacturing knitted components for articles, such as articles of footwear. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] Some article production machines, including some knitting machines, operate automatically based on article formation instructions, such as bitmaps or instruction data based on bitmaps. However, configuring the article formation instructions (e.g., the bitmap) such that the article production machine produces an article with the desired structural or aesthetic characteristics may be challenging due to the lack of visual similarity between the article formation instructions and the desired article. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING [0003] The present technology is described in detail herein with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are described below. [0004] HG. 1 illustrates an operating environment in accordance with aspects herein. [0005] HG. 2A illustrates a bitmap in accordance with aspects herein. [0006] HG. 2B illustrates a shell outline in accordance with aspects herein. [0007] HG. 3 illustrates a grid mesh in accordance with aspects herein. [0008] HG. 4 illustrates a process of forming a shell mesh in accordance with aspects herein. [0009] HG. 5 illustrates a shell mesh in accordance with aspects herein. [0010] HG. 6 illustrates a process of modifying a bitmap based on a modification to a shell mesh in accordance with aspects herein. [0011] HG. 7 illustrates an iterative design process in accordance with aspects herein. [0012] HGS. 8-10 illustrate example methods in accordance with aspects herein. [0013] HG. 11 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary computing environment suitable for use in implementations of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Overview [0014] Some article production machines, including some knitting machines, operate automatically based on article formation instructions. Article formation instructions can include bitmaps, wherein each pixel of the bitmap represents a needle position and indicates a textile structure to be created at the needle position. Pixels are typically assigned different colors to denote the different textile structures. Thus, in order to instruct a textile production machine to produce a desired article, each pixel of the bitmap must be individually colored — in at least some cases, manually. This process is slow, tedious, and can be inaccurate. Moreover, configuring article production instructions such that the article production machine produces an article with the desired functional and aesthetic characteristics may be challenging due to the lack of visual similarity between the article formation instructions and the article. For example, a knitted upper for an article of footwear may bear little to no visual resemblance to a bitmap used to knit the upper, particularly when knitting techniques are utilized to create shaping (e.g., wedging/gorging) in the upper. [0015] At a high level, aspects herein are directed to systems and methods of designing and producing articles, such as articles of apparel. In some aspects, article formation instructions are translated into a mesh data structure (e.g., for use in computer-aided design (CAD) software) that comprises a visual representation of an article to be formed based on the article formation instructions. Put another way, aspects herein are drawn to predicting (e.g., simulating) a shape, structure, and/or appearance of an article that would be produced by an article production machine if the article production machine was provided the article formation instructions. |0016] Such article formation instructions are also referred to herein as “article design input data,” as such instructions may comprise information about a design of an article and may be used as inputs in article design and/or formation processes. Additionally, a mesh data structure having a shape of an article to be produced (or an approximate shape of an article to be produced) may be referred to herein as a “shell mesh.” [0017] The article design input data (i.e., the article formation instructions is mapped to the mesh data structure so that modifications to the mesh data structure can automatically be made to the article formation instructions, and vice versa. For example, a user may change a yam color of a knit course of the shell mesh, and article design input data may be modified in a manner that corresponds to the modifications to the mesh data structure. As such, article designs can be changed or iterated — and corresponding articles can be produced — in a visually intuitive manner and without manually altering pixels of the article formation instructions. Example Article Creation System [0018] With reference now to the drawings, FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary sy