ARray: Costume Design Enhanced Through Volumetric Capture

Rebecca Flynn
Sep 10
3 min read

When you think of costume design, you might picture bustling workshops, swathes of fabric, and the faint smell of glue…less so a bright green volumetric capture stage with 48 cameras pointing in all directions.

StudioT3D and Guildhall Production Studio have come together in a project that has brought centuries old costume design into the digital age.

Woman in a blue top and colorful skirt with bold red and blue patterns, holding a woven handbag. Dark background, elegant mood.

The Brief

Guildhall Production Studio (GPS), part of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, identified a gap in their costume department. While lighting, sound and set design had embraced digitisation, costume design remained mostly analogue. The pandemic highlighted the need for remote collaboration tools, prompting GPS to devise a solution that would allow designers to visualise, experiment with and share costumes digitally.

The Challenge

A person in ornate 18th-century attire, with a hand in a waistcoat, stands against a dark gradient background. The outfit is burgundy and detailed.

The project aimed to build a high-fidelity, interactive digital costume library, accessible via an app.

It was essential to record costumes in motion, not just as static 360-degree images, to give users a true sense of how each piece behaves and fits during performance.

As well as this, all digital assets needed to be carefully optimised for mobile use, ensuring quick loading times and smooth performance within the app, especially when working with such a high number of costumes.

These considerations were crucial to making a practical tool that supports the demands of modern theatre production.

The Production

StudioT3D and Guildhall Production Studio partnered with leading costume house, Angels Costumes, to bring the project to life with funding from the Arts & Humanities Research Council. The process began with user research, including interviews and surveys with costume professionals to ensure the tool met real world needs.

The technical production centred on the 4Dviews Holosys volumetric capture system, housed in Studio 2 at StudioT3D. The advanced rig captures detailed 360 degree 3D scans of objects and people - in this case, selected costumes representing different eras and styles.

Throughout the capturing process, models were costumed in several outfits and styled with hair and makeup before going on set. Costume Lecturer Vanessa Lingham designed a thematic narrative throughout the looks by selecting iconic clothing garments and accessories from fashion eras to showcase the breadth of Angels Costumes collection, some of which you can see examples of.

Using the 4Dviews software, several moving digital models were created. The digital replications were then refined using 4DViews’ 4DFX software and integrated into Unreal Engine, creating an interactive prototype platform.

The capture process was overseen by both the StudioT3D team and involved Guildhall’s own Production Arts students, creating an opportunity for hands-on learning and collaboration.

The Result

ARray allows designers to view, edit and experiment with costumes in a virtual space, offering a more efficient and sustainable approach to costume design. The platform utilises the 4Dviews files captured in the studio to allow users to zoom in and out, view 360 degrees of a piece and even see how the costume moves with motion saved into each file, a unique capability of this type of technology.

Through the project, the team also explored the wider potential of volumetric capture, not just for companies like Angels Costumes, but also for presenting uniforms, bridal wear, and designer collections to clients around the world, proving a potential commercial use case.

Additionally, it created valuable opportunities for knowledge exchange between students and industry professionals at StudioT3D, contributing to ongoing research in the field of digital humanities.

Two figures in historical dresses, one in intricate orange, the other in vibrant texture only, stand with folded hands against a dark background.

The Feedback

Following the completion of the project, GPS conducted a beta test of the app with costume hire houses, designers, consultants, and specialty footwear providers. Participants highlighted its strong potential for visualisation, marketing, heritage preservation and remote collaboration, recommending a focus on high-value use cases and integration with existing workflows. One participant noted:

“The use of 3D avatars to view costumes offers an immersive experience that could greatly reduce the time needed for selection but not for fitting. As [a] costume rental company, I could see great potential to simplify catalog management and make rental decisions more efficient.”

Reflecting on the project, Sam Lawrence, Head of Post Production at StudioT3D, said:

“ARray serves as a prime illustration of Holosys' capabilities, particularly in its ability to bring captured costumes to life. Curated meticulously by the remarkable costume department, Holosys flawlessly interprets these designs into the digital realm, avoiding the pitfalls of the uncanny valley.”