A preliminary comparative analysis of 3D body scanner, manually taken girth body measurements and size chart measurements

Abstract

In an attempt to provide a technological solution to the influx of cheap imports in South Africa and bridging the technology divide between Africa and the rest of the world, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research procured a three-dimensional body scanner from the Textile and Clothing Technology Corporation, in the US. The pilot study was aimed at introducing the technology to the South African consumers, and to compare the scanned data with the manually taken measurements. A convenience sample of 56 females in South Africa was interviewed using a structured questionnaire. Interviews were used to capture views on acceptance of the technology, prior to being scanned. Scanning garments made from a stretchy fabric were designed and sewn in four sizes of small, medium, large and extra large. A covariance, one sample t-test and paired t-tests were used for data analyses. Almost all respondents felt comfortable with the designed scanning garments and the scanning process. The scanner measurements were generally more numerical in value than the manual measurements for a body part as expected, although the disparity was on the higher side than expected. The discernible difference between means of scanned data and standard values in the currently used sizing charts highlighted the long overdue need to update the sizing charts using a national anthropometric database generated locally.

Kinanthropometry Applications of Depth Camera Based 3D Scanning Systems in Cycling: Repeatability and Agreement with Manual Methods

“…Current literature has demonstrated 3D scanning systems are capable of producing repeatable measurements, in close agreement with manual methods [28,35,36]. This study has replicated these findings, demonstrating a low cost Kinect-based 3D scanning system is capable of extracting length and circumference measures within ~2% and ~3-4% of manual measurements, respectively, with high repeatability, ~1.80% and ~0.7% respectively.…”

Collection of anthropometry from older and physically impaired persons: Traditional methods versus TC2 3-D body scanner

“…The lack of experience of the experimenters with the use of scanners for collecting anthropometry could also have played a role in the results obtained, which is harder to quantify. However, what is clear, is that using the TC 2 NX12 scanner for the collection of anthropometry is not as straight forward as it may appear, as reported by Zwane et al (2010) and McKinnon and Istook (2001).…”

“…The inability to maintain the required posture may have resulted in greater differences than the maximum tolerable differences found in other anthropometric studies, changes in posture between measurements would also result in inconsistent results. Zwane et al (2010) discussed comparisons of scanned and manual measurements of body girths, using a TC 2 body scanner. 56 women were scanned using purpose-designed scanning garments.…”

Variation in measurements across different brands of same style ladies' pants in Swaziland

“…The front rise for brands 1 and 4 differed significantly from the other groups with the highest values of 25 and 25.15. Some of the retailers studied, such as Edgars and Woolworths, have done their own sizing surveys, but keep their databases confidential (Zwane et al 2010). It is clear that there are differences within the measurement points (Table 3) and various factors may contribute to such variations.…”