30 The Costume Designer Summer 2017
Mar velous
Designer
While fairly new to the market, Marvelous Designer (MD)
has quickly become a "must learn" for the gaming and film
animation industries. With our costume illustrators pres-
ently adopting the software, it is now making its way into
Costume Design. The powerful CAD program translates 2D
patterns into 3D garment simulations in real time, and each
new software update adds useful new features.
An early convert to the technology was Costume
Designer Gwyn Conaway. Conaway saw the less-than-
stellar quality of Costume Design in otherwise visually
spectacular games as an opportunity. She started taking
courses in illustration and MAYA, 3D animation, model-
ing, simulation, and rendering software of choice for most
major CGI projects, before branching out to MD.
Conaway found that the triangular wireframe geom-
etry—rather than square—of the MD software was much
better suited to simulating the drape and movement of
fabric. Also, since files created in MD are fully compatible
By Christine Cover Ferro
Buttons and buttonholes can be plotted and fastened.