With our "Expert Talks" series, we give the floor to Fittingbox's talents!
They'll share exclusive insights, the challenges they face and talk about their domain of expertise. From Augmented Reality (AR) & Diminished Reality (DR) to Machine Learning and Computer Vision, get glimpses of what's behind Fittingbox's innovations!
Today, Jocelin Maurel, Lead 3D Creative Pipeline Developer at Fittingbox, shares how we leverage parametric modeling to enhance the creation of 3D eyewear frames through custom-built tools.
Jocelin joined Fittingbox in 2022 as an intern and quickly made his mark within the StudioLab team. Today, he develops new features and refines our in-house tools to better meet production and modeling needs, ensuring seamless integration across our entire pipeline.
One of the areas Jocelin is working on is parametric modeling: a smarter, more flexible approach to 3D design.
Rather than starting from scratch every time, parametric modeling allows creators to define objects using values and rules. Change a parameter, and the entire object updates dynamically.
It’s a game changer when it comes to precision, adaptability, and speed.
In the video above, Jocelin walks us through how this method contrasts with traditional approaches and how it's being applied specifically to the world of virtual eyewear.
He also introduces one of the two main modeling techniques we use at Fittingbox: NURBS modeling (Non-Uniform Rational Bezier Spline) and the key software behind it: Rhino, a CAD software (Computer-Aided Design).
The second modeling technique we use is called polygonal modeling and it has been presented by Maxime, Lead C++ Developer, in our previous Expert Talks.
To fully harness the power of Rhino, we’ve built custom interfaces that simplify how our teams interact with the software. Instead of navigating through complex menus, our internal tools bring key parameters together into one streamlined workspace.
This custom layer lets us adjust the shape of eyewear frames more efficiently. It’s a smarter, faster way to design, especially when working at scale or iterating on client specifications.
Once the model is ready, it moves into the next phase: meshing. This step transforms the smooth, technical model into a polygonal version that fits within our production pipeline. Depending on the visual quality required, we adjust the mesh resolution accordingly.
Then comes *UV mapping, which allows us to prepare the eyewear model for texturing: from here on, our graphic artists team takes the lead to add textures and final visual details to the frames.
*The term UV mapping originates from the coordinate system used to apply 2D textures onto 3D models. The letters U and V represent the two coordinates used to map textures. While in 3D space we use X, Y, and Z, when dealing with textures, only two coordinates are needed. We refer to these axes as U and V. (Definition from adobe.com)