Book excerpt: Digital technologies in fashion are becoming more accessible and now any creative with a basic knowledge of fashion design and computing can create convincing still or animated 3D visualizations of styles, designs and products. With this technology, the designer is able to present a lifelike design that shows how the fabrics will look and how the garment fits on the body. 3D Fashion Design presents an overview of current technologies and their uses. It is packed with case studies and step-by-step tutorials showing the far-reaching capabilities of 3D fashion software. The author begins with an introduction to 3D software and the principals of working in three dimensions. He then moves onto creating the mannequin avatar, garments, accessories and textures and shows how to present and publish the finished article. Various software programmes are covered including Clo3D and Marvellous Designer for fashion-orientated design, and Maya, Mudbox, Rhino and Photoshop for more general digital design, visual effects and rendering. This authoritative guide is aimed at all levels, from beginners and fashion students working with digital technologies to advanced fashion designers, digital designers and visual effects specialists for film and animation.