Investigation of full body skin surface variations under dynamic poses

Existing methods for capturing skin surface changes due to joint movements have some known limitations, e.g. applicable only to relatively flat and small regions of the body surface, or only gives one-dimensional (measurement) changes. By integrating motion capture, body scanning systems, cutting-edge shape modeling and registration technologies, this study develops a new method to quantitatively analyze the variation of full-body skin surfaces (VoFBSS) in dynamic poses. The VoFBSS method includes three steps: (1) joint movements are grouped under different pose groups covering most dynamic body motions; (2) full-body skin surface is segmented into different regions; and (3) the segmented skin regions under various dynamic motions are compared with the same skin regions in the standard standing pose. The results of a designed experiment including eleven male adults show that shoulder motions have the largest impacts on surface changes. This method tracks full-body skin surface variations under different joint movements, which provides a valuable reference for future research in ergonomics product design or medical-related fields.