Started out as a simple desire to animate within MATLAB, which if you don't know, is not really built for complicated animation. MATLAB is a programming software we use as engineers to perform data analysis and as a tool to run dynamic mechanical and electrical systems. I had read an old SIGGRAPH paper on how soft body meshes were designed to simulate elasticity, and I took it upon myself as a small personal project to recreate that system. Why in MATLAB? Because I found it funny, and I was in the middle of taking a numerical methods course which taught us engineering applications of MATLAB.
I then expanded the model from 2D meshes to 3D volumes. My idea in the future for this project is to conduct more research into system identification. Using an array of sensors fitted on a piece of fabric -- using the position data obtained, you could then derive approximate equations that would describe the physics of the cloth; this can then be applied onto a simulated fabric matrix. The idea being that with these equations, you would then be able to apply any input onto the matrix and simulate a response that accurately follows the physics of the real piece of cloth!