U.S. scientists say they can simulate cloth on a computer with unprecedented accuracy to make it look more realistic in animated movies and computer games.

Existing computer models are either too simplistic and produce unrealistic results or are too complex and costly for practical use, they said.

Researchers say their model is based on a novel approach simulating the interaction of light with cloth based on how each thread scatters light, then uses that information to create a particular fabric's weaving pattern.

"Not only is our model easy to use, it is also more powerful than existing models," said Iman Sadeghi, who developed the model as a doctoral candidate in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of California, San Diego.

Sedeghi currently works for Google in Los Angeles.

"The model solves the long standing problem of rendering cloth," Sadeghi's doctoral adviser Henrik Wann Jensen said.

Wann earned an Academy Award in 2004 for research that brought lifelike skin to animated characters and was later used in many Hollywood blockbusters including "Lord of the Rings."

"Cloth in movies and games often looks wrong, and this model is the first practical way of controlling the appearance of most types of cloth in a realistic way," he said in a UCSD release Monday.