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Dressmaking CAD

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21–30 of 42 posts

Re: Dressmaking CAD

#21
post #4

The main package used for clothing design is Clo. It's a full 3D design program with cloth physics. You get to see full outfits on simulated models. There's also Marvelous Designer, which is Clo minus the part that outputs cutting patterns. That's used to create clothing for animation.

I taught myself CLO 3D basics in about a week and then used it to design tango pants for myself, from an Oxford bags pattern from the 40's that I found online. I think this was around 2012 or so.

You can adjust the mannequin to your measurements and even load mocap data (which was very cumbersome at the time though) to see how the piece may behave when worn.

I had the pattern cut out from paper on a large format cutter plotter. Then I went to a tailor and told them: make it so -- all the details are up to you but stick to the pattern. Of course the pattern was missing stuff like belt pocket, coin pocket, lining etc.

They were a tad bewildered but the pants fit perfectly and I've been re-using this pattern now for over a decade.

For me it was an amazing experience and I'm still marveling (pun intended) at the fact that a zero-tailoring-knowledge layperson like I could do something like this with such software.

Re: Dressmaking CAD

#22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Does a service like this already exist? Its how the french navy (used/experimented with) to do uniforms. You'd stand in a room, they'd scan you using structured light (I think, this was ~2000) then they'd extract the key measurements. However, instead of just in time tailoring, they had a bunch of trousers/shirts/tops/jackets in common sizes based on the population, rather than pattern type. This allowed quick mix…

They had these out in shopping centres in Australia, but they didn't last very long. It's a hard sell, I think you needed to get down to underwear in the thing? Dug out an article, didn't read, but the picture is the device I recall. https://www.techguide.com.au/news/gadgets-news/new-3d-body-s...

iirc they're using iPhone 3d scanner now

Re: Dressmaking CAD

#24

After one designs something, how does one print it? Or is that not the point?

I've only tried Valentina/Seamly2D but yes, most of these programs let you export your design as a pattern that can be constructed, typically as a PDF.

Once you have a PDF, you can: 1 - print it in poster format across many pages of paper 2 - use a projector aimed down onto your cutting surface and then cut the pieces out or 3 - a few people are fortunate enough to use laser cutters to cut out their fabric.

Speaking more on point 2, projector sewing got way easier this year with the release of automatic calibration software, namely https://projectandcut.com and https://www.patternprojector.com. (The first one is my project). If you want to learn more about it, you might also look at Projectors for Sewing facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/481078582801085) or https://projectorsewing.com or search google or YouTube.

You really can be set up for $100. I also think this could work with some forms of woodworking, or, say, crafting foam armour or decorating cakes.

Re: Dressmaking CAD

#25

If I had a 3D model of my body and measurements, I could send that to a designer for custom tailored clothing, which could then be cut and stitched by a 3rd party. Does a service like this already exist? Maybe an IPad is sufficient precision for the 3D model.

Amazon has been doing "made for you" custom clothing based on 3d body scans: https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/11/amazon-expands-its-custom-...

There are many companies trying to do something here, both tailoring and virtual try-on, e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28354021

Re: Dressmaking CAD

#26
All these OSS projects are cool but it's worth noting that the industry standard for this is Gerber:

https://www.lectra.com/en/products/gerber-accumark-accunest-...

My mother was a "grader" and her workflow was actually very similar to software engineering. A designer would give her sketches of a garment. She would figure out how to build it - break it down to individual pieces of cloth and construction steps that then get fanned out to cutters and seamstresses to build.

When I got into software I found the parallels fascinating.

Re: Dressmaking CAD

#27
Much smaller scale but don't forget about https://freesewing.dev/ , written in javascript. Instead of designing from scratch, they have parametric models where you give your measurements and get a pdf output. Really nice community too

Not that many models but you can also design your own with more experience

Re: Dressmaking CAD

#28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Does a service like this already exist? Its how the french navy (used/experimented with) to do uniforms. You'd stand in a room, they'd scan you using structured light (I think, this was ~2000) then they'd extract the key measurements. However, instead of just in time tailoring, they had a bunch of trousers/shirts/tops/jackets in common sizes based on the population, rather than pattern type. This allowed quick mix…

They had these out in shopping centres in Australia, but they didn't last very long. It's a hard sell, I think you needed to get down to underwear in the thing? Dug out an article, didn't read, but the picture is the device I recall. https://www.techguide.com.au/news/gadgets-news/new-3d-body-s...

> I think you needed to get down to underwear in the thing

Yes, you had to be in nothing but underwear, which was funny because when my dad tried it, we were in the middle of a massive convention centre.

Re: Dressmaking CAD

#29
post #25

If I had a 3D model of my body and measurements, I could send that to a designer for custom tailored clothing, which could then be cut and stitched by a 3rd party. Does a service like this already exist? Maybe an IPad is sufficient precision for the 3D model.

Amazon has been doing "made for you" custom clothing based on 3d body scans: https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/11/amazon-expands-its-custom-... There are many companies trying to do something here, both tailoring and virtual try-on, e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28354021

Does Amazon still do this? Many of the links from that Tech Crunch article lead to 404s for me. Googling "Amazon Made for You" gives me product listings on Amazon for skin care and shaving products.

Re: Dressmaking CAD

#30
post #4

The main package used for clothing design is Clo. It's a full 3D design program with cloth physics. You get to see full outfits on simulated models. There's also Marvelous Designer, which is Clo minus the part that outputs cutting patterns. That's used to create clothing for animation.

The big players in this field are actually Optitex and Gerber AccuMark. Lookup any pattern making job from the likes of adidas, Patagonia or Arc’teryx and they require knowledge in one of those two. The reason why CLO is becoming so popular in recent years is because they’ve been really smart about striking partnerships with fashion schools and offering their software at steep student discounts. I once tried to get a…

> it’s nice to see upstarts like CLO trying to apply the Final Cut Pro formula to dethrone them.

Except Final Cut Pro died because they rested on their laurels and got their lunch eaten when Apple finally licensed ProRes. So it's not really as good of a comparison as one might think

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