How to digitize manual patterns in to Clo3D
Is there a way to digitize manual pattern pieces to use in Clo3D without using another CAD pattern making software?
Is there a piece of digitizing hardware that works directly with Clo3D?
Or a scale accurate scanning application?
Thanks.
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Yes - you can use a digitizing table that simply exports the traced patterns of card/paper and import that into CLO3D. Most digitizing surfaces should work as they export out the vector line work in specific formats - often dxf / svg / .ai .So that means you have an external workstation doing the digitization work.
You can also wide format scan paper patterns, the downside is the card material and quality variance of the origination patterns can vary and that can make it hard to scan some fragile card patterns - it can also be slow and costly, so you really need to check the volume and quality of the paper patterns you intend to curate as part of the exercise on choosing your technology route.
You can also use camera capture acquisition of patterns, which to be honest is fast when compared to hand digitization with a puck or hand feeding them into a wide format scanner > this means setting up the pattern on a flat table surface at distance with an overhead camera and using simple image tracing software to create the outline (minus lens distortion) that you then import into CLO3D. This can be really simple to setup and cheaper than a wide format scanner, however it might introduce a small error unless you check off all aspects of the process when auto-tracing. A scaled grid is generally used to calibrate this on the table to recalibrate the image for lens distortion - really easy to do. Frankly I like that method as it's fast, is forgiving of the possible mix of archival copy, and also acts like an library visual copy for any weight card, paper, unpicked pattern - so a good image capture desk with low cost quality overhead camera is always a great addition to a pattern making studio. You can use many free software's to do the accurate image tracing these days, so it's a low cost setup, (table and camera) that is really flexible if you have a large library of card and paper patterns to curate into the digital space this makes sense as possibly the best option for speed.
However CLO3D can also act like a digitization table and take in a scale image as a background image into the 2D workspace and you can manually trace over it like you might do on a larger traditional digitizing table (separate hardware) . So in this respect CLO3D can do the same job within the software.
Below placing in a scale image of a paper pattern ready to manually trace (digitize) inside CLO3D.
NOTE: Based on the variation and quality of the card/paper patterns you are curating you need to be aware of the technical limitations for auto-tracing.
Brown card patterns are generally easy to auto-trace as they have a cut shape and color that will often contrast with the background. This means the autotracing algorithms for fining the true outline of the card pattern can be extremely accurate. However if you card patterns have lots of rips, tears, creases and markings with notations on them that you need to capture, this can mean you get a level of 'noise' you need to filter down to get a good vector line auto-trace. That can be heavily dependent on the nature and condition of the card patterns. Only you will be able to tell that so I suggest you keep that in mind when making a decision.
Uncut paper patterns are maybe the hardest to image capture as the line weight will greatly impact on the autotraced result. So in that instance I would use some manual digitization of an image as background in CLO3D. So again you need to look at all the patterns you intend to curate into digitisation and not just one or two, as that may determine what path you take.
Autotracing algorithms > most good vector softwares have this built in these days, and there are free software's that do a good job on this. So my suggestion here is search around and test a few solutions. Set up a simple workspace table that is flat, has even light and use a good low cost camera at a healthy distance and a longer style lens, that will create less lens curvature distortion to correct. Capture your image > remove lens curvature > threshold the image so it's line contrast is at maximum > autotrace > export the .dxf or .svg or .ai into CLO3D. The try it.
Hope that helps.
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Thanks so much Ottoline, that's really helpful, I'll look in to those option further :-)
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