How about a workbench dedicated to clothes pattern drafting ?

Have some feature requests, feedback, cool stuff to share, or want to know where FreeCAD is going? This is the place.
Forum rules
Be nice to others! Read the FreeCAD code of conduct!
maxagaz
Posts: 30
Joined: Mon Apr 30, 2018 11:05 am
Location: Paris

How about a workbench dedicated to clothes pattern drafting ?

Post by maxagaz »

I'm dreaming of a workbench dedicated to clothes pattern drafting, a bit like the Valentina project here:
https://bitbucket.org/dismine/valentina

Is it something FreeCAD could possibly go for ? I'm curious to hear opinions about it.
02e5e03678c95873bd96dd0364817282e89e0d98.png
02e5e03678c95873bd96dd0364817282e89e0d98.png (99.57 KiB) Viewed 3588 times
User avatar
looo
Veteran
Posts: 3941
Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2013 5:29 pm

Re: How about a workbench dedicated to clothes pattern drafting ?

Post by looo »

triplus
Veteran
Posts: 9471
Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2011 4:45 pm

Re: How about a workbench dedicated to clothes pattern drafting ?

Post by triplus »

Who knows maybe indeed Valentina workbench will be created someday? :idea:
User avatar
NormandC
Veteran
Posts: 18587
Joined: Sat Feb 06, 2010 9:52 pm
Location: Québec, Canada

Re: How about a workbench dedicated to clothes pattern drafting ?

Post by NormandC »

Clothing pattern design such as done in Valentina is typically 2D work. What would be the advantage of adding this functionality to FreeCAD? Why can't you use Valentina?

I've had some experience in the past few months using a 2D pattern making program (we're not using it for clothing but for furniture). I can say that it is a totally different mindset and workflow to CAD. All geometry elements are B-splines (or Bézier curves, I'm not sure which).

We did look at a different solution, a pattern making module for SolidWorks called ExactFlat (which creates flattened patterns from a 3D solid). My analysis after comparing with truly dedicated pattern design programs was that a mechanical CAD program is not really well suited for such a task, notably regarding grading.
User avatar
Joel_graff
Veteran
Posts: 1949
Joined: Fri Apr 28, 2017 4:23 pm
Contact:

Re: How about a workbench dedicated to clothes pattern drafting ?

Post by Joel_graff »

I tend to agree with NormandC, here. Unless there's a licensing advantage (Valentina is GPL3), I don't seem much value it would provide.

That said, Sketcher is obviously well-suited to this sort of task. I know that @microelly2 has been looking at better curve support in Sketcher, so this sort of use isn't far afield of the work he's been doing. Nevermind the fact that the academic exercise alone seems valuable. It's a very different use for FreeCAD, which presents itself as a general purpose modeler. Is the need really too far afield of FC's scope? Do the needed features require substantial core development?

Seems like this would have value in other areas as well. Might be worth investigating, at very least.
Last edited by Joel_graff on Fri May 04, 2018 1:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
FreeCAD Trails workbench for transportation engineering: https://www.github.com/joelgraff/freecad.trails

pivy_trackers 2D coin3D library: https://www.github.com/joelgraff/pivy_trackers
User avatar
bitacovir
Veteran
Posts: 1570
Joined: Sat Apr 19, 2014 6:23 am
Contact:

Re: How about a workbench dedicated to clothes pattern drafting ?

Post by bitacovir »

Ohhh, well. 2D and 3D... Maybe you shouldn't be so strict about the distance between both fields...
I have seen cloth designs with 3D printing... and 3D software for 2D animation...

phpBB [video]


Sure, FreeCAD has a priority list of features waiting... and limited manpower. But how people can use and get benefits from a tool is something that only imagination and creativity can see.
::bitacovir::
==================
One must be absolutely modern.
Arthur Rimbaud (A Season in Hell -1873)

Canal Youtube Grupo Telegram de FreeCAD Español

My personal web site
My GitHub repository
Mini Airflow Tunnel Project
User avatar
Joel_graff
Veteran
Posts: 1949
Joined: Fri Apr 28, 2017 4:23 pm
Contact:

Re: How about a workbench dedicated to clothes pattern drafting ?

Post by Joel_graff »

bitacovir wrote: Thu May 03, 2018 11:58 pm Ohhh, well. 2D and 3D... Maybe you shouldn't be so strict about the distance between both fields...
I have seen cloth designs with 3D printing... and 3D software for 2D animation...
No doubt. I've been watching the Blender 2.8 features like a hawk. I love what they're doing with the grease pencil tool. This is another example of how Blender's ahead of their proprietary competition... Maya, 3ds Max, and Houdini have scrambled to keep up on a couple of occasions (like the fracture modifier that's also made it into the 2.8 release).

Anyway, I personally think it's worth exploring. It's just a question of whether or not it's a valuable addition to the FreeCAD ecosystem, especially since a specialized open source tool exists which already meets the need. The value (to me), would be identifying other potential applications for that workflow, or at least identifying missing features which could prove useful in other domains as well.
FreeCAD Trails workbench for transportation engineering: https://www.github.com/joelgraff/freecad.trails

pivy_trackers 2D coin3D library: https://www.github.com/joelgraff/pivy_trackers
User avatar
microelly2
Veteran
Posts: 4688
Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2013 4:06 pm
Contact:

Re: How about a workbench dedicated to clothes pattern drafting ?

Post by microelly2 »

2D drawing of cloth patches and cut optimization is a 2D task, but the more interesting task is the way to fold the patches back to 3D and optimize designs for 3D. there is a lot of papers how to optimize cloth design (for example for sportswear).
I see here a project when our shoe design projects is completed.
There are many similarities between a shoe and cloth design. Only pockets and umbrellas are simpler :lol:
here is the link to the shoe thread
https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=20525
User avatar
looo
Veteran
Posts: 3941
Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2013 5:29 pm

Re: How about a workbench dedicated to clothes pattern drafting ?

Post by looo »

I think the 3d ->2d workflow which I try to implement in FreeCAD is suited for more technical cloth-designs. I posted one use-case already.
https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic. ... ck#p217652

2d -> 3d simulation is doable in blender with the cloth simulation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont ... PC-T9l1wE8

2d only: Allthough freecad has some tools, I guess it's better to use a specific tool like libre-cad or valentina.
triplus
Veteran
Posts: 9471
Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2011 4:45 pm

Re: How about a workbench dedicated to clothes pattern drafting ?

Post by triplus »

Luckily FreeCAD is modular by design. And therefore making decisions if bringing something to FreeCAD ecosystem or not doesn't require general consensus.
Post Reply