A New Chapter- Ultron Goes to the Tailor’s Shop

It’s time to start writing again.

I wrote this blog for many years because I was exploring my craft, examining other people’s work, seeking to learn and improve, and to share the journey in case anyone might benefit from what I found. I think at one point I ran out of things to say. But now, a new chapter in the blog.

A few years ago I started exploring the world of 3D design and prototyping. While the technology has been around for quite some time, the vendors of 3D garment design software weren’t ready to handle the multiple layers of interlinings common in tailoring, and the results were not terribly accurate.  That has begun to change. I started exploring the different solution providers and experimenting with several of them.  At this point I’m not going to make an endorsement of any product because the choice of 3D tools is highly personal and specific to your industry.  What works for me may not work for you.  Each has its strengths and weaknesses. 

If you have been working with 3D in the fashion industry, or even if you are just thinking about it, there’s a pretty steep learning curve to become proficient in 3D.  Fortunately for most of us, there are tons of tutorials on the internet which can help.  Clo3D is one of the providers that has some of the best tutorials, not only because they as a company have provided lots of excellent videos, but they also have an accessible indie license model which means creative people around the world who may not have access to the very expensive business licenses can play and experiment and share their work but also their methods.  For this reason I will focus on this blog on the Clo environment; not because it is the best product but because it is the most accessible to the general public.

Which brings me to my next point.  You Tube is full of tutorials about just about every aspect of 3D design and modeling, but as with any technology, the software changes over time.  So many (most?) of the tutorials I found were exercises in frustration as I searched for buttons or commands in the videos which had been moved or replaced in subsequent versions of the software.  Any tutorials I might provide here will be subject to the same but I will attempt to keep them up to date.

And finally, I have found, as I work, that there are often things I would like to achieve in my 3D design work that require me to step out into the greater world of CGI, where I found that there was a WHOLE LOT MORE to learn and understand before I could function, and 99.9% of the information and tutorials online are geared for the gaming and movie industries, and don’t pertain to fashion.  In fact, there is frustratingly little good information for people working in 3D in the fashion industry. Some of the products I have begun to use and explore include Blender, Meshlab, Meshmixer, and current favorite, Substance Suite.

So this is where I start writing again.  I’m poring over the information online and spending hours trying to figure out how to translate into usable information for my work.  I can spend hours and days and weeks piecing together information from dozens of sources before I have one usable workflow. So as I figure stuff out, I will share it here, hoping to save someone else the hassle and frustration.