Setting up a 3D file for Apparel

As is with most creative industries, peeking behind-the-scenes is far less glamorous than seeing the finished product, whether it be a movie, an interior space or a 3D garment or accessory. It’s also like painting a room: most of the time is spent on the prep and less on the actual painting. I want to address the prep work that goes into DPC and give some insight into the tedious side of the process.

Scenario: You have a request to create a 3D asset from an existing .dxf file. You have a tech pkg w/construction sketches and a few photos of a sample. Confidently, you open your 3D software & upload the .dxf file. You then:

1.    Review pattern to confirm information, understanding, markings, notches, etc. Arrange the pattern pieces in the workspace in relation to each other.

2.    Determine if seam allowance is on pattern: are there notches? You can also compare pattern measurements to specs:
- NO 😊 Do a quick happy dance and take a nap with the extra time you’ve been given. Now you can create any mirrored/symmetrical pattern pieces that are needed.
- YES ☹ Ugh…determine size of seam allowance. Pray that it is the same on every pattern piece and seamline. Be prepared that it isn’t. Silently curse the creator/digitizer of the pattern that
they used notches to denote SA and not full lines.
2a. Remove seam allowances. Don’t forget to transfer the notches!

3.    Clean up any internal lines:
- extend to pattern edges when necessary: darts, pleats, etc.
- transfer any markings such as gathering, pleat direction & grain lines into either notes or notches & delete them.

4.    Copy/paste, mirror, create pattern symmetry, etc. as needed. Delete facings & linings if they are not integral to the garment.

5.    Get stitching!

Pattern Makers: This list is as much you as it is for the developers creating garments in 3D. The more info you can put into the pattern (or even better, send it with a Cutter's Must), the more efficient the DPC process. All of those markings that seem clear to you can be a foreign language to the person at the other end.

Oh, and in a perfect world, the person creating the digital asset is also a pattern maker!

Any other pointers I might I have missed?