Vector to Bitmap Workflow for Surface Designers

FashionCAD Vector to Bitmap Workflow for Surface Designers Elaine Polvinen Buffalo State College

Smart Designers
… need to educate themselves about how to navigate between vector and bitmap off the shelf programs relating to the basic concepts of:
Color Separation
Custom Color Palettes
Preparing a bitmap/vector “single repeat”
Resolution
Importing and exporting files
Resampling images

CAD Studios
Off-the-shelf software can significantly:
reduce pre-production costs.
compliment and integrate with industrial CAD systems.
expand their current CAD product development capacities.

Bitmap and Vector
A variety of Off-the-shelf vector/bitmap packages provide extensive moderately priced pre-production development potential.

Bitmap and Vector
Most widely used off-the-shelf programs….
Adobe Photoshop®
Adobe Illustrator®
Specialized plug-ins for apparel/textile industry.

Bitmap and Vector
Two major graphic types and each type has exceptional attributes.
Vector Bitmap 100% 300% 500% 1200% 1600% 3200% 4800% 800%

Bitmap Graphics
Bitmap-based images are easier to work with and are comprised of pixels in a grid but they are resolution dependant .
In addition to a variety of off-the-shelf bitmap programs CAD industry textile design software systems are also bitmap/raster based.

Adobe PS Bitmap Graphics Image Interpolation settings under Preferences set how the pixels will be modified. Nearest Neighbor to maintain same number of colors and Bicubic for tonal images.

Adobe PS Bitmap Graphics
Primary limitation of bitmap Image development…
“ RESOLUTION”

Bitmap Graphics : Image Resampling 300% zoom Nearest Neighbor – solid colors keeps colors separated Bicubic [tonal]- Anti Alias [soft edge] Creates multiple blended edges … as image size increases, image gets choppier. … as image size increases, image gets burlier.

Bitmap Graphics
Designers moved towards off-the-shelf bitmap first because of the…
freedom to intuitively simulate actual hand painting and drawing tools.
CAD surface design for industry began with proprietary bitmap-based industrial CAD systems…

Vector software - it was used primarily for marker making and garment pattern development. Vector software has come a long way since the days of the simple black line.
but CAD History began with…

Smart Designers Learn…
How to use the “best of both vector and bitmap worlds.”
The unique characteristics of each program and plug-in.
How to integrate them into their workflow to radically speed up creativity and productivity in the CAD studio.

Vector Graphics : Resolution-Free
Objects that are resolution free because they can be output to the highest quality at any scale.
Line drawings that computers render using mathematical logarithms.
appliqué graphic
logos
line art: fashion croquees and/or product specs

Vector Graphics: Flexibility, Object Oriented
The unfamiliar concept of treating everything as individual and group “objects” must be assimilated to successfully retool and design in vector format.
Objects, Elements

Vector Graphics: Pattern Development
Pattern Development
Create a custom swatch or pattern brush
Symmetry Works
How it works…. seventeen built-in symmetries
Clipping masks
Replicas
Cropping a single repeat

Vector Graphics: Small File Size

Vector Graphics: Great Specs
Great product specification sheets can be quickly developed in Illustrator.
They can be totally developed in Illustrator or they can easily be exported into Excel or MSWord for detailed measurement and additional listing of notions and costing info.

Advantages of Vector Graphics
Resolution-free
Flexibility - objects or elements can be endlessly modified
Objects or elements can be archived for future use
Built-in pattern making functions
Art brush
Scatter brush
swatch
SymmetryWorks Plug-in (w/Adobe)
Great specs
Small file size

Incorporating the Advantages of Both..
Increases creative options.
Increases productivity.

Integrated Development
Can begin in vector format and shifted at anytime (in any resolution) over to bitmap development for fine tuning (if needed).
With vector graphics – “you” the designer determine the size and resolution when importing a vector design into a bitmap program.

Vector to Bitmap Import You determine the size, you determine the color mode and you determine the RESOLUTION…

Vector to Bitmap Import Very important not to select the anti-alias function when importing or working with bitmap images. NO ANTI ALIAS Individual number of colors remain constant ANTI ALIAS Multiple color tones are added to soften edges – number of colors increase 3 colors 10-40 colors

Translates into a cost effective, quick response pre-production design development strategy.

Bitmap Graphics
Color Separation options in Photoshop®
IMAGE>MODE>INDEXED COLOR FILE>SAVE FOR WEB

Basic Pattern Development
Can be completed in Photoshop® and Illustrator ®
Straight – bitmap/vector Half Drop – bitmap/vector
H & V flip – bitmap/vector
Seamless – bitmap/vector
Tossed – bitmap/vector
Encrusting – bitmap/vector

Textures and Simulations
Unlimited variety can be completed in Photoshop® and Illustrator® using traditional materials and techniques as inspirations.

Specialized Adobe Plug-ins
Clicdesign PlaidMaker Pro®
Clicdesign MotifStudio®
Clicdesign StyleDraper®
Clicdesign ColorTool®
Clicdesign ColorChart ®

Clicdesign PlaidMaker Pro®

Clicdesign MotifStudio®

Clicdesign StyleDraper®

ClicDesign ColorTool ® in Illustrator®
Create and manage color story boards.
Generate color combinations.
Changes to a sketch are updated in real time to all color combinations.
Big time saver.

ClicDesign ColorChart ® in Photoshop®
For managing and matching your colors.
Send color charts to your printer.
3600 colors are stored in your swatch file for easy access.
Big time saver.

Pantone Color Chooser ® in Photoshop® or Illustrator® PANTONE® for fashion and home color chooser kit … works with Illustrator® and Photoshop®

Many pre-production steps are possible in an off the shelf vector or bitmap design program before shifting over to a commercial CAD program.

File Formats
Bitmap – continuous tones or can be indexed.
Tiff– Excellent - continuous tones or can be indexed, alpha channels can be saved and can be compressed.
JPG – highest quality is ok – high compression.
EPS - Encapsulated PostScript can contain a combination of text, graphics and images.
PNG – true color or indexed, alpha channels can be saved – excellent compression.
Portable Document Format (PDF) is a flexible, cross-platform, cross-application file format. Adobe compression.

CAD in Industry
Additional cost cutting in industry is possible with a solid digital understanding of how to integrate off-the-shelf software with the series of development steps that are required to take a product from an initial idea to it’s final pre-production stage.

CAD in Industry
Many development stages are completed in off-the-shelf before shifting over to industrial CAD stations but students and designers need to be educated about how to prepare vector files for pre-production to avoid additional file setup charges.

CAD in Industry
Will industrial CAD systems become obsolete?
Never – Industrial CAD systems address many different functions for specialized manufacturing requirements.

CAD in Education
The growing trend in education is to focus more on “the basic concepts” that off-the-shelf programs can provide before shifting over to industrial software.
Why? Once students learn the basic concepts on off-the-shelf software the learning curve to transition over to industrial software is significantly lowered.

The Bottom Line…workflow
Use the “best of both worlds” to speed up productivity, cut production costs and develop design archives all at the same time.
Effectively integrate off-the-shelf with industrial CAD systems to expand your design facilities.

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Vector to Bitmap Workflow for Surface Designers

by Elaine Polvinen

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