[AD] Pattern Making Features

[PatternMaker]

Hi

 

I have just purchased the Affinity Designer to make digital clothing patterns and so far I am pleasantly surprised at how good it is, however, I do have a couple of requests.

 

Let me first describe the workflow I am using.

 

I am using A4 art boards.

 

I use snapping to place them side by side, top to bottom and use as many as I need to fully encompass my design pieces.

 

Now for each shape that overlaps onto another art board, I am having to copy and paste, without moving it, then go to the layer palette, and move the copied shape to the relevant art board.

 

Thus enabling me to export as a .pdf and because every page is an art board I get multiple pages, the A4 pages are then taped together, giving me a full pattern to work from.

 

My request would be some way to have a shape be on multiple art boards at the same time, so I could omit the copy and pasting step as described above.

 

Another request would be to improve the printing functionality, so I need not export as .pdf, but do it internally.

 

Oh BTW, if anyone can suggest a different workflow, I'd love to hear it.

 

Thank for listening, keep up the good work :).

[Connie]

I absolutely second this! Something alike to PS's wrap around, Offset Filter and define pattern will be very appreciated!

[PixelPest]

Deleted. Seems I missed the initial point.

 

Cheers

P.

[PatternMaker]

Hi guys

 

Think you need to reread the original post.

 

I am not talking about pattern making in the traditional sense, e.g. tileable textures.

 

I am requesting that a shape which is bigger than an artboard, showing on all artboards no matter which artboard it is drawn on.

 

Thanks

[MikeW]

I think the request is valid and definitely would be something I would use in the future. 

 

My only thought is why not use a single artboard of the requisite size to begin with? I've done wallpaper patterns where the repeat was quite large and rather than using multiple artboards in AI, I used a single, larger one.

 

To test print, I have just used Acrobat's tiling function to print to the largest paper my printers handle (which is tabloid extra size).

[PatternMaker]

Hi

 

Because once printed it has to be dimensionally accurate.

 

Try printing a 25mm, 50mm, 100mm and 200mm box, and keep going until you have used 2 pages, then measure it.

 

Plus I only have an A4 Printer.

 

L8rs

[MikeW]

Hi

 

Because once printed it has to be dimensionally accurate.

 

Try printing a 25mm, 50mm, 100mm and 200mm box, and keep going until you have used 2 pages, then measure it.

 

Plus I only have an A4 Printer.

 

L8rs

 

I don't print my work with the exception of proofing and so I have no need to have an accurate tile job that gets taped or glued together. But just for giggles, I did do a 36" wide design and lined it up, taped it together and it was accurate.

 

Are these clothing patterns for your own use? What file format do you export to and does your printer print edge to edge and is it then any more accurate than Acrobat's tiling with overlap and line up marks?

 

If I were making clothing patterns, I would be sending them to be printed on a wide format printer or web offset. It would be a one-piece print. Further, if I was doing my own clothing pattern,--a paper-based pattern--I would still create a one page/artboard file and take it to my local office print type of establishment and for a few dollars have them print at 100% size on their wide-format printer. If I did this on a regular basis, I would purchase a wide-format roll-fed printer.

 

Mike

[2989]

On 1/20/2017 at 3:23 PM, PatternMaker said:

Hi

 

I have just purchased the Affinity Designer to make digital clothing patterns and so far I am pleasantly surprised at how good it is, however, I do have a couple of requests.

 

Let me first describe the workflow I am using.

 

I am using A4 art boards.

 

I use snapping to place them side by side, top to bottom and use as many as I need to fully encompass my design pieces.

 

Now for each shape that overlaps onto another art board, I am having to copy and paste, without moving it, then go to the layer palette, and move the copied shape to the relevant art board.

 

Thus enabling me to export as a .pdf and because every page is an art board I get multiple pages, the A4 pages are then taped together, giving me a full pattern to work from.

 

My request would be some way to have a shape be on multiple art boards at the same time, so I could omit the copy and pasting step as described above.

 

Another request would be to improve the printing functionality, so I need not export as .pdf, but do it internally.

 

Oh BTW, if anyone can suggest a different workflow, I'd love to hear it.

 

Thank for listening, keep up the good work :).

From one Fashion Designer to another, have you tried the WildGinger pattern drafting programmes? (I have no connection to the WildGinger programme other than I use them.)  While I love Affinity, I could not imagine using Affinity to draft clothing patterns. You are very brave to attempt it! I would be interested in knowing your process.