For Those Who Want To Improve Productivity, We Compare 2D and 3D Workflows for Pattern Making. (Part 2 0f 3)
Death by "Incurable Slowness"
The 2D pattern making workflow lived over 100 years. It died of “incurable slowness.” This was caused by multiple failures: Disconnected workflow failures. Pattern association failures. Work sharing failures. And compatibility failures. Because of these failures, time to market was incurably slow.
But this is not a day of sadness. 2D CAD gave birth to something new. And this makes pattern making better. Faster. More reliable. More profitable. Superior in every way.
Imagine this. You find yourself in charge of hiring a new workflow. You write compelling advert because you want to hire the best workflow. Your ad might look something like this:
Fortunately, your ad works. It successfully brings the best applicants. And one in particular stands out, towering above the rest. The workflow is ready to start immediately. It has millions of users. It is taught in schools all over the world, so no need to worry about disappearing pattern makers. It gets better every year because the tools get better, which means faster, every year. And the more you work with it, the more you liberate yourself from low value activities. Imagine, no more low value activities. Then you realize, you have more time to create awesomely compelling products that your customers love. Hint: it is 3D.
The 3D workflow: Perfect patterns in minutes?
It is better because the flaws are gone.
Product designers can model in 3D with "air tight" accuracy. This means individual pattern pieces align perfectly to neighbouring pieces. Because of that, the beginning and end of seams on neighbouring edges also align perfectly. "Associating" is fully automated. Imagine getting to market faster, with lower effort.
Because the 3D workflow is fully digital, work in progress can be shared without creating duplicates, or time consuming multiple feedback streams. Pattern makers and designers can be ready at the push of a button for design or cost reviews. Work in progress is instantly available.
Because the workflow is fully digital, all steps are connected. You never have to translate the format of upstream outputs to be useful for downstream inputs. It all clicks together. It fits and locks into place which means pattern makers get more done with less errors.
Why is Digital Patterning faster? Because it is connected.
Imagine what you can do when everything connects:
- Digital 3D modelling to flat patterns in a few minutes
- Flat patterns to production pattens in minutes
- Production patterns to documents in minutes
- Creating a nest in minutes, or in the background while you work on the steps above.
The 3D workflow is not 100 years old.
It's new so it also works with other new technology.
Pattern making is a skilled art. And now its faster.
Its faster because it is the steps in the workflow are finally connected. It is faster because piece associations are now automatic. It is faster because sharing work easy. It is faster because it is compatible with other time saving technology.
Before you rush out, we are not done yet. There is still trouble lurking. The 3D Imposter. In part 3 we will talk about how to make the right 3D choices and avoid the time consuming 3D Imposter.
