Why Paper to CAD Conversions?

In today’s high tech world one needs to save time, to utilize it for better resources.

In the present era of computers, managing your Paper documents can really be easy. All your architectural, mechanical or engineering drawings or Drafting can easily be converted into digital format.

With the help of CAD, computer aided design; one can address all issues regarding 2D, 3D drawings, raster image scanning.

CAD can convert manual paper drawings into digital format. You just need to lay confidence in the present technology & see what all wonders can be done.

CAD conversion are useful to many industries as they convert paper to digital format. With CAD, existing manual hardcopy drawings get easily converted into Electronic CAD files. These become professional record drawings.

Paper to CAD Conversion offers various benefits as converted drawings give more professional look to your work

All kinds of Engineering Drawings, Mechanical Drawings, Architectural Drawings, and Scanning of Documents can be done with computer aided design.

CAD has found its application in various industries including architectural, engineering and in building industry.

So, utilize this service, to cut down on your paper documents. As this will give an edge to your business over others.

Webmaster -http://www.bluentcad.com

How often have we felt the need to have a tool which could simulate the stitching and the fit and fall of a garment, even before actually stitching it out of the actual fabric?

3D Simulation offers the user a suite of tools that will simulate all pre-production activities including stitching, fitting, visualization, texture and color variation. This can also be used as a communication tool between retailer, subcontractor, designer, pattern maker, manufacturer, costing and marketing departments. It allows the visualization of any pattern modifications instantly in 3D, based on accurate CAD patterns and real fabric characteristics.

The 3D simulation module is very helpful when you need confirmation from a client regarding fitting or measurement problems. You can send 3D images of the garment with the fitting and measurement problems and also another sample view with the suggested measurement change incorporated as per your pattern master or the technician for faster confirmations from the buying house or buyer instead of actually sending the garment or query for revised spec sheet, as it is a very time consuming process. Presenting any problem with pictures makes it easier to decipher the problem compared to verbally explaining the same. They say a picture is worth a thousand words!

Using 3D simulation software can reduce product development time and the cost involved in multiple iterations of sample garment production.

The highly detailed parametric mannequin usually has numerous precise adjustable body measurements, including several posture positions that can be saved for multiple usage – buyer wise or segment wise, size wise etc. Users can create their own specific base size mannequins, saving a great amount of time during fittings.

Mr. Saar Machtinger, Director Business Development, OptiTex™ Fashion design software, which specializes in the development of innovative, easy-to-operate, 2-Dimensional and 3-Dimensional CAD/CAM Fashion Design software. http://www.optitex.com

Computer Aided Design is used at various stages in the apparel and textile industry. The fashion design CAD/CAM software can be broadly classified into following categories, each relating to a different design and manufacturing stage.

Categories and manufacturing stages are:

Designing/ Range Planning – before the start of any fashion season, all apparel manufacturers plan the range of garments which they are setting up to manufacture. Most of the designing and range planning is still done by the buyer or the owners of the brand because they are closest to their actual clients; it is easier for them to understand the specific needs of their target market. To some extent, this has now changed with more and more manufacturers allowing vendors to dabble a bit in designing, based on their specific inputs in terms of colors, yarns, fabrics, prints, silhouettes etc.

Prototyping/ Sampling – once the designs have been finalized, a prototype or sample has to be made, because the scalability of the end product (garment) very much depends on the fit of the garment.

In a study conducted by an independent research agency, which monitored and observed the reasons of dissatisfaction or returns of garments sold - fitting problems topped the dissatisfaction list.

Considering the importance of a good fit, it becomes imperative for a manufacturer or retailer to achieve the best fits possible. Considering the complexity involved with different fabrics and silhouettes, a CAD system takes away much of the pain from prototyping thus decreasing the time to market.

Mass Production – comes with its own challenges. Unlike most other products, apparel manufacturing, even today very much depends on people – especially when it comes to tailoring or assembling. A mistake anywhere down the line in the prototyping or cutting process becomes very difficult and often impossible to rectify. This is where a CAD system comes in, to deskill some of the processes involved in mass manufacturing, namely the pre–production processes so that perfectly cut parts are fed to the operators. Additionally, the fabric saved in bulk cutting while using a CAD system is enormous.

Retailing – A 3D solution allows 3D files to be uploaded on to website for clients to choose from. 3D files can be opened and viewed in any MS office application or Internet explorer.

Mr. Saar Machtinger, Director Business Development, OptiTex™ Fashion design software, which specializes in the development of innovative, easy-to-operate, 2-Dimensional, and 3-Dimensional CAD/CAM Fashion Design software. http://www.optitex.com

The optimal digital workflow for print begins at the beginning—at the content creation stage. When digital files submitted to the printer are correct and complete, the workflow is most efficient and cost-effective.

Printers have led the global print industry through a revolution—first, with the introduction of computer-to-plate manufacturing (CTP), and then with direct digital imaging. They made these critical changes for the benefit of their businesses and their customers. But along with the leadership role comes a certain amount of responsibility. Printers must also be committed to educating their client base on how to prepare appropriate and reliable digital content files, and equip their customers with the digital tools and technologies that will enable them to attain the goal.

Enabling the print customer with digital workflow tools Beyond simply telling the customers how to prepare the files according to the print shop’s specifications, printers should also be prepared to promote digital file verification tools to their client base—low-investment-cost software that will help their clients ensure that the files are correct and complete before they’re ever submitted to the printer’s prepress environment.

There are a several “preflighting” or “postflighting” software solutions on the market today—some significantly more expensive than others, some better suited for high- volume printers, others better suited for content creators. Preflighting solutions are capable of verifying digital files in their native application stage—such as a document being prepared in QuarkXPress or Microsoft Word—while an application that postflights is capable of verifying specs in a final exchange format, such as PDF or PDF/X-1a file.

These solutions electronically look inside the digital file to make certain that all of the elements are resident, placed properly, and specifications like resolution, color space and document dimensions are correct. The software will often print out a report of its findings, so that the content creator can see the problems immediately and make any necessary changes before the file moves forward in the workflow.

Keeping with the idea that the ideal workflow is one that catches any potential file problems as far forward in the process as possible, Markzware Software—one of the leaders in preflight/postflight software—has come out with a new idea, on-the-fly file verification. This United States-based software developer (best known for its flagship FlightCheck Professional software) recently introduced a new tool specifically designed to help content creators and graphic designers avoid file preparation mistakes from the start.

FlightCheck Studio is a brand-new plug-in application that works alongside the native application, such QuarkXPress and Adobe’s InDesign. Before they begin create a document, they can assign certain parameters to the document. For example, if the document is bound for print, the designer will not want to mistakenly insert an image that’s 72 dpi. Based on the output specifications, FlightCheck Studio will sound a visual warning to the designer if any of the specifications are mistakenly disregarded.

For less than a few hundred dollars, graphic designers can invest in software of this kind, never have to leave the comfort of working in their familiar native applications, and never again send a digital file to a printer that’s incomplete or ineffective. Printers would be served well to introduce their customer base to best practices in digital file preparation, including recommending software solutions that assist their customers in content correctly, from the start.

Gretchen Peck is a U.S.-based author who writes about the global printing and graphic arts industry.

Designing an unique identity for your small business can be a taxing task when your budget doesn’t stretch to hiring a professional to help you do the job. Digital art files need to be created to a correct size, resolution and color mode. Providing poor artwork files to printers will result in a unprofessional looking final product which will fail to make a positive impression on your customers.

This tutorial goes over the basics of creating digital artwork files for business cards and marketing postcards. The following tutorial can also be used to create business stationery including letterheads, compliments slips and label artwork files by adjusting the sizes.

The dimensions mentioned are for landscape items and should be transposed for portrait cards.

Creating Files in Photoshop

Select File > New. Give your file a name, and enter the size.

For business cards set the size to 95mm x 57mm and for A6 post card to 151.5mm x 108mm. These dimensions include the bleed of 3mm (8.5pt) for and business cards and 1.5mm (4.2pt) for post cards.

Set the resolution to 300 pixels/inch, set the mode to CMYK and the contents to White. Click OK.

Ensure you have the page rulers showing, View > Show Rulers. Ensure your rulers are set to cm, Edit > Preferences > Units and Rulers. Now click and drag the guides from the ruler bars.

For business cards set the guides to 3mm, 6mm, 51mm and 54mm vertically and 3mm, 6mm, 89mm and 92mm horizontally. For post cards set the guides to 1.5mm, 4.5mm, 103.5mm and 106.5mm vertically and 1.5mm, 4.5mm, 147mm and 150mm horizontally.

You are now ready to create your design within this template.

Please note, nothing should extend to the outside edge of the document other than items that bleed off the edge of your cards.

The first guide line 3mm (business cards), (1.5mm postcards) is where the cards will be cut and you should try to keep all your text and images within the inner line 6mm (business cards), (4.5mm postcards) to avoid the possibility of anything being ‘clipped’.

Avoid scaling up images, if an imported image is too small scaling up will reduce the resolution and therefore the quality.

When you are happy with your design, save the file as an Adobe Photoshop (.psd) file, this is your back up in case you need to make alterations at any time in the future. This file cannot be uploaded.

Save the artwork

Flatten any layers you may have (Layer > Flatten Image).

Select File > Save As and Choose Photoshop EPS(.eps) Set the preview to None, Encoding to Binary and uncheck all the boxes. Your file is now ready to be supplied for printing.

Written for Goodprint Ltd, providors of instant online business cards and matching stationery via their website http://www.goodprint.co.uk.

The intentions of this short tutorial are not to teach you how to use Open Office, but rather to show you a quick and dirty way to create presentations and tutorials that can be exported as a Macromedai Flash file.

What is Open Office? It is a free, open source, cross platform office suite that has a lot of the same features as popular commercial suites.

Being that it’s cross platform means it can be compiled for just about anything, Windows, Linux / Unix, Mac, etc..

Using Open Office Presentation -

Basically, if you’ve ever used Microsoft Powerpoint, you’ve pretty much used Presentation. It’s a slide show (or presentation) creator that lets you create any style slide show you want.

You can have text, graphics, charts, etc… or any combination

It does not take much to figure out Presentation. You can add text or picture boxes, add designs, add tables and pretty much anything you can think of.

After you have created the presentation, here’s where you convert it to Flash:

You simply go in to the ‘file’ menu and select ‘Export’.

A ’save as’ dialog box will come up where you can choose the file name, location and the format you want.

From the pull down box you will see the ‘Macromedia Flash (SWF)’ option, that’s the one you want.

Select the format, pick your location, name the file and press the Save button.

That’s it.. you now have a Macromedia Flash version of your presentation that you can include on your website.

Why whould you want this?

Macromedia Flash is pretty much a standard for multimedia on the web, as a result there is a plug-in for almost every browser and most people already have this plug-in.

This gives you the chance to put Flash content on your site without having to play for the Macromedia Suite.

About The Author

Steve Howson is the Webmaster for SG Network Technologies web hosting company. http://www.sgnettech.com

If you take a lot of pictures, or are getting ready for an event where you’ll want to have lots of quality photos to include in your family album (i.e. weddings, holiday get-togethers), you’ll want to know more about photo editing software that is both affordable and easy to use. Here are some software programs for editing photographs and graphics that you may want to check out.

Virieu has a free photo editing program that is easy to use, and is compatible with most computers. With the program, you can add captions to your pictures, ‘frame’ your portraits digitally, and make your photos into backgrounds for your screen or to send out in your email by using the fade and shade features that come along with the program. The programs will also show you how to darken or lighten certain sections of the picture, so that you can remove certain items from your photograph. You can try the editing software out for free during a 21-day trail, and then the service is $29.00. www.reallusion.com also has a wide variety of editing equipment to try that will make any picture you take look professional and impressive. You can take advantage of the muscle-based facial enhancement feature, so that you can ‘fix’ the faces of the people you take pictures of to create a more flattering photograph.

Other products from the company include the Effect 3D Studio, a graphics editing and design program that allows you to make animated graphics no matter what your skill level is. You can also purchase CrazyTalk, a program that allows you to create animated talking characters for PowerPoint and DVD presentations. Most computers are equipped to download the programs (a Windows 98 or higher is usually acceptable), and you can try the products out before you purchase any of the programs.

In order for you to download, edit, and save your photos on your computer, you’ll need a digital camera to take your pictures with. Brands like Canon and Olympus have great digital cameras that are easy for you to use, and produce quality photos that you can save on your computer. You may also want to pick up a book or two with some more basic information on photo editing software, so that you’ll know which programs are easiest to use and most affordable. You can also find new and used photo editing programs, such as Instant Photo Editor on sites like www.amazon.com, with complete CD-ROM instructions on how to make sure you edit great photos every time you use the program.

Mansi aggarwal enjoys writing about photo editor.

If you already have photo editing software on your computer, you may want to know how to convert a number of images at a time to the format you desire. This feature, batch image format conversion, may be necessary to send out picture invitations/announcements to friends and family via email, or you may be preparing a business brochure and need to find a way to get the best quality graphics on each brochure that is sent out. Here are some companies/programs that offer this service that you may want to take a look at.

www.snowbound.com has a number of format conversion software programs that will work well with your computer and give you graphics with rich color and detail. The conversion tools support a number of formats and file types, including PDF, JPEG, and Microsoft Word. The programs also allow you to split multi-page files into single page files, and to convert PDFs, so the files are easy to see and read no matter how you download them. The program is best supported by Windows NT and Windows XP, which are on most computers. You can even provide the company with an evaluation of your Snowbound or Snowbatch software once you purchase the image conversion program.

If you’re not sure which company you want to purchase your batch image conversion software from just yet, or if you want to know more about what the program should be able to do, you can check out www.batchimage.com. There are a number of companies that sell batch image format conversion software on the site, so you can click on the links for each programs to learn more about which one would be best for your computer. Programs include Batch Image Commander, which comes in three modules (command line, time-based controlled tray icon, and batch timer processing modules).

These features help you to accurately resize your images while retaining the resolution and quality, change the JPEG quality, and create captions for your photos. You may also want to check out Batch It!, Batch It! Pro, and Batch It! Ultra, which are Windows-based image processors that are easy to use. You can create HTML and thumbnail galleries using these programs, and can individually crop or rotate certain images in your photos. The Pro and Ultra versions of the program allow you to convert more files at a time, and can also give your graphics a better resolution. For more information on these products, or to find out about other companies that offer batch image format conversion, visit the site for more details.

Mansi aggarwal enjoys writing about image converter.

Choosing cad software is quite a difficult task, where may parameters must be taken into account. Switching to a new cad software vendor carryies many implications for the fashion design company. In order to make this mission a little easier, I have put together a short list of issues a fashion design company must take into account when inspecting a new cad software vendor.

1. Does your system provide opportunities to send files from any software & hardware directly from what I already own or am planning to buy?

The ability to seamlessly import or export files from your existing cad system (software or hardware) is highly important in order to maintain your production abilities and keep them unharmed during the migration process.

2. Pattern Performance? How do I create, edit, grade, mark, drape, & engineer patterns quickly, accurately and easily?

All the above software abilities are necessary for any company in order to attain a production line. Combining the above abilities with an efficient 3-D animation software will also give your sales team affordable tools with reasonable time to market.

3. Can I send piece and cost calculations into Excel? Word? Familiar computing environment? Can I work in 2D and 3-D at the same time? While your designers may be using computers with MAC operating systems, your finance managers surely use computers with Windows operating systems. Obviously the integration of data between two operating systems is highly important for an efficient business process which incorporates data sharing.

4. How is your company defining the future? What are your latest innovations and how will you support it? How often do you release new versions? Upgrades? Service packs?

Cad software solutions are usually expensive software solutions, which is why you should make sure the software vendor you choose is highly attentive and responsive. In the long run, you should be able to know that the solution you have chosen is as flexible as it may, and that there is a support team on the vendor’s behalf, who are ready to answer your questions and solve your problems on an immediate basis.

5. Can you provide realistic textile simulation?

As mentioned before, realistic (or 3D) textile simulation is highly important in order to equip your sales team with the most efficient and cost-effective marketing and sales tools. With the right 3-D simulation software, you may reach a situation where there is no need to produce any samples for customers, which will eventually cut marketing costs and time to market.

6. Do you offer a good made-to-measure (MTM) solution?

A good made-to-measure (MTM) software solution minimizes costs, streamlines the production of patterns, improves efficiency in sending files to plotting or cutting, improves quality and helps meet deadlines. When choosing an MTM solution, remember to check that it is capable of importing patterns from other CAD systems.

Good luck with making the right choice!

Mr. Saar Machtinger, Director Business Development, OptiTex™ Fashion design software, which specializes in the development of innovative, easy-to-operate, 2-Dimensional and 3-Dimensional CAD/CAM Fashion Design software.

http://www.optitex.com

CAD is computer aided design. CAD is used for designing objects such as architectural designs, mechanical designs, and electrical designs. When you use this type of software tool you’ll be able to get results that are perfect each time and that look very professional. Most software packages will come with a multitude of graphics that are already built into the system. All you need to do is choose what you want and add them to the design that you’re working with. You don’t need to be an artist to use a CAD tool. The features that are built into this type of software will do all the aligning for you. You’ll be able to have all the design power that you need when you use CAD software.

Most CAD software programs will also come with many templates that you can use, as well as the symbols that you need to create designs that are readable and 100% useable. Besides using the CAD tool to create designs for your architectural or mechanical business you can use it to create floor plans to design your new home, landscaping designs for your garden, circuit diagrams for your electrical needs, and block diagrams.

There are many CAD software packages that you can choose from. The best thing is to know exactly what you want from the software so that you’re not disappointed with your purchase. CAD software doesn’t come without a high price and most times will be un-returnable once you’ve opened it and installed it on your computer. If you’re unsure about what CAD software package to buy you may be able to try a free download that many software manufacturers will offer to try and get your attention. This will allow you, for a short period of time, to work with the CAD software to be sure it’s what you want and does what you want it to do.

James Hunt has spent 15 years as a professional writer and researcher covering stories that cover a whole spectrum of interest. Read more at http://www.cad-software-center.com