Shoe design programs allow designers to apply their own imagination to the creation of exciting and unique designs for footware. Some of this software is available for free, however, the best software that is currently available for download will cost some well-spent money. In this article, I will discuss two pieces of shoe design software, Digital Fashion Pro and Shoemaster. These programs can be used to help you in the entire process of designing a new shoe, from the construction of templates all the way up to producing your own mould.
Digital Fashion Pro
Digital Fashion Pro is a complete fashion design application that I discuss in another article on this website here. One of the interesting things about this software is that it provides a number of “add-on” services that can be purchased separately. Fortunately, they have an addon that is designed especially for the development of shoe design.
The downside of this application is that it is only an addon, and to some extent it shows. Their program for designing shoes is two-dimensional, allowing you to draw the shoes (either on the program or on paper and then scanned), and then allows you to fill in patterns and colors. However, it is obviously a program designed for fabrics that has been tweaked for the design of shoes.
Nonetheless, if you are interested in other areas of clothing design, it may still be the best choice. While there is no giveaway of this software, it still much less expensive than purchasing an entire program just for shoe design. If you are adding shoes to an existing fashion line, it may be the best choice.
Shoemaster
Shoemaster is a CAD tool that is especially designed just for shoes. It has the advantage of allowing you to design your shoes in three dimensions, including such features as rotating your shoe so that you can see it from different angles. It also has a number of features allowing you to choose the materials for your shoe, and having those features rendered accurately in full color.
It also has the advantage of producing detailed designs for the manufacturing of your shoe. This includes both plans for materials that need to be cut (like leathers), and also plans for the creation of moulds for the parts that need them (like the soles). This can be very helpful when you need to shop for someone to produce your actual shoe.
More information is available on their official site.