Textile Design Software integrates the functionality of Clothing design software with the creation of custom fabrics and prints for use in those designs. These programs provide you with a number of different fabric materials and textures for use, and then provide a number of options for patterning and drawing on those materials both with color and with accents of other material.
Price
Textile design software comes in a number of different levels of functionality and price. Some software is designed specifically for use by professional textile designers like Rosekamal Textiles, and is comparably expensive. On the other side, some textile design sofware is free, open-source software. Of course, there are a number of options in the middle, some serving as inexpensive downloads, while others serve as plug-ins for other programs.
Compatibility
For working professionally with textile design software, it’s important to have files that are compatible with the programs of other companies. In textile design software, the standard file types are TIFF and PICT. However, if you are not a part of a professional design company, another alternative is to find textile plug-ins for the type of CAD software that you are already using. This can include programs like Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop, which allows you to manipulate and repeat images on a single page that can then be exported to other programs using the requisite file types. There are also different programas available depending on whether you have a MacIntosh or Windows system.
You’ll also want to be sure that your program enables textile printing. While your files may be compatible with other fashion and textile companies, not everyone uses CAD or CAM technology. Many apparel companies simply use print-outs. As a result, you’ll want to ensure that whatever program you have is compatible not only with standard printers, but also with the life-sized printers often used in design.
Features
Business Tracking
Other programs will actually assist you in the production of your fabrics. Rather than simply help you design the textiles, they will also enable you to input information about producers and buyers, and then assist you in tracking your overall level of production. While this is a nice feature for someone who doesn’t already have these features in another program, they can be very nice. However, there is likely some duplication here between the other business software that people use, and it might be better to buy software that focuses on the clothing.
Upcycling
If you are not designing textiles from scratch, but are rather producing upcycled textiles, be aware that you will need specialized textile software. Most software is pure CAD, assuming an unlimited source of material, acting as a kind of virtual design studio. Instead, you’ll need a program that will actually let you find solutions by setting the specifications for your upcycled material before you begin, or that has high-quality scanning recognition software if you want to use not only the fabric but portions of the original patterns.
Weave Design Software
Another sort of specialized program for textile design is one that will actually assist you in helping you shap fabric right from the weaving stage. This is usually called “weave design software”, and it goes from the point of choosing threads to the appearance of your finished product, right on your computer. These programs can be purchased separately, or as a part of a package with other programs.