The Upholstery Forum

Hello, has anyone ever tried CAD software for pattern creation? There is a company next to me that can produce cuts of fabric and leather according to DXF files. My requirement is to create the file. I have no experience with CAD and am looking for a simple program. There are special ones for car upholstery. Does anyone know this and can recommend a program?
Greetings Seb.

No help but interested.

The shop we work with that has a CNC cutter uses autocad, but lately has been using a 3D scanner to create the design.

You would have to be doing a lot of work to justify this. I have looked into it up down and all around and stick to old school pattern making

We use it for restaurant booths, bowling alleys lane and VIP furniture and food courts. Basically things with repeats.

The learning curve for being decent with cad software is very steep. For the limited amount of actual need for cad in my business it's far more efficient for me to make a paper pattern and have it digitized by a professional. I have learned to do computerized embroidery and got decent at it but it took many months of solid work, I don't use cad enough to invest the same amount of time. I have a small shop, if I had dozens of employees and did repetitive work with a cnc cutter I would hire a cad operator to deal with it for me.

ok, so there is no real experience with pattern software. I did some research. Many professional software are too expensive and too complicated for a personal company. I discovered a software and will test “Valentina Pattern” freeware. There are some learning videos on YouTube. but I'm at the very beginning.