A tool allows a user to create new designs for apparel and preview these designs in three dimensions before manufacture. Software and lasers are used in finishing apparel to produce a desired wear pattern or other design. Based on a laser input file with a pattern, a laser will burn the pattern onto apparel. With the tool, the user will be able to create, make changes, and view images of a design, in real time, before burning by a laser. The tool can be accessed or executes via a Web browser.

A computer-aided design system enables physical articles to be customized via printing or embroidering and enables digital content to be customized and electronically shared. A user interface may be generated that includes an image of a model of an article of manufacture and user customizable design areas that are graphically indicated on the image corresponding to the model. A design area selection may be received. In response to an add design element instruction and design element specification, the specified design element is rendered in the selected design area on the model image. Customization permissions associated with the selected design area are accessed, and using the customization permissions, a first set of design element edit tools are selected and rendered. User edits to the design element may be received and rendered in real time. Manufacturing instructions may be transmitted to a printing system.

Methods for fabrication of articles, in particular knitted articles, using computer-controlled machines. A 3D model of the article is characterized by a 3D polygonal mesh defining a surface of the 3D model. A streamline is drawn on the 3D model, and used to define a set of isolines over the surface described by the 3D polygonal mesh. The isolines are quantized into equidistant points along their respective lengths and a cut line traversing each of the isolines is defined. Courses are defined by connecting quantization points of the isolines based on knitting rules to produce a 2D knitting map containing apexes. Apex attraction may be performed on a first portion of the 2D knitting map by decreasing a spatial distance between respective ones of the apexes. The 2D knitting map is subsequently converted to knitting instructions for a computer-controlled knitting machine.

Custom-fit versions of knitted articles are produced according to digital representations of objects for which the articles are to be manufactured. The digital representations, optionally augmented by surface fitting algorithms, allow for accurate scaling of pattern-specified stitch counts for pattern elements representing the article taking into account wales and courses densities for the material(s) from which the article is to be made. Displayed dimensionally-accurate representations of the custom-fit articles allow for user-specified style and fit preferences to be made and a final digital pattern of the article to be produced. Machine instructions representing pattern pieces to be knitted are automatically produced from the final digital pattern of the article for a target computerized knitting machine and the custom-fit article is then manufactured according to the machine instructions.

A tool allows a user to create new designs for apparel and preview these designs in three dimensions before manufacture. Software and lasers are used in finishing apparel to produce a desired wear pattern or other design. Based on a laser input file with a pattern, a laser will burn the pattern onto apparel. With the tool, the user will be able to create, make changes, and view images of a design, in real time, before burning by a laser. The tool can be accessed in a client-server environment, such as executing via a Web browser.

Methods for fabrication of articles, in particular knitted articles, using computer-controlled machines. A three-dimensional (3D) model defined in a 3D space may be transformed into a two-dimensional (2D) knitting map that specifies respective locations of stitches for a knitted article. Groups of the stitches forms courses and wales of the knitted article. The 2D knitting map contains apexes which terminate an end of respective pairs of the courses. A spatial distance between respective ones of the apexes within a portion of the 2D knitting map may be decreased or increased. An amount of the spatial distance decreased or increased between respective ones of the apexes of the portion of the 2D knitting map may be based on a user-provided input. The 2D knitting map is subsequently converted to knitting instructions for a computer-controlled knitting machine.

Custom-fit versions of knitted articles are produced according to digital representations of objects for which the articles are to be manufactured. The digital representations, optionally augmented by surface fitting algorithms, allow for accurate scaling of pattern-specified stitch counts for pattern elements representing the article taking into account wales and courses densities for the material(s) from which the article is to be made. Displayed dimensionally-accurate representations of the custom-fit articles allow for user-specified style and fit preferences to be made and a final digital pattern of the article to be produced. Machine instructions representing pattern pieces to be knitted are automatically produced from the final digital pattern of the article for a target computerized knitting machine and the custom-fit article is then manufactured according to the machine instructions.

Computer based systems and methods for designing and manufacturing consumer products, including knit footwear uppers, and the like. The system simulates deformations of knit structures and allows the user to control and visualize compensations in the structure(s) of the knitted component to better match between an intended knit design and the actual physical knitted component outcome. The system may modify a knit design of a knitted component to compensate for a predicted/estimated deformation behavior of the knitted component, for example, by duplicating one or more portions of a knit structure associated with the knit design.