So I was playing with materials and cloth simulation the other day and I thought it would be cool to form something simple like a skirt and drape it on a scanned model of myself — it was cool.

Now if I were to undo this skirt, could I not make a pattern of it?

It would be a cool way to make your own clothing designs and make nice sizing.

I thought of this before doing any research and then I look into it more each time I revisit my idea pool. Well last year I found this: http://vis.berkeley.edu/papers/clopat/clopat.pdf

It’s the reverse — turning patterns into 3D cloth/clothes! So clearly it’s a concept about to emerge in both directions soon for the average consumer. Right now both directions are VERY EXPENSIVE, but I feel like the tech is there to make this happen with consumer grade software/algorithms and processes.

Optitex uses PDS format and has been the one and only 2D CAD, 3D virtual cloth to pattern making software and have been doing the 3D thing since 2011. Not everyday consumer level/pricing obviously.