Three weeks into my course learning Grafis and it’s apparent how involved and intuitive the software is. Grafis is
developed by German engineers who value precision. The first version of Grafis
that I looked at was Version 10, and in 2012 Version 11 was released and the
look is very different, more pictograms and roll-over tags making it user friendly and
easier to understand/remember the construction steps and navigate.
As an introduction to the new user
interface we have become familiar with the Work Area for pattern construction, with
the function strip of the basic menu (buttons down the right hand side of the
screen) the quick tool Grafis toolbar (file open, save, print, magnify glass
etc.) In the View menu the list of tool bars is found, I tick the first 4, the Info
Box and Status bar I find useful as they give step-by-step instructions.
From the Grafis website the Educational
software version 11 is a free download and so is the Textbook (350 pages of
detailed information and exercises). The textbook is also found under Help
menu. There are some limitations to the free software, there is a timer but it
is not intrusive and I use the pause to read the text again while it counts down
from 10 (also I muted the sound). What
I’ve found so far is that you can’t Print or Plot files, Save Shape and Load
Shape are also unavailable. But style files can be saved and opened later
to continue an exercise.
The Call basic block opens up a list
of all the basic block constructions that come with Grafis. Just by clicking
through the different blocks, you have a good starting point for most
commercial styles and additional information about how the block is
constructed, under Help for basic block.
Fundamental to good pattern making is
accurate measurements and this is available through the Measurement charts.
The measurement charts are either generated from specific tables/charts or
individual measurements that are input manually and can be edited. I was able
to copy and paste the measurement table into an Excel spreadsheet. Measurement charts are a single file and are
not saved with a style, therefore regular data backup is needed. Grading
becomes lightning fast. This is a big area in Grafis and I’m looking forward to
learning more.
By calling up your basic block using Call and then hitting F12, the block
becomes interactive and the construction can be manipulated. The shape can be adjusted using the set Options
(right click) which give you a window of pictograms, using a slider to select
required style options (i.e. straighten centre back, move bust dart to side
seam, link hem direction at side seam etc) also available in this menu is Line
relocation, Dart front, Dart back, Hem and Tolerance horizontal + vertical
which allows you to put in ease. By starting with simple exercise to create a
straight skirt and a blouse with vertical panel seams the tools are quickly
learnt, its repetition that makes it become second nature. So practice!
Once you have completed drafting style
features and altering your basic block pattern pieces can be extracted, this is
done in the Part Organisation menu which we started to explore in week
3. For those of you familiar with Photoshop or Illustrator it works in a
similar way to layers, where only one part is active at a time, and you can set
parts visible and invisible with a “x”. You can also name your pattern piece
for easy reference and organise the order they appear in the list. The Insert
function is used to trace new pieces from the “mother” part, and is done using
points, lines or parts. F5 will show you in red what you have traced off and
ticking Deposit objects without transformation function will turn the outline blue and then
you can delete any unwanted lines (right click) and we used Separate menu,
click cutting line (first select the line where you want your line to be
deleted to, then click the portion of the line you want to keep). As I said
earlier, practice, practice, practice!
Lastly copy to clipboard is a lovely
feature that I can see being used in countless admin ways, I love to show other
people what I’m doing and so this handy feature will come in “handy”. Although
not available on the Educational version.
I'm only just starting out on this journey
of discovery with CAD for patternmaking using Grafis, but what I’ve seen so far gives
me confidence in the future of truly efficient
freelance patternmakers and designers. I was an early adopter of technology when I started learning Adobe
Photoshop and Illustrator in 1996, and an early Dreamweaver/html web builder and graphic
artist. It was when the internet was new, Altavista was our search engine and I
was so excited. I have the same feeling with Grafis, excitement!
One final disclaimer, I am a student of
Grafis, the above information is a review of my lessons and not intended for an
instructional purposes. Please refer to the textbook for instruction.
Practice makes perfect!
