Delcam CRISPIN is about knowing how different everyone’s feet are. Almost everyone I know at one time or another, has complained about their shoes or sneakers not fitting right. There isn’t enough space in one shoe and their toes get bunched up. There’s too much or too little space for their narrow or wide feet. The list is endless (maybe because people love to complain?). As the air of customization reaches the minds of an infinite number of consumers, the show shopping impetus is shifting from “let’s see what’s available” to “I want it to look exactly like this” or “this is exactly what the shoe company should do” or “why don’t they just make them like this” and so on.
Delcam CRISPIN’s ShoeMaker design software is empowering consumer urges towards customizing their footwear by displaying hybrid shoes at the SIMAC exhibition, taking place in Milan from February 25th to the 27th. The hybrid shoes will feature leather uppers, but soles and heels that are 3D printed. Delcam hopes to highlight what they see as the future of shoemaking by combining both traditional and new shoemaking techniques at their exhibition. Half leather, half 3D printed shoes sound good to me, because my feet are now deformed from uniform shoes that didn’t quite fit me so well in my early youth.
The complete 3D shoe model was created in ShoeMaker, which Delcam CRISPIN claims is “the only footwear design system that integrates fully 3D designs of lasts, uppers and soles, so allowing the complete CAD model of the shoe to be developed and visualised in a single system.”
Across various industries, people are looking at the new design possibilities and materials that 3D printing makes possible. I can see how a footwear designer or shoemaker would be enticed by a software, like Delcam’s, that is specifically designed for their creative notions and activities. Not only would designers and makers be empowered to indulge in and realize their creative fantasies, but they would be able to interpret the designs and fantasies of customers who “know exactly what the company should do” to meet their satisfaction. It’s like a musician taking requests for songs that only the requester knows, and being able to play it right away.
Delcam CRISPIN indicated to 3DPI that, although they are excited about the Shoemaker software and its ability to empower designers through 3D printing, they recognize that traditional shoemaking methods will still be the norm for the majority of designs. Delcam’s Chris Lawrie said, “The situation with 3D printing is similar to that with many other technologies when they are first introduced. There are advocates claiming that it is the only future for the industry and more conservative commentators that regard it as the latest bit of hype. The real position is, as always, between the two extremes, with many projects where 3D printing will be the only possible approach able to meet the complexity of the design and just as many where only traditional methods will produce cost-effective results. The hybrid shoe project is intended to show that the two approaches can be complementary, rather than having to be competitive, and that Delcam CRISPIN software can provide a full range of product development tools for designers, regardless of the manufacturing route they wish to take.”
In the 3D printing industry, there is an odd mixture of software available to designers. There are the well known CAD programs, and then there are new programs that seem to segment and create parameters for manufacturers interested in exploring what is possible through additive manufacturing techniques and materials. Industry specific software will expand exponentially as 3D printing services and industrial 3D printing become more of a powerful, affordable, and obvious option.
