Overview
CLO is a 3D program that thinks in flat patterns, which is what makes it different from every other 3D package that has attempted garments. You draw the pattern pieces the way a pattern cutter draws them, define the seams that join them, and the simulation sews them onto an avatar and lets the fabric fall. What you are looking at is not a sculpted approximation of a garment, it is the garment those pieces would actually make.
That distinction is the entire value. A change to a pattern piece produces the change in drape that the real alteration would produce, so fit can be worked out on screen across an afternoon instead of across a week of physical samples. The industry adopted it quickly for exactly that reason, and this build carries the full feature set with the fabric and avatar libraries included.
Patterns, seams and construction
The two dimensional pattern window is a proper pattern drafting environment with the tools a cutter expects: internal lines, notches, grain lines, seam allowances, darts, pleats and gathers. Patterns can be drawn from scratch or imported from the standard exchange formats, so an existing graded set from a pattern system comes in without redrawing.
Seams are defined by selecting the edges that join, with the sewing direction and the seam type set per join. The simulation then respects them, so a garment with a badly matched seam length behaves badly on the avatar in exactly the way it would on a body, which is a diagnostic rather than a bug.
Construction details are modelled properly rather than painted: buttons and buttonholes that actually fasten, zippers that open, elastic with a specified tension, top stitching that follows the seam, and trims placed along a line. Interfacing and fusing can be applied to specific pieces, and the simulation accounts for the resulting stiffness.
Fabric behaviour and simulation
Fabric is defined by physical properties: weight, thickness, stretch in warp and weft, bending stiffness, shear and friction. Those numbers can be entered from a real measurement or taken from the included library, and they determine how the material falls. A heavy wool and a light silk built into the same pattern produce visibly different garments, which is the whole point.
Simulation quality is settable, with a fast mode for working and a high quality mode for a final image. Pressure, wind and gravity can be adjusted, and the garment can be pinned, folded, tucked and arranged by hand with the simulation running, which is how a photograph gets styled.
Avatars are parametric with adjustable measurements across the full set of body dimensions, plus poses and motion. Running a walk cycle with the garment simulating shows how it moves, which reveals fit problems that a static pose hides completely.
Materials, rendering and handoff
Texture mapping works on the pattern pieces, so a print aligns to the flat pattern the way it would on real cloth, with repeats, placement and scale controlled where a printer would control them. Material properties cover the usual set for rendering, and normal and displacement detail can be added for weave and texture.
The renderer produces images good enough for a lookbook or a range presentation directly, with lighting setups included. For anything beyond that the scene exports to the standard exchange formats with the garment as geometry, textures and cameras intact.
For production, the patterns export to the formats a cutting room uses, with grading, seam allowances and annotation preserved. That closes the loop: the garment that was fitted on screen is the same set of pieces that gets cut, without a translation step where the two can drift apart.
What you get
- Full two dimensional pattern drafting with notches, darts, pleats and allowances
- Pattern import and export in the formats a cutting room uses
- Seam definition by edge selection with per seam type and direction
- Functional buttons, zippers, elastic, top stitching and trims
- Fabric defined by measured physical properties with an included library
- Interfacing and fusing accounted for in the simulation
- Parametric avatars with full measurement adjustment, poses and motion
- Garment simulation during a walk cycle to reveal movement fit
- Texture mapping aligned to the flat pattern with print placement control
- Built in rendering with lighting setups for presentation images
Inside the archive
- CLO Standalone application installer, 64-bit
- Fabric library with measured physical properties
- Avatar library with poses and motion clips
- Trim, button and hardware libraries
- Example garments demonstrating construction techniques
System requirements
| Operating system | Windows 10 version 21H2 or later, Windows 11, 64-bit |
|---|---|
| Processor | Intel Core i7 or equivalent, high core count helps simulation |
| Memory | 16 GB minimum, 32 GB for complex layered garments |
| Graphics | 6 GB VRAM minimum, 8 GB or more for rendering |
| Storage | 10 GB free on an SSD |
| Display | 1920 by 1080 or better, dual monitors suit the two window layout |
Installing it
- Unpack the archive to a path with no spaces or accented characters.
- Suspend real time protection until the install and licensing step are finished.
- Run the installer as administrator and include the fabric and avatar libraries.
- Launch once and skip the account prompt, the licensing state is applied.
- Open an example garment and run a simulation to confirm the full feature set is available.
Mirrors
| Route | Region | Note | State |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct, primary | Europe | No wait, resumable | Online |
| Direct, secondary | Asia Pacific | No wait, resumable | Online |
| Torrent magnet | Global | Recommended at this size | Online |
Release history
- Simulation stability improved on garments with many layered pieces
- Fixed pattern export losing grading information on nested sets
- Fabric library extended with additional measured materials
- Avatar measurement adjustment reworked with more independent dimensions
- Rendering speed improved on scenes with high resolution textures
- Motion clip simulation no longer drifts on long sequences
- Top stitching follows curved seams more accurately
Questions about this release
Do I need to know pattern cutting to use it?
It helps enormously. The program models real construction, so it rewards knowing how garments are actually made and does not substitute for that knowledge.
Can I import patterns from a pattern system?
Yes, through the standard exchange formats, with grading and annotation preserved in both directions.
Is the fit accurate enough to trust?
For drape and general fit, yes, provided the fabric properties are set to something close to the real material. Default properties on a wildly different fabric will mislead you.
Does it export to other 3D programs?
Yes, as geometry with textures and cameras through the standard exchange formats.
Why is my simulation slow?
Layered garments with high particle distance settings. Work at a coarse simulation quality and only raise it for the final image.
Comments
Layered coat with lining and interfacing simulated without exploding. Previous build could not handle it.
Set the fabric properties from real measurements and the drape matched the sample closely. That is when it becomes useful.
Comments are read before they appear. If a build stops working, say so here and it gets rebuilt rather than quietly left up.
Grading survives the export now, which was the thing stopping me sending patterns to the cutting room from here.