"PatternMaker 4.0 - Standard Version
•Create a cross-stitch masterpiece with your computer at home. •Create your chart by converting a scanned photograph into a Cross-stitch chart. •Create your chart using the Stitch Drawing tools. •Create your chart using the provided Cross-stitch clipart and Cross-stitch fonts. •Print your chart for use as a Stitching guide. •Stitch out your masterpiece and/or export your designs for stitch-out on your embroidery machine.
Common Features:
These features are included in both the Standard and Professional levels.
Fabric :
Fabric size up to 999x999 full stitches
Fabric options including color, stitch size, & grid style
Drawing :
Stitches supported: full, half, quarter, petite, back/straight, specialty (over 50), French Knots, beads
Flexible back stitch and straight stitch
Draw back stitches in either point-to-point or tracing mode
Can repeat the initial orientation of a quarter or half stitch when drawing a sequence of stitches
Text entry feature including 50 alphabets by Kooler Design Studio
Text entry feature using TrueType fonts. Supports full and petite stitches.
Editing :
Rectangular shaped selection tool
Cut, copy, paste, flip, rotate, flood fill, fill back-stitched area
Selected stitches 'float' above non-selected stitches and are visible while dragging to allow easy positioning
Enhanced flood fill tool which automatically uses quarter stitches
Center a selection horizontally or vertically
Eyedropper tool for displaying and/or selecting the stitch color and/or stitch type of a stitch pointed-to via the mouse
Zoom tool for magnifying a selected area of the design
Multi-level undo of edits (up to 100)
Floss Palette :
Up to 240 colors per design
Floss/thread brands include:
DMC®
Anchor®
J&P Coats
Au Ver A Soie, Soie d'Alger®
Caron Collection ( Antica, Impressions®, Rachel, Watercolours®, Waterlilies®, Wildflowers®)
Danish Flower Thread
DMC® Rayon
Eterna Silk(TM) ( MiniTwist, Silk Twist, Stranded)
The Gentle Art ( Sampler Threads, Simply Shaker)
Ginnie Thompson Flower Thread®
Needle Necessities ( Empress Silk, Floss, French Wool, Madras, Opalescence, Pearl 5, Pearl 8, Spring II, Velour 18)
Olde Willow Stitchery
Rainbow Gallery Splendor
Weeks Dye Works(TM)
Kreinik ( Blending Filament, Braid, Cable, Cord, Ribbon, Japan, Ombre, Silk Bella(TM), Silk Mori(TM), Silk Mori Milkpaint(TM), Silk Serica(TM))
Mill Hill® ( Glass Seed Bead, Antique Glass Seed Bead, Petite Glass Seed Bead, Frosted Glass Seed Bead, Crayon Seed Bead, Pebble Glass Bead, Magnifica Glass Bead)
Note that while we strive to supply color representations that are as accurate as possible when displayed on a computer, it not possible to perfectly represent the color of floss/thread. For floss/thread that is variegated, over dyed, or hand dyed, the program represents the thread using a single solid color. It is especially important with these brands that you have actual color samples available when you are selecting colors for a design.
Machine embroidery thread brands:
ARC (Poly, Rayon)
Brother®
DMC® Machine Embroidery
FUFU
Isacord
Janome
Kingstar
Madeira® ( Poly Neon, Rayon)
Marathon ( Poly, Rayon)
Mettler ( Silky Sheen, Poly Sheen, Embroidery)
Robison-Anton ( Polyester, Rayon)
Sulky® Rayon
Blended colors (up to 4 colors per blend)
Interactive palette options bar (changes to the design are visible as the palette is edited)
Automatic symbol selection
Cross-stitch symbol font provided (224 symbols)
Can use any TrueType font
Can use symbols from more than one font in a design
Stitch usage summary which shows a tally of stitches used and estimated amount of floss needed
Customizable stitch display thickness (per strand setting)
Strand selection per palette color and per stitch type (up to 12 strands)
Symbol selection per stitch type
Symbol color, size, and style selection for full, half, quarter, petite, French knots, and bead stitches.
Symbol options for back, straight, specialty, French knot, and bead stitches
Symbol options including color-behind symbols and triangular/square color blocks for quarter stitches
Palette note per color and stitch type
Color brand conversion using editable conversion tables and by color matching
Can add same color to a palette multiple times for allowing different settings such as strand count
Image Importing : (more info)
Image formats: BMP, PCX, GIF, WMF, JPEG, TIFF plus more
Scan directly into the program using a TWAIN compliant scanner
Two methods for importing: Importing Wizard and Interactive Importing. Wizard method provides a step-by-step approach that is good while learning the program. Interactive method allows options to be accessed in any order with the results of a change being visible immediately.
Converts image into full stitches.
Can include image as an underlay for manual tracing of the image
Import into a new design or a selected area of an existing design
Multiple palette options: Import using a selected brand of floss; Import using a user-selected palette of color; Import using the current palette of an existing design (when importing into an existing design).
User-selectable number of colors per design. Use up to 240 color per design.
Enhanced color-reduction techniques for reducing the number of colors needed for good results
Background selection tool for selecting areas of the image that should not be imported
Foreground selection tool for selecting areas of the image that should be given more priority when selecting colors.
Image adjustments (color, saturation, contrast, brightness, & cropping)
Grid alignment tool for aligning the grid of an image to the grid of the new design. Also calculates the required pattern size.
Fine control of sizing and positioning for underlay images when manually aligning the image with the design grid
Display :
Display design as stitches, symbols, or solids
Detailed design information display
Rulers for displaying the stitch position
Display a pattern using multiple windows with each having independent settings
Open multiple designs at a time
Edge outlining of stitches for enhanced readability.
Printing :
Print design as stitches, symbols, or solids
Detailed design information print-out
Print preview
Stitch numbering along edges of chart
Shaded stitch repeats between pages
Selectable header/footer, and selectable page margins
Additional features :
Color Management support for improving the presentation of color. When color profiles are available and installed for your monitor and printer, this feature allows you to display a soft proof or print a hard proof of a design.
Selectable toolbars for providing many options only a click away
Pattern preview in File Open dialog box for making it easy to locate an existing design
Optional re-opening of designs that were open when the program was last used
Library feature (organize pattern elements for easy reuse)
Update wizard for assisting in the download and installation of program updates
Complete built-in help
30 professionally designed patterns by The Vermillion Stitchery
100 clipart designs from Kooler Design Studio
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All of the features included in a standard level plus the following additional features -
•Highlighting feature for locating stitches of the selected color. •Edit and create specialty stitches. •Auto-outline a selected area using backstitches. •Free-hand selection tool for making arbitrarily-shaped selections. •Create page layouts using a built-in word processor.
Additional Features of the Professional Level:
These features are only included in the Professional level.
Drawing :
Edit and create specialty stitches; includes a curve drawing tool for creating high-quality curved shapes; includes capability to define stitches that can be easily repeated to fill areas. (more info)
Advanced Editing :
Free-hand selection tool for making arbitrarily-shaped selections
Limit colors included in a selection
Limit stitch types included in a selection
Replace the color of selected stitches
Replace the type of selected stitches
Fill the empty area of a selection using chosen stitch types
Auto-outline a selected area using backstitches: either between the fabric and the stitches, between stitches of different colors, or around the selection.
Paste into a selection using a previously copied area of the design to produce a patterned effect. Can paste into the used area, the unused area, or the entire area of the selection. Automatically uses partial stitches.
Palette :
Highlighting feature for locating stitches of the selected color
Design Layout : (more info)
Create page layouts using a built-in word processor
Insert one or more chart objects into a layout for representing all or some portion of the design. Selectable formatting for the chart object.
Insert one or more floss tables into a layout. Selectable column contents and formatting. Selectable table formatting including border style, cell color, and text formatting.
Insert graphics objects such as logos or diagrams
Insert pattern information fields
Insert OLE objects from other applications
Insert other user-specified text using paragraph formatting or table formatting
All layout objects and information automatically updated when design changes
Supports multiple document sections with independent section formatting (columns, page size, page orientation, margins)
Supports the creation of custom layout templates which can be re-used for new designs.
Export a layout as an RTF file for importing into other applications
Graphics Exporting : (more info)
Export design as a graphics file (for the chart) and RTF file (for the pattern information)
Supports 10 graphics file formats including BMP, JPEG, TIFF, TIFF CMYK, and WMF
Export design using OLE
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More on the PatternMaker Cross-Stitch Version 4.0 - with Embroidery Add-On
Additional Features of the Machine Embroidery Add-On - on Both Standard and Professional Levels: (more info)
These features are only included in the Machine Embroidery Add-On level.
Export into any of the common machine formats:
Brother/Baby Lock/Bernina (PES/PEC)
Compucon/Singer PSW (XXX)
Elna XPressive (EMD)
Janome Customizer 10000 (JEF)
Janome New Home (SEW)
Melco (EXP)
Pfaff (PCS)
Poem/Singer EU (CSD)
Tajima (DST)
Viking Husqvarna (HUS)
Viking (VIP)
Viking HuskyGram (old-style CSD) (CSD)
Design conversion using built-in Buzz Tools® software
Hoop size selectable from list or specify a custom size
Automatically splits designs that are larger than the selected hoop size
Alignment stitches available to aid in the stitch-out of multi-hoop designs
Automatically splits designs into multiple files based upon user-selectable stitch and thread-change limits
Detailed exporting results to aid in the stitch-out
Display of jump stitches
Selectable stitch-out thickness for each stitch type and palette color
(Note: Only full, half, quarter, back/straight, and French Knot stitches are supported by this feature)
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More on the PatternMaker Cross-Stitch Version 4.0 - Image Importing
Feature Details - Image Importing
The Image Importing feature of Pattern Maker is used to convert a scanned photograph or other graphics image into a new cross-stitch design. This feature automatically selects colors and uses full stitches to represent the scanned photo or image. Once imported, the new design can then be manually edited and enhanced as desired.
The source of the graphics image used for importing can be:
A scanner.
An existing graphics file stored on your computer in one of the following formats: BMP, JPEG, TIFF, GIF, PCX, WMF, EMF, EPS (raster only), TGA, PNG, plus more.
The Windows clipboard.
When converting a graphics file into a design, the program uses full cross stitches to represent the design. No other stitch types are used. The program automatically selects the floss/thread colors based upon the colors in the image.
Importing an image into a cross-stitch design is not an exact science. The quality of the result depends upon:
The detail in the image. A large amount of detail in the image requires a large number of stitches. Keep in mind that typical scans of photographs are in the hundreds of DPI (dots per inch) where cross stitch provides effectively 10 to 22 DPI. It is simply impossible to maintain minute detail unless an enormous design is created.
The color in the image. Some colors convert to floss better than others. In general, the palette of floss/thread colors is very limited as compared to the range of colors available in an image/photograph. In addition, the floss colors stored in the program are approximations to the actual colors.
The subject of the image. Images containing people are often the hardest to import since the eye is able to spot subtle irregularities in facial tone and detail. Inanimate objects and animals are usually less difficult.
The amount of refinement. The best results are obtained when the user experiments with the importing settings. You should try different settings for the number of stitches and/or stitch size to determine which settings provide the optimum detail. You should try different color settings to arrive at the optimum palette of colors. The Interactive Importing method (described below) is designed to help you quickly arrive at the most optimum settings.
The expectation of the user. It must be understood that when converting to cross-stitch, the result is no longer a photograph. Instead, a completely different medium is used to represent the image/photograph. In many cases, a stitched cross-stitch design will appear more pleasing when viewed from a distance since the colors tend to blend to the eye.
Two methods are provided for importing. These include the Importing Wizard and Interactive Image Importing. While both provide the same basic options, each provides a slightly different way of presenting the options.
The Importing Wizard method is good for those wanting the program to lead them thru a step-by-step procedure. This is helpful when first learning the program.
The Interactive Image Importing method makes available all importing settings at one time. The user can modify any setting in any order. When a setting is changed, the user can then immediately see the result of making that change. An automatic feature can be enabled so that the imported design is automatically updated after a setting is changed.
The following options/features are available when importing:
Color palette to be used by the program when selecting colors. Several options are available:
Specific floss/thread brand such as DMC or Anchor.
Specific floss palette created by the user to only include a specific set of colors.
The palette of an existing design when importing into that design.
Maximum number of colors to use. Up to 240 colors can be used in a single design.
Design size and stitch size. The size can be specified in stitches or a physical size such as inches or mm.
Method used to import. The typical method is use convert the image into stitches. However, an image can also be imported as a picture so that it can be traced-over manually.
Image adjustments including brightness, contrast, hue, saturation, and cropping.
Background selection. One or more areas can be selected using a 'magic wand' type of tool. The areas selected are excluded when importing.
Foreground selection. One or more areas can be selected. These areas are then given more priority when selecting colors.
Grid alignment. The grid alignment feature can be used to align the grid of a scanned chart with the grid of the new design. This is generally used when importing an image for use as a background for tracing.
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More on the PatternMaker Cross-Stitch Version 4.0 - Drawing
Feature Details - Specialty Stitches
The Specialty Stitch feature of Pattern Maker allows complex stitch types to be used in a design. These stitches are represented using lines and curves to provide the best possible graphical representation. The following shows several examples.
Note that the length of the chain stitch shown above in purple can be easily extended to fill any desired number of stitch positions.
The following stitch types are provided:
Algerian Eyelet
Alternating Double Backstitch
Arrowhead
Back-Stitched Chain
Barrier
Bosnia
Chain
Closed Chevron
Closed Herringbone
Crossed Corners Cushion
Crown
Diamond Eyelet Variation
Double Backstitch with Bars
Double Backstitch
Double Herringbone
Double Leviathan
Florentine
Four-Sided
Greek Cross
Half Rhodes
Hungarian
Lazy Daisy
Loara Standish
Long-Arm Cross
Montenegrin
Mosaic
Norwich
Open Chevron
Open Herringbone
Plait
Plaited Gobelin
Queen
Ray
Rhodes
Rhodes Diamond
Rhodes Heart
Rhodes Octagon
Rice
Smyrna Cross
Sprat's Head
Stem
Three-Sided
Two-Sided Italian Cross
Upright Cross
Williamsburg
Zigzag
Custom Stitches
The Professional Level of Pattern Maker includes a stitch editor that can be used to modify the provided stitches, as well as create additional stitches. This editor is very much like using the normal drawing tools of Pattern Maker.
Since many specialty stitches are represented by curved lines, the editor includes a special curve drawing tool. This tool provides a simple, but very powerful way to create high-quality curves.
The editor also provides a way to define stitches that can be repeated by stretching them (as illustrated above by the chain stitch
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More on the PatternMaker Cross-Stitch Version 4.0 - Design Layout
Feature Details - Page Layout
The Page Layout feature of Pattern Maker allows you to create a custom document layout for your design from within the program. This feature is only available in the Professional level.
General
The Page Layout feature (or Layout feature for short) is provided using a built-in word processor. This word processor provides many of the basic capabilities found in common word processing applications. These capabilities include:
Text formatting
Paragraph formatting
Tables
Sections (with selectable column numbers and page size/formatting)
Headers and Footers
Insertion of objects from other applications
Additional specialized capabilities are also provided to blend the word processing features with the design capabilities of Pattern Maker. These specialized capabilities include:
Chart graphics whose content and size can be customized
Floss/thread tables whose content and formatting can be customized
Pattern information fields filled using information from the design
By providing these specialized tables, charts, and fields the program can automatically update the layout whenever a change is made to the design. This eliminates the need to manually revise a design leaflet or publication when only a small design change is made.
Chart Graphics
A Chart Graphic can represent all or just a portion of the design. One or more Chart Graphics can be inserted into a layout. Once a Chart Graphic is inserted into a layout, Pattern Maker will automatically update it as the design is revised.
The display options for each graphic are independent. As such, you could insert a Stitch view of the design and also a Symbolic view of the design into the same layout.
Floss/Thread Tables
A Floss Table is essentially a generic table that is filled and formatted automatically by Pattern Maker. One or more Floss Tables can be inserted into a layout. The user specifies the content and general formatting of the table using special configuration dialog boxes. After a table is inserted into a layout, Pattern Maker will automatically update it as needed to ensure that it corresponds to the design.
Pattern Information Fields
Pattern Information fields serve as placeholders in a layout for design-specific information. Once a field is inserted into a layout, the program automatically fills it and keeps it updated. This information originates from either the Pattern Information dialog box (i.e. Pattern Title, Designer’s Name, etc.) or from calculated values such as the used/total size of the design.
Additional Capabilities
After creating your layout, you can either print the layout directly from Pattern Maker or export the layout as a Rich Text Format (RTF) document.
Once you have created a layout that represents the look that you prefer for your charts, you can save the layout as a template. The layout for new designs can then be quickly setup by using the template as a starting point.
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More on the PatternMaker Cross-Stitch Version 4.0 - Exporting
Feature Details - Exporting
The Professional level of Pattern Maker allows you to export your pattern chart into the following types of graphics images: BMP, JPEG, TIFF RGB, TIFF CMYK, TIFF 8-bit grayscale, GIF, PCX, Windows Metafile (WMF), Enhanced Windows Metafile (EMF), and EPS (8-bit grayscale, raster only). The graphics resolution is user selectable.
The pattern information of your pattern can be exported into a Rich Text Format (RTF) file. This is a generic text format that maintains formatting information and is supported by most of the major word processing programs. After importing this file into your word processor or publishing program, you can then edit and reformat the information as necessary to fit your needs..
Note that the information exported by this feature consists of the information and formatting provided by the standard printing feature of the program. For more control over the layout and formatting of the information, you would want to use the Page Layout feature instead..
Windows OLE.
Another way to export your design from Pattern Maker is via the Windows OLE feature. This capability allows you to embed or link a pattern into a document created by another OLE-capable Windows program. The document might be a cross-stitch leaflet that is being created using a desktop publishing or word processing program. .
In this scenario, you would instruct your publishing program to insert or link a 'Pattern Maker Cross-Stitch Chart' object into your leaflet document. You would then see a 'picture' of the chart inserted into the document. You could then size and move the picture to fit into your chart. .
If you later found that you needed to edit the design, you could re-open it in Pattern Maker simply by double-clicking the picture. Pattern Maker would then open and allow you to edit the design. When you exited from Pattern Maker, the changes would automatically be reflected in the picture of the pattern shown in the document..
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More on the PatternMaker Cross-Stitch Version 4.0 - Machine Embroidery
Feature Details - Machine Embroidery
The Machine Embroidery add-on of Pattern Maker allows you to very easily export your cross stitch designs into one of the common embroidery file formats for stitch-out on a machine. This feature is only available in the Machine Embroidery add-on.
Supported Machine File Types
The Machine Embroidery feature can export a design into any of the following machine file types:
Brother/Baby Lock/Bernina (PES/PEC)
Compucon/Singer PSW (XXX)
Elna XPressive (EMD)
Janome Customizer 10000 (JEF)
Janome New Home (SEW)
Melco (EXP)
Pfaff (PCS)
Poem/Singer EU (CSD)
Tajima (DST)
Viking Husqvarna (HUS)
Viking (VIP)
Viking HuskyGram (old-style CSD) (CSD)
Special Features
As necessary, the program will automatically split the design into multiple machine files based upon:
Stitch limits imposed by the file type or memory card
Thread change limits imposed by the file type or machine
Hoop size
The limits used by the program in deciding when to split a design are fully selectable by the user. When it is necessary to split the file due to the hoop size being smaller than the design, the program will add alignment stitches along the boundaries between the sections to aid in the re-hooping or repositioning of the fabric. The program adds these alignment stitches in such a way that it is easy to remove them after alignment is done.
Stitch Generation
The thread order for the stitch-out of a design is based upon the order of the colors in the palette. To have a particular color stitch-out earlier, the color can be re-positioned in the palette of the design.
Stitches are generated using three passes thru the palette. In the first pass, all full, half, and quarter stitches are generated. In the second pass, back and straight stitches are generated. In the third pass, French Knots are generated. Note that specialty stitches and petite stitches are not currently supported by this feature.
In generating machine stitches to represent the design, the program attempts to minimize the number of jump stitches required. To aid the user in designing-out jump stitches, the display of jumps stitches (only after exporting) can be enabled.
Stitch-out Information
The program provides a detailed summary of the exporting results. This information includes the resulting design size, a list of all files created, and a thread change list for each file which includes stitch count per color. When stitching-out the design, the user must rely upon this thread list instead of the color descriptions that may be indicated by the machine. This information can be printed or displayed in a window that is updated each time the design is exported.
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More on the PatternMaker Cross-Stitch Version 4.0 - Page Layout
Feature Details - Page Layout
General
The Page Layout feature (or Layout feature for short) is provided using a built-in word processor. This word processor provides many of the basic capabilities found in common word processing applications. These capabilities include:
Text formatting
Paragraph formatting
Tables
Sections (with selectable column numbers and page size/formatting)
Headers and Footers
Insertion of objects from other applications
Additional specialized capabilities are also provided to blend the word processing features with the design capabilities of Pattern Maker. These specialized capabilities include:
Chart graphics whose content and size can be customized
Floss/thread tables whose content and formatting can be customized
Pattern information fields filled using information from the design
By providing these specialized tables, charts, and fields the program can automatically update the layout whenever a change is made to the design. This eliminates the need to manually revise a design leaflet or publication when only a small design change is made.
Chart Graphics
A Chart Graphic can represent all or just a portion of the design. One or more Chart Graphics can be inserted into a layout. Once a Chart Graphic is inserted into a layout, Pattern Maker will automatically update it as the design is revised.
The display options for each graphic are independent. As such, you could insert a Stitch view of the design and also a Symbolic view of the design into the same layout.
Floss/Thread Tables
A Floss Table is essentially a generic table that is filled and formatted automatically by Pattern Maker. One or more Floss Tables can be inserted into a layout. The user specifies the content and general formatting of the table using special configuration dialog boxes. After a table is inserted into a layout, Pattern Maker will automatically update it as needed to ensure that it corresponds to the design.
Pattern Information Fields
Pattern Information fields serve as placeholders in a layout for design-specific information. Once a field is inserted into a layout, the program automatically fills it and keeps it updated. This information originates from either the Pattern Information dialog box (i.e. Pattern Title, Designer’s Name, etc.) or from calculated values such as the used/total size of the design.
Additional Capabilities
After creating your layout, you can either print the layout directly from Pattern Maker or export the layout as a Rich Text Format (RTF) document.
Once you have created a layout that represents the look that you prefer for your charts, you can save the layout as a template. The layout for new designs can then be quickly setup by using the template as a starting point.
pattern-maker ver 4.0
