Embroidery Digitizing

Introduction

Embroidery digitizing is the process of creating a stitch file for an embroidery machine to sew. The stitch file can be in one of several formats. The embroidery machines at TinkerMill use PES and DST formats (less common).

The stitch file contains a list of commands telling the embroidery machine where to sew, when to trim the threads, when to switch colors, etc.

The process of creating a stitch file is done in digitizing software. We have SewART, PE-Design NEXT and Embrilliance. This Wiki will only cover digitizing with Embrilliance. If you are interested in using PE-Design NEXT or SewART, please see the Resources below for more information.

You can run SewART and/or PE-Design NEXT from the Textiles PC. Embrilliance is installed on at least the Textiles PC and the two laptops available for general use in the front office.

Resources

Embrilliance

Embrilliance is an embroidery software package with several modules which add different kinds of functionality. TinkerMill has purchased the following modules:

• Essentials
• Enthusiast
• Stitch Artist Levels 1-3

Essentials and Enthusiast add a lot of capabilities to do things like add words to a design, merge designs, edit colors, flip designs, etc. These are all the things you would want to do if you wanted to work with stitch files you may have purchased. Stitch Artist is the module which is used to create new designs. This is where we will focus our attention.

The MANUAL for the software can be downloaded from the Embrilliance website here or directly here. The manual contains information about all of the modules.

You can also download a demo version of Embrilliance to practice at home with. It works on both PCs and Macs so be sure to pick the right version.

Excellent tutorials abound on the internet for learning Embrilliance. I highly recommend subscribing to the following on YouTube:

• Embrilliance by BriTonLeap
• LisaSewBubbles (Lisa Shaw)

PE-Design NEXT

We have PE-Design NEXT available to use on the Textiles PC. It requires the use of a dongle which should already be attached. PE-Design can also be used to create new designs. However, its interface is a little more cumbersome to use than Embrilliance so I (Lynne Newberry) feel that Embrilliance is the better product to use.

However, PE-Design does have some functionality to create designs based on photos. You are welcome to use this software at any time.

The MANUAL for the software can be downloaded here.

SewArt Embroidery Digitizer

We have SewArt installed on the Textiles PC. This is fairly inexpensive software for digitizing. The MANUAL can be downloaded here. You can download a demo from their website here.

InkStitch extension to Inkscape

If you're feeling adventurous, you can try adding the Ink/Stitch extension to Inkscape and use it to create designs.

Basic Concepts

You could create an embroidery design by choosing the location of each stitch by hand. I believe this is called manual punching. But usually it is easier to start with lines and closed polygons, converting those shapes into lines of stitching or areas to be filled with stitching.

For example a line could be sewn with a running stitch, a zig-zag stitch, or stitched with a motif.

EXAMPLE

A closed polygon can be filled with a dense satin stitch or a fancy fill pattern.

EXAMPLE

There is one more shape that is commonly used: a variable width column, which is much like a zig-zag on a line, but has variable width.

EXAMPLE

These are the basic building blocks of digitizing. Aside from manual punching, every design you create will start with lines, polygons, and sometimes variable width columns. Even text can be broken down into lines, polygons, or variable width columns. But usually your digitizing software will make adding text seamless.

How do we get our Lines and Polygons?

There are usually several ways to create lines and polygons:

1. draw by hand in the software
2. use built-in shapes in the software (such as circles or stars)
3. import vector files (from, say, Inkscape)
4. use built-in tools to auto-digitize a very clean image

Not all digitizing software will have an auto-digitizing option. If it does not, you can use Inkscape to create vectors from clean images using the XXX option. It is suggested that you clean up the vectors first before importing them into your digitizing software.