>> Stitch Painter Tips

Stitch Painter Tips
SP Tip #1: Erasing Techniques
SP Tip #2: Saving and retrieving Custom Palettes
SP Tip #3: Enlarging or reducing images in scale
SP Tip #4: Exporting fabric from Stitch Painter to garments
SP Tip #5: Designing on the background color of your pattern.
SP Tip #6: Creating repeat pattern strips in Stitch Painter (Gold version only)
SP Tip #7: Stitch Painter to Bit Knitter
SP Tip #9: Global Symbol Swaps


Tip #1: Erasing Techniques

Goal:
There are various ways to erase stitches and images when using Stitch Painter.

Single Stitches
Erase single stitches by touching the stitch a second time with your Pencil tool.

Groups of Stitches
Use the Eraser tool. You may use this in conjunction with various levels of magnifcation in order to erase fewer or more stitches with one click. Experiment with this to understand its use.

A Single Motif of the Brush you are Stamping down.
You can erase a misplaced motif that you are stamping down by turning your brush into an eraser. You can also use your motif brush to erase in its shape on solid color areas.
- on the IBM, press the Ctrl key and then stamp down with the brush
- on the Mac, press the Option key and then stamp down

Large Areas
If you want to clean up your screen, you may use the Select tool to select an area, then press the Return key (Mac) or the Backspace key (Windows) to clear the space to the current background color.

The Entire Screen/Document
On the Mac and Windows Stitch Painter, choose Select All from the Edit menu. A marquee will frame the screen. Use the delete key on the Mac and the Backspace key on the IBM, and the entire screen will clear to the current background color.

Tip #2: Saving and Retrieving Custom Palettes (gold version only)

Goal:
Stitch Painter allows you to create your own palettes and save them. Before we get into the details of mixing and using custom palettes, it is important to understand the following concepts;

  1. When you save a picture it saves the palette with it. The next time you load that picture, the custom palette will return.
  2. When you save a brush, it saves the palette with it. The next time you load that brush, it will not bring the palette with it, unless you ask for it by using the Palette/Use Brush Palette menu command. When this is done, each palette position of the working Picture palette is replaced with the colors used in the Brush palette (i.e. Color 1 of the Brush palette moves to Color 1 position of the Picture palette. Color 2 of the Brush palette moves to Color 2 position of the Picture palette, etc.)
  3. The Working Palette is the palette found on the left of the screen, and the Edit or Color Mixing palette is found in the menus.
  4. A custom palette can be composed of colors, symbols and/or textures, or any combination thereof.
  5. Stitch Painter version 1 has a working palette of 24 colors. Stitch Painter version 2 has a working palette of 250 colors.
  6. The palette technically numbers left to right in the first row, left to right in the second row, and so on down the palette. In version 2.0 if you resize the palette to a different shape, the colors will still number left to right, row by row.


Mixing Custom Colors
This is done by opening the Colors window and moving to the Edit mode. Colors are mixed according to RGB values. (See separate Tip Page on Mixing Colors)

Creating a Custom Working Palette
This is done by moving the custom color into a color slot in the working palette. Click on a spot in the working palette. Next, move to the Edit palette, and click on the color you want to move to the working palette. This will move the custom color into the desired position.

Saving Custom Palettes
This is done by moving your custom colors into the Working Palette, and saving either a picture or a brush at that time. Some people like to save a blank document or a brush with the custom palette, and naming this file with a name that is pertinent to the custom colors. Note, you may capture a brush of non-colored stitches and still save the palette.

Retrieving Custom Palettes
There are two ways to do this;

  1. You may load the custom palette file. Immediately, resave the file with a new name using the Save As menu command. If there is imagery on the screen, Select All with the Edit menu and press the delete key (Mac) or the Backspace key (Windows). You now have the custom palette you mixed, and a blank screen ready for design.
  2. Load a brush that was saved when the custom palette was the working palette. Notice that the working palette does not change at this time. Now, go to the Palette menu, and select the Use Brush Palette option. Your working palette will now shift to the custom palette you were using when you saved the brush.

Hints:

  • Create a folder/directory called Palettes.
  • As you mix a new palette, paint one stitch of each color on the screen in a vertical column, following the color palette positions.
  • Save this brush with a pertinent color name.
  • Load this brush when you want the custom palette and position it on the right side of the screen by stamping it down.
  • Select the Palette/Use Brush Palette menu command.
  • Now, you may use the Dropper and pick your colors from which ever palette is closer to you (the working palette versus the brush). This eliminates mouse and hand movement as you work, and allows for greater speed.

Tip #3: Enlarging and reducing images in scale

Goal:
There are often times when you want to enlarge or reduce an image yet maintain the scale of the image. There is the mathematical way to do this (through cross multiplication) and there is a visual way as well. This tip refers to the visual method.

Assumption:
You have an image in Stitch Painter, and it's proportions are correct, but the image is too large or small and you want to change it, yet maintain the proper proportions.

Visual Method of Enlarging and Reducing:

  1. Use the Select tool to frame off the image, and then use the Brush/Capture menu to save it as a brush. Give it an appopriate name.
  2. Choose the hollow rectangle tool and a new color and draw a rectangle around the image on the screen. The rectangle should frame the outer edges of the motif on all sides. (Note: You will still have the brush available for use as soon as you click on the Brush tool in the toolbox).
  3. Select the line tool and draw a diagonal line that passes through the upper left stitch and the lower right stitch. Continue this line in the same angle if you plan to enlarge the image.
  4. Now, take the Select tool, and go to the rectangle and frame off a new box. Start at the upper left corner of the rectangle, and have the lower right corner of you selection be on a stitch on the diagonal line. You should have a marquee on the screen when you are done.
  5. Go to the Brush menu and choose the From Selection option. This menu will make a new brush the size of your selection.
  6. Stamp the new adjusted brush down and perform any cleanup you need.

Tips:

For the best results with multiple resizing:
If you want to create several motifs of different sizes, simply reload the original brush each time you resize the image. This is necessary as each new adjusted brush becomes the current brush, and further scaling is to the previously scaled brush.

 

Tip #4: Exporting fabric from Stitch Painter and laying it in garments in paint programs

Goal:
To take fabric you created in Stitch Painter, and lay it in a garment shape in a Paint program.

Assumptions:
We are going to Photoshop as our paint program... Photoshop Lite works well and Paint Shop Pro (Windows) should be able to achieve a 'pattern fill' which is critical to this process. Fractal Painter is another program that has a pattern fill option.

Steps:
In Stitch Painter
Create a fabric design within Stitch Painter.

  1. If you are planning to export as a .PCX or .PICT, scale down to a zoomed out level so the fabric is small and turn the grid off.
  2. Select one repeat of the fabric using the Select tool. A marquee will dance around this.
  3. Go to the File menu and choose the Export Selection as .... menu and then choose the appropriate file format. Mac = Pict. IBM = .PCX or .BBM
  4. Save the file (or use the Clipboard as discussed below)

Quit Stitch Painter, and load your paint program if you cannot multi-task. Otherwise, task swap to the desktop, and load your paint program.

In Photoshop or other similar paint program:

  1. Load a fashion drawing from a clip art disk using the File/Open command.
  2. Load the image you exported from Stitch Painter, as a separate document.
  3. Choose All from the Select menu. A marquee will surround the motif.
  4. Choose Define Pattern from the Edit menu. You will be asked to name the pattern.
  5. Move to the Garment document.
  6. Using your magic wand, select the color that fills the inside of the garment. A marquee should surround the inside of the garment you want to fill.
  7. Choose Fill from the Edit menu and then choose the Pattern option from the drop down list. Choose the pattern that you just named. The garment will fill with a repeating pattern of the fabric.


    Note: If your programs are Windows or Mac, you can always use the clipboard.

    Other Paint programs may not have a 'pattern fill' option. You will have to test to determine this. Paintbrush on Windows does not.

Tip #5: Designing on the background color of your pattern.

Goal:
To draw imagery designs on the garment background color only, within Stitch Painter. You will create a Stencil, which will protect all colors but the color of your sweater.


Steps:

  1. Import a garment shape from Garment Styler or create one yourself within Stitch Painter. Fill this with color if it is not already solid.
  2. Select the color of your sweater as the active color in the working palette (if necessary use the eye dropper to determine what color this is).
  3. In the Palette menu, choose Lock All. This will set up padlocks on all colors in your palette.
  4. In the Palette menu, highlight the Locked menu item which has a checkmark beside it. This will turn the padlock off of that color, which will unlock it and make it available to draw on.

  5. Choose the Make Stencil menu item from the Palette menu to turn the Stencil on.

    Now you may draw only on the background color of your sweater. After you are finished, Unlock all the colors and toggle the Stencil off.

Tip #6: Creating repeat pattern strips in Stitch Painter (Gold version only)

Goal:
To draw imagery designs on the garment background color only, within Stitch Painter.

To create one by one a horizontal strip of repeat pattern.

Steps:

  1. Set up the Document Size to your desired size. (File/Set Document Size)
  2. Using the Select tool, select a horizontal strip. The marquee will dance around the area. Note the size of this area as you select it by looking at the Stitch Coordinates.
  3. Choose the Layout/Set Working Area menu item to turn on Repeat and tell Stitch Painter that this is the area in which you want to repeat.
  4. Fill in thebackground color of this area while the marquee is still selected by choosing a color, and then choosing the Edit/Fill menu.
  5. Adjust the repeat size if necessary, by choosing the Layout/Set Repeat Size menu option.

    Now you may draw in repeat within the strip. You may use any of the tools, or you may create a brush in the non-repeating area, capture it, and then stamp it down in the repeat area.Continue in the same manner for the other strips. Include narrow solid stripe strips for interest.

Variation:
Try creating two strips of color, then select these both as your working area. Ensure that your repeat height is at least as high as the two strips.

Tip #8: Stitch Painter to Bit Knitter

Overview
Designing is done in Stitch Painter, as this is an easy environment in which to work. Go ahead and create the design of your choice, following the rules of the knit technique you plan to work with. Once you have completed the design, you will add colorbars to the left of the design, and then export it as a .lbm file. This may be loaded into the Bit Knitter.

Steps

  1. Design in Stitch Painter, following the rules of design dictated by the knitting technique you are designing for.
  2. Add the colorbars. This is two columns of stitches which are placed on the left side of your design. This follows the instructions in the Bit Knitter manual, the same as DeluxePaint. The left colorbar is the background color, and the right color bar is the contrast color. These will tell your needles which position to go to, working pattern position, or non-pattern position.
  3. Select the motif (including the color bars) using the Select tool, and choose the File/Export Selection/.lbm menu. This will save your design as a .lbm file. You may load this into DeluxePaint or the Bit Knitter software. When the design is saved, it is saved as a single-pixel image (i.e. no grid). Thus it is important to have a single pixel somewhere in the image. Alternate approach to exporting: If you like, you may add the colorbars, and then select the area with the Select tool. Use the File/Document Size for Selection menu to crop the image on the screen to be exactly what you want to save and send to the knitting machine.
  4. Load the Bit Knitter software.
  5. Load the design from Stitch Painter, using the Graphics/Load menu.
  6. Conver the design, using the Graphics/Convert menu.
  7. Send the design to your knitting machine using the appropriate method. If you have a Brother or a Passap, use the Pattern/Download menu. Note that you may send several designs as a group. This is achieved by loading all the designs and converting them in the Bit Knitter software. If you have the Silver/Singer/Studio, set up your machine, knit the two rows to read the magnets, and then click on the knitting machine icon to knit the pattern.

TroubleShooting

  1. You may have troubles if you do not have a single pixel in the file. The Bit Knitter looks for the smallest unit, and calls this a stitch.
  2. Occasionally, the Bit Knitter software will do a mal-conversion. Most often this is caused by it not finding a single pixel. If this happens, and you can't determine the reason, you can export as a .PCX file with the grid in place. Then convert the file to .LBM using DeluxePaint or any File Conversion software and send the file to the Bit Knitter. We are aware of this occasional problem and are trying to sort it through.

Tip #5: Global Symbol Swaps


Overview
Typically, symbols are swapped one by one for colors in Stitch Painter. However, if you are looking for a quicker way, e.g. a one-step operation, the following steps will help you.

Note: using this technique will not guarantee that similar symbols do not sit near each other in your chart. Once you have performed the global swap, you may want to adjust a few symbols.

Steps

Set-Up

  1. Perform the setup in a sample document with multiple colors in the working palette.
  2. Open the Symbols Window (from the Windows menu in Windows and from the Tear-off Symbols palette on the Mac.
  3. One by one, move symbols into the Working Palette, choosing your favorite symbols first, and placing these in the top palette positions of the palette. e.g.. use your favorite symbol in Palette position 1, then your next favorite symbol in Palette position 2, etc. (the palette number left to right and then down the palette). If your largest project might have 50 symbols, then move this number over into the working palette.
  4. Save this file and call it symbmstr.stc.
  5. Now, using the Select tool, capture a brush from a portion of the screen, and save this brush (using the Brush menu) as symbmstr.sbr. Remember where you save this file.

 

Performing the Global Symbol Swap

  1. Now, move to a file you have designed.
  2. Place the colors used in your chart at the top of the palette (do this by dragging the color to an upper position). If you are using the Full Color Import module, choose the Plug-Ins/Clean Up Palette option as this will perform the color moves for you, and will place the colors 'in order of use' in the palette.
  3. Using your Brush menu, load the symbmstr.sbr file. It will appear colored when you open it.. do not worry.
  4. Now, choose the Palette/Use Brush Palette menu, and all the colors in the palette will swap for symbols. This may take a few seconds.

This technique takes advantage of Stitch Painter's ability to have two palettes in memory, that of the picture and that of a loaded brush. When you load the brush and ask for the Brush palette, the symbols used in the original Brush file move into the corresponding palette position of the new colored file, ... thus a global symbol swap. Refer to Stitch Painter's manual for further reading on all the powerful Palette and Brush operations.