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Sonovastitch
USA
2 Posts |
 Posted - 08/14/2018 : 12:48:15
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I've created a pattern that is designed to be stitched on black aida. It uses a lot of white stitching, so obviously that doesn't show up well, especially for backstitch.
I'd like to be able to generate both a symbols-only and a symbols-over-color version of this pattern. The symbols-only is obviously easy, and I use line styles to differentiate the backstitches there and that works great. The symbols-over-color is the problem I'm having here.
Things I've tried:
1: It seems PCS11 does not allow me to designate a background color for printing a pattern (I generally print to PDF).
2: Filling in all the open area with colored stitches. this is an inelegant solution and I feel like makes my pattern less readable. I tried to change the color of the symbols to match, but that doesn't appear to be possible unless I'm missing something.
3: Using "Export to image file" to create an image (with "show grid lines" enabled), then pasting that over the top of the grid in my PDF. This almost works, but I don't appear to be able to customize the grid lines there, and the gray/black color scheme of them makes most of the lines hard to see, and the lines on the 10's invisible. Is there an option I'm not seeing to customize those?
Solutions I'm seeking:
A way to change the background color when printing? (My research indicates this is not a thing)
A way to make the symbols match the color of the stitch when printing black stitches (instead of automatically inverting)?
A way to customize the grid lines in the "Export to image file" function?
Any other creative solutions you may have? I do have a pretty full complement of software available to me (like Adobe Creative Suite) but little experience with most of it.
This is somewhat frustrating as I was able to do this no problem in the free version of KG Chart and chose to buy PCStitch instead. |
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Dragonlair
USA
2851 Posts |
Posted - 08/14/2018 : 15:26:02
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OK,
First, you are correct that there is no way to define a background color for printing, unlike the actual creation of the pattern. The only reason I can imagine for the lack of this feature is ink! The use of PDFs for printing is relatively new. In the past, the main output of a pattern was to a printer. I personally use print to PDF (using Foxit's feature of this type) for the simple reason that my computer is older and HP's print drivers won't work with PCStitch. The only way I CAN print most things (including Office) is to print to PDF and then print from PDF! Stupid drivers!
One think you can do is select to print the symbols in the floss color. That is an option in the drop-down menu on the print option page. That might help. You can print both the stitches and the backstitches using the floss color.
Other than that, I don't know. You might suggest it for a feature in future releases of PCStitch.
Diane
There is no such thing as a stupid question
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Sonovastitch
USA
2 Posts |
Posted - 08/14/2018 : 18:42:32
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Thanks for your reply, Diane.
Setting the symbols to the floss color apparently doesn't work with black (or indeed seemingly any dark color). the software automatically inverts the symbol (so instead of a star, for instance,it turns it into a square with a star-shaped hole in it), so I wind up with the same problem.
I have, however, figured out a very irritatingly laborious solution to this problem (and I do see others have had the same question so I'll share it.
1: Go to the Home tab. Select Options. On the options screen, select Printing in the left navigation pane to expand it. Select Grid Line Settings. Set Normal Grid Line Width to at least 4 and change it to white. Set Bold Grid Line Width to either 8 or to a color (cyan or red work best). (It turns out these settings apply to the Export Image File command)
2: Go to the Import/Export tab. Choose Export to Image File. Set a DPI at least 400, choose "Blocks & Symbols", lines as "Floss Colors" and Background as "Black" or whatever dark color you needed. Select "Display Grid Lines", do NOT select "Line Numbers" (they still print as black anyway) and set the border size to 0. Then click "Save Image". Close the Export dialog box.
3: Press Control+P or click the Printer Icon. Select Print Stitches As: Symbols Over Color and Print Lines As: Floss Color Without Styles (so your color key matches up). Click Printer Setup and choose "Microsoft Print to PDF". Click Print. Save the new PDF file.
4: Upload the PDF file you just wrote to your Google Drive. Preview it in Google Drive and you'll see an Open With... option in the top middle. Choose "DocHub".
5: Once you've opened your PDF with DocHub, use the little icon of a picture to upload and insert the JPG you created with the Export Image Function earlier. Position it over the top of the chart, scale it and align it with the numbers, and then click the download icon near the top right.
Voila! Not easy, but it works and I'm satisified with the result. Still annoyed, though. |
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Dragonlair
USA
2851 Posts |
Posted - 08/14/2018 : 20:51:43
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I beg to differ back. I just did a test. I did a print preview and a print to PDF (using Foxit's virtual printer). I had DMC 310 (black) using it's PCStitch 11's default symbol of a big black box. In both test cases, the display was a white background with a black box for those stitches. That is exactly the situation that was requested. All other stitches were their colors as well. There was no inversion.
Diane
There is no such thing as a stupid question
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Pattern for black fabric - solutions needed
