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G R E TECHNOLOGY E B R Expect More.

Vision Fashion Studio 2002 Easy Knit User Guide


Release 4.0

Licensed by

NedGraphics

www.gerbertechnology.com

Easy Knit
Notice
NedGraphics reserves the right to make changes to the product described in this manual at any time and without notice.

Copyright and Trademarks


1998 - 2002 NedGraphics All rights - including all trademark rights - are reserved. Trademarks of NedGraphics include NedGraphics, Fashion Studio, and Easy Knit. All other trademarks and registered trademarks mentioned in this guide are the property of their respective owners.

How to Contact Us
Customer Service support hours are from 8am until 7pm Eastern Standard Time. If you have a question or encounter a problem, please contact Customer Services Support Department. Our toll free number 1-800-321-2448 can be called during support hours from anywhere in North America. International support questions can be faxed to 860-871-3862. Please direct faxes to: Customer Service Software Support. Email inquiries can be sent to CADsupport@gerbertechnology.com.

Easy Knit

Contents
INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW.......................................................1 BEFORE YOU BEGIN ...............................................................................3 STRUCTURE OF THE GUIDE .............................................................................3 TERMS AND CONVENTIONS ............................................................................4 BASIC WINDOWS CONCEPTS ..........................................................................5 HELP ...............................................................................................................7 INSTALLATION AND UNINSTALLATION ..........................................9 INSTALLATION ................................................................................................9 UNINSTALLING THE SOFTWARE ....................................................................12 THE MAIN WINDOW..............................................................................13 MENUS .......................................................................................................17 FILE MENU ...................................................................................................17 New Project ..............................................................................................17 The Import button................................................................................19 The Wizard button...............................................................................20 Working Visually with the Wizard.......................................................23 Providing Technical Data for the Wizard.............................................26 Open Project.............................................................................................29 Close.........................................................................................................30 Save As... ..................................................................................................31 Save Project..............................................................................................32 Export .......................................................................................................33 Knitting Machine Interface Export.......................................................34 Technical Design (Pattern Draft) Export..............................................34 Simulation Export .................................................................................35 Symbol Card Export .............................................................................36 Location, file type and name for export................................................36 Project Properties... .................................................................................38 The Project tab ....................................................................................39 The Pattern Draft tab ...........................................................................43

Contents
The Simulation tab.............................................................................. 45 The Symbols tab ................................................................................. 47 The Set Options tab ............................................................................ 49 Print... ...................................................................................................... 51 The Print to file option........................................................................ 53 The File Format tab......................................................................... 53 The Image Parameters tab ............................................................... 55 Print Preview ........................................................................................... 56 Page Setup... ............................................................................................ 57 The Title tab........................................................................................ 57 The Technical Design tab ................................................................... 58 The Simulation tab.............................................................................. 59 The Symbol Card tab .......................................................................... 60 Exit........................................................................................................... 60 EDIT MENU .................................................................................................. 61 Undo ........................................................................................................ 61 Redo ......................................................................................................... 61 Undo All................................................................................................... 61 Redo All ................................................................................................... 62 Delete Reinstate Last But One.............................................................. 62 Cut image................................................................................................. 62 Copy image .............................................................................................. 62 Paste image.............................................................................................. 63 Cut motif .................................................................................................. 63 Copy motif................................................................................................ 63 Paste motif ............................................................................................... 63 Clear ........................................................................................................ 63 Stencil ...................................................................................................... 64 VIEW MENU ................................................................................................. 65 Zoom In.................................................................................................... 65 Zoom Out ................................................................................................. 66 Drawing Tools ......................................................................................... 66 Edit Tools................................................................................................. 66 Motif Tools............................................................................................... 66 Display Tools ........................................................................................... 66 Palette ...................................................................................................... 67 Options..................................................................................................... 67

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Image Tools ..............................................................................................67 Zoom Tools ...............................................................................................67 Curve Tools ..............................................................................................68 Tracing Tools ...........................................................................................68 Standard Toolbar .....................................................................................68 Status Bar .................................................................................................68 MOTIF MENU ................................................................................................71 Browse... ...................................................................................................72 Import... ....................................................................................................72 Export .......................................................................................................72 Delete........................................................................................................73 Delete all ..................................................................................................73 Motif Base.................................................................................................73 Using the Motif Base ............................................................................73 The Motif Base Pop-up Menu .............................................................76 Edit ....................................................................................................76 Properties ..........................................................................................77 Transparency.....................................................................................77 Hot Spot ............................................................................................79 Re-scale .............................................................................................80 Rotate ................................................................................................81 Flip ....................................................................................................81 Mirror ................................................................................................81 Rotation 180 ....................................................................................81 Rotation 90 CW ...............................................................................82 Rotation 90 CCW ............................................................................82 TOOLS MENU................................................................................................83 Change Size ..............................................................................................83 Using the Change Size command without the wizard ..........................84 Using the Change Size command with the wizard ...............................86 Change Gauge ..........................................................................................87 Change Origin..........................................................................................88 Rotation ....................................................................................................90 Symmetry...............................................................................................91 Duplication...............................................................................................92 Insert Strips... ...........................................................................................94 Remove Strips... ........................................................................................96 Outlining...................................................................................................97

Contents
Background Fill ....................................................................................... 99 KNIT MENU................................................................................................ 105 Knits....................................................................................................... 105 Symbols .................................................................................................. 109 PREFERENCES MENU ................................................................................. 113 Numeric color index .............................................................................. 113 Color display of old projects ................................................................. 113 Select tracing parameters .................................................................. 114 Guidelines Option .............................................................................. 116 Motifs default transparent color ........................................................ 118 WINDOW MENU ......................................................................................... 121 New Window .......................................................................................... 121 Tile Horizontally.................................................................................... 121 Tile Vertically ........................................................................................ 122 Cascade Windows .................................................................................. 122 Close All................................................................................................. 122 Tile Options........................................................................................ 122 Automatic Tile........................................................................................ 123 Fit to Image............................................................................................ 123 Arrange Icons ........................................................................................ 123 Synchronize document views ................................................................. 124 HELP MENU ............................................................................................... 125 Help Topics............................................................................................ 125 About Easy Knit... .................................................................................. 125 TOOLBARS............................................................................................. 127 STANDARD TOOLBAR ................................................................................ 127 New ........................................................................................................ 127 Open....................................................................................................... 127 Save........................................................................................................ 127 Print ....................................................................................................... 128 Print Preview ......................................................................................... 128 About Easy Knit ..................................................................................... 128 Whats this? ........................................................................................... 128 DRAWING TOOLBAR .................................................................................. 129 Overview ................................................................................................ 129 Pencil Tool............................................................................................. 130 Straight Line Tool .................................................................................. 132

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Circle or Ellipse Tool .............................................................................133 Square or Rectangle Tool.......................................................................134 Curve ......................................................................................................135 Curved Shape or Outline........................................................................136 Freehand Shape......................................................................................137 Fill With Color .......................................................................................138 Airbrush..................................................................................................138 Smudge ...................................................................................................140 Stripes and Checks .................................................................................140 CURVE TOOLBAR .......................................................................................142 Control Points ........................................................................................142 Modify Curve..........................................................................................142 Remove Curve.........................................................................................144 Finalize Curve ........................................................................................144 IMAGE TOOLBAR ........................................................................................145 MOTIF TOOLBAR ........................................................................................147 Select Last Used Motif............................................................................147 Rectangle Selection ................................................................................147 Selection By Color..................................................................................147 Freehand Selection.................................................................................148 Re-scale Motif ........................................................................................148 Flip .........................................................................................................148 Mirror.....................................................................................................148 Rotate Motif............................................................................................148 Local Motif Fill ......................................................................................149 Select Whole Image as Motif ..................................................................151 Edit Motif................................................................................................151 Show Motif Base.....................................................................................151 The Motif Drawing Tool Options ...........................................................152 The Change Size tab..........................................................................152 The Rotate tab ...................................................................................154 ZOOM TOOLBAR .........................................................................................155 Zoom Drop-down....................................................................................155 Zoom Slider ............................................................................................155 Zoom In...................................................................................................156 Zoom Out ................................................................................................156 Repeat Count ..........................................................................................156 VIEW (DISPLAY) TOOLBAR ........................................................................157

Contents
Overview ................................................................................................ 157 Tile Horizontally.................................................................................... 159 Tile Vertically ........................................................................................ 159 Cascade Windows .................................................................................. 159 View Rulers............................................................................................ 159 Ruler Pop-up Menu ............................................................................ 159 Calibrate Rulers.............................................................................. 160 Guideline Options....................................................................... 162 Working With Guidelines .................................................................. 163 Adding A Guideline ....................................................................... 164 Moving A Guideline....................................................................... 164 Delete A Guideline......................................................................... 165 Using Snap...................................................................................... 165 Show Repeat Boundaries ....................................................................... 167 Tape Measure ........................................................................................ 167 Drawing Tool Options ........................................................................... 167 Show or Hide the Palette ....................................................................... 167 Select Color ........................................................................................... 168 Designate Stencil ................................................................................... 168 Activate Stencil ...................................................................................... 169 Zoom Area ............................................................................................. 169 Color Atlas............................................................................................. 170 How are Color Atlases used? ............................................................. 170 Opening Color Atlases ....................................................................... 172 Modifying atlas colors individually ................................................... 172 Modifying several atlas colors at once............................................... 174 The 'Save Atlas' and 'Save Atlas As' Commands ............................... 177 Close Atlas ......................................................................................... 177 View Pattern Draft................................................................................. 177 View Simulation ..................................................................................... 178 View Symbol Card ................................................................................. 178 Embroidery Effect.................................................................................. 179 Tracing................................................................................................... 182 TRACING TOOLBAR ................................................................................... 183 EDIT TOOLBAR........................................................................................... 184 Cut Image............................................................................................... 184 Copy Image............................................................................................ 184

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Paste Image ............................................................................................184 Undo .......................................................................................................184 Redo........................................................................................................184 Undo All .................................................................................................185 Reinstate Last But One ...........................................................................185 Redo All ..................................................................................................185 THE PALETTE........................................................................................187 MODIFYING A COLOR COLOR CHANNELS ...............................................189 The Color Channels pop-up menu........................................................190 HSV ....................................................................................................190 RGB ....................................................................................................191 CMY ...................................................................................................191 CMYK ................................................................................................192 hCL .....................................................................................................192 XYZ ....................................................................................................192 Lab ......................................................................................................193 CMYK% .............................................................................................194 Colored ...............................................................................................194 Enhanced Display ...............................................................................194 CHOOSING A NEW KNIT TYPE .....................................................................195 CHOOSING A NEW SYMBOL.........................................................................195 PALETTE PROPERTIES .................................................................................195 EMPTY STITCH............................................................................................198 BROWSING THUMBNAIL VIEWS.....................................................201 BROWSE POP-UP MENU ..............................................................................202 Directory ................................................................................................202 Sort By ....................................................................................................202 GLOSSARY..............................................................................................203 APPENDIX A: SUGGESTION SHEET FOR EASY KNIT................211 APPENDIX B: ANOMALY REPORT FOR EASY KNIT..................213 INDEX.......................................................................................................215

Easy Knit

INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW


Welcome to Easy Knit! Whether you are new to the field of knitting, or are already technically expert, Vision Easy Knit will make it simple for you to produce creative knits to the highest industrial standard. And not only this, you will finish projects in a fraction of the time required by traditional methods. As for showing your work, you will print simulations at the click of a button that look so good you have to touch to be sure theyre not real fabric. Vision Easy Knit has all the drawing tools you would expect from the best graphics packages, but because it also thinks in terms of stitches and repeat, it has all the tools you could want for these too. As the basis of your design, you can import an image in 256 colors created in almost any other graphics program. You can also use an image scanned from photographs or sketches and processed using the Vision application Color Reduction and Cleaning. You can then change the colors at will. You can import any number of motifs to a motif base, and add them to your design at will. Whats more, you can create and modify motifs within Easy Knit and then export them again. If terms such as gauge and course count are second nature to you, you can set the parameters for your project directly. If not, Easy Knit takes care of all the technicalities, allowing you to modify your knit visually, using a life-size simulation, to obtain precisely the form you want. To help you along, weve provided an index for ready reference. You will find a complete description of how to use Vision Easy Knit in the main section of this guide.

Introduction and Overview


Just before you get designing, you may also find it helpful to take a look at the preliminary sections of the guide, on Terms and Conventions, Basic Windows Concepts, Installation and Uninstallation, and Help.

Easy Knit

BEFORE YOU BEGIN


Structure of the Guide
You will find a complete description of how to use Vision Easy Knit in the main section of this guide, Menus, and Toolbars. This begins with a description entitled The Main Window, to help you become familiar with the Easy Knit interface. We recommend reading the sections on Terms and Conventions, Basic Windows Concepts, Help, and Installation and Uninstallation. To help you along, weve provided an index and a glossary at the end for easy reference.

Before You Begin

Terms and Conventions


For a description of the principal Windows terms and concepts needed for Easy Knit see Basic Windows Concepts. For the purposes of writing this guide, the following terms and conventions have been used:

Command names are printed in bold with the first letter of each word capitalized. Sections of this guide are also indicated by bold text. For example, the instruction refer to the Standard Toolbar for the All Undo command shows that there is a section about the Standard Toolbar, and a sub-section about the All Undo command. There is a sub-section for each command. For page numbers refer to the table of Contents at the beginning of this guide, or to the Index at the end. Key names are printed in ordinary capitals, for example, the Enter key is designated by ENTER.

Symbols:
This symbol indicates very important information This symbol is followed by remarks and advice for avoiding common problems and for saving time.

This symbol is followed by a reference to related information.

Combinations and sequences of keys:

A plus sign (+) inserted between key names, indicates that the keys should be pressed simultaneously. For example, "press SHIFT + W" indicates that W is to be pressed while holding down SHIFT. A comma (,) inserted between key names indicates that the key names are to be pressed one after the other. For example, "press ALT, SPACE BAR" indicates that ALT is to be pressed and released, and then the SPACE BAR is to be pressed and released.

Easy Knit

Basic Windows Concepts


As this software has been developed under the Windows environment, you will need to be familiar with basic Windows concepts and functions. If this is not the case, please refer to the Windows documentation provided with your system. Some of the basic Windows concepts and functions referred to in this guide include: Click: to click an item means to place the mouse pointer or cursor over the item, and to press and then release the left mouse button without moving the mouse. You click to choose or select an item, or to operate a tool. Double-click to double click an item means to click it rapidly two times. This action is used in certain selection procedures and for launching certain functions. Right Click: to click the right mouse button when the cursor is over the area of the screen you are using. Typically this is in order to obtain a popup menu (See Pop-Up menus). Drag: to drag means to move the mouse while holding down the left button. This action is used with certain tools to select an area of the screen, and also forms part of the action drag and drop. Drag and Drop: to drag and drop an item means to click the item, drag to a new position on the screen, and then release the mouse button, so that the item is moved to the new position. You can move whole windows with this technique by dragging and dropping the title bar, similarly drag and drop the edge of a toolbar to move it to a different location on the screen. Thanks to the Windows interface, it is possible to have several files open at once, in which case several working windows will be displayed on the screen. Equally, for some programs, it may be possible to have several views of the same project open at the same time as separate windows. However, we advise against having too many files open at the same time in order that all windows are at least partially visible.

Before You Begin


The title bar of the main window displays the name of the program. The title bars of the different project views show the project file name. The active window has a blue title bar. To switch between the various open windows, just click the desired window. The status bar at the bottom of the screen displays information about the use of individual toolbar buttons and menu commands. For this information, simply move the mouse pointer over the toolbar button or menu command concerned. You can close a window or a particular view of your project by clicking on its close button , in which case you will have to choose New Window from the Window menu to regenerate that view if you require it again later. You may prefer therefore just to minimize the view to a small icon at the bottom of the screen by clicking its minimize icon . To tidy up the window icons, select Window Arrange Icons. The window icons are now lined up with each other along the bottom of the screen. Restore a view to its former size by clicking its restore icon . If you wish a view to fill the entire screen (covering the other views temporarily), click its maximize . icon To adjust the size of a view more precisely, move the mouse pointer over a horizontal or vertical border of the view, so that the pointer changes into a double headed arrow . Now drag the border to enlarge or reduce the size of the view. Note that certain functions can be activated by clicking a tool button, and de-activated by clicking the button again. To choose from a drop-down box, click the down arrow to list the contents of the box, and then click one of the items in the list to choose it.

Easy Knit
To change a value in a field with spin arrows, click the up or down arrow to increase or decrease the value. Alternatively, double-click the existing value, press DEL to delete it, then type in a value of your choice Finally we advise you to refer to the section of this guide on The Main Window, to become familiar with the Easy Knit interface.

Help
Vision Easy Knit may include an on-line help. This operates as follows: To find information about a dialog box, click its Help button (if available). To look up information choose Help Topics from the Help menu and then click on one of the tabs: The Contents tab to see the topic headings. Double-click a heading to see the help topics it contains. Double-click a topic to obtain access to it. The Index tab to use the subject index. The Search tab to search for a term not contained in the index. Click the Whats this? button help on its use. (if available), then on any item for

Move the mouse pointer over a toolbar button or menu command. After a moments pause, a tooltip appears next to the button. A more detailed prompt appears on the Status Bar at the bottom of the screen for both toolbar buttons and menu commands.

Installation and Uninstallation

Easy Knit

INSTALLATION AND UNINSTALLATION


Installation
A wizard is included on your installation CD, which makes installation straightforward. Before you begin, however, we strongly recommend you to read the following general description of the installation procedure. The first step of the installation procedure is to find the dongle and the access code supplied with your software.
During the installation procedure, or the first time you run an application, you will be asked to enter the access code. Be sure to type in the code exactly as given i.e. using upper case and/or lower case in exactly the same way. In case you do not have this code, please contact us at the nearest NedGraphics address given on the cover of this guide. You will need to tell us the number written on your dongle, the name of each application you have purchased, and, if you have this information, the STEP number associated with the applications.

The dongle is a hard lock key in the form of a plug which is essential for the software to work. Before installation you must insert the dongle into the parallel port of your computer, where it will remain permanently. Preferably you should attach the dongle while your computer is turned off. You can then connect your printer cable to the end of the dongle if you normally use a printer on that port.
The parallel port comprises two rows of holes, 25 holes in all. If there is already a parallel dongle connected to the parallel port, simply add the new dongle to the end of it. If you are using an USB type of dongle, connect it to your free USB port. Note that USB ports do NOT function on a computer running under Windows NT.

Installation and Uninstallation


If the other end of the printer cable is attached to your printer, the printer must be switched on or the dongle will not allow your software to be used. In case you should have any difficulty in printing, you may need to use a second parallel port for your printer.

Next, start your computer under Windows.


If you are using Windows NT4 or Windows 2000 the account you log on with must have administrator rights. Should you encounter any difficulty, please ask your system administrator to log on for you.

If you have any other applications running, you are strongly advised to close them before beginning installation. Now insert your installation CD into the CD-ROM drive of your computer. After a few moments, a start-up screen should appear automatically. On some systems the installation CD may not launch automatically. To launch the CD in this case you will have to open your Windows Explorer. You will then have various alternatives: Right-click on the CD drive, and choose AutoPlay from the pop-up menu that appears. In case this is unsuccessful, look for a file with a name similar to Winsetup.exe. Double-click this to launch the CD.

When you get to the start-up screen, you may find a range of options that you can click on for demonstrations, information and installation of your software. If you choose to proceed with an installation, a wizard will take you through a series of screens until you arrive at a dialog box containing a list of the available applications to install. By default, these may all be selected. In this case it will be essential to de-select some of the applications by clicking on them, to leave only those which you have purchased and which you wish to install. Use the scroll bar at the side of

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the dialog box to move through the list. Note that it may be appropriate to select one or more of the following elements, if available : Basics: If this option is available, and there is not currently any other Vision software installed on your system, you will need to install this. Sentinel, or another hard lock device driver : If this option is available, and there is not currently any other Vision software installed on your system, you will also need to install this. Tutorial files: These include sample image files that you can use with the applications you are about to install.

At the end of the installation procedure, you will usually be asked if you wish to re-boot your computer immediately, or later. It is advisable to reboot immediately to avoid any possible problems in running the installed applications later on. To run one of the applications you have installed, click the Start button of Windows, and choose Programs from the menu which appears. Then choose the name of your Vision software suite from the next menu, which will display a list of the installed applications such as the following:

Click the application that you wish to run.

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Installation and Uninstallation

Uninstalling the software


If you decide to uninstall Easy Knit from your computer, select Control Panel from your Start/Settings menu of the Windows status bar. In the next window that appears, double-click the Add/Remove programs icon. As a result you will get the following dialog box:

At the Install/Uninstall tab click to select Easy Knit from the list. The Add/Remove button will become active. Click it to start the uninstall procedure. A warning message box will ask again for your confirmation. Click OK to continue the uninstallation.

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Easy Knit

THE MAIN WINDOW


The following figure illustrates the different parts of the Easy Knit main window:

On designing your project, only one view is created initially, the Pattern Draft view, from which the other two view types depend. When you are ready to use one of the other views, first duplicate the Pattern Draft view using the New Window command (Window menu), and then change the new window to the view you require by clicking the toolbar button for the new view (shown below). The three alternative views of your current project can be displayed in the main window, either individually, or tiled 13

The Main Window


so that they all appear as in the above figure. They may be viewed at different zoom levels. While in tracing mode, another toolbar is available, the Tracing toolbar:

The views are as follows: Pattern Draft: each square of the grid corresponds to a stitch, in colors that you can change at will via the palette. Typically you will choose colors identical to those of the yarns you wish to be used, but in the case of certain special yarns, such as mottled yarn, you may select a color that is representational rather than identical. Change a view to make it the pattern on the toolbar. draft view by clicking the View Pattern Draft button

Refer to the description of the Pattern Draft Tab under Project Properties (File menu) for a description of the pattern draft options. These include the possibility of applying a grid to the pattern draft to assist in detailed design.

Simulation: a true to life simulation of the knitted fabric representing the actual stitches used, which, by default, uses the same colors as the pattern draft (i.e. typically using the colors of the yarns you wish to be used, but in the case of certain special yarns, such as mottled yarn, you may select a color which is representational rather than identical). Change a view to make it the pattern draft view by clicking the View Simulation button on the toolbar.
Note that by default the corresponding color for the pattern draft is automatically modified to be the same as the color for the knit type. For the colors in the simulation to be different from those in the pattern draft, the option Match colors should be unchecked in the Palette Properties dialog box (see Palette Properties under Palette).

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Refer to the description of the Simulation Tab under Project Properties (File menu) for a description of the simulation options. These include simulation effects such as directional or diffuse brushing.

Embroidery Effect: when in simulation view mode you can use the embroidery function to apply images on the knit simulation image, as embroidery on the real knitted material. You can also use the Motif Base utilities to apply motif images over the design area, images implemented as knitted fabric. A whole range of specific commands related to working with motifs are located in the Motif menu. Symbol Card: each stitch is shown by a symbol representing its knit type, as well as its orientation, face or back (a symbol assigned for the face and one for the back of the knit). Via the palette, you can designate symbols from the atlas provided, or create your own. Change another view to make it the pattern draft view by clicking the View Simulation button on the toolbar.

Refer to the description of the Symbols Tab under Project Properties (File menu) for a description of the symbol card options. These include the possibility of setting the size independently of the pattern draft and symbol card.

You can design on any one of the three views the others are automatically updated. Modify a color, knit type or symbol via the palette. By clicking on the palette, you select a color as well as a corresponding stitch and symbol, and then you can use the various drawing tools on the toolbars or menus to edit your project directly in color, stitch or symbol.

For further information on the palette, including modification of colors, knit types and symbols, please refer to Palette.

For each drawing tool, open the Drawing Tool Options dialog box from the View menu, in order to be able to adjust the way in which the tool works. Leave the dialog box open while you work, or close it by clicking . on its close button

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The Main Window


For details about the various menus, please refer to the Menus section. For details about the various toolbars, please refer to the Toolbars section.

The title bar of the main window displays the name of the program and the project file name. The title bars of the different project views show the project file name only. The status bar at the bottom of the screen displays information about the use of individual toolbar buttons and menu commands. For this information, simply move the mouse pointer over the toolbar button or menu command concerned. On the extreme right of the status bar, the current position of the cursor or mouse pointer in relation to the origin of the image is given in terms of horizontal (X) and vertical (Y) coordinates, as well as the total size of your project (in stitches).

For a brief guide to moving, organizing and changing the size of project views and windows, please refer to Basic Windows Concepts. The units used for your project may be chosen from the Set Options tab of Project Properties (File menu). See Change Origin (Repeat Tools menu) for an explanation of origin.

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MENUS
File Menu

New Project
To create a new project, click on the New button on the Standard Toolbar or select New Project from the File menu. Alternatively, use the keyboard shortcut CTRL+N. The Project Properties tabs appears on the screen, as follows:

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Menus

You can also bring this dialog box on your screen at any time with a middleclick, anywhere in your project.

You can start with an empty project, and build your design image from within Easy Knit, using its drawing tools and loading and pasting motifs. To use this option just set up the parameters in all the tabs of the New Project dialog window, and click OK.

To adjust the various parameters and options for your project contained in the New Project dialog window tabs, see Project Properties (File menu).

If you want to start a new project from an image already created with another application, you have two methods available. Either click 18

Easy Knit
the Import button near the top of the Project tab, or click the Wizard button at the foot of the dialog box. The Import button is the quickest method for creating a new project but gives no opportunity to test the values entered for size, gauge and course count on a preview before the project is created. It is therefore appropriate only if you have already decided the value of these parameters. The two methods function as follows:

The Import button


On clicking the Import button, the Import dialog box appears on the screen, as an Open type dialog window. To find the image file you wish to use click the Up One Level button to climb the folder tree or double-click a folder to show the folders it contains. Alternatively click the down arrow of the Look in field to show the folder tree and then click the part of the tree where you want to go to. From the File of type drop-down box, define the list from which you must choose your file by selecting the specific file type you are looking for. A large range of file types are available, as follows:

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Menus
Click the desired file name so that it appears in the File name field, and then click the Open button.
If you click the Browse button in the Import dialog box, thumbnails of all the image files in the current folder are displayed. This is invaluable if you dont know the file name of the image you are searching for.

See Browsing Thumbnail Views for further information.

After clicking the Open button in the Import dialog box you may wish to let loose your creativity immediately. If so click the OK button at the bottom of the Project Properties tabs.

To adjust the various parameters and options for your project contained in the Project Properties tabs, see Project Properties (File menu). To modify the colors, knits and knit symbols see Palette Toolbar. For an explanation of the drawing tools, see Drawing Toolbar. To show the repeat boundaries, see Show Repeat Boundaries (Display toolbar).

The Wizard button


The wizard is a guide which helps you to select the image on which you will base your project, and to set appropriate parameters.
Note that you can easily change the parameters later on when you have finished using the Wizard see Project Properties (File menu).

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Easy Knit
On clicking the Wizard button, the following dialog box appears:

If you know the file name and path of the image you wish to import, enter this information directly in the File path field. Otherwise click the Browse button. On clicking the Browse button the Open dialog box appears. to climb the folder tree or Click the Up One Level button double-click a folder to show the folders it contains. Alternatively click the down arrow of the Look in field to show the folder tree and then click the part of the tree where you want to go to. Click the desired file name so that it appears in the File name field, and then click the Open button.

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Menus
If you click the Browse button in the Open dialog box, thumbnails of all the image files in the current folder are displayed. This is invaluable if you dont know the file name of the image you are searching for. See Browsing Thumbnail Views for further information.

Now that you have selected your image file, its name and path should be displayed in the File path field of the Pattern Draft (Technical Design) Wizard. Click Next to proceed. The dialog box that appears is as follows:

Click the Preview button if you wish to check the appearance of the image you have selected. Next. choose your method for defining the parameters of the pattern draft by clicking either Work visually or Provide technical data. You may find it easier to work visually, unless you already have a good idea of the size, gauge and course count appropriate for your project. When you have made your choice, click the Next button.

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Easy Knit
Working Visually with the Wizard
If you selected Work visually, the following dialog box appears:

In order to work with the image you have chosen, Easy Knit will have to make a conversion. Since your image is defined in terms of pixels, and you will want it defined in stitches, usually a re-scaling of the image will be required. This dialog box asks for your preference in case you need the operation to be done by protecting some colors in it. Selecting Yes will permit the Define button to be activated, and the protection and priorities dialog box to be opened.

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Menus
It looks like this: On the left column Easy Knit list all the colors found in the image. Using the horizontal arrows, you may select from them, and change your mind to switch them back, those colors you want protected through the re-scaling operation. The selected colors will be listed in the column at right. Using the vertical arrows, you may arrange the priority list of the selected colors to your preference. The Tolerance parameter on top will allow you to choose the percentage number that will be used to detect the presence of the color in the image. For example: if when deciding what color to choose to replace a number of pixels, it will choose the selected priority color only if this is present in the considered area in a percentage better then 30%, as chosen in the Tolerance field. When ready, click OK to go back to the previous dialog box, and click Next again to proceed to the next window as follows:

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In this dialog box you can set the gauge and course count as well as the size of the project. Note that the figures relate to the image considered as a single entity. You will choose later whether the image is to be used as a repeat, or if it will be used singly. You can enter your chosen settings directly in the Size group box, or change the values in the group box by dragging the sliders situated around the knit thumbnail view shown in red Jersey (in red Jersey naturally, because the view was inspired directly from the programmers socks!). The thumbnail view gives a life-like representation of the gauge and course count. After changing a value, click on the thumbnail if necessary for the view to be updated. If you have chosen too fine a knit to see with the naked eye, find a microscope!
If you click the padlock button at the bottom left of the thumbnail, the padlock closes and the relationship between height and width will be fixed e.g. if you double the height, the width will automatically double. Similarly, at the top right of the thumbnail for the click the padlock button relationship of the gauge and course count to be fixed.

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When you have chosen values that seem correct, click the preview button to see how the knit will be applied to the image. If the image is now too big to fit in the dialog box, scroll bars will be provided to enable you to view all parts, as shown in the example above. When you are happy with the results, click OK. Properties tabs re-appear. The Project

See Project Properties (File menu) to adjust other parameters and options for your project.

If you wish to let loose your creativity immediately, click the OK button at the bottom of the Project Properties tabs.

To modify the colors, knits and knit symbols see Palette Toolbar. For an explanation of the drawing tools, see Drawing Toolbar. To show the repeat boundaries, see Show Repeat Boundaries (Display toolbar).

Providing Technical Data for the Wizard


If you chose Provide technical data in the Pattern Draft (Technical Design) Wizard, the Change Size dialog box appears when you click the OK button:

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You can change the parameters for your project directly in the Pattern Draft group. The figures relate to the image considered as a single entity. You will choose later whether the image is to be used as a repeat, or if it will be used singly. Note that the number of courses is a product of the height multiplied by the course count. Therefore if one of these three values is changed, at least one of the others must be changed. But no need to go searching for your calculator! When you change one value Easy Knit deals with things for you by fixing one of the other values, and recalculating the third automatically. The default method of recalculation is as follows:

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If you change the height or the course count, the number of courses is re-calculated for you. If you change the number of courses, the course count is recalculated for you.
Only two of these parameters (height, course count/mm and number of courses) are independent.

Its a similar story for the number of needles, which is a product of the gauge and the width. This time: If you change the width or the gauge, the number of needles is re-calculated for you (the gauge or width remaining fixed). If you change the number of needles, the gauge is re-calculated for you (the width remaining fixed)

To change which values are fixed by Easy Knit during a change in size, see the Set Options tab in Project Properties (File menu).

Easy Knit takes the original image, composed of pixels, and creates a new image defined in terms of stitches. Typically more than one pixel in the original image will correspond to a single stitch in the final image. In terms of data, therefore, this represents a reduction in size. In the Reduction group of parameters, you can select out of three reduction methods:

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Normal, will treat the pixels in your image equally, with no priority or preference. Priority colors will allow you, through the use of the Options button, to set up priorities in the colors so that they will be treated differently. Dominant colors will automatically give priority to the dominant color in your image (see the Working Visually with the Wizard method, also Tools Menu, Using the Change Size command without the wizard for more information). When you are happy with the results, click OK. The Project Properties tabs re-appear.

See Project Properties (File menu) to adjust other parameters and options for your project.

If you wish to let loose your creativity immediately, click the OK button at the bottom of the Project Properties tabs.

To modify the colors, knits and knit symbols see Palette Toolbar. For an explanation of the drawing tools, see Drawing Toolbar. To show the repeat boundaries, see Show Repeat Boundaries (Display toolbar).

Open Project...
Use this command to open the file of a project youve previously worked on with Easy Knit. To open a file, click the Open button on the Standard toolbar, select Open Project on the File menu or use the keyboard shortcut CTRL+O.
You can open a file youve worked on recently by selecting it from the bottom of the File menu.

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The Open dialog box appears on the screen. Click the Up One Level button to climb the folder tree or doubleclick a folder to show the folders it contains. Alternatively click the down arrow of the Look in field to show the folder tree and then click the part of the tree where you want to go to. Click the desired file name so that it appears in the File name field, and then click the Open button. If you do not know the file name and path of the image you wish to open click the Browse button.
If you click the Browse button in the Open dialog box, thumbnails of all the image files in the current folder are displayed. This is invaluable if you dont know the file name of the file you are searching for.

See Browsing Thumbnail Views for further information.

Now that you have selected your image file, it should be displayed in the Image file field of the Open dialog box.

Close
To close the file you are working on select Close (File menu) or at the upper right corner of each open click the Close button window of your project. You will be given the opportunity to save the project before it closes.

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To save a project for the first time, or to save an existing project with a new name, click Save As in the File menu. The Save As dialog box appears as follows:

To move to the folder where you wish to save your work click to climb the folder tree or doublethe Up One Level button click a folder to show the folders it contains. Alternatively click the down arrow of the Save in field to show the folder tree and then click the part of the tree where you want to go to. If you wish to create a new folder in which to save your project, you must first double-click the folder in which the new folder is to be located. The folder appears in the Save in field at the top of the dialog box. Now click the Create New Folder button to create the new folder. It appears with a default name New Folder highlighted in blue. Type the name of your choice directly on the keyboard, replacing the default name.

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Now double-click the folder in which you wish to save your project, so that its name appears in the Save in field. Next type the name that you wish to use for your project in the File name field. It is not necessary to add a file type extension to the end of the name. By default, Easy Knit projects are saved with the extension *.EKP . Finally click Save to save your work.

Save Project
To save a project you are working on, click the Save button on the Standard toolbar, select Save Project in the File menu, or use the keyboard shortcut CTRL+S.

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If you wish to save one of the views of your project separately as a bitmap, select Export from the File menu, or use the keyboard shortcut CTRL+E. The Export dialog box appears:

Go to the Export Data group and choose a suitable resolution. Standard resolutions used for printing include 150 DPI and 300 DPI (option not available for Knitting machine interface). Next click on the type of project view you wish to export (Knitting Machine Interface, Technical Design (Pattern Draft), Simulation or Symbol Card).

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Knitting Machine Interface Export
Choosing the Knitting machine interface option from the Export Data group, will lead to obtaining an image file, which knitting machines are able to use as an input to produce the exact image you have created. Each pixel (dot) of this image has a unique correspondence to a stitch of your work file. You can set the file type to any of the usual options: TGA, TIFF, BMP (DIB), HR2. No other settings are required.

Technical Design (Pattern Draft) Export


If you chose Technical Design (Pattern Draft), then Dimension, from the Export Data group, the following dialog box appears:

Note that a single repeat only is exported. In the Global Size fields of the dialog box, set the width and height of the repeat. These fields are directly linked to the adjacent fields for Point Size (i.e. width and length of stitch), so an alternative way to set the Global Size is by setting the Point Size. Click OK to return to the Export dialog box when you have made your choices. 34

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Simulation Export
If you chose Simulation from the Export Data group, then Dimensions, the following dialog box appears:

By default the zoom factor is set at 100% for both width and height, which means that the number of needles per centimeter and courses per centimeter will be as shown in the Pattern draft tab of Project Properties (File menu). Change the zoom factor if desired. Note that the values number of repeats entered for width and height do not have to be whole numbers. Changing the number of repeats changes the values in the Size fields, as does changing the zoom factor. Click OK to return to the Export dialog box when you have made your choices. Embroidery option: this option is only available when in Simulation export mode, and allows you to export your design image with the embroidery images (if you created any) in your project. Not selecting this option will export/save the project image without the embroidery within.

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Symbol Card Export
If you chose Symbol Card from the Export Data group, then Dimensions, the following dialog box appears:

Note that only a single repeat is exported. You can set its size either directly in the Global Size fields, or indirectly by entering values in the Symbol Size fields, in which case the Global Size will be changed automatically. Click OK to return to the Export dialog box when you have made your choices.

To change the number of needles and courses which make up a single repeat please refer to Change Size (Repeat Tools menu).

Location, file type and name for export


Now choose the location, file type and name of the file you are going to export: To move to the folder where you wish to save a view either click the to climb the folder tree or double-click a Up One Level button folder to show the folders it contains.

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If you wish to create a new folder in which to save the view, you must first double-click the folder in which the new folder is to be located. The folder appears in the Save in field at the top of the dialog box. Now click the Create New Folder button to create the new folder. It appears with a default name New Folder highlighted in blue. Type the name of your choice directly on the keyboard, replacing the default name. Now double-click the folder in which you wish to save your project, so that its name appears in the Save in field. Next type the name that you wish to use for your project in the File name field. Choose an appropriate file type from the Save as type drop-down box.

For choices of color range and compression type click the Options button. The following dialog window will appear:

Select Export color palette along with the file, if you want to save your color palette in a separate file. This file will be very useful if you intend to use the same colors for a new project. You will be able to load the saved palette colors as an atlas, in other NedGraphics applications, like Simulating Printed Fabric, Design & Repeat (Pro), Easy Coloring (Pro), and use them to modify your current color

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palette. This version of Easy Knit cannot load a separate color palette file. See Print to file under Print (File menu) for a description of the other options. Click Save when you have made your choices for the export to be made.

Project Properties...
Choose Project Properties from the File menu any time you wish to adjust various key parameters and options of your project. In particular, the various tabs of the Project Properties dialog box enable you to set the type of repeat, the gauge and course count, the size of the repeat (which can be defined in a variety of ways e.g. in cm or in terms of numbers of needles and courses), the form of the pattern draft (technical design), simulation and symbol card .
You can also access Project Properties at any time by clicking on any view of your project with your middle mouse button (or mouse wheel, if available).

You can start a new project from the Project Properties dialog box by clicking the Import button near the top of the Project tab, or by clicking the Wizard button at the foot of the dialog box. Refer to the New command (File menu) for further details.

Click a tab of the Project Properties dialog box to access it.

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The Project tab
The Project tab appears as follows:

Clicking the Import button is one of the methods for starting a new project. See the New command (File menu) for further details.

The Repeats group box enables you to determine how your image will be used as a repeat. Use the drop-down box in this area to choose the type of repeats you desire.

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Select None if you want your image to be used singly. Select Straight if you want your repeats to be aligned. Select Vertical stepped or Horizontal stepped if you want an offset (regular miss-alignment) to your repeats. Choose one of the symmetry types offered for your repeats, or both. Use the View repeats button if you want to have a visual representation of the repeats type. Choosing to mirror or flip your repeats, may also be done here, in a more intuitive way.

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In the icons, the repeats are symbolized by an apostrophe, with the orientation of successive apostrophes in the icon illustrating the repeat type. The repeat types may be described as follows:

Straight Repeat

Straight Repeat, Flipped

Straight Repeat, Mirrored

Straight Repeat, Flipped and Mirrored

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Cvhyy TrrqSrrh

Cvhyy T rrq Sr rh Ayvrq

Cvhyy Trrq Srrh Hvrq

Horizontally Stepped Repeat, Flipped and Mirrored

Wrvphyy TrrqSrrh

W r v p h y y TrrqSrrh Ayvrq

W r v p h y y TrrqSrrh Hvrq

W r v p h y y Trrq Srrh Ayvrq hq Hvrq

If you select one of the eight stepped repeat types, the Step, Centimeter and % fields become active and can be changed. These three fields are alternative ways to change the step or offset used for stepped repeat types. If one of the three fields is changed the others are automatically updated. If, for example, you have chosen a vertically stepped repeat, and wish adjacent columns of repeats to be offset by a quarter of the height of a repeat, then enter 1 /4 in the Step field, or 0.25 in the Centimeter field, or 25 in the % field. When you have made your choices as desired in each of the Project Properties tabs, click OK to put the choices into effect and close the tabs, or click Cancel to close the tabs without registering any of the changes made.

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The Pattern Draft tab
The Pattern Draft (Technical Design) tab appears as follows:

Set the parameters for size, needles and courses in the Parameters group box. The figures relate to the image considered as a single entity, and are identical to the figures in the Parameters group box of the Simulation tab.

Go the Project tab to choose whether the image is to be used as a repeat, or if it will be used singly.

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Note that the number of courses is a product of the height multiplied by the number of courses per centimeter. Therefore if one of these three values is changed, at least one of the others must be changed. But no need to go searching for your calculator! When you change one value Easy Knit deals with things for you by fixing one of the other values, and recalculating the third automatically. Its a similar story for the number of needles, which is a product of the number of needles per centimeter and the width.

Go to the Set Options tab to choose which of the values remain fixed and which are re-calculated.

In the Options group box, check View Grid if you wish the pattern draft to have a graph paper presentation. You can choose to have some of the gridlines thicker: for example, if you want a thicker line every five courses, check Thick horizontal gridlines every, and enter the number 5 in the adjacent field. If you want a thicker line every ten stitches, counting horizontally, check Thick vertical gridlines every, and enter the number 10 in the adjacent field.
In graph paper presentation given by the View Grid option, each square represents a single stitch. This option is therefore of great assistance when you wish to design details stitch by stitch. The graph paper presentation is not visible, however, at low magnification levels, which are more appropriate for global viewing rather than detailed design work.

When you have made your choices as desired in each of the Project Properties tabs, click OK to put the choices into effect and close the tabs, or click Cancel to close the tabs without registering any of the changes made.

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The Simulation tab
The Simulation tab appears as follows :

Set the parameters for size, needles and courses in the Parameters group box. The figures relate to the image considered as a single entity, and are identical to the figures in the Parameters group box of the Pattern Draft tab.

Go the Project tab to choose whether the image is to be used as a repeat, or if it will be used singly.

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Note that the number of courses is a product of the height multiplied by the course count. Therefore if one of these three values is changed, at least one of the others must be changed. But no need to go searching for your calculator! When you change one value Easy Knit deals with things for you by fixing one of the other values, and recalculating the third automatically. Its a similar story for the width, which is a product of the gauge and the number of needles.

Go to the Set Options tab to choose which of the values remain fixed and which are re-calculated.

The Colors group box enables you to choose the background color for the simulation i.e. the color which you see through the stitches of your knit in the simulation just as if you were to view a real knitted textile which had been laid on a colored surfaces. This can have an appreciable effect on the presentation of your simulation, so you may like to experiment with different background colors. Click the Select button in the Colors area to open the Color Channels tool and modify the Background color.

See the Color Channels section for more information about how to modify a color.

When you have chosen a suitable background color, you can make the color darker or lighter by changing the figure in the Contrast field. You can enter a whole number from 1 to 100, the default value being 50. Choose the type of finishing you require from the Type drop-down in the Finishing group box (if available in your version of the software). You can choose none, diffuse brushing or directional brushing. Move the sliders for Intensity and Dispersion to change the quality of brushing. When you have made your choices as desired in each of the Project Properties tabs, click OK to put the choices into effect and close the tabs, or click Cancel to close the tabs without registering any of the changes made. 46

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The Symbols tab
The Symbols tab appears as follows:

In the Size group, click Adjust to the size of the Pattern Draft (or Technical Design) if you require the simulation to be the same size as the pattern draft. Otherwise click Custom Size and then enter a suitable symbol width and height in the adjacent fields.

The units used for the symbol width and height are those chosen for the project in the Preferences group of the Set Options tab.

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The Colors group enables you to choose the background color for the symbol card from the color palette, or to have the symbols represented in black and white only. For black and white symbols, click the right hand symbol button For colored symbols, click the left-hand symbol button (symbols on the symbol card will be represented in the form of a photographic negative) or the center symbol button (photographic positive). For these, the white part of the symbol will be filled by the background color. If you are using colored symbols, click the Select button in the Colors area to open the Color Channels tool and modify the Background color.
See the Color Channels section for more information about how to modify a color.

After selecting a new color, the associated color chip of the Colors area will be updated to the new color. Use the Options group of this dialog box to define a grid to be displayed on the Symbols representation of your image.

The units used for the grid horizontal and vertical spacing are those chosen for the project in the Preferences group of the Set Options tab.

When you have made your choices as desired in each of the Project Properties tabs, click OK to put the choices into effect and close the tabs, or click Cancel to close the tabs without registering any of the changes made.

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The Set Options tab
The Set Options tab enables you to control various parameters relating to the size and proportion of the three project views (pattern draft/technical design, simulation and symbol card). The Set Options tab appears as follows:

In the Preferences group, make your choices as follows: Choose the unit for size measurement for the three views from the Units drop-down.

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The Unit selection will be remembered the next time your start your Vision Easy Knit.

Choose the unit of measurement for resolution from the Resolution drop down. Check Use wizard for size changes if you want a wizard to assist you on using the Change Size command (Tools menu). The wizard gives you the option of having changes in size (as well as in gauge and course count) recalculated from the original image if desired. Recalculating in this way has the advantage of preserving maximum detail in the final result but has the disadvantage of abandoning any editing already made.

In the Gauge unit group you have the option to select the measurement unit for the gauge of your equipment (also defined in the Pattern Draft and Simulation tabs). Select Current unit if you want the same units as for the size of your work (height and width). Select Other units and then select the desired unit, if you prefer another. The units for the No. needles/Mm and No. courses/Mm in both Pattern Draft and Simulation tabs will automatically be updated. In the Size Change group you control the way the parameters are recalculated when changing size (either directly via the Pattern Draft or Simulation tabs or via the Change Size or Change Gauge commands). When one of the six size parameters is changed, one other remains fixed and a third must be re-calculated. The choices you make in the Size Change group enable you to decide which of the parameters will remain fixed. In the Simulation group, check Proportional gauge and length of stitch if you require the ratio between these two parameters to remain fixed in any size change. Enter the ratio you require in the Ratio field. Also, if you mostly prefer having the same parameters for the Simulation, as for the Pattern Draft (Technical Design), select this option here.

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The choices made in the Size Change group are used by the wizard of the New Project command (File menu).

When you have made your choices as desired in each of the Project Properties tabs, click OK to put the choices into effect and close the tabs, or click Cancel to close the tabs without registering any of the changes made.

Print...
To print the project you are working on, select Print from the File menu or click the Print button. The corresponding keyboard shortcut is CTRL + P. The following dialog box appears on the screen:

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Printer area: In the Printer group at the top of the dialog box, make your choices as follows: Click the arrow of the Name drop-down to select another printer. Various print parameters for your selected printer, such as paper size and orientation, can be chosen from the dialog box that appears when you click the Properties button. For an explanation of the choices available, please refer to your documentation for the printer concerned. If you do not wish to Print to file, click OK to commence printing. In the Print range area, choose whether you wish to print everything, or just a range of pages. In the Copies area, choose the number of copies you wish to print. If several pages are to be printed a number of times, you may wish to click Collate for the different copies to be grouped separately. When Collate has been selected, the pages icon to the left of the check box changes to show how the pages will be organized. The Print area: Select from the available options, according to your printing objective: Pattern Draft (or Technical Design), Simulation or Symbol card. Click the Page Setup button to change the way in which the different views of your project will be printed, and to choose bibliographic details that can be printed with the views.

See Page Setup (File menu) for an explanation of the choices available.

To see how the chosen view of your project will appear when printed, click the Print Preview button.

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The Print to file option
For certain kinds of printer, a file must be created specifically for the purposes of printing. If you are using this type of printer, check Print to file. The Options button is now active and no longer grayed. Click the options button to choose an appropriate file format, print resolution and paper settings. The following dialog box appears:

The File Format tab


From the File Format tab choose an appropriate file type, color range, and, if appropriate, the compression type according to availability. Depending on the file type you chose in the File type field, some options will be available in the File Format tab. Colors: select the desired color type from the available options.
Available Color modes: For the Postscript Level 2, TGA and BMP,DIB file types: True Colors (RGB). For a TIF file type: True Colors RGB, CMYK and Lab.

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Available Compression types: TGA: None and RLE. BMP: None TIF: None and LZW Postscript Level 2: None, RLE and LZW Some printers require true colors (i.e. 16 million colors) but this will naturally cause your file size to be much bigger than if you choose to use the standard 256 color range or monochrome. To reduce the file size you may find it convenient to use one of the available forms of compression. Note, however, that your choice of file type, color range and compression type are related. You may wish to try selecting different combinations of options in the dialog box to see which are possible.

Type the appropriate file path and file name in the File name field, or choose the file name and file path by clicking the Browse button . On clicking the Browse button, the Save As dialog box appears. Having made your choice of file path and file name in this dialog box, click Save to return to the File Format tab.

Refer to Save As (File menu) for guidance on the Save As dialog box.

Compression: select a compression mode from the available choices. The availability of the compression modes depends on the type of file you chose earlier and/or the selections you make in the Colors area.
For TGA files:None and RLE. For TIF files:

Monochrome, 256 colors (LUT) and True colors (CMYK): None, RLE, and LZW. True Colors (RGB) and True Colors (Lab): None and LZW.

BMP files: no compression mode is available.

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Negative colors: if you selected Monochrome from the Colors area you will also have this option available. Select it to invert your colors to negative complementary colors (if available in your software version).

The Image Parameters tab


Click the Image Parameters tab to choose an appropriate resolution and paper setting for your printer. It appears as follows:

In the Page Units area, select the units for the image size (inch, centimeter, millimeter, 1/10 mm, thou). Page Margins: two options are offered here to set the page margins. You can either manually input the values for the margins (Left, Right, Top and Bottom), or select Printer defaults to adopt the values set for the printer in the Printer Properties dialog window. Page Size: Select a standard page size or input your custom choices. If you will decide for Custom, you can input the desired values using either the Pixels boxes (in pixel units), or the Dimension boxes (units are the ones selected earlier in the Page Units area).

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If you select a page size smaller than the real size of your design, the saved print file will be divided in a number of files, each representing a part of your design as it fits on the page format you chose.

In the Orientation area select the desired position of the page (portrait or landscape). Finally, in the Resolution area, select the resolution unit, then input the desired values in the appropriate boxes (for the horizontal and vertical resolution).

For information on size settings for the project itself, please refer to Project Properties (File menu). To avoid distortion of your printed image, it is essential that the values you select from the Resolution section correspond to the resolution available from your printer. Typical resolutions both horizontally and vertically include 150 DPI and 300 DPI.

When you have made your choices from the File Format and Image Parameters tabs, click OK to return to the Print dialog window. Click OK again in this window to run the Print to file function.

Print Preview
To see how one of the views of your project will appear when printed, click the view to make it active, and then select Print Preview from the File menu. Alternatively, click the corresponding button in the Standard toolbar.

To change the way in which the different views of your project will be printed, select Page Setup from the File menu.

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To change the way in which the different views of your project will be printed, and to choose bibliographic details, which can be printed with the views, select Page Setup from the File menu. The following dialog box appears:

The Title tab


From the Title tab choose any bibliographic details that you wish to be printed with the project views. Choose the font size with which they will be printed by clicking Fixed Height (in which case enter the height in centimeters that you require for the font in the adjacent field) or by clicking Proportional Height (in which case choose the height as a percentage of the paper height).

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To choose paper size, click the Properties button in the dialog box obtained with the Print command (File menu).

The Technical Design tab


The Technical Design (Pattern Draft) tab appears as follows:

Note that a single repeat only is printed. In the Global Size fields of the dialog box, set the width and height of the repeat. These fields are directly linked to the adjacent fields for Point Size (i.e. width and length of stitch), so an alternative way to set the Global Size is by setting the Point Size.

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The Simulation tab
The Simulation tab appears as follows:

By default the zoom factor is set at 100% for both width and height, which means that the number of needles per centimeter and courses per centimeter will be as shown in the Pattern draft tab of Project Properties (File menu). Change the Zoom factor if desired. Note that the values number of repeats entered for width and height do not have to be whole numbers. Changing the number of repeats changes the values in the Size fields, as does changing the zoom factor. Embroidery: select this option to also print the embroidery image you may have inserted over your knitted simulation design image. De-select to only print the knitted design.

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The Symbol Card tab
The Symbol Card tab appears as follows:

You can set the size of the basic repeat either directly in the Global Size fields, or indirectly by entering values in the Symbol Size fields, in which case the Global Size will be changed automatically.

To change the number of needles and courses which make up a single repeat please refer to Change Size (Tools menu).

Click on the OK button to close the Page Setup dialog box and to save any changes made. Click the Cancel button to close the dialog box without saving changes.

Exit
To close Easy Knit, choose Exit from the File menu. If any open projects have not been saved, a dialog box appears giving the opportunity to save them.

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Edit Menu

Undo
To cancel the last modification made to the design during the current session, select Undo from the Edit menu, or click the Undo button on the Edit toolbar. The keyboard shortcut for this is CTRL + Z.

Redo
To cancel the effect of the Undo command, select Redo from the Edit menu, or click the Redo button on the Edit toolbar.

Undo All
To undo a series of actions, click the All Undo button.

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To redo all the actions you have just undone using the Undo command, select Redo All from the Edit menu, or click the All Redo button on the Edit toolbar.

Delete Reinstate Last But One


After performing a series of Undo commands or Undo and Redo commands, you can reinstate the penultimate action by choosing Reinstate Last But One from the Edit menu, or by clicking the corresponding button on the Edit toolbar.

Cut image
Click the Cut button on the toolbar or select Cut Image from the Edit menu to remove the image of the active window and copy it to the clipboard. A message appears asking you to confirm the operation. The keyboard shortcut for this is CTRL + X.

Copy image
Click the Copy button on the toolbar or select Copy Image from the Edit menu to copy the design in the active window to the clipboard. The keyboard shortcut for this is CTRL + C.

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Click the Paste button on the toolbar or select Paste Image from the Edit menu to paste the contents of the clipboard into the active window. The keyboard shortcut for this is CTRL + V.

Cut motif
Choose Cut Motif from the Edit menu to remove the active motif from the Motif Base and put it on the clipboard.

Copy motif
Choose Copy Motif from the Edit menu to copy the active motif to the clipboard.

Paste motif
Choose Paste Motif from the Edit menu to add the contents of the clipboard to the motif base.

Clear
This command deletes the entire image of each main view (pattern draft, simulation and symbol card), but does not delete the contents of the Motif Base. A message box appears asking you to confirm the operation.
The deletion is performed by replacing each knit of your design with the default knit (the first knit of the palette).

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The images are not saved automatically before deletion, so you cannot Undo this command. You can, however, recuperate lost images in the same state as when you last saved your project, by closing the project as it is now without saving it, and then re-opening.

Stencil
Choose Stencil from the Edit menu or click the Activate Stencil button on the toolbar so that areas of your design composed of the stencil colors (and the associated knits type and symbols) cannot be drawn over. If you no longer want those areas to be protected, deactivate the stencil by selecting the command again.
A tick appears next to the Stencil command in the Edit menu when the stencil has been activated.

See Designate Stencil your stencil colors.

(Display toolbar) for instructions on choosing

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View Menu
The View menu enables you to show or hide various parts of the screen, such as toolbars and the palette. To show an item, click its name in the View menu. Click the item name again to hide the item.

Items that are already displayed are shown with a tick in front of their names. For example 9Palette indicates that the palette is already displayed.

The items listed in the View menu are described briefly or illustrated below. For further information on the toolbars and the palette, please refer to the separate sections of this guide devoted to these.

Zoom In
Use this function in the View menu, or click the corresponding button in the Zoom toolbar to enlarge the view of the active window by one level of zoom. Alternatively, use the + key on the numeric keypad for the same effect.

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Use this function in the View menu, or click the corresponding button in the Zoom toolbar, to reduce the view of the active window by one level of zoom. Alternatively, use the key on the numeric keypad for the same effect.

Drawing Tools
(described in the section of this guide on the Toolbars)

Edit Tools
(described in the section of this guide on the Toolbars)

Motif Tools
(described in the section of this guide on the Toolbars)

Display Tools
(described in the section of this guide on the Toolbars)

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For an explanation of the palette, please refer to Palette (described in the section of this guide on the Toolbars).

Options
The Drawing Tool Options dialog box allows you to control the mode of operation of the currently selected drawing tool. The dialog box changes according to the drawing tool selected.

For further details about drawing tool options, please refer to the drawing tool you wish to use, described in the section of this guide on the Drawing Toolbar.

Image Tools
(described in the section of this guide on the Toolbars)

Zoom Tools
(described in the section of this guide on the Toolbars)

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(described in the section of this guide on the Toolbars)

Tracing Tools
(described in the section of this guide on the Toolbars)

(see also the Display toolbar)

Standard Toolbar
(described in the section of this guide on the Toolbars)

Status Bar
When displayed, the status bar is situated across the bottom of the screen and provides a variety of ancillary information. For example, if you move the mouse pointer over a toolbar button a tooltip appears next to the button after a moments pause, and a more detailed prompt appears on the status bar. In a Color field, the Status bar displays the color under the cursor. When moving your mouse cursor over the design, this field will be permanently updated with the color currently under your mouse pointer. 68

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Also displayed is the position in pixels (stitches) of the mouse pointer measured horizontally (X coordinate) and vertically (Y coordinate) from the origin, which by default is situated at the extreme top-left of the image. The far right side of this toolbar displays your design size in pixels (stitches), showing the X (horizontal) and Y (vertical) dimensions.

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Motif Menu
The Motif Menu groups functions related to the usage of motifs. Motifs are images that you can select out of your current design, or import from outside your current design, and use to paste or to fill areas of you project image, as needed.

Most of the motif-related operations are done using the Motif Base specific dialog window and tool.

See the Motif Base function below for more information about the Motif Base function.

See below all the functions of this menu explained in detail.

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Note that the following functions in the Motif menu: Edit, Properties, Transparency, Re-scale, Rotate, Flip, Mirror, Rotation 180, Rotation 90 CW, Rotation 90 CCW, are described in the Motif Base Pop-up menu section, as they are also accessible through this tool.

Browse...
Choose Browse from the Motif menu to preview an image file before importing to the Motif Base. To import an image from the Browse window, double-click it.

See Browsing Thumbnail Views for further information.

Import...
Choose Import from the Motif menu to load an existing image as a motif. Refer to the Open command in the File menu for guidance on how to use the Open dialog box that appears. On opening your selected file, its image is added to the Motif Base window as the active motif.

Export
If you wish to save one of the motifs in the Motif Base window separately from your project, click the motif to make it the active motif, and then select Export from the Motif menu. In the File Name field of the Save As dialog box, which appears, enter a name for the export file. Choose or create a folder in which to save the motif, and choose a suitable file type from the File type drop-down box. Finally click the Save button.

For a detailed description of how to use a Save As dialog box, please refer to Save As (File menu).

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If you wish to delete one of the motifs from the Motif Base window, click the motif to make it the active motif, and then select Delete from the Motif menu. Alternatively, use the corresponding button in the Motif base toolbar.

Delete all
The Delete all function in the Motif menu, or the corresponding button in the Motif base toolbar, will delete all the motifs in your Motif base. A confirmation will be asked before proceeding with the deletion.

Motif Base
Choose Motif Base from the Motif menu or click the corresponding in the Motif toolbar, to display all the motifs currently button available for the active project. Upon selection, a checkmark will appear in front of the function. Click again to deselect, and the checkmark will disappear.

Using the Motif Base


Click the Motif Base button to open the motif base. The first time you open the Motif Base it will display an empty motif window. Use the selection tools in the Motif to add motifs to toolbar your Motif Base. Each selection will add a new motif.

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Use the Motif Base toolbar to work with your motifs, open, save delete, set transparency parameters .

See more information about all these tools below.

After selecting/loading some motifs, your Motif Base may look similar to this: Motifs you create using the buttons on the Motif Toolbar are added to the motif base for future use. Click a motif to select it as the current motif. It appears in the motif base with a blue border, and can now be used or modified by means of the functions of the Motif Menu or Motif Toolbar.
If you want to delete more patterns in one single step, you can select all the motifs you want to delete: select the first motif, press and hold the CTRL button on your keyboard, and click the rest of the motifs you want to eliminate. All the selected motifs will be marked with a blue border. Click Delete Motif button from the Motif Base toolbar to delete them all.

Many of these commands can also be obtained from a pop-up menu which appears on right-clicking a motif in the motif base.

See Motif base Pop-up menu below for more information about this menu.

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You can paste the currently selected motif directly into your design by clicking the place, or places, where you wish it to appear.
If you wish to save any motif for use in a future session, click the Save Motif button before you save your project and exit from it.

To delete all the motifs in the motif base, click the Delete All Motifs . button To use motifs in your project that you created and saved previously, so that you can add them to the click the Open Motif button motif base. To add a further copy of the selected motif to the motif base click . the Duplicate Motif button To delete the currently selected motif click the Delete Motif button . If you used the Motif default transparent color in the Preferences menu, click the Reset all motifs transparency button to apply the changes to your motifs. Not using this function will only apply the new settings to all your new motifs.

See Motif default transparent color in the Preferences Menu, Menus section of this guide for more information about this function.

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The Motif Base Pop-up Menu
The motif base pop-up may be obtained by right clicking in the Motif Base, once it contains at least one motif. The commands included permit various operations to be performed on the currently selected motif. (To make a motif the currently selected motif, click on it in the Motif Base). The commands are as follows:

Edit
To create a new, modified version of the currently selected motif, click this command. A separate window opens displaying the motif to be edited. Use any of the applications tools to modify the motif, and then close the window by clicking on its Close button . On closing the window, the new version of the motif is added to the Motif Base, the original version being unaffected.

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Properties
This command will allow you to change the properties of the selected motif. You can change the Size, the Resolution, also the Repeat properties that will determine how the selected motif will fill up an area of your project (see File Menu, Project Properties for information on how to set Repeat parameters), also the measurement unit and the resolution unit.

Transparency
This command enables one of the colors of the motif to be considered as transparent i.e. invisible when the motif is pasted into your project. On clicking Transparency the following dialog box appears:

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In the selection group choose the color of the motif that will be transparent. By default the background color is selected. To select another color, click Custom and then move the mouse pointer over the preview area where it turns into an eyedropper as shown. Click the color you want to be transparent, which then appears in the Transparent Color chip. When Use Transparency is checked the color in the Transparent Color chip will be invisible if the motif is pasted into your project. Use Transparency is checked by default. Click on OK to put the changes made into effect.

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Hot Spot
The Hot Spot can be defined as the origin of your motif. When inserting motifs in your design by clicking a point of the design with your mouse pointer, the motif will be inserted so as its hot spot will be located in the insertion (clicked) point. The Hot Spot function allows you to redefine (reposition) the origin of your selected motif. Upon selecting this option in the Motif Base Pop-up menu, the following dialog window opens:

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The central area will display your motif image, with the current hot spot marked by a small cross-hair shape. You are offered two ways to redefine the hot spot position: Use the Coordinates area: click in the fields for the Horizontal or/and Vertical coordinates and input the new coordinates from the keyboard, in pixels. Then, click the Preview button to see the actual new position of your motif hot spot. The cross-hair shape will jump to display the new location. Visual mode: just right-click in the motif image in the dialog window, in the position you want your hot spot relocated. Note the Horizontal and Vertical coordinates in the Coordinates area update to show the current hot spot coordinates. Default: click this button to move the hot spot to its default position (motif image center). Select OK to accept the changes and exit this dialog window, or Cancel to abandon all changes.

Re-scale
Use this command in the Motif menu, or the corresponding button in the Motif toolbar, to change the size of the currently selected motif, or to stretch or squash it. After clicking Re-scale, drag towards or away from the motif to enlarge it or reduce its size. Alternatively press the SHIFT key while you drag, in which case the motif can be stretched or compressed vertically by dragging up or down, and stretched or compressed horizontally by dragging left and right. When you are happy with the form of the motif, release the mouse button to set the change.

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Rotate
To rotate the motif, click Rotate Motif in the Motif menu, or the corresponding button in the Motif toolbar, then drag around the motif. As you drag a rectangular frame rotates around the motif to indicate the changing orientation. Release the mouse button to set the change

Flip
Choose this command from the Motif menu, or click the corresponding Motif toolbar button. The tool replaces the currently selected motif with its mirror image reflected using a horizontal axis.

Mirror
Choose this command from the Motif menu, or click the corresponding button in the Motif toolbar. The tool replaces the currently selected motif with its mirror image reflected using a vertical axis.

Rotation 180
To rotate the currently selected motif through 180, choose Rotation 180 from the Motif menu. The resulting motif becomes the new currently selected motif, and, if you open the motif base (Motif menu), you will see that a copy of the original motif has been conserved in case you should need it.

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Rotation 90 CW
To rotate the currently selected motif clockwise through 90, choose Rotation 90 CW from the Motif menu. The resulting motif becomes the new currently selected motif, and, if you open the motif base (Motif menu), you will see that a copy of the original motif has been conserved in case you should need it.

Rotation 90 CCW
To rotate the currently selected motif anti-clockwise (counterclockwise) through 90, choose Rotation 90 CCW from the Motif menu. The resulting motif becomes the new currently selected motif, and, if you open the motif base (Motif menu), you will see that a copy of the original motif has been conserved in case you should need it.

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Tools Menu

This menu groups functions that will affect the whole image.

Change Size
To change the gauge, course count and other size settings for the pattern draft and simulation, select Change Size from the Tools menu, or click the change size button on the toolbar.
A number of important choices relating to changes in size must be made from the Set Options tab in Project Properties (File menu). If you have not made these choices yet, we suggest that you do so before using the Change Size command. The choices are as follows:

Check "Use wizard for size changes" if you want a wizard to assist you
on using the Change Size command. The advantage of using the wizard is that changes can be recalculated from the original image in certain cases, assuring that maximum detail is preserved in the final result.

In the Size Change group you control the way the parameters are recalculated when changing size. When one of the six size parameters is changed, one other remains fixed and a third must be re-calculated. The choices you make in the Size Change group enable you to decide which of the parameters will remain fixed.

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In the Simulation group, check Proportional gauge and length of
stitch if you require the ratio between these two parameters to remain fixed in any size change. Enter the ratio you require in the Ratio field.

Using the Change Size command without the wizard


If you chose not to use the wizard in the Set Options tab, the following dialog box appears on using the Change Size command:

Change the parameters for your design directly in the Pattern Draft group. The figures relate to the image considered as a single repeat.

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In making the change of size (i.e. the change from pixels to stitches), Easy Knit can use one of three methods which you choose from the Reduction drop-down box. The methods are as follows:

Normal: for most images, this method insures that the image given in the knitted article is as similar as possible to the original, treating the pixels in your image equally, with no priority or preference. Priority colors: will allow you, through the use of the Options button, to set up priorities in the colors so that they will be treated differently. Parts of the image containing these colors will be protected as much as possible from alterations that can occur with a change of size (see the Working Visually with the Wizard method). Dominant colors: this method defines automatically the dominant color for each reduced pixel, then dominant colors are given priority. Parts of the image containing the dominant colors will therefore be protected as much as possible from alterations that can occur with a change of size (for example when reducing a 100 by 100 design to a 10 by 10, the method will give to each pixel of the reduced design the dominant color of the corresponding 10 by 10 square in the original design).

In the Reduction group box, the reduction in size vertically (or, more rarely, the increase in size vertically) is given by the Reduction Y value. If you change the number of courses, the number of stitches

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vertically must change, and so Easy Knit automatically changes the Reduction Y value. If you wish, change the Reduction Y value, and you will see that Easy Knit then changes the number of courses (and, in addition, updates the course count, since the height remains fixed). The reduction in size horizontally (or, more rarely, the increase in size horizontally) is given by the Reduction X value. If you change the number of needles, the number of stitches horizontally must change, and so Easy Knit automatically changes the Reduction X value. If you wish, change the Reduction X value, and you will see that Easy Knit changes the number of needles and, in addition, updates the gauge value, since the width remains fixed. When you have chosen values that seem correct, click the preview button to see how the knit will be applied to the image. If the image is now too big to fit in the dialog box, scroll bars will be provided to enable you to view all parts of the image When you are happy with the results, click OK for the change in size to be made.

Using the Change Size command with the wizard


The wizard asks you a number of questions to optimize the method of size change. First of all you are asked if you have already edited the pattern draft (e.g. made changes in color or design). If not, the wizard takes you directly to the main size change dialog box, guidance on which is given under Using the Change Size command without the wizard. If you reply that you have edited the pattern draft (or technical design), the wizard asks you if you want to base the size change on the pattern draft or on the original image.
Warning ! If you choose the original image, any editing of the image you have made in Easy Knit will be lost, but the definition of the resulting image will be slightly better. If you choose the pattern draft, size changes will be re-calculated from this, any editing you have made being preserved.

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After having made your choice, the wizard will take you to the main size change dialog box, guidance on which is given under Using the Change Size command without the wizard.

Change Gauge
If you wish to change the gauge and course count of your project working purely visually use choose Change Gauge from the Tools menu, or click the Change Gauge button on the Image toolbar. To use figures and technical data, see Change Size (Tools menu). The Change Gauge command gives you the following dialog box:

Change the gauge by dragging the slider situated above the knit preview. Change the course count by dragging the slider to the right of the knit preview. The preview gives a life-like representation of the gauge and course count. After changing a value, click on the preview if necessary for the view to be updated. If you have chosen too fine a knit to see with the naked eye, find a microscope! If you have a simulation view of the project open, this will change too.
If you click the padlock button at the top right of the preview, the padlock closes and the relationship between gauge and course count will be

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fixed e.g. if you double the gauge, the course count will automatically double.

After making changes, you can leave the dialog box open if you expect to make further modifications, otherwise click the close button in the top right corner of the dialog box.
When you change the gauge and course count, Easy Knit will automatically change the width and height of the repeat, or the number of needles and courses, according to the choices made in the Set Options tab in Project Properties (File menu).

Change Origin
You may wish to define a new origin for the image, for example in order to change the way in which the repeats match up. To do this, choose Change Origin from the Tools menu or click the Change Origin button on the toolbar. The following dialog box appears :

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Drag the dialog box to one side if necessary, and then click directly in one of the project views at the point where you wish to define the new origin. The preview area and the Horizontal and Vertical origin position fields in the dialog box are automatically updated with the position of the new origin measured in stitches (equally you can consider this in terms of needles horizontally, and courses vertically). You can also change the origin by entering new values directly in the Horizontal and Vertical position fields and then clicking the preview area to see the result. The OK button closes the dialog box without changing the origin but saves the new settings. The Process button closes the dialog box and changes the origin using the values defined in the dialog box. The Cancel button closes the dialog box without saving changes.

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This command allows you to rotate the image forming the repeat, making the resulting image the new repeat. Choose Rotation from the Tools menu or click the Rotation button. The following dialog box appears: Fill the Angle field with a positive or a negative value in degrees. Click the Backcolor chip to define the color of the background that will appear around the original repeat: the color palette appears. Click a new background color in the palette, the Backcolor chip in the dialog box is automatically changed. Click in the preview area to see how the changes will look.

The new repeat will inevitably have a different size to that of the original repeat: the Original size and Final size groups show the difference in size that will arise in terms of needles horizontally, and courses vertically The OK button closes the dialog box without proceeding but saves the changes. The Process button closes the dialog box and proceeds with the values defined in the dialog box.

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The Cancel button closes the dialog box without saving changes.
Since this command cant be undone, you may wish to save a version of your project before use.

Symmetry
To replace the repeats with their mirror images, (mirrored about a horizontal or a vertical axis), Select Symmetry from the Tools menu. The following dialog box appears:

If the Horizontal check box is enabled, the repeats will be mirrored about a horizontal axis. If the Vertical check box is enabled, the repeats will be mirrored about a vertical axis. If both check boxes are enabled, the result will be equivalent to a 180 rotation. The preview area is automatically updated when modifying one of the check boxes.

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When you are happy with the result click Process, or else you can click the OK button, which closes the dialog box without proceeding but records the changes for possible future use.

Duplication...
To change the size of the design by duplicating the single repeat select Duplication from the Tools menu or click the Duplicate button. This command replaces the existing repeat with a repeat that consists of an area taken from the existing design. The area extends from the current repeat origin along the X axis by the number of repeats entered in the Horizontal field, and along the Y axis by the number of repeats entered in the Vertical field. The following dialog box appears:

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This function offers different duplication alternatives: You can first determine the number of repeats, or the size of the duplicated project. Click the icon in the lower right corner then, in the Repeat duplication area, enter the desired values. You can select to input the number of duplicated repeats (horizontally or vertically), or the size of the final duplicated project repeat (entering the Width and Height values in the units specified in Image Properties). If for example you enter 1 in both the Horizontal and Vertical fields, the new repeat will be 1 of the original repeats wide, and 1 of the original repeats high. These two sets of values (Horizontal/Vertical and Width/Height) are dependant of each other. Selecting values for one will result in automatic update of the other. To have a preview of the result, click the image in the dialog window. You can also choose to duplicate your project, using a vertical or horizontal symmetry. Click this button for a symmetry using a horizontal axis; select this button for a symmetry using a vertical axis. Select both buttons for both a horizontal and vertical symmetry. Consequently, your project will contain four times the basic repeat. Click the image in the dialog window for a preview.
You cannot, at the same time, use the symmetry options and manually determine the size of your duplicated repeat. Use either one or the other method.

Finally, you may choose to have a Straight repeat duplication. This option may prove useful when your initial repeat type is straight (horizontal or vertical). Click the Straight repeat button to obtain a straight repeat duplication. The number of duplicated repeats will depend on the original repeat step (for example, if your original step is , the repeat will be multiplied four times). This function will be especially useful when you want to export your project into another application, which does not use repeats (for example Photoshop).

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When you are happy with the result click Process, or else you can click the OK button, which closes the dialog window without proceeding, but saves the changes.
Since this command cant be undone, you may wish to save a version of your project before use.

Insert Strips...
To add a horizontal or vertical strip to enlarge the repeat choose Insert Strips from the Tools menu or click the corresponding toolbar button. The following dialog box appears:

In the Parameters group, check Horizontal strip if this is what you require, otherwise a vertical strip will be produced. Next, drag the

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dialog box to one side if necessary (drag the title bar), and then click directly in one of the project views at the point where you wish the strip to appear. Drag if you want to enter the width (size) of the strip visually. Click Automatic insertion at current position if you want to insert more than one strip at a time. Easy Knit will remember all the strip selections that you make. Click in the Preview window to have it update to your options. The Position field in the dialog box is updated accordingly in terms of needles horizontally or and courses vertically). Next in the Size field enter the width you require in terms of needles or courses, and then click on the preview. If the strip shown is not as you require, change the values in the Position and Size fields and click on the preview to check the result. When you are happy with the result click Process, or else you can click the OK button, which closes the dialog box without proceeding but records the changes for possible future use.
Since this command cant be undone, you may wish to save a version of your project before use. Consider using the Fill (see Drawing toolbar) or Fill With Motif (see Motif toolbar) to work on the resulting strip. If you dont like the result, undo it by pressing CTRL + Z.

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To cut a horizontal or vertical stripe out of the repeat to reduce its size, choose Remove Strips from the Tools menu or click the corresponding toolbar button. The following dialog box appears:

In the Parameters group, check Horizontal strip if this is what you wish to remove, otherwise a vertical strip will be removed. Next, drag the dialog box to one side if necessary (drag the title bar), and then click directly in one of the project views at the point where you wish the strip to be removed. The Position field in the dialog box is updated accordingly either in terms of needles horizontally or courses vertically. Next in the Size field enter the width you require in terms of needles or courses, and then click on the preview. If the strip removed is not as you require, change the values in the Position and Size fields and click on the preview to check the result.

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When you are happy with the result click Process, or else you can click the OK button, which closes the dialog box without proceeding but records the changes for possible future use.
Since this command cant be undone, you may wish to save a version of your project before use.

Outlining
The outlining tool enables you to add a uniform or off-centered border around areas of a chosen color of your design. By making the border off-centered (skewed) you can create authentic shadow effects. To use the Outlining command, choose it from the Tools menu, or click the corresponding toolbar button. A dialog box appears as follows:

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To choose the colored area which you wish to outline, go to the Color to be outlined field of the dialog box and choose the color by number (you can click the up or down arrows to this). Alternatively, and then by choose the color by clicking the Select Color button clicking on the color in the main view of your project, or on the color palette. The color chip next to the Color to be outlined field is immediately updated to display the chosen color. Follow the same procedure for the Color of outline field.
To add a border around a motif, which is composed of several colors, choose the background color as the color to be outlined.

Next go to the Thickness of outline fields: enter a value from the keyboard or use the spin arrows to increment or decrement the default value (in pixels). Finally go to the Position section of the dialog box in order to choose whether the border is to be uniform or off-centered. For the border to be uniform, click all of the options Top, Left, Right, and Bottom. For a non-uniform border, click only some of the options. This will result in the thickness of the border tapering away from the selected areas (where it will be of full thickness), to the unselected areas (where there will be no border). For example, if you wish there to be a shadow effect on the bottom right side of an item, select Bottom and Right, and leave Top and Left unselected. When you are satisfied with the settings you have made in the dialog box: Choose OK to save the changes for subsequent use if you reopen the dialog box later in the same session. Choose Process to put the changes into effect immediately. Choose Cancel to close the dialog box without any changes being registered. 98

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Because the changes made cannot be undone directly, you may wish to save a copy of your project before proceeding with the changes. To do this click OK to save the changes in the dialog box, then use Save As (File menu) to save a copy of the project under a new name, then re-open the dialog box and put the changes into effect by clicking Process.

Background Fill
To use the Background Fill command, choose it from the Tools menu, or click the corresponding toolbar button. A dialog box appears as follows: The Background Fill command can be used to replace a chosen color with a motif in repeat. In addition, it has automatic preview and adjustment functions, which permit the size of the repeated motif to be fine-tuned so as to match up across the borders of the main repeat.

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First choose the color you wish to replace with motifs in repeat. Typically, you will want to choose the background color of your repeat. To do this, go to the Color to Replace section of the dialog box and choose the color by number (you can click the up or down arrows to this). Alternatively, choose the color by clicking the pipette button and then by clicking on the color in the main view of your project, or on the color palette. The color chip in the Color to Replace section of the dialog box is immediately updated to display the chosen color. Next, choose the motif that you will use to replace the color just chosen: If the motif you wish to use is currently selected in the motif base, click the Current motif check box in the Motif section of the dialog box.

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If the motif you wish to use is not currently selected in the motif base, but is saved separately, click the Motif Selection button to obtain an Open dialog box.

If you are unfamiliar with the use of Open dialog boxes, please refer to the section of this guide on the Open command (File menu), where the basic principles are explained.

As soon as you have chosen your motif, it will be displayed as a thumbnail view in the Motif section of the Background dialog box. Click the preview to the left of the dialog box if necessary for it to be updated so as to show the motif in repeated form in place of the color you have selected in the Color to Replace section of the dialog box.
Before using the Background command, it can be useful to add the motif you will use to the Motif Base. Then, having selected the motif in the Motif Base by clicking it, you can modify it using the tools of the Motif toolbar. Furthermore, by choosing Properties from the Motif menu you can also make initial settings of the repeat type, size and resolution of the motif as it will be used in repeat by the Background command. For further details, see Using the Motif Base and Properties (Motif menu).

Now that the preview of the result is displayed, you may want to make some adjustments to the motif size in the Position section of the dialog box. To change the width of the motif, change the value given in the Number of motifs horizontally field or in the Horizontal zoom field. These fields are linked, so if one of them is changed, the other is automatically updated. Note that if Keep the x/y ratio is selected in the Options section of the dialog box, then changing the width or height of the motif will result in both width and height changing proportionally. In exactly the same way, the height of the motif can be changed via the fields Number of motifs vertically or Vertical zoom.

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If you are using motifs to replace the background of your repeat, then you may wish these motifs to match up across some or all of the repeat boundaries. To achieve this, you may need to experiment with different repeat types for your motif to see which ones are compatible with the repeat type used for your main repeat. You may also require a whole number of repeats to be displayed horizontally or vertically across the repeat, and you may need to adjust the repeat origin for the motif. For a whole number of repeats horizontally or vertically, either: Enter whole numbers in the fields for Number of motifs horizontally and Number of motifs vertically. To enter whole numbers in both fields, note that Keep the x/y ratio should not be selected in the Options section of the dialog box. Alternatively, for the values currently displayed in the fields for Number of motifs horizontally and Number of motifs vertically to be rounded to whole numbers, in the Options section of the dialog box click Adjust the repeat in width and Adjust the repeat in height. Note that Keep the x/y ratio should not be selected if you want to select both of the other options in the Options section of the dialog box.

After making these changes, click the preview area for it to be updated. To adjust the repeat origin for the motif, experiment with different values in the Horizontal offset and Vertical offset fields of the dialog box. Note that the values you enter are in pixels. After changing a value, click in the preview area for this to display the changes. When you are satisfied with the settings you have made in the dialog box: click the OK to save the changes for subsequent use if you reopen the dialog box later in the same session click Process to put the changes into effect immediately 102

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click Cancel to close the dialog box without any changes being registered.

Because the changes made cannot be undone directly, you may wish to save a copy of your project before proceeding with the changes. To do this click OK to save the changes in the dialog box, then use Save As (File menu) to save a copy of the project under a new name, then re-open the dialog box and put the changes into effect by clicking Process.

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Knit Menu

Knits
To change one of the knit types in the simulation view, Choose Knits from the Knits menu. This command can also be selected by double-clicking the knit icon on the Palette of the knit type you wish to modify. The Knits dialog box appears as follows:

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If you opened the dialog box by double-clicking a palette knit icon, the current knit type is the knit type of that icon. The knit types you can choose are shown in the Knit Atlas group of the dialog box. Drag the scroll bar on the right if the knit type you require is hidden. The current knit type is the icon with the extra border, and the stitch name in white. To change the current knit type, click the icon of a new knit type in the Knit Atlas group, and click the OK button (or just double-click the icon). The simulation view will be updated automatically. Alternatively, you can click a knit icon, drag and drop it to the palette chip where you want the new stitch to be used. In the Colors group, the color chips display the colors corresponding to the colors of the current knit type. Double-click the color chip to obtain the Color Channels for modifying the color.

Use of the Color Channels is described in the section of this guide Modifying a Color under Palette. Note that by default the corresponding color for the pattern draft is automatically modified to be the same as the color for the knit type. For the colors to be different, Match colors should be unchecked in the Palette Properties dialog box (see Palette Properties under Palette). Easy Knit allows you to use composed stitches, using differently colored threads. Double-clicking the stitch icon in the palette to enter the Knits Atlas dialog window will display the colors of the current stitch in the colors area (up to four colors). Within the atlas, navigate, if necessary, to the folder holding your knit database. Right click for the Browse pop-up menu for other navigation options.

See Browsing Thumbnail Views and Browse Pop-up menu for more information about how to use the navigation tools of the atlas.

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If needed, you can edit any of the colors, using the Color Channels tool, which you can call by double-clicking the color chip. Use the Color Channels to select a new color. When ready, click OK to accept the changes. Upon selecting OK to exit the Color Channels tool, the current stitch will be automatically updated, both in the palette and your design. Here are some examples of composed stitch designs simulations:

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Usage of the Color Channels is described in the section of this guide as Modifying a Color under The Palette. NedGraphics Vision Design and Repeat Pro is an application that allows editing new stitches, simple or composed.

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Choose symbols to represent the back and face of each knit type from the Symbols dialog box. This dialog box operates in a similar way to the Knits dialog box, and may be obtained by selecting Symbols from the Knits menu. Alternatively, you can double-click a symbol icon on the color palette. The Symbols dialog box appears as follows:

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By default, the Symbols group initially shows only the basic set of symbols available to you. Drag the scroll bar on the right to view the entire basic set. On opening the Symbols dialog box, the current symbol (i.e. the palette symbol you double-clicked or the symbol corresponding to the color currently selected on the color palette) is shown in the Symbols group by an additional border around its icon. The appearance of an area of the symbol card to which the current symbol has been applied is shown in the thumbnail view at the top left of the dialog box. The thumbnail view is updated as soon as a new symbol is chosen. To choose a new symbol, click a different symbol icon, which then becomes the current symbol, and then click the OK button. The original symbol on the palette is replaced, and the symbol card is updated automatically. An alternative way to choose a different symbol from the Symbols dialog box is to drag a symbol icon from the dialog box and drop it on the color palette on the icon of symbol you wish to change.

Creating new symbols and editing existing ones


To create a new symbol or edit an existing one, right-click on a symbol in the Symbols dialog box to obtain the following pop-up menu:

Click New Symbol to create a new, blank symbol at the beginning of the current symbol page.

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To use an existing symbol design as the basis for the design of a new symbol you have just created using the New Symbol command, first right-click the existing symbol, and then use the Cut Symbol or Copy Symbol command. Then right-click the new symbol and choose Paste Symbol. Use Edit Symbol to modify the symbol design you have just pasted, as described below. Right-click a symbol and then choose Edit Symbol to modify it. The symbol is then displayed on a grid in the Edit dialog box as shown in the following example:

Draw on the grid by dragging with the mouse pointer, or by clicking individual squares. This will change the white squares to black, and black squares to white. Click the Invert button to change all white squares to black, and all black squares to white.

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The Invert button is useful when creating pairs of symbols for face and back stitches: first use the Copy and Paste symbol commands from the pop-up menu to copy a first symbol to a new, blank symbol. Then use the Edit command and the Invert function to create the second symbol.

Click the Clear button to erase the symbol design and replace it with the background color. Click OK to return to the Symbols dialog box when you have finished editing the symbol.

Create a Page
In addition to the basic set of symbols, it is possible to create additional sets of customized symbols by clicking the Create a Page button in the Symbols Page group. Once created, a new set of symbols can be displayed in the Symbols group by choosing it from the Page drop down box. On clicking the Create a Page button, a Save As dialog box appears. Choose or create a folder in which the new page of symbols will be saved, enter a name for the page in the File Name field, and then click the Save button. A new page of blank symbols now appears in the Symbols dialog box.

For a detailed description of how to use a Save As dialog box, please refer to Save As (File menu). To customize each blank symbol, use the Edit Symbol command described above under Creating new symbols and editing existing ones.

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Preferences Menu
This menu allows you to customize the working mode and the interface layout of the application. The available commands are as follows:

Numeric color index


Click Numeric Color Index in the Preferences menu in order for colors to be displayed with their reference numbers in the palette. A checkmark will appear in front of the function to indicate selection. Click again to deselect. The checkmark will disappear.

Color display of old projects


Use this function in the Preferences menu to display your design colors in a mode compatible with previous versions of Easy Knit (darker shades). Your palette and design will be updated to the new colors.
This effect of this command on your design is visible only when in simulation view mode.

A checkmark will appear in front of the function to indicate selection. Click again to deselect. The checkmark will disappear.

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Menus Select tracing parameters


Easy Knit enables you to make your project view partially transparent in order to view through it a second image, described as the model image, which you open temporarily. Whilst the model image is open, you can use the drawing tools to trace designs from it into your project view. The model image will help you design your project, and it functions just as an inspirational graphics. You cannot pick colors from it, or edit it in any way. To do this you must first select and open the model image, by choosing Select Tracing Parameters from the Preferences menu. The Tracing dialog box then appears as follows:

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In the Model field, enter the path and file name of the image you wish to use as your model image. In order for these details to be entered automatically, click the Browse button and choose your image file from the Open dialog box, which then appears.
If you are unfamiliar with the use of Open dialog boxes, please refer to the section of this guide on the Open command (File menu), where the basic principles are explained.

Next enter the dimensions you think will be appropriate for the image in the Dimensions section of the dialog box. Click in the Width/Height fields and enter the desired value from the keyboard, or use the spin arrows offered to increment or decrement the default values. Project dimensions: select this option for the tracing image to be scaled to your design dimensions. The Width/Height fields will be deactivated, showing your current design dimensions. If necessary, change the position in which the model image will be displayed in relation to your project view by changing the values given for its origin in the X and Y fields of the Position section of the dialog box. When the values in the X and Y fields are both equal to zero, the origin of the model image will coincide with that of your project image. When you have finished making your choices in the dialog box, click OK to register your choices and close the dialog box. You will then need to click the Tracing button on the toolbar in order to display the model image with the parameters you have chosen. Clicking the Tracing button later then operates to hide or show the model image according to need. To close the dialog box without your choices being registered click Cancel. To return the dialog box to its initial state (in which no image file is selected in the Model field) click the Reset button. 115

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To change the way the model image is currently displayed, you can reopen the Tracing dialog box at any time by again choosing Select Tracing Parameters from the Preferences menu.

Guidelines Option
This command in the Preferences menu allows setting up the working guidelines.
The guidelines are virtual lines that you can use in your design in order to draw, move, align and place any drawing object in precise positions in your project image. If the snap feature is enabled, the guidelines will also cause your drawing object element (control point) to snap to the closest point on the guideline if the distance between the mouse cursor and a guideline is below a predefined threshold, named snap strength.

Upon selection of the command in the Preferences menu, the following dialog window will open:

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Snap to guidelines: select this option if you want to use the snap action of the guidelines. Snap strength: us the spin field to set a snap strength value for the snap action of the guidelines. Color: use the drop-down field to set the preferred color for the guidelines.

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A range of various choices are available, including Custom which allows you to define any color you want via the Color Channels color tool.

See Color Channels-Modifying a Color for details on how to use the Color Channels tool. See Working With Guidelines in View Rulers, Display Toolbar, Toolbars section for more details about the guidelines and how to use them. Note that the same function and dialog window is obtained via the Ruler pop-up menu.

See Ruler Pop-up Menu in the Toolbars / Display Toolbar / View Rulers section of this guide for more details about the available functions.

Motifs default transparent color


Selecting this command will open the following sub-menu:

This menu will offer three options that will allow you to set up the transparent color of your motifs: Palette back color: using this option will make the palette second color (background color) the transparent color of your motifs. Border color of every motif: this is the default option. Easy Knit will automatically determine the most prominent color on the border of each motif, and will use it as the transparent color. No transparent color: use this option to not use a transparent color with your motifs. 118

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Once the transparency settings done, click the Reset all motifs to apply the transparency button in the Motif base functions changes to your motifs. Not using this function will only apply the new settings to all your new motifs.

See the Motif Base section of this guide for more information about the Reset all motifs transparency command. A checkmark will appear in front of the selected function of the Motif default transparent color submenu.

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Window Menu
Thanks to the Windows interface, different windows of different projects can be open at the same time. The Window menu contains commands for organizing and manipulating the windows.
A list of all open windows is given at the bottom of the Window menu - click on a project name to bring its windows to the front.

New Window
To open a new window with the same contents as the active window, choose New Window from the Window Menu.
Work can sometimes be facilitated by creating two identical views and then changing the zoom levels separately in the views, one view being used for detailed design, and the other to view the global effect.

Tile Horizontally
To display all open windows edge to edge extending horizontally from one side to the other of the screen choose Tile Horizontally from the Window menu or click the Tile Horizontally button on the toolbar.

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To display all open windows edge to edge extending vertically from the top to the bottom of the screen choose Tile Vertically from the Window menu or click the Tile Vertically button on the toolbar.

Cascade Windows
Choose Cascade from the Windows menu or click the Cascade button to group all open windows in overlapping formation. A window can be brought to the front of the group by clicking the part of it which is visible.

Close All
Choose Close All from the Windows menu to close all open projects. If you have not saved the latest changes to the projects, a dialog box appears giving the opportunity to do this.

Tile Options
On clicking Tile Options a dialog box appears giving three alternative options concerning the commands Tile Horizontally and Tile Vertically. The options affect the operation of these commands when there are a number of different projects open at the same time with their own child windows. The options are as follows: Tile child windows by project: A group of tiled child windows is created for each project so that all the child windows of a given project are together. Tile the child windows of the active project: Only the child windows of the active project will be tiled together 122

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Tile child windows in order of creation: All child windows will be tiled in their order of creation.

In addition to these options, you can check the Restore before tile option so that any windows that have been minimized to icons at the bottom of the screen will be re-opened and included in the tiling process. Having made your choices, click the OK button.

Automatic Tile
To enable the tile commands to operate correctly if you are using two monitors simultaneously, click Automatic Tile so that it appears in the Window menu without a tick in front of it.

Fit to Image
Choose Fit to Image from the Windows menu for a single complete repeat to be shown as large as possible within the limits of the active window.

Arrange Icons
If you have been working on a large number of different windows, you may have minimized a number of them to icons. Click Arrange Icons in the Window menu for them to be arranged in a row at the bottom of the screen.

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Use this option in the Window menu to synchronize the scrolling of your design views.

Scrolling one view will scroll all the views accordingly, allowing you to have the same areas displayed on your screen at all times.
You may want to adjust the zoom factor for each of your views conveniently before synchronizing the views

A checkmark will appear in front of the function to indicate selection. Click again to deselect. The checkmark will disappear and the windows will de-synchronize.

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Help Menu
Help Topics
To look up information choose Help Topics from the Help menu and then click on one of the tabs: Click the Contents tab see the topic headings. Double-click a heading to see the help topics it contains. Double-click a topic to obtain access to it. Click the Index tab to use the subject index. Click the Search tab to search for a term not contained in the index.

About Easy Knit...


To find information about the program version and copyright, choose About Easy Knit from the Help menu or click the About button on the toolbar.

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TOOLBARS
Easy Knit has nine toolbars, for easy access to most of the functions and commands you can also find in the menus of the application.

Standard Toolbar

New
Click the New button to create a new project. For guidance on creating a new project, please refer to the New command (File menu).

Open
Click the Open button to work on an existing project. For further guidance, please refer to the Open command (File menu).

Save
Click the Save button to save the project you are working on without closing it. For guidance on the choices to make when saving a project for the first time, please refer to the Save As command (File menu).

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Click the Print button to print the project you are working on. For further guidance, please refer to the Print command (File menu).

Print Preview
To see how one of the views of your project will appear when printed, click the view to make it active, and then select Print Preview from the File menu. Alternatively, click the corresponding toolbar button.

To change the way in which the different views of your project will be printed, select Page Setup from the File menu.

About Easy Knit


Click the About Easy Knit button to display information about the software version and copyright.

Whats this?
Click the Whats this button (if available) and then an item on the screen to see the related help topic.

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Drawing Toolbar
Overview

The way in which each of the drawing tools operates is controlled from its Drawing Tool Options dialog box. To obtain this, select the tool by clicking on its toolbar button, then click the Drawing Tool Options button on the Display toolbar. The dialog box has generally two tabs. The first is the pencil tab, which controls the form of lines or dots, and the second one is specific to the selected tool. Refer to the Pencil tool for a description of the pencil tab. You can use the tools to draw on any project view in any color, stitch or symbol chosen by clicking on the palette before drawing. Refer to Palette for guidance on selecting or changing the color, stitch or symbol. Instructions for use of each tool are as follows:

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Click on the Pencil button and drag with the mouse to draw.

In the pencil tab of the Drawing Tool Options a preview of the mark made with the tool is given on the extreme left. Make your choices as follows: Choose the form of the mark made with the tool by clicking the button with a circular icon or the button with a square icon. To quickly choose the size of the mark, click in the size grid. The Pixel(s) field is updated to record the size. Note that in Easy Knit one pixel is interpreted as one stitch. The circular or square form can be changed to elliptical or rectangular by modifying the horizontal or vertical size separately. To do this, click the padlock icon so that the padlock appears unlocked, then move the sliders to make the horizontal and vertical size different. You can also enter the size directly in the associated fields. Check Side by side pixels (if available) to control the form of fine lines. If checked, extra pixels will be added to the line if necessary to avoid adjacent parts of the line being linked by pixels touching merely corner to corner. Such narrow points are

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insufficient to prevent the spreading to the other side of the line when using the Fill tool. The Drawing Style tab appears as follows:

Click on the Continuous button for the tool to produce a continuous line form. Click on the Discontinuous button for the tool to produce a dotted line.

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Toolbars Straight Line Tool


Click on the Straight Line button and drag with the mouse to draw. The thickness of the straight line can be modified via the Pencil tab (see Pencil tool). The Straight Line tab appears as follows:

Click the Free Angle button to draw a straight line at any angle. Click the Horizontal button if you only wish to draw horizontal straight lines. Click the Vertical button if you only wish to draw vertical straight lines. Click the Diagonal button if you wish to draw straight lines at 45 angles.

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This tool draws circles or ellipses (filled or empty) according to the selections made in the Drawing Tool Options. To operate the tool click its button and then drag the mouse until the desired form has been obtained. Make your choices from the Drawing Tool Options dialog box as follows.

Click this button for an empty circle.

Click this button for a filled circle.

Click this button for an empty ellipse.

Click this button for a filled ellipse.

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This tool draws squares or rectangles (filled or empty) according to the selections made in the Drawing Tool Options. To operate the tool click its button and then drag the mouse until the desired form has been obtained. Make your choices from the Drawing Tool Options dialog box as follows.

Click this button to draw an empty square.

Click this button to draw a filled square.

Click this button to draw an empty rectangle.

Click this button to draw a filled rectangle.

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To operate the tool, click its button and then click a series of points to define the curve. Double-click rapidly to finish.

The curve is now in edit mode. The points you clicked to define the curve become control points, which you can move by dragging. While the curve is in edit mode, you can also modify its form from the Drawing Tool Options as follows: From the Pencil tab, change the thickness of the line, as described in the topic for the Freehand tool. Note that the thickness of the line is only updated on leaving the edit mode.

For the Pencil tab details see Pencil tool above in this section of the guide.

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When you have finished editing the curve, double-click again to quit edit mode. This action finalizes the curve.
When using both Curve and Curved Shape or Outline, the Curve toolbar becomes active. Use the View then Curve tools to make it visible.

Refer to the Curve toolbar in the Toolbars section of this guide for more information about drawing and editing curves.

Curved Shape or Outline


To operate the tool click its button and then click a series of points to define a closed outline or shape, according to the settings in Drawing Tool Options. Double-click rapidly to finish. The outline is now in edit mode. The points you clicked to define the outline, become control points, which you can move by dragging. While the outline is in edit mode, you can also modify its form from the Drawing Tool Options as follows:

Click this button for an empty curved shape.

Click this button for a filled curved shape.

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From the Pencil tab, change the thickness of the line, as described under Pencil Tool. Note that the thickness of the line is only updated on leaving the edit mode. When you have finished editing the curve, press ENTER on your keyboard or double-click to quit the edit mode. This action finalizes the curve
When using both Curve and Curved Shape or Outline, the Curve toolbar becomes active. Use View then Curve tools to make it visible.

Refer to the Curve toolbar in the Toolbars section of this guide for more information about drawing and editing curves.

Freehand Shape
To operate the tool, click its button and then drag to define a filled irregular shape. While dragging, the freehand shape will be displayed as a closed broken line, allowing you to preview the drawn pattern.

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To operate the tool click its button and then click a colored area to fill it with the color currently selected from the color palette. Choose your Drawing Tool Options as follows:

Select Spread to adjacent areas if you want the fill operation to spill over to neighboring areas of the same color.
Use the option especially if your image has extended areas with a width of one pixel.

Not selecting Spread to adjacent areas will have as a result the filling only of the pixels neighboring only on the sides, and not on the corners.

Airbrush
To operate the tool, click its button and then drag to spray. The spray quality is defined by moving the sliders in the Drawing Tool Options tab. The preview on the left of the tab changes immediately to show the effect of moving the sliders.

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A circular spray of droplets is given, the quality of which is defined by moving the sliders in the Airbrush tab of Drawing Tool Options tab. The sliders control the following characteristics: Concentration the extent to which droplets are concentrated at the center of the spray. Density the number of droplets given by a single click. Speed the number of droplets given per second. Spray size the diameter of the spray. Drop size the size of the droplets produced. Irregularity this controls the extent to which the drops give a uniform pattern.

The preview on the left of the tab changes immediately to show the effect of moving the sliders. Choose the ink type from the Ink drop-down box. By default, the choice from the Ink drop-down box is Solid, which means that the characteristics of the airbrush are set only according to the Airbrush tab. However, if the alternative choice, Pencil is selected, the Drop Size parameter will be set instead according to the choices made from the Pencil tab.

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To operate the tool, click its button and then drag to smudge. Choose the drawing tool options as follows:

Move the slider to determine the intensity of smudge.

Stripes and Checks


To operate the tool, click its button and then drag to draw stripes or checks. Make your Drawing Tool Options choices as follows:

Click this button to draw vertical stripes.

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Click this button to draw horizontal stripes.

Click this button to draw checks.

Selecting the option Ignore repeat boundaries will allow you to draw stripes across the repeat borders. When working with straight repeats the usage of the option is straightforward: select it then click and drag in the image to draw the stripes across the repeats. When working with stepped repeats the option will only be available if a required condition is met:
In order for this option to be available, your repeat width or height will have to contain a number of pixels which is a multiple of the horizontal, respectively vertical repeat step relevant number (for example, if your repeat width has 200 pixels, you will be able to use this option with a horizontal step of , since 200 can be divided by 4).

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Curve Toolbar

The Curve Toolbar is used with the Curve and Curved Shape or Outline drawing tools (Drawing Toolbar). The buttons on this toolbar are available when using these drawing tools. They operate as follows:

Control Points
Click this button then click on the curve to add further control points. Next click the Modify Curve button .

Modify Curve
Click this button to modify the curve in one of three ways as follows:

Place the cursor beside the curve until it appears as shown, then drag to move the curve to a new location Place the cursor over a section of the curve so that it appears as shown, then click to add a new control point at that position. Right-click any control point to delete it.

Place the cursor over a curve control point so that it appears as shown, then drag to move the control point to a new position. The curves allow you a perfect control over each position of the control points, and also, over the tangents to the segment converging

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to the specific control point. Your alteration of these parameters will not modify the rest of the segments of the curve. A segment is the portion of the curve in between two control points. Two tangents define each segment, one at each control point at the end of the segment. Tangents determine the angle at which the segment meets a specific control point. Using a drag and drop technique on the control points of the tangents, you can modify the shape of the curve as you desire. Let us try an example. Draw a curved shape like in this following example:

, you can see the curved taking shape, the control As you draw points you click, and the tangents of the segments in each control point. Double-click to end entering control points, and enter editing mode .

Just as you modify the position of the control points, you can modify the position of the control points of the tangents to the segments. Put and the cursor over a tangent endpoint until it changes its shape drag. Drag and rotate to adjust the desired tangency angle. Drag to make the tangent longer or shorter to determine the length on which

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the curve will stay closer to the tangent (or the tangency angle variation ratio). Adjust the shape of the curved as you desire.

When you have finished modifying the curve, click the Finalize to finish drawing the curve, or click the Remove Curve button Curve button to delete the curve.

Remove Curve
If you do not wish to keep the curve you have been working on, click this button to remove it. Note that you cannot remove a curve with this tool once you have clicked the Finalize Curve button . You can, of course, draw over an existing curve.

Finalize Curve
When you have finished modifying the curve, click this button to finalize its form. Note that afterwards you will not be able to make further modifications to the curve using the tools of the curve toolbar.
To finalize the curve you can also double click on your image, or press ENTER on your keyboard.

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Image Toolbar

This toolbar provides quick access to the functions of the Tools menu, in which the Mirror Image command incorporates the functions of both ) and Flip Repeat ( ) here. Mirror Repeat ( The tools are outlined briefly below, but for a complete description, please refer to the Tools menu. Change Size: For changing the life size dimensions of the repeat. Adjust Gauge and Course Count: Change these parameters visually. Change Origin: For defining a new image origin. Rotation: For rotating the repeat image. Mirror Repeat: Replaces the repeat with its mirror image reflected using a vertical axis. Flip Repeat: Replaces the repeat with its mirror image reflected using a horizontal axis. Insert Strips: For adding a horizontal or vertical strip to enlarge the repeat. Remove Strips: Cuts out a horizontal or vertical strip to reduce the size of the repeat. Duplicate Repeat: Enlarges the repeat by duplication. Outlining: Adds an outline to a selected color.

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Background: Replaces a selected color of your image with a selected motif.

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Motif Toolbar

The Motif Toolbar contains tools for creating and manipulating motifs.
To manipulate or use a motif, first click the Show Motif Base button then select the motif you want to modify by clicking it.

Select Last Used Motif


Selects the last motif you used so that, for example, you can click on your design to paste it there.

Rectangle Selection
Click in your design and then drag to define a rectangular area. On releasing the mouse button, the rectangular area is copied to the Motif Base as a new motif.

Selection By Color
Click on a colored area of your design for it to be copied to the Motif Base as a new motif.

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Drag to define a closed area. On releasing the mouse button, the area is copied to the Motif Base as a new motif.

Re-scale Motif
Use this tool to change the size of the currently selected motif, or to stretch or squash it. After clicking the button, drag towards or away from the motif to enlarge it or reduce its size. Alternatively, press the SHIFT key while you drag, in which case the motif is stretched or compressed vertically by dragging up or down, and stretched or compressed horizontally by dragging left and right. When you are happy with the form of the motif, release the mouse button to set the change.

Flip
Replaces the currently selected motif with its mirror image reflected using a horizontal axis.

Mirror
Replaces the currently selected motif with its mirror image reflected using a vertical axis.

Rotate Motif
To rotate the motif, click this button, then drag around the motif. As you drag, a rectangular frame rotates around the motif to indicate the changing orientation. Release the mouse button to set the change 148

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Click this button then click a colored area of the image for the color to be replaced by a pattern formed by repeating the currently selected motif. To set the repeat type, size and resolution of the motif as it will be used in repeat, see Properties (Motif menu). Before use, you may also wish to modify the motif see the commands Re-scale Motif, Flip Motif, Mirror Motif, Rotate Motif, and Edit Motif (Motif toolbar). Clicking this function will open the Local Motif Fill Drawing tool option dialog window, offering you another option:

Select Spread to adjacent areas for the fill operation to spill over to neighboring areas of the same color.
Use the option especially if your image has extended areas with a width of one pixel.

Not selecting Spread to adjacent areas will have as a result the filling only of the pixels neighboring only on the sides, and not on the corners. Here is an example: the pink color in the first image will be filled with the motif in the second image with the result showing in the third image.

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Selects the whole image as a motif, and adds it to the motif base as a motif in its own right.

Edit Motif
To create a new, modified version of the currently selected motif, click this button. A separate window opens displaying the motif in straight repeat. Use any of the applications tools to modify the motif, and then close the window by clicking on its Close button . On closing the window, the new version of the motif is added to the Motif Base, the original version being unaffected.

Show Motif Base


The motif base is a separate window containing all the currently available motifs. Click this button to open it, and click again to close it.

For further information on the Motif Base, see Using the Motif Base.

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Selecting any of the Motif tools will display a specific Drawing Tool Options dialog box containing two tabs. To change the size or orientation of the currently selected motif, choose Numeric Input from the Motif menu (if available in your version of Easy Knit). The Drawing Tool Options then appear, containing two tabs as follows:

The Change Size tab

To change the size of the motif, click on the Change Size tab of Drawing Tool Options. This shows the current width and height of the motif in the Original column in terms of pixels. Enter values for the new overall width and height either in the Final column, or in the Proportion column. These two columns are linked, so changes you make in one column are automatically calculated for the other column. If you use the Final column, you must enter the new width and height in terms of pixels. If you use the Proportion column, you must enter the new width and height in terms of a percentage of the current size. For example, if you wish to double the height, enter 200 for the height in the Proportion column.

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Note that you can You can also link the width and height, by clicking the . (as illustrated for the Change Size tab above). Where padlock button this has been done, the width fields become grayed and inactive, and any change made to the height will result in a proportional change to the width so if you double the height, the will width will be doubled automatically

You must also choose the method of changing size from the Method section of the Change Size tab. The default selection is Normal, which gives good results all round, and most particularly when enlarging the design or when the final size is close to the original size. However, in your version of Easy Knit, it may be possible to choose from two other alternatives: Priority colors: When this option is selected, the Set Priorities button becomes active. You must then click this button to define the colors that will be given priority. Parts of the image containing these colors will be protected as much as possible from alterations that can occur with a change of size. Use this method to preserve the design of outlined shapes, for example. Dominant colors: This method automatically determines which colors in your design dominate. Parts of the image containing the dominant colors will therefore be protected as much as possible from alterations that can occur with a change of size.

When you have made your choices, click the Preview button for a preview of how the changes you propose to make will look. If you are happy with the result, put the changes into effect by clicking the Create button. The resulting motif becomes the currently selected motif. However, if you open the motif base (Motif menu), you will see that a copy of the original motif has been conserved in case you should need it.

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The Rotate tab

Click on the Rotate tab of Drawing Tool Options, and in the Angle field, enter the angle by which you wish to rotate the currently selected motif. Note that the current width and height of the motif are shown in the Original size section of the tab in pixels, and the new width and height that will result from the rotation are shown in the Final size column, also in terms of pixels.
In accordance with standard mathematical convention, the angle you enter in the Angle field will result in an anti-clockwise rotation, unless you precede the figure with a minus sign, in which case the rotation will be made in a clockwise sense.

When you have made your choices, click the Preview button for a preview of how the changes you propose to make will look. If you are happy with the result, put the changes into effect by clicking the Create button. The resulting motif becomes the currently selected motif. However, if you open the motif base (Motif menu), you will see that a copy of the original motif has been conserved in case you should need it.

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Zoom Toolbar
The Zoom toolbar provides a simple, yet powerful, mode in which you can change the zoom factor and the repeat count of the current view.

Zoom Drop-down
Click the Zoom drop-down arrow in order to choose the zoom factor directly from a list offering various zoom values and further options, such as Pixel Size or Whole Page. By default, your projects items will be shown in their real size, provided the ruler has been calibrated previously.

For further information regarding the operation of calibrating the rulers please refer to the View Rulers (View Toolbar) section of this manual.

Choosing the Pixel Size entry will result in displaying an image having a dimension proportional to its actual number of pixels. In fact, the image is displayed such as to have a 1-to-1 correspondence between the images and the screens pixel raster. Choosing the Whole Page entry will result in displaying the repeat of your project adjusted in size to the entire view area of the main window.

Zoom Slider
Drag the slider to change the current zoom factor. This is useful if you wish to change the zoom factor to an extent less than that represented by the next zoom level up or down available from the zoom drop-down.

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Click the Zoom In button to enlarge the view of the active window by one level of zoom. Alternatively use the + key on the numeric keypad for the same effect.

Zoom Out
Click the Zoom Out button to reduce the view of the active window by one level of zoom. Alternatively, use the key on the numeric keypad for the same effect.

Repeat Count
The figure at the extreme right of the Zoom toolbar gives the number of repeats currently shown on your screen, either counting along its vertical axis or counting along its horizontal axis (whichever figure is smaller). For example, a figure of 5.500 shows that five and a half repeats can be counted going from the top to the bottom of your screen or else counting from left to right. If desired, enter a new figure in the repeat count field, and press ENTER. The zoom factor of the window will then be changed to match your figure.

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View (Display) Toolbar

This toolbar provides tools for managing views, obtaining information and for operating the stencil.

Overview
Tile Horizontally: Tiles all open windows horizontally. Tile Vertically: Tiles all open windows vertically. Cascade Windows: Overlaps all the open windows so that at least a part of each is visible. View Rulers: Displays or hides the rulers.
Show Repeat Boundaries: Displays a line between repeat boundaries.

Tape Measure: for measuring the distance between two points. Drawing Tool Options: Displays the Drawing Tool Options
dialog box for changing the parameters of the current tool. Show or Hide the Palette: controls the display mode of your color palette. Select Color: allows you to select a color by clicking on the image. The clicked color will be selected.

Designate Stencil: Displays the color palette in order to view and to choose colors for the stencil.

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Activate Stencil: Prevents the stencil colors from being drawn
over.

Zoom Area: Allows you to zoom in on a limited area.


Color Atlas: use this button to open display a color atlas.
Color atlases offer you the possibility to use a large range of colors in your Easy Knit projects. A color atlas is a customized collection of colors created in a coloring project (using Easy Coloring, or Easy Coloring Pro, for example), which can be re-used in other projects where the same color collection is needed.

View Pattern Draft: Changes the current view to Pattern Draft View (also called Technical Design). Simulation view: Changes the current view to Simulation view. Symbol Card View: Change the current view to Symbol Card
view.

Embroidery Effect: this command allows you to apply embroidery simulation images over your knitted project (only available in simulation mode view). Tracing: inserts an image, as a back layer, you can use as a model for your current working image.
The different commands comprised in the View toolbar are explained below in a more detailed manner.

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Click the Tile Horizontally button to display all open windows edgeto-edge extending horizontally from one side to the other of the screen.

Tile Vertically
Click the Tile Vertically button to display all open windows edge-toedge extending vertically from the top to the bottom of the screen.

Cascade Windows
Click the Cascade button to group all open windows in overlapping formation. A window can be brought to the front of the group by clicking the part of it which is visible.

View Rulers
Click on the View Rulers button to display rulers at the edges of a project view. Click the button again to make them disappear.

The rulers are graduated to give you a notion of context and scale. See Ruler Calibration for how to graduate the rulers. For precise measurements, see Tape Measure (Display Toolbar).

Ruler Pop-up Menu


Right-click in the ruler scale area to obtain the following pop-up menu:

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Calibrate Rulers
The Calibrate Rulers pop-up enables you to change the way in which the rulers are graduated and to calibrate your monitor correctly, so that it is capable of displaying your design life size when the zoom factor is 100%. To obtain the pop-up: Click the Rulers button click the rulers. for the rulers to appear, then right-

Click the Calibrate Rulers button, which has just appeared.

The Calibrate Screen and Rulers dialog box is as follows:

To change the graduation of the rulers, proceed as follows: From the Units drop-down box choose the units in which the rulers are to be graduated. If you want numbers to appear on the rulers, check Ruler Numbering, and then enter a whole number in the adjacent field to determine the number spacing. For example, if you have 160

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selected centimeters in the Units drop-down box, and you enter the figure 2 in the field for the Ruler Numbering, then numbers will appear every two centimeters along the rulers. If you want graduation marks to appear between the figures, check Graduation Marks and then enter a suitable figure in the Graduation Marks field. For example, if you have selected centimeters in the Units drop-down box, and you enter the figure 0.25 in the field for Graduation Marks, then graduation marks will appear every quarter centimeter. Click OK for the new ruler graduation to be put into effect.

To calibrate your monitor correctly so that it is capable of displaying your design life size when the zoom factor is 100%, click the Calibrate Screen button. The following dialog box appears:

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Follow the instructions given, and click the OK button to return to the Calibrate Rulers dialog box. Click the Reset button to return to the default values, if necessary. When ready with all settings click OK again to accept all changes, or Cancel to discard them and return to your design.
To display your project in life size, after calibration, use a 100% zoom in the Display toolbar. factor and click On the Life Size button

For further information on the Life Size function, see the Zoom Toolbar section. Note that when you are not working in Life Size mode your ruler will display the pixel size of your image. You image size will consequently depend on the resolution, both X (horizontal) and Y (vertical) of your design. For example, if your design X resolution is 300dpi, Y resolution is 150dpi, and your design real size is, width 10 inches, height 10 inches, your ruler, when not in Life size mode, will display a horizontal dimension twice as large as the vertical dimension. This is because the horizontal dimension will have to fit in twice as many pixels (300x10) as the vertical dimension (150x10).

Guideline Options
Select this option to have access to guideline set-up parameters, and customize or adjust their appearance and functionality.

See Guideline Options in the Preferences menu, Menus section of this guide for more details about these parameters.

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Working With Guidelines
The guidelines are virtual lines that you can use in your design in order to draw, move, align and place any drawing object in precise positions in your project image. If the snap feature is enabled, the guidelines will also cause your drawing object element (control point) to snap to the closest point on the guideline if the distance between the mouse cursor and a guideline is below a predefined threshold, named snap strength.

Once the Rulers were activated the guidelines can be used. The blue cross at the ruler scale intersection reminds you that you can use guidelines to more precisely manipulate the drawing tools or editing tools. The guidelines are: horizontal or vertical dotted lines that you can bring in over your design image to help you in your work. screen lines = independent of zoom level and display quality mode. always displayed on top of your image or drawing objects. not part of your design image, and will not appear in a printout.

Note that the guidelines will still be present even if you hide the rulers, but in this case you will not be able to add, move or delete them. You can add as many guidelines in your project as you need.

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Adding A Guideline
Put your mouse cursor over a ruler scale until it gets the shape of a double arrow, click and drag into the design area. A guideline, parallel to the ruler scale you dragged form will appear under your cursor. The process is the same for both the horizontal and vertical guidelines. Small brown arrows will mark the guideline-end in the ruler scale area:

Moving A Guideline
Put your mouse cursor over the ruler scale area where the guideline end is; your mouse cursor will take the shape of a double arrow oriented along the ruler scale. Click and drag the guideline to the desired new position; release the mouse button.

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Delete A Guideline
You can delete guidelines in two ways: Proceed just like for moving a guideline, only this time move it to a ruler scale limit. The guideline will be removed. Move your mouse cursor over the ruler scale area where the guideline end is; your mouse cursor will take the shape of a double arrow oriented along the ruler scale. Hit DEL on your keyboard. The guideline will be removed.

Using Snap
Snapping is the action of attracting the mouse cursor to fall right on the guideline, whenever the mouse is in the vicinity of the guideline, below a predefined distance. This way you can for instance draw a number of lines all starting from exactly the same point, or position drawing elements to precise locations. The magnetic area around the guideline is defined via the Guideline Options function in the Preferences menu which defines an attraction distance around the guideline; whenever your mouse cursor (creating, moving or placing a drawing element) falls within this distance, the magnetic effect will apply and the drawing element will be forced, or snapped onto the guideline.

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Note that the snap strength value is measure on one side of the guideline only. For example a snap strength value of 5 means that an area width a width of 10 pixels (5 on each side), having the guideline in the middle is the snap or attraction area of the guidelines.

Suppose you want to draw a rectangle starting from a very precise position. Create two guidelines so that the position you want as the upper left corner of the future rectangle is at the intersection of these guidelines. Define a snap strength value. In the example below, the snap area is represented by the light green band around each guideline. Start drawing your rectangle; even if your mouse cursor doesnt really start to draw from the exact location you need, but from within the snapping area, the snapping action of the guideline will force it anyway to the correct position. Thus, you can, for example, draw four rectangles, all starting from the exact point:

See Guidelines Options in the Preferences menu for details on how to set your guideline options.

The guideline snap-mode will operate with most of your drawing tools, motif tools and selection features offering a powerful, versatile, efficient working mode.
Note that when working with a motif the snapping action will work both on the motif hot spot, and any of the motif borders, with respect to the snapping area. When working with a small motif it may be possible that the hot spot and a border will both fall within the snap area. In this case the first one in will be considered for the snapping action. The motif related tools that do not use the guideline snap feature are the Re-Scale, Flip, Mirror, Rotation and Select whole image as motif.

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Just as other functions and features, the guidelines do not operate in the Navigator window. Make sure you have activated a working window in order to use guidelines.

Show Repeat Boundaries


For some designs repeat boundaries may not be easy to distinguish. For the repeat boundaries to be shown as lines on the screen, click the Show Repeat Boundaries button. Click the button again to make the lines disappear.

Tape Measure
To measure the distance between two points on the screen, click the Tape Measure button, then drag the pointer between the points and let go the distance is recorded on the status bar.

Drawing Tool Options


Click the Drawing Tool Options button to show or hide the drawing tool options dialog box for the drawing tool currently selected. Please refer to Drawing Toolbar for the options available for each individual drawing tool.

Show or Hide the Palette


Click Show or Hide the Palette to make the palette appear or disappear.

See Palette for a full explanation of how to use the palette.

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Toolbars Select Color


To operate the tool click its button and then click on a color, knit type, or symbol in one of the project views for the color to be selected on the palette

See Palette for how to modify colors, knit types and symbols.

Designate Stencil
When using the drawing tools you may want to protect some parts of your design so that they cannot be drawn over. You can protect them by adding their colors to the stencil using the Designate Stencil tool, as follows: First click the Display Color Palette button color palette. to access the

Next click the Designate Stencil button and click the color chips of all the colors you want to protect. The selected color chips appear with a bar along the bottom as in this example: To de-select a color chip, click it again, and the bar along the bottom will disappear. When you have made your color selection for the stencil, click the Activate Stencil button to protect the selected colors. Areas of your design made up from the protected colors are now safe.

Because each color has an associated knit type and symbol, adding a color to the stencil and then activating the stencil will protect areas of the pattern draft with that color, as well as the corresponding areas of the simulation and symbol card.

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If you want to draw on the background of your design, and protect all other areas, a quick way to proceed is as follows: Select only the background color as a stencil color, then right click the area of the palette above the color chips. The Palette Properties pop-up appears. Click the Invert button and then OK. Now all the colors are selected except the background color. Finally click the Activate Stencil button and begin drawing.

Activate Stencil
Areas of your design composed of the stencil colors (and the associated knits type and symbols) cannot be drawn over when this toolbar button is depressed. If you no longer want those areas to be protected, de-activate the stencil by clicking the button again.
A tick appears next to the Stencil command in the Edit menu when the stencil has been activated.

See Designate Stencil

for instructions on choosing your stencil colors.

Zoom Area
To zoom in on a limited area of a project view, click the Zoom Area button, then drag to define rectangle around the area. Click the mouse button again to finish, and the rectangular area will be enlarged as much as possible on your monitor.

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Color atlases offer you the possibility to use a large range of colors in your Vision Easy Knit projects.

How are Color Atlases used?


A color atlas is a customized collection of colors created in a coloring project (using Easy Coloring, or Easy Coloring Pro, for example), which can be re-used in other projects where the same color collection is needed. The colors of the atlas are displayed in a window having one or more pages. You can change any of the colors of your project by dragging and dropping a color from your atlas onto the palette color chip concerned. An atlas may have several pages of colors, but displays only one of these at a time. In the example below, page two is currently displayed. The name of the color currently under the cursor is shown on the atlas together with its Vision Color Code.

For an explanation of Vision Color Codes, see the subsequent topic, Modifying atlas colors individually

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Just above the scroll bar at the bottom of the atlas are up to three Summary chips symbolizing adjacent pages of the atlas. The current page is represented by the Summary chip with the additional border. A quick way to go to an adjacent page is to click an adjacent Summary chip. You can also scroll through the pages of the atlas by moving the scroll bar cursor.
To adjust the size of the atlas on screen, move the mouse pointer over a horizontal or vertical edge of the atlas, so that it changes into a double headed arrow . Now drag the edge to enlarge or reduce the size.

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Opening Color Atlases
To open an existing color atlas for the first time in the current session of work, click the Color Atlas button in the View toolbar. Next, choose the color atlas you wish to open from the Open dialog window that appears (more atlas file types are available).

For an explanation of how to use an Open dialog window, please refer to the Open Project command (File menu) where such a dialog window is described in detail. After opening a color atlas, you can close it temporarily via its close button . This permits you to retrieve the atlas again immediately by clicking on the atlas toolbar button again. To open a different atlas, you must first close the current atlas (see Close Atlas in this section) New atlases may be created using other NedGraphics applications, such as Easy Coloring, Simulating Printed Fabric or Easy Coloring Pro. The atlas configuration (size and number of colors per page, number of pages) is determined there.

Modifying atlas colors individually


To modify the colors for your atlas, right-click over the atlas to make the atlas pop-up menu appear, and from this choose Modify Color Atlas. The atlas now appears as follows, with the first color chip selected (black border) ready to be modified:

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Using NedGraphics coloring applications such as Vision Easy Coloring, Vision Easy Coloring Pro, and Vision Simulating Printed Fabric, you can modify individual colors using a huge range of coloring tools and color charts. To modify a color of the atlas, type the color code for the color you require in the Color Code field: the color is changed automatically.
The color codes used for the atlases are those used for the Vision Chart which is an integral part of NedGraphics coloring applications such as Easy Coloring, Easy Coloring Pro, and Simulating Printed Fabric. You can refer to these applications for color codes that you may need. The Codes identify the color in terms of HSV. The numbers at the beginning of the code indicate the Hue (0 through to 359), the first letter gives the Saturation, and the second letter gives the Value. The letters range between A (maximum) to P (minimum).

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If you have also installed on your system modules of NedGraphics Printing Studio and chose to use the hCL color space in one of these modules, the same color code will be used by default in your Fashion Studio application, and will replace the Vision Chart code on the bottom of the Color Channels dialog window.

When you have defined the color you require, enter a name for it if you wish in the Color Name field, and then click on any other color of the Atlas in order to modify it in the same way. When you have completed the current page, enter a name for it if you wish in the Page Name field. Finally, when you have finished defining colors for the time being, leave the editing mode by clicking 9Modify Color Atlas in the pop-up menu so that the tick symbol in front of it disappears.

Modifying several atlas colors at once


Other commands are available from the pop-up menu which appears when you right-click over the atlas:
Note that you cannot use the first four commands in the menu (they appear grayed) until you enter the editing mode by selecting Modify Current Atlas so that a tick appears in front of it, as shown.

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Four corners gradient: Place four different colors in the corners of a page, and then choose this command. A color graduation based on the colors you have added is added to the color chips in between. White gradient: Place a single color in one of the top corners of the page (or a different color in the top right and top left corners of the page) and then choose this command.

A color graduation, which fades away to white, is applied to the remaining blank color chips. Line/column gradient: Choose this command and then click on two color chips on the same row or in the same column that are not immediately next to each other. A color graduation based on the two color chips you have clicked is now applied to the color chips between them. Clear current page: Choose this command to make all the color chips of the current page blank.

Please refer to Opening, Closing and Saving Color Atlases for a description of the pop-up menu commands Save Atlas, Save Atlas As and Close Atlas.

Print: use this command to print one or more pages of your color atlas.

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The following dialog window will open:

Name: use the drop down box to select the printer you want to use from the available options. Page area: use the fields in this area to select the pages of your atlas you will print. When ready, click OK to start printing or Cancel to abandon the printing of your atlas pages.

For detailed information about the options in this dialog window see the Print function in the File Menu, Menus section of this guide.

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The Save Atlas and Save Atlas As Commands
To save a color atlas that you have modified, right-click over the atlas, and then choose Save Atlas from the pop-up menu which appears. To save a color atlas with a new name, choose the command Save Atlas As from the pop-up menu.

Close Atlas
If you no longer require an atlas for your current session of work, right-click over the atlas, and than choose Close Atlas from the popup menu that appears. If you have made changes to the atlas, Easy Knit will give you the opportunity to save them.
After opening a color atlas (as explained in the first topic on atlases above), you can close the atlas temporarily via its Close button . This permits you to retrieve the atlas again immediately by clicking on the atlas toolbar button again. To open a different atlas, you must first close the current atlas with the Close command from the Atlas pop-up menu, then click the Atlas button in the Display toolbar again.

View Pattern Draft


Change the current view to make it the pattern draft view by clicking the View Pattern Draft button on the toolbar. Alternatively use the New Window command (Window menu) to create a new view which you can change. In the Pattern Draft view (also known as Technical Design), each square of the grid corresponds to a stitch, in colors which you can change at will via the palette. Typically you will choose colors identical to those of the yarns you wish to be used, but in the case of certain special yarns, such as mottled yarn, you may select a color which is representational rather than identical.

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Refer to the description of the Pattern Draft Tab under Project Properties (File menu) for a description of the pattern draft options. These include the possibility of applying a grid to the pattern draft to assist in detailed design.

View Simulation
Change the current view to make it the simulation view by clicking the View Simulation button on the toolbar. Alternatively use the New Window command (Window menu) to create a new view, which you can change to display the simulation. The simulation view is a true to life simulation knitted fabric representing the actual stitches used, using the same of the colors as the pattern draft (i.e. typically the colors of the yarns you wish to be used, but in the case of certain special yarns, such as mottled yarn, you may select a color which is representational rather than identical).

Refer to the description of the Simulation Tab under Project Properties (File menu) for a description of the simulation options. These include simulation effects such as directional or diffuse brushing.

View Symbol Card


Change the current view to make it the symbol card view by clicking the View Symbol Card button on the toolbar. Alternatively use the New Window command (Window menu) to create a new view, which you can change to display the simulation. In the symbol card each stitch is shown by a symbol representing its knit type as well as its orientation (face or back). Via the palette, you can designate symbols from the atlas provided, or create your own. Change another view to make it the pattern draft view by on the toolbar. clicking the View Simulation button

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Refer to the description of the Symbols Tab under Project Properties (File menu) for a description of the symbol card options. These include the possibility of setting the size independently of the pattern draft and symbol card.

Embroidery Effect
Embroidery Effect: this command allows you to apply embroidery effects when in the simulation mode of the knitting project (this command is consequently only available in simulation mode view). Click on the corresponding button in the Display toolbar; the Motif Base window will open, allowing you to select the image to be used as an embroidery.
Please note that the Motif base has a 'dual' function, i.e. it will display 'regular' motifs when using all other working modes than the Embroidery mode, and Embroidery motifs, when accessing the latter mode. This means that motifs defined 'outside' of the embroidery mode will only be available and displayed when the embroidery mode is off. Upon opening, the Motif base contains only embroidery effects (images), which are different from other motifs stored using the pattern draft or other working modes of the application. Embroidery motif images have to be images with an 8 bit or less color depth.

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To insert an embroidery motif, click the desired location of the simulation view using the left mouse button. Please note that you can add several embroidery motifs in overlapping formation, the motif having been inserted last being the top-most motif.
Please note that in the case of several inserted embroidery motifs, parts of previously inserted motifs can be made visible using the Transparency function.

For further information regarding the Transparency function please read the Transparency section (Motive menu) of this manual.

To delete an already inserted motif simply right-click it. In case you click a pile of several overlapping motifs, the top-most one (i.e. the motif having been inserted as last motif) will be deleted. To delete all overlapping motifs simply repeat this operation as many times as needed.
Note that in the Embroidery mode only some of the motif tools will be available to you, among those available being the Motif base, Re-scale motif, Flip motif, Mirror motif, Rotate motif, and Select last used functions.

Upon right-clicking the Motif (embroidery) base a pop-up menu will appear, which is very similar to the Motif base context menu. From this context-menu, depicted at left, you can access all common functions except the Edit function, which is not available for operation in the Embroidery working mode of the Easy Knit application.

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While in Motif or Embroidery mode, the corresponding pop-up menu is available using a middle-mouse button (or wheel) click.

See the Motif Menu in the Menus section for more details about these commands.

The following examples depict images of embroideries pasted onto knitting designs:

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To exit the embroidery mode click again the Embroidery Effect button in the Display toolbar.

Vision Easy Knit will save your knitting project with the applied embroidery.

Tracing
Tracing: inserts an image, as a back layer, you can use as a model for your current working image. Use View, then Tracing to make the transparency ruler toolbar appear. The parameters of the function are controlled by the Select tracing parameters function in the Preferences menu.

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Tracing Toolbar
The Tracing Toolbar adjusts the level of visibility (or opacity) of an image when tracing:

Use View (in the View menu) then Tracing to use the Tracing ruler toolbar. While working with the model image, drag the slider of the Tracing toolbar to modify the opacity of the current project view: As the slider approaches 100 the model view becomes fainter until it disappears completely. On moving the slider in the opposite direction, the model view can be seen more and more clearly, until at zero the project view disappears and only the model view can be seen.

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Edit Toolbar

Cut Image
Click the Cut Image button to remove the image of the active window and copy it to the clipboard. A message appears asking you to confirm the operation.

Copy Image
Click the Copy Image button to copy the design in the active window to the clipboard.

Paste Image
Click the Paste Image button to paste the contents of the clipboard into the active window.

Undo
To cancel the last modification made to the design during the current session, click the Undo button. Keep clicking to undo a series of actions.

Redo
To cancel the effect of the last Undo command, click the Redo button. Keep clicking to redo a series of Undo commands.

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To undo a series of actions, click the All Undo button.

Reinstate Last But One


After performing a series of Undo commands or Undo and Redo commands, you can reinstate the penultimate action by choosing Delete from the Edit menu, or by clicking the Reinstate Last But One corresponding button on the Edit toolbar.

Redo All
To redo all the actions you have just undone using the Undo command, click the All Redo button.

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THE PALETTE
To display the palette, choose Palette from the View menu, or click the palette button on the toolbar. On creation of a new project from an image file, each color of the original image is used to create a corresponding color in the pattern draft (technical design) view. In addition, a default knit type is generated in the simulation view for the areas of the image having that color, and a default symbol corresponding to the knit type and color is generated in the symbol card view. The palette is a resource of colors, knit types and symbols in which you can change these initial settings. When using the drawing tools to modify the design, you must first select the color, knit type and symbol to apply by clicking on the palette. You can click either on the color, the associated knit type or the associated symbol all three are selected together. You can also use the drawing tools on any of the three views modifying one view modifies the other views at the same time. The color, knit type and symbol currently selected are indicated by a dash in the top left hand corner of the color chip, as in this example: . The color chip concerned (or the selected knit or symbol, depending on your display mode) is also reproduced at the top left of the palette. (In this version of Easy Knit a color chip with a dash in the top right hand corner has no signification). Drawing with the right mouse button pressed, or right-clicking a stitch, will replace the stitches with the default one, which is always the first stitch of the palette. It is marked by a dash in the right upper corner of the color chip, as in this example: . 187

The Palette
If Show Stencil Colors has been chosen in the Palette Properties dialog box, Colors, knit types and symbols selected for the stencil may be indicated on the corresponding color chip with a bar along the bottom as in this example:

See Palette Properties (described in the same section under Palette) and Designate Stencil (in the Display toolbar, Toolbars section of this guide).

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Modifying a Color Color Channels


To modify one of the colors in the pattern draft view, proceed as follows: Double-click its color chip on the palette to display the Color Channels. To make the adjustment using RGB color channels instead of HSV, right click the color channels, and select RGB from the pop-up menu that appears. Modify the color by moving sliders on each channel, which appear as white cross-bars. A slider can be moved either by dragging or by clicking the location where it is to move to. The color chip under the color channels shows the resulting color, and the code below that is the Vision Color Chart code. Click the OK button to put the color change into effect. The corresponding color chip on the color palette is then changed to the new color, as are all corresponding areas of the pattern draft (technical design).

For some monitors where 16 million colors cannot be shown, the color channels themselves may appear bizarrely colored. To avoid this disconcerting effect, right-click the color channels to obtain a pop-up menu, and click Colored so that the standard colored display for the channels is de-selected.

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The Palette The Color Channels pop-up menu


Right-click the Color Channels area for the Color Channels popup menu to appear:

The first commands are related to the different color systems available in Easy Coloring; the two last functions enable you to choose various display options for the different color systems.

HSV
The color codes used in the Color Palette of the Vision applications, are part of the coloring modules of NedGraphics, such as Easy Coloring, Easy Coloring Pro or Simulating Printed Fabric. The HSV code describes a color in terms of: Hue: from 0 to 359. This value determines the position in the color spectrum (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, magenta, violet). Saturation: indicates the lightness of the shade with values from 0 to 100 (light for 0 and dark for 100). Value: from 0 to 100. This value indicates the luminosity of the color. Its effect is independent of the hue and saturation. At zero

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luminosity any color becomes black. At maximum luminosity (100) any color becomes white. Selecting HSV from the pop-up menu will put a checkmark sign in front of the option to highlight the current selection.
If you have also installed on your system modules of NedGraphics Printing Studio and chose to use the hCL color space in one of these modules, the same color code will be used by default in your Fashion Studio application, and will replace the Vision Chart code on the bottom of the Color Channels dialog window.

Selecting HSV from the pop-up menu will put a checkmark sign in front of the option to highlight the current selection.

RGB
The RGB color system will allow the composition of any color using different degrees of Red, Green and Blue components (as emission colors). A zero value for all components will produce black. Of course, the maximum value for the same parameters (that is 255) will produce white. Selecting RGB from the pop-up menu will put a checkmark sign in front of the option to highlight the current selection.

CMY
In a similar way with the RGB system the CMY uses the Cyan, Magenta and Yellow components emitted by a color to create it. As compared to the RGB though, when all the parameters have a zero value, the resulting color is white, and at the maximum (255) value, the result is black.

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Selecting CMY from the pop-up menu will put a checkmark sign in front of the option to highlight the current selection.

CMYK
This system works very similar to the CMY. A fourth component is the black, and of course, helps in producing the black color. Selecting CMYK from the pop-up menu will put a checkmark sign in front of the option to highlight the current selection.

hCL
The hCL is a color system based on absolute colors. The C values (representing the color) range from 0 to 140. The L values (representing the luminosity) range from 0 to 110. The H value has a range from 0 to 360. When all three values equal zero, you have a black. Selecting hCL from the pop-up menu will put a checkmark sign in front of the option to highlight the current selection.
Note that for this color space the parameter values are displayed and controlled using two decimal digits.

XYZ
The XYZ is also an absolute color space. It permits obtaining any color as a function of the three X, Y, Z parameters (in a 0 to 140 range). These are the international standard CIE D65 2 degree color coordinates. 192

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Selecting XYZ from the pop-up menu will put a checkmark sign in front of the option to highlight the current selection.
Note that for this color space the parameter values are displayed and controlled using two decimal digits.

Lab
Lab is also an absolute color space. The L corresponds to the luminosity (0 to 110 range), the other two (a and b) are independent, arbitrary parameters (-140 to 140 range). These are the international standard CIE D65 2 degree color coordinates.
Note that if you save your design image as a TIF Lab file, these limits will be changed as follows: L in the 0 to 100 range, a and b from -128 to 127.

See The File Formats tab from the Save Scan as function description (File Menu, Menus section) for more details about the file saving options.

Selecting Lab from the pop-up menu will put a checkmark sign in front of the option to highlight the current selection.
Note that for this color space the parameter values are displayed and controlled using two decimal digits.

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CMYK%
This mode is similar to the CMYK with the only difference that the color parameter values are percentages of the maximum CMYK channel limits.

See CMYK in this section for more details about this color mode.

Colored
For some monitors where 16 million colors cannot be shown, the color channels themselves may appear bizarrely colored. To avoid this disconcerting effect, right click the color channels to obtain a pop-up menu, and click Colored so that the standard colored display for the channels is de-selected.

Enhanced Display Using Enhanced Display in None or Kodak mode


If you are working in Kodak calibration mode (set in Vision Easy Coloring), or in None calibration mode, using this option in the Color Channels popup menu will produce an enlarged Color Channels window, allowing better resolution in visually selecting colors using the color bars (sliders).
Use this option if you want to have a better trimming resolution of the color parameters.

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Choosing a new knit type

Please refer to the Knits command (Knits menu) for a full explanation of this topic.

Choosing a new symbol

Please refer to the Symbols command (Knits menu) for a full explanation of this topic.

Palette Properties
Customize the display of the palette by right clicking a blank area on the upper part of the palette or by right clicking a blank color chip. The following dialog box appears:

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The Palette
In the Palette Options group, make your changes as follows: To make the number of colors equal to the number of colors in the original design, click the Automatic Settings button. For a different number of colors, enter the number directly in the Number of colors field. Up to 256 different colors are possible.
The number of symbols and of knits of corresponding color will be the same as the number of colors. Having selected the number of colors, knits and symbols, you can re-define each one by double-clicking it on the palette.

Use default color: select this option if you want all newly added colors to be the same and to be able to set this default color yourself. Click Set default color button to open the Color Channels tool and select the color you want to be set as the default color for all newly added color chips (the default color is white).

See the Modifying A Color - Color Channels section for details on how to use this tool. Note that when you add new colors, a random criterion is used to add the new colors, if you don not use the default color option in the dialog window. For instructions on how to change a color, see the first topic of the Palette section of this guide, Modifying a Color. The selected default color will be also splashed and displayed on the Set default color button.

If you wish the colors used in the simulation view to be the same as in the pattern draft view, leave Match colors checked in the Palette Options group.
If Match colors is unchecked, colors used in the simulation view and pattern draft view can be changed independently. See Modifying a Color under The Palette, and Knits (Knits menu).

Next choose what you want the palette to display by clicking one or more of the categories Display Colors, Display Knits, Display Symbols and Display Index. 196

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If you click Display Index the corresponding letter or code number will be displayed on each color, knit and symbol on the palette

The Stencil Colors group allows you to set certain parameters for the stencil as follows: Click Show Stencil Colors for colors selected for the stencil to be identifiable on the color palette. The color chips of the selected colors then appear with a bar along the bottom as in this example: Click the Clear button to de-select any colors that have been selected for the stencil. Click the Invert button for any colors that have been selected for the stencil to be de-selected and replaced on the stencil by the colors which were previously unselected.

For instructions on how to use the stencil, see Designate Stencil (View toolbar).

The Color chip size group allows you to set the size of your color, simulation and symbol chips in the color palette. Select one of the available options according to your preference. When you have finished making your choices in the dialog box, click the OK button to put the changes into effect, or the Cancel button to close the dialog box without any changes being registered.

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The Palette

Empty Stitch
For various reasons, you may want to use an empty stitch for your knit project (for example a loose knitted texture). Vision Easy Knit offers the Empty Stitch feature in two modes. Suppose you start with a design like the one on the left. Various stitches are used, but you want to add a variation in the middle. Lets use a normal stitch first:

Using this stitch and color draw a Tshape:

Now right-click the stitch in the palette; a pop-up menu will appear as follows:

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Select the only available command Empty stitch. A checkmark in front of the name will let you know that the command is active (click again to deselect). The stitch icon in the palette will change to an , and the used empty stitches in the design image empty chip will change as in the image above. You now have a loose area in the knitted fabric, still attached to the rest of the material. Now here is another way to insert empty stitches in your knitted design. Double-click a empty stitch chip for the stitch Atlas to open, then select an empty stitch (double click the icon to load):

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The Palette
If necessary, right-click a stitch and select Directory from the popup menu, to be able to set the stitch atlas folder:

Set the folder where you store your stitches, including the empty ones, the click Set to return to the atlas with your stitches displayed.

The stitch icon in the palette will change to , an empty chip and the used empty stitches in the design image will change as in the image above.

Using Vision Design and Repeat (NedGraphics Fashion Studio) or Vision Design and Repeat Pro (NedGraphics Printing Studio) you can create a new "empty stitch" with no technical pixel inside. Just use the Import-Export Sketches function and import an empty bitmap, then export it as an *EKP file in your stitch atlas folder.

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BROWSING THUMBNAIL VIEWS


In the various dialog boxes used for opening or importing an image file, Easy Knit provides a Browse button so that you can display thumbnail views of all the image files in the current folder. This is invaluable if you dont know the file name of the image you are searching for. On clicking the Browse button, the File Atlas window appears displaying thumbnail views of all the image files in the current folder. The current folder is also represented in the File Atlas window and appears as an open folder (Fig. 1). Click it to move up a level in the folder tree. Closed folders may also be displayed (Fig.2). Click a closed folder to view its contents.

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Where the File Atlas window is too small to show all the thumbnail views, a scroll bar is provided which you can drag to see the other views. If you double-click a thumbnail view, it will either be opened directly, or will be designated as the file to be opened in the dialog window you left in order to browse thumbnail views.
When the File Atlas window is open, you can move more rapidly around the folder tree by right clicking to obtain the Browse pop-up see Browse Popup Menu below.

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Browsing Thumbnail Views

Browse Pop-up Menu

This pop-up menu is obtained by right clicking in a File Atlas window. Its commands enable you to browse thumbnail views more easily.

See Browsing Thumbnail Views for further information on the File Atlas window.

The Browse Pop-up menu commands are as follows:

Directory
This command displays a dialog box for changing the folder in which to browse the thumbnail views. Click the Up One Level button to climb the folder tree. Double-clicking a folder selects it and shows its contents, allowing you to move down the folder tree. Choose a folder where you want to browse thumbnail views by double clicking it, and then by clicking the Set button. You are returned to the main File Atlas window, where file thumbnails for the folder you selected are now shown.
It is faster to use this than clicking on the folder icon in the File Atlas window because it avoids creating thumbnails of the files for each directory you browse through.

Sort By
Use this command to sort the thumbnails by name, type, date or size to change the order in which they are displayed.

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GLOSSARY

256 color file format Absolute color

Also known as an image having a palette or an LUT file, this file format uses 8-bit color definition. A mathematical definition of color used, for example, to compare the color displayed on a monitor with that produced by a color printer.

The color resulting from printing on fabric with a Absorption level (see also opacity) given colorant depends on its opacity and the extent to which the colorant is absorbed i.e. its absorption level. This is measured as a percentage between 0 and 100%. The absorption level at a given point on the fabric depends not only on the fabric type and the colorant, but also upon whether other colorants have already been absorbed. Antialiasing A smoothing function which can be used to improve the quality of an image displayed on a computer monitor, or as printed. Also known as high quality. An abbreviation for background color.

Backcolor

Brushing (see also Treatment of fabric to change its surface texture, similar to napping. "finishing") Channel Colors The colors of a particular colorway, which are intended to correspond with those of the fabric design once printed.

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Glossary
Channel Settings The channel settings of a fabric printing project comprise some or all of the following parameters: The number of screens and the order in which they are to be printed (to be changed only in certain cases) Designation of screens (and/or resulting in each channel color The color of the fabric and each screen Screen mesh size The name of the fabric and each screen fabric)

Click

Collate

To click an item means to place the mouse pointer or cursor over the item, and to press and then release the left mouse button without moving the mouse. You click to choose or select an item, or to operate a tool. Put in order or sort (used in relation to the output of pages from a printer). A color library that can be customized for future use. A slider for color adjustment. A pattern, or image based on a main color, shades of a color, or a specific set of colors. Color of varying tone = color graduation = gray tone = gray level ( flat tone).

Color Atlas

Color Channel Colorway Continuous Tone

Counter Sampling Producing a computer image from a real sample (for example a piece of fabric) using processes such as scanning and color reduction.

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Covering Colors A fabric colorant having a high level of opacity, typically printed last. See also "opacity". An anti-pirating device, also known as a hard lock key. To double click an item means to click it rapidly two times. This action is used in certain selection procedures and for launching certain functions. to drag means to move the mouse while holding down the left button. This action is used with certain tools to select an area of the screen, and also forms part of the action drag and drop. to drag and drop an item means to click the item, drag to a new position on the screen, and then release the mouse button, so that the item is moved to the new position. You can move whole windows with this technique by dragging and dropping the title bar, similarly drag and drop the edge of a toolbar to move it to a different location on the screen. Paint or color. Also see Picks Abbreviation for Frequently Asked Questions. A transparent sheet containing components of a gray tone or flat tone image for engraving one of a set of printing screens. Digitized as image files, a complete set of films can be used as the basis of a printing project in Simulating Printed Fabric. Treatment applied to fabric to change its appearance texture, or other qualities. See flat tone.

Dongle

Double-click

Drag

Drag and drop

Dye Ends FAQ Film

Finishing (USA) Finish (UK) Flat Color

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Glossary
Flat tone Fringe Gamma Gamut Color with no graduation ( gray tone, continuous tone). A border or trimming of cords or threads hanging loose, or tied in bunches Curve for defining luminosity and contrast. Color gamut for a device (such as a printer or monitor) is the range of colors it is capable of reproducing. It is typically much more limited than the range of colors perceptible to the human eye. and See Continuous Tone.

Gray level Gray tone High Quality

See Antialiasing. With this system any color can be defined in terms of a combination of three figures : Hue this figure is used to situate the color in the chromatic spectrum. It may be considered in terms of colors of the rainbow : on passing gradually through the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet) the figure varies from zero to 359. Saturation this figure is used to indicate the extent to which the color is dilute (minimum value zero) or rich (maximum value 100). Value this figure indicates the luminosity of the color. Its effects can be considered independently of hue and saturation. Thus, if you take any color and reduce its value to zero, it becomes black. Similarly, increasing the value of any color to the maximum of 100 changes it to white.

HSV Color System

Hue

See HSV Color System. 206

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Incrust To merge or overlay. This is a software function for combining images, normally after making their respective backgrounds transparent. = initialize grouping. = true size = real size = full size. Used in color calibration, Media White Point is the absolute color of a shade of white intended to represent the white of the paper or fabric to be printed on. The media white point should preferably be measured using a spectrophotometer. The color resulting from printing on fabric with a given colorant depends upon its absorption level (see "absorption level") and upon its opacity. Opacity is measured as a percentage between 0 and 100%. A colorant with a high opacity will tend to mask the color of the fabric and any colorants already added, even on areas of the fabric where it has a low absorption level due to previous absorption of several other colorants. Function for designating colors and patterns. Also see Ends = checkered fabric. A pattern of dots printed in order to create a gray tone or continuous tone. (See gray tone and continuous tone). A variety of different rasters are used industrially in fabric printing. A device on a loom by means of which threads are drawn between the separated threads of the warp.

Init grouping Life size Media White Point

Opacity

Pattern Affectation Picks Plaid Raster

Reed

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Glossary
Resist A resist is printed on fabric in the same way as dyes and other colorants. It may itself be colored, but has a principal function of preventing or limiting the absorption of other dyes and colorants.

RGB Color System With this system any color can be defined in terms (See also HSV of the proportions of red, green and blue light Color System) emitted. When the figure for each of these is zero, the color is black. The same logic shows that increasing the red, green and blue levels to their maximum level of 100 gives white. Right-click to click the right mouse button when the cursor is over the area of the screen you are using. Typically this is in order to obtain a pop-up menu =smear. Apparatus used to determine the absolute color reference of a color. See Flat Tone. Colors that are used to symbolize information, and which do not represent real fabric or image colors. Enlargement of the area to be printed with a particular color, in order to avoid the possibility of blank (unprinted) areas of textile between zones printed with different colors. By preference, trapping should be applied to light colors so that they overlap the dark colors, rather than the converse. See HSV Color System

Smudge
Spectrophotometer

Spot Color Technical colors

Trapping

Value

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In the textile field the warp equals the horizontal dimension of a fabric plane. The weave represents the elementary unit upon Weave which a fabric is based. In the textile field the warp equals the vertical Weft dimension of a fabric plane. White Graduation = "white gradient" = fade into white Warp Wizard A series of dialog boxes which appear one after the other to guide you through a procedure. = zoom factor, the magnification at which a project view is displayed on-screen, for example, 100% or 50%.

Zoom level

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APPENDIX A: SUGGESTION SHEET FOR EASY KNIT


Contact Name: Date : Application: Description: Company: Suggestion No : Application Version:

Interest:

What would you like to do?

What do you do at the moment?

How long does it take?

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Appendix

How often do you do it?

Reserved for use by NedGraphics No : Project Manager : Date :

Reception Date:

...../...../.....

RESERVED FOR USE BY NedGraphics


Developer in charge: Modification for Version: Modification Date: ...../...../.....

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APPENDIX B: ANOMALY REPORT FOR EASY KNIT


Contact Name : Date: Application: Application Version: Language : Operating System: Language: #Colors in ScreenConfig: Size in Screen Config : #Screens (if you use more than one): Description of the problem: Company : Anomaly Report N : API Design Version: API Tools Version: Processor Type : Available Memory: Current Disk Space: System Font Size :

Frequency: How can it be reproduced ? (step by step)

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Appendix

Type of problem :

Causes Crashing 8

Doesnt Cause Crashing 8

Yes Have you ever used this function without problem in a previous version? If yes in which version : Has your system configuration changed recently? If yes, how has it changed : 8 8

No 8 8

For use by NedGraphics only No: Project Manager :

Date :

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INDEX
1 16 million colors ............. 54, 194 2 256 colors................................ 54 C A About..................................... 128 About Easy Knit.................... 125 Access code............................... 9 Activate Stencil ............... 64, 169 Add new colors ..................... 196 Airbrush ................................ 138 All Undo.......................... 61, 185 Anomaly Report .................... 213 Arrange Icons ........................ 123 Atlas - modifying .......... 172, 174 Atlas - saving......................... 177 Automatic Tile ...................... 123 B Back ........................................ 15 Background color .............. 46, 48 Background color for rotation. 90 Background Fill command...... 99 Basic Windows Concepts ......... 5 Border - drawing an outline .... 97 Browse Motif .......................... 72 Calibrate Rulers .....................160 Calibrate Screen.....................161 Cascade Windows..................159 Change course count ................87 Change Gauge ..........................87 Change Origin..........................88 Change Size .............................83 Change Size - motif................152 Change Size with wizard .........86 Change Size without wizard ....84 Child windows .......................122 Circle or Ellipse Tool.............133 Clear current page..................175 Clear Stencil Colors ...............197 Clear symbol ..........................112 Clear-Delete Image ..................63 Click...........................................5 Close ........................................30 Close All ................................122 Close Atlas .............................177 Close button ...............................6 Close button .............................30 CMY ......................................191 CMYK....................................192 215 Browse Pop-up Menu ............202 Browsing Thumbnail Views ..201 Brushing Diffuse..................................46 Directional............................46 Dispersion.............................46 Intensity................................46

Index
CMYK%................................ 194 Collate ..................................... 52 Color Atlas ............................ 170 Color Atlas Use of.............. 170 Color Channels Pop-up Menu190 Color display ......................... 113 Colored .................................. 194 Combinations and sequences of keys ........................................ 4 Command names ....................... 4 Compression............................ 53 Contents tab............................... 7 Contrast ................................... 46 Control points on curves ....... 135 Control Points on curves ....... 142 Copy image.............................. 62 Copy motif............................... 63 Copy Symbol ......................... 111 Course count............................ 38 Create a Page of Symbols...... 112 Curve ..................................... 135 Curved Shape or Outline ....... 136 Custom Size............................. 47 Cut image ................................ 62 Cut motif.................................. 63 Cut Symbol............................ 111 D Delete all ................................. 73 Delete Motif ...................... 73, 75 Designate Stencil................... 168 Directory Command .............. 202 Display Toolbar..................... 157 Dominant colors .................... 153 Dongle ....................................... 9 Double-click .............................. 5 Drag ........................................... 5 216 Drag and Drop........................... 5 Drawing Style tab.................. 131 Drawing Tool Options............. 67 Use of................................... 15 Drawing Tool Options dialog box ..................................... 129 Drawing Toolbar ................... 129 Drop-down box ......................... 6 Duplicate Motif ....................... 75 Duplication.............................. 92 E Edit Menu................................ 61 Edit Motif ........................ 76, 151 Edit Symbol........................... 111 Edit Toolbar .......................... 184 Ellipses .................................. 133 Embroidery Effect ................. 179 Embroidery motif base .......... 180 Empty Stitch.......................... 198 Enhanced Display.................. 194 Enhanced Display ................ 194 Exit .......................................... 60 Export ...................................... 33 Export Motif............................ 72 Export Simulation ................... 35 Export Symbol Card................ 36 Export Technical Design (Pattern Draft) ................................... 34 F Face ......................................... 15 File Atlas window ................. 201 File Menu ................................ 17 File size ................................... 54

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File type................................... 54 File type .EKP ......................... 32 Fill With Color...................... 138 Fill With Motif...................... 149 Finalize Curve ....................... 144 Finishing.................................. 46 Fit to Image ........................... 123 Flip ........................................ 148 Flip Motif ................................ 81 Four corners Gradient ........... 175 Freehand Selection................ 148 Freehand Shape ..................... 137 G Gauge ...................................... 38 Global Size.............................. 58 Graduation Marks ................. 161 Graph paper presentation ........ 44 Gridlines.................................. 44 Guidelines Option ................. 116 H Hcl......................................... 192 Help........................................... 7 Help button................................ 7 Help Menu............................. 125 Help Topics ............................... 7 Hot Spot .................................. 79 HSV....................................... 190 HSV color channels .............. 189 I Image in 256 colors................... 1 M Maximize icon ...........................6 Menus.......................................17 Minimize icon ............................6 Mirror.....................................148 Mirror Motif.............................81 Modify Curve.........................142 Modifying a Color..................189 Monitor ..................................123 Motif Base................................73 Motif Base Pop-up Menu.........76 Motif Menu ..............................71 Image Toolbar ........................145 Import button ...........................19 Import Motif.............................72 Index tab.....................................7 Insert Strips ..............................94 Installation and uninstallation....9 Introduction................................1 Invert Stencil Colors ..............197 Invert symbol .........................111 K Key names..................................4 Knit Atlas...............................106 Knit Menu ..............................105 Knit types ...............................105 Knits.......................................105 L Lab .........................................193 Line/column gradient .............175

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Index
Motif Toolbar ........................ 147 Motifs default transparent color ........................................... 118 N New ....................................... 127 New button .............................. 17 New folder............................... 31 New origin............................... 88 New Project ............................. 17 New Symbol .......................... 110 New Window......................... 121 Numeric color index.............. 113 Numeric Input........................ 152 O Open ...................................... 127 Open Atlas............................. 172 Open Motif .............................. 75 Open Project............................ 29 Outlining.................................. 97 P Page Setup ............................... 57 Simulation tab...................... 59 Symbol Card tab .................. 60 Technical Design tab ........... 58 Title tab................................ 57 Page Setup button.................... 52 Palette .................................... 187 Palette Properties................... 195 Paper size and orientation ....... 52 Parallel port ............................... 9 Paste image.............................. 63 218 Paste motif............................... 63 Paste Symbol ......................... 111 Pattern Draft View .................. 14 Pencil tab............................... 130 Pencil Tool ............................ 130 Pixels ....................................... 28 Point Size ................................ 58 Preferences Menu.................. 113 Print ................................. 51, 128 Print Preview............. 52, 56, 128 Print range ............................... 52 Print to file .............................. 53 Printer...................................... 52 Printer cable ............................ 10 Priority colors........................ 153 Project Properties Simulation tab...................... 45 Project Properties .................... 38 Pattern Draft tab .................. 43 Project tab............................ 39 Set Options tab .................... 49 Symbols tab ......................... 47 Project Properties tabs............. 17 Proportional gauge and length 50 R Rectangle............................... 134 Rectangle Selection............... 147 Redo ........................................ 61 Redo All .......................... 62, 185 Reinstate Last But One.... 62, 185 Remove Curve....................... 144 Remove Strips ......................... 96 Repeat................................ 27, 38 Repeat Count ......................... 156 Repeat Toolbar ...................... 142 Re-scale Motif ................. 80, 148

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Resolution ............................... 50 Resolution for printing............ 33 Restore before tile ................. 123 Restore icon .............................. 6 RGB ...................................... 191 RGB color channels .............. 189 Right Click ................................ 5 Rotate Motif .................... 81, 148 Rotation................................... 90 Rotation 180 (motif) .............. 81 Rotation 90 CCW .................. 82 Rotation 90 CW..................... 82 Ruler Numbering................... 160 S Save....................................... 127 Save As ................................... 31 Save Atlas ............................. 177 Save Motif............................... 75 Save Project ............................ 32 Search tab.................................. 7 Sections ..................................... 4 Segment................................. 143 Select Color........................... 168 Select Last Used Motif.......... 147 Select tracing parameters ...... 114 Select Whole Image as Motif 151 Selection By Color ................ 147 Shadow effects ........................ 97 Show Motif Base........... 147, 151 Show Repeat Boundaries ...... 167 Show Stencil Colors.............. 197 Simulation View ..................... 14 Size.......................................... 47 Size Change - method ........... 153 Size reduction.......................... 28 Smudge...................................140 Sort By ...................................202 Spin arrows ................................7 Spot Color Separation & Cleaning .................................1 Spread to adjacent areas.138, 149 Square or Rectangle Tool ......134 Standard Toolbar....................127 Status bar..............................6, 16 Status Bar .............................7, 68 Stencil ....................................168 Straight Line Tool..................132 Stripe........................................96 Stripes and Checks.................140 Suggestion..............................211 Summary chips.......................171 Symbol Card View...................15 Symbols..............................4, 109 Symmetry .................................91 T Tangents.................................143 Tape Measure.........................167 Terms and Conventions .............4 The Main Window ...................13 Tile Horizontally....................159 Tile Options ...........................122 Tile Vertically........................159 Title bar......................................6 Toolbars .................................127 Tools Menu ..............................83 Tracing ...........................114, 182 Tracing Toolbar .....................183 Transparency............................77 True colors ...............................54

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Index
U Undo ........................................ 61 Units ........................................ 49 V View - adjust the size of............ 6 View Menu.............................. 65 View Pattern draft ................. 177 View Rulers........................... 159 View Simulation.................... 178 View Symbol Card ................ 178 Vision Color Chart code........ 189 W Whats this?........................... 128 Whats this? Button................... 7 White gradient ....................... 175 Window Menu....................... 121 Wizard ....................................... 9 Wizard Providing Technical Data .... 26 Working Visually ................ 23 Wizard button.......................... 20 Wizard for size changes .......... 50 Working with guidelines ....... 163 X XYZ....................................... 192 Z Zoom Area............................. 169 Zoom In ................................. 156 Zoom Out .............................. 156 Zoom Toolbar........................ 155

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