NeedleCraft Plus/needlecraftplusvolume1.iso/dos/xszip/xs.doc

Text File | 1993-06-03 | 22KB | 642 lines

                      X-STITCH(tm)


A Computer Program for Generating Needlework Patterns

                   V2.0 User's Guide











(c) Copyright 1993 by Bill Lovegrove

Software Solutions
P.O. Box 16615
Greenville, SC  29606

Note: This is an abbreviated text-only version of the printed
manual, which registered users receive.

I. INTRODUCTION

Overview

This program for IBM-PC compatible computers allows you to design your own
cross-stitch patterns. It can also be used for needlepoint and other types of
needlecraft patterns.

Features of this program include:

      - Support for VGA (recommended), EGA,
        and Hercules graphics (symbols only)
      - Graphical interface with support for mouse (recommended)
        and keyboard
      - Up to 62 colors in one pattern
      - Symbols for full stitches, half-stitches, and french knots
      - See actual stitches in color on the screen
      - 16 possible fabric colors
      - Up to 320x320 stitch pattern size
      - Pan and zoom the pattern
      - Back-stitch, half-stitch, and quarter-stitch support
        (any length, any direction)
      - Move, Copy/Paste, Mirror, and Rotate capability
      - Print patterns including back-stitches at any angle
      - Print on a variety of printers
      - User selectable symbol set and color names
      - Convert GIF graphics files to patterns
      - Convert patterns to GIF files

Program Limits

      Maximum Drawing Size                            320x320 stitches
      Stitch sizes                                    1-24 stitches/inch
      Maximum number of backstitches                  3000
      Maximum number of colors                        62

About Colors

Both EGA and VGA video systems are capable of only 16 simultaneous colors
in their standard high-resolution modes. This program displays 62 different
colors by blending ("dithering") combinations of the 16 colors. This works well
for large blocks of color but does not produce perfectly even color on small
narrow stitches. For this reason two viewing modes are provided: "View
Stitches" which actually draws the individual stitches, and "View Squares"
which draws a colored square for each cross-stitch.

The 62 available colors cannot be changed. You cannot, for example, get 62
different shades of green.  If you need a pattern with many shades of the same
color, you can use other colors for some of the shades. Each one of them will
have a different symbol on the printed pattern. Then you can stitch them with
whatever colors you desire.

Suggested DMC floss color numbers are provided for each color in the palette.
Due to the natural variations in color from one computer monitor to the next,
the colors you see on your screen may not exactly match the corresponding
floss colors. You should use these numbers as a guide, and consult actual floss
samples for exact color matching.

Registration

This program is distributed as shareware. It is not public domain and it is not
free. You may freely copy it for evaluation purposes. However, after a
reasonable examination period you must either pay the registration fee or stop
using the program.

If you give the program to someone else for examination, please give them just
the XSZIP.EXE compressed file. This will insure that they get all the parts of
the program.

See the registration form and important information in the accompanying file
REGIST.DOC.


II. INSTALLATION AND EXECUTION

The X-STITCH program and associated files are contained in a single
compressed file called XSZIP.EXE. You should copy this file from the diskette
onto the floppy disk or hard disk where you intend to use the program. Then
change to that directory and type "XSZIP". The program will "unpack" itself
and all of its associated files. You can then remove the file XSZIP.EXE if you
desire.

The program is completely self-contained in the file XS.EXE, which may be
copied onto another floppy disk or a directory on your hard disk. You are
encouraged to make a backup copy of the program for safe keeping.

System requirements are:

      DOS 3.30 or later
      512K RAM
      VGA (recommended), EGA , CGA, or Hercules Graphics Adapter
      Microsoft-compatible mouse

To execute the program, type "xs". The program will attempt to automatically
detect the type of monitor you are using.  If this does not work or if you want
to force a particular monitor type, add one of the following options:

      xs -v       Force VGA graphics
      xs -e       Force EGA graphics
      xs -h       Force Hercules monochrome graphics

A optional file name can be added on the command line to specify that a
particular file is to be loaded.  For example,

     xs santa.fil

will run the program and load the sample file called "santa.fil" (included with
this program).

These options can be combined.  For example,

        xs -e santa.fil

will load "santa.fil" in EGA mode.


III. USING THE MOUSE AND KEYBOARD

This program works best with a mouse. Although is most easily operated with a
mouse, most of the functions can also be operated using only the keyboard. A
list of the keyboard equivalents for each function are listed below. Many of
these keyboard equivalents are useful alternatives to the mouse.

KEY               FUNCTION

F1                Help Screen

F2                Toggle full-screen editing mode

X                 Cross-stitch mode
/ or \            Half Stitch Modes
*                 French Knot (or other specialty stitch) mode
|                 Back-stitch mode

first letter      Activate the button
  of all buttons

#                 Change the stitch counts and sizes

ESC key           Exit (from almost anything)

Delete or         Undo the most recently drawn stitch
   Backspace            (up to 100 times)

+                 Zoom larger
-                 Zoom smaller

arrow             Move the cursor one stitch

Ctrl-arrow        Change the current color in the palette

Shift-arrow       Pan (scroll) the picture if it extends beyond the screen


KEY               FUNCTION
SPACE key         Cross-stitch mode:
                        Place a cross-stitch at the current cursor location.
                  Back-stitch mode:
                        Begin a cross-stitch.
                        Use the arrow keys to move to the end of the stitch.
                        Press SPACE when finished.
                  Tools:
                        Begin/end a block.
shift-SPACE       Delete a stitch

If your mouse has more than one button, the buttons all have the same function.
Although the left mouse button is traditionally used for most operations, in this
program the right and/or center buttons perform the same functions.

IV. DRAWING AND DELETING

A mode box in the upper left corner allows you to select one of five modes:

Cross-stitch mode which draws full cross stitches with each mouse click.
Holding down the mouse button while moving the mouse will draw
multiple stitches automatically.

Half-stitch modes (left or right slant) which draw half stitches with each
mouse click. Holding down the mouse button while moving the mouse
will draw multiple stitches automatically.

French Knot (or other specialty stitch) mode which draws a circular
stitch with each mouse click. Holding down the mouse button while
moving the mouse will draw multiple stitches automatically.

Back-stitch mode, which lets you draw individual stitches of any size and
direction.

You can draw cross stitches by drawing two individual backstitches, but it will
not print using a symbol and is not normally recommended. You can also draw
half-stitches using the backstitch tool, but they will not print as symbols either.

Quarter stitches are drawn using the backstitch tool. A quarter stitch is just 1/4
of a complete cross stitch, drawn from the corner of a square to the middle.

Deleting

In cross-stitch, half-stitch, and french knot modes, clicking on an existing stitch
will erase it. Holding the mouse button down while moving the mouse will
erase multiple stitches as well. In back-stitch mode, clicking on a back-stitch
will select the stitch for deletion. Be careful not to move the mouse while you
are clicking or the program will think that you are drawing a new backstitch.

V. TOOLS

Each option in the Tools menu requires you to select a region.  To select a
region of the pattern, click the mouse at one corner of the region and hold the
mouse button down. Then "drag" the mouse (move it while continuing to hold
the button down) to the other corner. You will see rectangle drawn on the
screen outlining the region selected. When it is the proper size, release the
mouse button.

Cut will remove a selected rectangular region of the drawing. The removed
stitches are saved in a "clipboard" and may be pasted back into the drawing or
into another drawing.

Duplicate will copy a rectangular region of stitches into the "clipboard" without
removing them.

Paste will place the drawing in the clipboard, if any, into the present drawing.
After it appears on the screen, you can place it wherever you desire.

Move will move stitches, overwriting any existing stitches that are there.

Flipping can be applied to any rectangular region of the screen.

Rotation (Right 90°, Left 90°) can only be done to square regions of the
drawing. The program will not allow you to select a region for rotation which
is not square.

Note that a "mirror image" of a pattern can be obtained by duplicating and then
flipping.

VI. PRINTING

Several different types of printers are supported. Most printers will recognize
either the Epson-compatible printing or the IBM- compatible printing.  You
should try these two options first. Most laser printers support one of the two
HP laser printer modes.

Your printer may require switches to be set in order to print these graphics.
Consult your printer manual for details.

The ASCII and Extended ASCII options print symbols only (no backstitches).
They are not particularly attractive, but they can be used for printers which do
not support the graphics modes.

If your printer is not supported, write to Software Solutions and describe the
make and model of your printer. Your printer may already be supported in a
newer version of the software. If so, we will send you the newer version at no
extra cost. If not, we will attempt to support your printer in future versions, if
possible.

The 9-pin dot matrix printers are not physically capable of printing smaller than
6 stitches per inch. This is a limitation of the printer, not a limitation in the
program.

The program is capable of detecting quarter stitches and printing them as
symbols. Three modes are available:

      1) Print all quarter stitches as lines (like all back stitches).

      2) Print all quarter stitches as symbols (like cross-stitches).

      3) "Smart" printing: detect those quarter stitches which are on the edge of
      a block of stitches and print them as symbols. Print all other quarter
      stitches as lines (like back stitches).

Smart printing attempts to duplicate the way in which quarter stitches are
normally printed in cross stitch patterns. The other two options allow you to
turn off smart printing if it does not do what you desire.

Also available under the printing menu is the capability to output the pattern as
a GIF format graphics image rather than directly to the printer. With
appropriate software, GIF images can be printed on many printers including
color printers, and they can be edited in many graphics programs.VII. PALETTE AND FABRIC

To change colors in the palette, click on the small color box beside the color
name in the bottom half of the screen. Then click on the new color.

To change the name or symbol of a color, click on the name or on the symbol
and then type the new name or symbol. (Read in the HINTS chapter how to
create symbols which are not on the keyboard.)

To delete colors from the palette, click on the small color box beside the color
name in the bottom half of the screen. Then press the delete key.

      Caution: Any stitches in the pattern of that color will also be deleted.

The fabric color can be set to one of sixteen different colors. This choice is
made in the upper right-hand corner of the palette screen. Click on the color
you would like for the fabric.

The fabric size is shown on the main screen just below the drawing area. The
size can be changed by clicking on the number and then typing the new
number. The largest allowable size is 320 by 320 stitches. If you do not have
640K of memory, you may not be able to work with drawings this large.

VIII. SUPPORT

If you have questions or comments about this program, please write to

      Software Solutions
      P.O. Box 16615
      Greenville, SC  29606

Or send electronic mail on CompuServe to 70451,2255.

We will do our best to fix any program "bugs" which you identify and will
send you a new version free of charge.

We would also appreciate your comments about what features you would like to
see included in future versions of this program.

If you have special needs or would like a custom version of this program, we
would like to hear from you as well.

IX. IMPORTING GIF FILES

GIF files are a standard way of storing graphics images. Examples
of GIF images can be found in the graphics forums on CompuServe.
Many graphics programs and scanners are capable of producing
GIF images or converting their images to GIF. Programs which
convert other graphics formats to GIF are also available on
CompuServe.

To convert a GIF image to a pattern, simply open it using the LOAD
command. The program will recognize that it is a GIF image and automatically
begin the conversion process.

Size

X-STITCH patterns are limited to 320x320 stitches. GIF files can be
much larger. This program will "shrink" a GIF file to a smaller
X-STITCH pattern. You can interactively increase or decrease the scale
factor (pixels per stitch) and view the results on screen. Note:
scaling naturally causes a loss of detail in the picture. It is better
to produce a GIF file of the appropriate size to begin with, if possible.
Check your scanner for various resolution settings.

Tall patterns may be too large to display on the screen, particularly
if you are using EGA. If a pattern is too tall, you will see only as much
as will fit on the screen, but the entire image will be converted
into a pattern.

Many graphics images are larger than 320 stitches. 640x480 is a
typical size. In most cases you do not actually want
a pattern with this many stitches (640x480 represents 307,200
stitches!). Normally you will use X-STITCH to shrink the pattern
to a smaller size.

If you are scanning the image yourself, it is better to scan
the image at a lower resolution to begin with. If you have
image processing software, it may do a better job of
shrinking the image than X-STITCH can.

Cropping

If you want to reproduce just a part of a larger image, you can
select the image region with the mouse after the image is on
the screen. Hold down the mouse button and select the region
to crop.

GIF Palette

X-STITCH patterns are also limited to 62 preset colors. GIF files
can have large palettes with millions of possible colors. This program
attempts to match GIF colors to X-STITCH colors. You can interactively
change colors (by dragging a color bar to a free color) or combine
colors (by dragging a color bar on top of an existing color).

X-STITCH has only a limited number of shades of each color. If you
give it a pattern with many shades of the same color (62 shades
of green, for example), even though X-STITCH is capable of 62 colors
it is NOT capable of 62 greens. You have two options in this case:

   1. Make each shade of green a different color in X-STITCH. The pattern
      you see on-screen will not be the proper colors (some of the
      greens will come out red, blue, etc.) but the pattern will be
      properly represented with 62 different symbols.

   2. X-STITCH can combine several of the greens into a single
      green in its palette. This will result in a smaller palette
      and some loss of detail but all greens will look green.

Select either of these options with the "Option" button on the screen.

GIF Background Color

GIF images have a background color. In needlework, the fabric is usually
the background. This program gives you the choice of including the
background in the pattern (which produces a pattern completely covered
with stitches) or excluding it. The background color is indicated
on the display by a red border around the color at the bottom of
the screen.

When an image is being shrunk to a smaller size, several pixels
of different colors may have to be combined into one stitch.
X-STITCH has two possible options in this case:

     1. Treat the background the same as the other colors,
        with an equal chance of it being selected for the stitch.

     2. Prefer other colors first. Make a stitch background
        only if the entire region it represents is blank. This is better
      for things like scanned line drawings which have large areas
      of empty background.

Occasionally a GIF file will specify a black background even though
the actual image contains another background color. XSGIF will recognize
this situation and will give you the option of switching the background
to the color that actually is the background in the image.

Select any of these options with the "Option" button on the screen.

If you are using XSGIF for a craft such as knitting where there is
no underlying fabric, the distinction of background color is largely
irrelevant. You should always select the option to include the
background color in the pattern.

Aspect Ratio

Some patterns are represented by pixels which are not square. X-STITCH
stitches are always square. If each pixel is converted into a
stitch, the pattern will look distorted. In this case, X-STITCH can
use the "aspect ratio" information to correct the image.

Some images do not represent square pixels but the aspect ratio information
is missing from the GIF file. In this case X-STITCH will not know
to correct the image. However, with the "Options" button you can optionally
enter an aspect ratio to use to correct the image.

"Aspect ratio" is the width of a pixel divided by the height. If a
picture looks tall and skinny, use an aspect ratio greater than 1.
If a picture looks short and fat, use an aspect ratio less than 1.



X. HINTS

When using colors that are nearly identical, it can be difficult to distinguish
them on the screen. To make your work easier, you can temporarily change one
of the colors to something that contrasts sharply.  You can then change it back
later when you are finished. Symbol mode is also useful for distinguishing
similar colors.

If a stitch color is the same as the background fabric color, the stitches will be
nearly impossible to see on the screen. To see those stitches better, change
them to another color or temporarily change the fabric to another color.

To create a mirror image of a section, duplicate and then flip the section.

Several sample patterns are included with this program. All have file names
ending with ".fil".  You are encouraged to load some of these example files and
examine them to get some idea of the capabilities of this program.

Due to the inherent limitations of your monitor, your pattern may appear
slightly distorted when zoomed so that the drawing is very small.  This is
especially noticeable on EGA monitors.

When printing in the "Extended ASCII" mode, your printer must be capable of
printing the "IBM Graphics Character Set." On many printers this is an option
which is off by default. Check your printer manual for information on how to
enable this feature. This feature is not required for any of the other printer
choices.

When printing quarter stitches in "smart" mode, the computer looks for
enclosing back stitches that are one regular half-stitch in size. If you make a
long diagonal covering several stitches, smart printing may not recognize it.
Redraw it as individual half-stitches for better printing.

In addition to the characters on the keyboard, any printable symbol in the IBM
ASCII character set can be used in your chart. To generate the characters which
are not on the keyboard, hold down the ALT key and then type the ASCII code
number on the numeric keypad. Below is a list of the symbols in this set. There
are also symbols below 32, but they may not print correctly on your printer.

128 Ç
129 ü
130 é
131 â
132 ä
133 à
134 å
135 ç
136 ê
137 ë
138 è
139 ï
140 î
141 ì
142 Ä
143 Å
144 É
145 æ
146 Æ
147 ô
148 ö
149 ò
150 û
151 ù
152 ÿ
153 Ö
154 Ü
155 ¢
156 £
157 ¥
158 ₧
159 ƒ
160 á
161 í
162 ó
163 ú
164 ñ
165 Ñ
166 ª
167 º
168 ¿
169 ⌐
170 ¬
171 ½
172 ¼
173 ¡
174 «
175 »
176 ░
177 ▒
178 ▓
179 │
180 ┤
181 ╡
182 ╢
183 ╖
184 ╕
185 ╣
186 ║
187 ╗
188 ╝
189 ╜
190 ╛
191 ┐
192 └
193 ┴
194 ┬
195 ├
196 ─
197 ┼
198 ╞
199 ╟
200 ╚
201 ╔
202 ╩
203 ╦
204 ╠
205 ═
206 ╬
207 ╧
208 ╨
209 ╤
210 ╥
211 ╙
212 ╘
213 ╒
214 ╓
215 ╫
216 ╪
217 ┘
218 ┌
219 █
220 ▄
221 ▌
222 ▐
223 ▀
224 α
225 ß
226 Γ
227 π
228 Σ
229 σ
230 µ
231 τ
232 Φ
233 Θ
234 Ω
235 δ
236 ∞
237 φ
238 ε
239 ∩
240 ≡
241 ±
242 ≥
243 ≤
244 ⌠
245 ⌡
246 ÷
247 ≈
248 °
249 ∙
250 ·
251 √
252 ⁿ
253 ²
254 ■