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We will learn how to digitize a company logo in this lesson. It is intended for beginners and all steps are commented.
Studio fills vector objects drawn by user or imported from vector file with stitches. The finished design is uploaded into Embird Editor for final adjustments and save in desired format.
For actual digitizing, and if you already have your logo vectorized in some graphics program and saved in SVG or another format compatible with Studio, you can use the vector graphics conversion to your embroidery design. Use the main menu > design > export/import > Import Vector File function to convert the vector graphics to your design and avoid having to manually redraw objects. However, in this lesson, we will use manual digitizing to learn how to do it in Studio, since a lot of the digitizing work needs to be done manually to get the best results.
When digitizing a design in Studio, the user can import a scanned image or photograph onto the work area as a template. The digitizing process itself involves drawing vector objects on top of the image and filling them with stitches. To make the vector objects more visible against the background, the imported image can be brightened, darkened, or otherwise filtered.
The first step in digitizing logo or other design is usually import of the image. The image is usually rotated, deformed or otherwise distorted.
Use the main menu > Image > Import command to load image into the background of the work area. When importing image, Studio asks you whether you want to resize image so that it fits the current size of Hoop (Work Area) or not. Select No in this case. We will set the image size later.
Studio can import image up to 5000 pixels width and height.
Fig.1. Import of Image.
This image needs to be rotated to a horizontal position. Use the main menu > Image > Tools > Edit Image Window command to open window with controls for image adjustment. There is a Rotate Image control on the first tab. Use it to rotate image to desired position.
You can adjust angle in a several ways:
When adjusting the angle, wait a moment for Studio to rotate the image. Change the angle until image is rotated to desired position.
Click to finish.
Another way of rotating image is to use the main menu > Image > Tools > Rotate To Horizontal tool.
Place the handles of this tool on any line you want to make horizontal and click OK. The program will rotate the image so that the line you selected is horizontal.
Fig. 2. Rotation with Rotate To Horizontal tool.
Fig. 3. Rectified image.
Now we will crop the image. Activate the Crop tool using main menu > Image > Tools > Crop.
Drag the crop lines close to the edges of the logo. The crop lines have handles that allow the user to grab and move them. You can use the zoom tools as well as the work area sliders to zoom in or out and to pan the work area to precisely position the crop lines.
Click OK to crop the image along the crop lines.
Fig. 4. Logo bounded by the crop lines.
Now we will set required size of the image, which also means setting of required size of embroidery design.
Use the main menu > Image > Tools > Edit Image Window command to open window with controls for image adjustment.
Select the second tab (image size) and set required size of the image. The third tab allows you to set width of empty area border that will be added to the image after resizing. This empty border is useful for digitizing, because user does not have to work too close to edges of the work area.
Click button. Image is rotated, cropped and resized.
Note: If you have skewed or otherwise deformed image, use Straighten Image tool from the main menu > Image. We will not use it now as it is not needed in this case.
To make digitizing easier, we will brighten the image. All necessary image details will remain visible, but there will be higher contrast between the digitized vector objects and the background image. Use the main menu > Image > Tools > Background Filters to open the window for change of image brightness and color. Adjust brightness by moving the Brightness slider. Then click button.
Fig. 5. Effect of increased brightness on the image.
Now we can start the actual digitizing.
We will use Fill objects to digitize colored areas, such as letters and nuts. Then we will add a thin black outline (Outline Objects) on top .
Fill objects are filled with long parallel stitches (if the basic "plain fill" is used). The stitches are divided into shorter stitches so that the thread is not too loose. These divisions also give the plain fill a visual texture. Because of these split stitches and their constant angle, fill objects are used for digitizing large objects.
Note: If you use fill objects for lettering, they should be at least 1 cm (1/2 inch) high to ensure good stitching. They are not suitable for digitizing small lettering or narrow objects.
A good embroidery design should have as few jump stitches as possible to speed up the sewing process and make the embroidery more beautiful. If there are no trims or color changes, the design is sewn continuously. Sometimes the trims cannot be avoided, but the digitizer should minimize the number of trims in the design.
To avoid too many trims, it is necessary to properly place the start and end points of the areas. If these areas are close one to the other, place their start and end points so that they can be connected with Connection objects. There should be a minimum distance between the end point of one object and the start point of the other, so that the connection is as short as possible ("nearest point connection").
Fig. 6. Nearest point connection between the two fill objects.
Note: it is not always necessary to use only the closest point connections. The gap between connected objects can be covered by an object of a different color. In such a case, the connection should be hidden under this object, even if it is not the closest point connection.
Click on the red color in the palette (top right corner of the screen) to select red color for objects that we are going to create.
Select the Fill tool and place the first node on a place of letter E that is nearest to the letter m. Now the Studio is in a 'creation/editing' mode. Letter E will have start point and fill end point on the same place, because it is a first letter in the word. Digitize whole letter by placing nodes around the letter. Rectangular nodes are ends of the curve segments.
Fig. 7. Digitizing of letter E.
To place the last node on top of the first, you have to create it a little bit aside and then move it on top of the first node. Otherwise, you will select the first node instead of creating a new node.
When the entire object is drawn, click the secondary mouse button to bring up the context menu. To finish digitizing the letter, select the Generate Stitches command. Notice the other commands in this menu that allow you to convert curves to straight lines and vice versa, insert or delete elements, and also change the position of the start and end points of the fill. The program fills the object with a thread that starts at the start point and ends at the end point. The correct placement of these two points is very important if you want to connect several objects and avoid trims.
Fig. 8. Draw curves along the contour of letter E, starting at the right side. Then Click secondary mouse button to bring up the pop-up menu and select Generate Stitches command. The three lines extending at different angles from the first node are indicators of the angles of the zig-zag underlay 1, zig-zag underlay 2, and the cover stitches.
The finished letter is filled with stitches all running at the same angle (0 degrees in this case). Studio also automatically generates the underlay stitches. The edge underlay around the contour of the letter prevents the cover stitches from pulling. The zig-zag underlay stitches reinforce the fabric to minimize the push effect of the sewing.
Notice the tiny dots on the horizontal stitches. They indicate needle points - the places where long horizontal stitches divide into smaller stitches. The needle points are arranged according to the pattern. The user can select any of the predefined fill patterns from the parameters window or define their own patterns.
Fig. 9. Finished letter E filled with underlay and cover stitches.
All finished objects are displayed in theObject Inspector.
Fig. 10. Icon in the Object Inspector list.
Please note that character 'E' was digitized with plain fill tool. If you need to create satin stitch lettering, please read "Manual digitizing of lettering" tutorial.
Digitize all letters in the same way as the first letter E. Please note that start point of letter m is at the left side (picture below) and fill end point is at the right side. To achieve this, place the nodes around the letter starting and ending at the left side. Then select node at the right side, click secondary mouse button and choose Place Fill End Point Here command. The start and end points are placed this way because we want to create connecting stitches between the letters later.
Fig. 11. Digitized letter m. Start point is at the left side. Though the last point of the object is also at the left side (as the object is closed), the stitching will end on the right side of the letter, because Fill End Point has been assigned to the right-most node.
Letters b and d must be created in a little bit different way, because they have opening. Create the outer contour like on the previous letters (with fill tool) and then create opening with the Opening tool. Notice that opening is not displayed in the Object Inspector window. It is displayed in the parts inspector window where the parts of complex objects are displayed.
Fig. 12. Finished letter b.
Fig. 13. Opening is displayed in the Parts Inspector list.
Digitize the blue part of one of the nuts with the fill tool. We will create the rest of objects with duplicating and rotation. Select the object and click the main menu > Transform > Transform Objects.
Fig. 14. First object is digitized manually.
Set 120 degrees to angle control on the Rotation Tab. Set Count to 3. Move center point of rotation (small cross) in the work area to desired place. A semi-transparent preview of new copies of the object is displayed in the work area and also in the control panel. Click Generate Stitches button (bucket icon) in the top bar.
Fig. 16. All blue areas on image are filled with red thread.
All blue parts of the image are digitized and filled with red thread now. We have used red thread because it is well visible on the background.
We will change color of all red objects to blue. Select all objects with use of any of the following methods:
Depress primary mouse button on the blue color cell in the palette and drag cursor to selected items in the Object Inspector list or to the selection box in the work area. Then release the left button to drop color on selected objects. Color of selected objects will change to blue.
Fig. 17. Color was changed from red to blue.
Now we will digitize the yellow parts of nuts. In fact, we should have done this before digitizing of the blue areas, because the yellow parts would look more natural if they are beneath of the blue areas.
Anyway, we can digitize the yellow areas now and change order of objects so that they will sew first. Select some color from the palette (brown, for example). Use the Fill tool to digitize yellow area of the first nut. There must be an overlay between yellow and blue area to prevent the fabric showing through the stitches. If there is no overlay, tension in the thread could move objects away and cause the gap between the objects.
Fig. 18. Yellow area should be digitized with slight overlay into the blue area. We area going to swap the order of sewing. The blue layer will be on the top of the yellow layer.
Use the main menu > Transform > Object Transformations to create 2 duplicates of the object, rotated 120 degrees (or -120 degrees) each. Then Generate stitches for the new objects.
Fig. 19. Duplicated and rotated objects.
The brown objects are still on top of the blue objects. To change order of objects, use the Object Inspector. Select the 3 brown objects in the Object Inspector list. Depress the secondary mouse button on the selection and drag cursor to the first object in the list (letter E). Then release the secondary mouse button and choose Insert Before command from the pop-up menu. The 3 brown objects will be moved to the top of the list, which means that they will be sewn before the blue objects.
Fig. 20. Use drag-and-drop operation with primary mouse button to change sewing order of objects. Chose Insert Before option from the pop-up menu that appears. Picture at the right side shows the new order of objects.
We should change the sewing order of blue parts of the nuts as well.
Fig. 21. Use drag-and-drop operation with primary mouse button to change sewing order of objects. Chose Insert Before option from the pop-up menu that appears. Picture at the right side shows the new order of objects.
We will change the angle of stitches in the brown objects, because they have the same angle as the blue objects. If two adjacent fill objects have same angle of stitches, the stitches may interleave and the edge between the objects may be jagged.
Select the 3 brown objects, click secondary mouse button on the selection and choose Parameters command from the pop-up menu. When Parameters window appears, change the fill angle to 90 degrees. Then click button to close the parameters window.
Fig. 22. Change of fill stitches angle.
As you may have noticed in fig. 20 and 21, there is a small red scissors icon displayed in the Object Inspector list next to each object that we have created so far. This means that object is not connected to the previous object by thread and the embroidery machine will insert trim on this place (it depends on the type of machine). On many places, the trims (or jump stitches) are not desirable. As the letters in the Embird logo are close one to the other, we could connect them with connections made up of running stitches, to avoid trims.
Fig. 23. Logo with all fill objects.
Select letters m b i r and d in the Object Inspector window. Do not select letter E, because we do not want to connect it to previous object. Click secondary mouse button on the selection and use the Create Connection command from the pop-up menu. Connection is created from each selected object to its preceding object.
Fig. 24. Creating connections for selected objects.
Program creates connection stitches between the objects. Notice tiny connections marked by red arrows on the below picture. If you you get long stitches going through the objects, it means that you have not placed the start and end points of the fill objects correctly.
Connections created automatically by Studio are straight lines. In some cases, you may need to edit shape of connection by inserting new nodes.
Fig. 25. Nearest point connections between the letters.
For a complete list of outline creation methods, see the Outlines - Overview chapter.
Now we'll add thin outlines, made up from running stitch, to the logo. We will create an outline that has two layers of stitches. We will draw the first layer, and then use Studio's features to create the second layer of stitches automatically. Studio allows you to use many creative types of outlines, but the simple thin running stitch outline is probably the most useful for digitizing corporate logos. Other types of the outlines (pattern, border, sketch, etc.) require a larger size to stitch well.
Another type of outline that is frequently used is satin stitch outline. However, we do not need it for this logo.
Select the black color from the palette. Use the Outline tool to create first part of outline of the nut. We will draw outline part by part, because we will use main menu > Build > Outlines > Arrange Outline Parts function to reorder outlines and add second layer of stitches (backward paths) automatically. This function requires the outline to be drawn by parts. Each part should have start and/or end point near to the start or end point of other part, so that program knows which parts to join together and where.
Notice that new outline object is displayed with red foot steps icon in the Object Inspector list. This means that the outline object does not have the backward path (second layer of stitches).
Fig. 26. First part of outline of the nut.
When creating the outline parts, we can use the main menu (node editing mode) > Nodes > Snap to Nodes option. When moving the newly created nodes, they snap to existing nodes of blue and brown objects beneath. This way we can easily create outline running exactly around the fill objects.
Create the second part of the outline as a separate object. Place the start point on top or near the end point of previous outline object.
Fig. 27. Digitizing of second part of outline. Snap to Nodes option is on to simplify the nodes placement.
Now we have two separate parts of the outline and we will join them together and create the second layer of stitches. Select the two outline objects and use main menu > Build > Outlines > Arrange Outline Parts command. Notice that Studio creates object composed of two original parts and it adds two identical parts with reverse order of nodes (see the Parts Inspector). They are so called "backward paths". Studio automatically reorders all outline parts so that they are sewn continuously. Sewing starts in the start point of the first part and it ends in the same point. Program automatically creates path along all oarts of the outline and then back to the start point.
Arranged parts are joined into single item in the Object Inspector list (see the object no. 18 in fig. 24).
Fig. 28. Complete outline of nut composed of two original parts and two automatically created parts.
Select the whole outline of the nut and duplicate and rotate it for the rest of the nuts. Use the main menu > Transform > Object Transformations to accomplish this task. Then move rotated outlines to their position.
Fig. 29. Outlines on all three nuts.
Now we will create outlines for the lettering. As letters are close one to the other, the easiest way is to draw outline around whole word and then create backward path for it.
The first picture shows vectorization of half of the lettering contour. The second picture shows the whole outline.
Fig. 30. Creating of outline around the lettering.
Select the outline and use themain menu > Build > Outlines > Create Backward Path command to create object that is identical to the first outline, but it has reverse order of nodes. Notice that new object is displayed in the Object Inspector list with black footsteps in the icon, which means that it is a backward path.
Fig. 31. Second layer of stitches (backward path) of outline of the lettering.
Fig. 33. Example of how to draw outline parts to use the Arrange Outline Parts function
It is also possible to create above outlines automatically with Auto Outliner tool.
Design is almost finished. However, we need to create outlines also for openings in letters b and d. Draw outline for opening in letter b (objects no. 23 in the Object Inspector) and then create the backward path for it (object no. 24). Do the same for letter d. Notice there is are trims between lettering outline and openings outlines, because there is no way of how to make connections between them so that they would be not visible.
Fig. 33. Digitized logo with fills and outlines.
There are 3 colors and 13 trims in this design. We could spare 6 trims if we create connections between parts of nuts that are of the same color.
Design will look better if we convert some fill areas to zig-zag areas. This will add design relief and more interesting look. Select the blue part of the nut, click secondary mouse button on selection and choose Parameters from the pop-up menu. Select Auto Column option in the Fill tab of the Parameters window. Then click button to close the window. Generate stitches for selected object anew. Object is now filled with stitches as if it was digitized as several Column objects connected with connections.
Fig. 34. Change of the plain fill to the Auto Column fill.
The fill of the brown area on the nut has default predefined pattern. You can choose other pattern, define your own pattern and/or add Carving objects on top of the fill object, which will cause additional needle points in the pattern and add texture to the fill. Select the brown fill object and use Carving Tool to add curves like in the below example.
Fig. 35. Adding Carving objects to enhance the texture of the fill.