Curly Plant Mesh - Advanced Techniques

Step-by-step Guide

This guide serves as a follow-up to the Curly Plant Mesh - Essential Guide. It explains how to combine the Mesh tool with other digitizing features to create complex embroidery designs.

Building upon the core concepts, this tutorial provides instructions for creating intricate designs by using fractal fills and lettering as "cores" for plant fills. Additionally, it demonstrates how to generate symmetrical corner decorations by combining curly plant ornaments with the Corner tool.

Example #1 - Using the Fractal Fill as a Core for the Curly Plant Fill

The primary principle in this example is to generate fractal lines, convert them into outlines, and then transform them into carvings within a Mesh object. These carvings then serve as a platform (core) from which the plant fill grows.

Illustration: Curly plant fill with fractal as a core

1. Draw a Mesh Object; ensure it is sufficiently large, such as 10x10cm (4x4 inches).
   

   Mesh object drawn with vectors

2. Open the Parameters window.
3. Select Net > Fractal fill.
4. Select a Fractal Kind (e.g., #25).
5. Enable the Smooth option if desired.
6. Set the "Average Width of Gap" to a larger value (e.g., 20).
7. Select Single Layer.
8. Generate Stitches to visualize the layout.
   

   Net > Fractal fill with large spacing

9. Select the Mesh object and navigate to Main Menu > Convert > Fill, Mesh & Sfumato > Create Separate Outline Elements.
10. Select the newly created group of outlines and "Ungroup" them.
11. Delete the outline representing the outer contour, as it is not needed for the carving core.
    

    Delete the outer contour

12. Select the remaining outline objects and use the Main Menu > Convert > Outline > Outline To Carving command. The outlines will move into the original Mesh object as carvings.
13. Select the Mesh object and open the Parameters window.
14. Change the mesh mode from Net to Plant > Curly Branching.
15. Set Growth Kind to From Core.
16. Under the Core tab, set Core Kind to Carvings.
17. Generate Stitches.
18. Adjust flower and leaf parameters as needed.

Plant sprouts growing from the fractal core

Leaf and flower parameters changed

Example #2 - Using Lettering as a Core for the Curly Plant Fill

Curly Plant with Lettering as a Core

This method involves creating lettering, converting it to outlines, and then to carvings. The resulting carvings act as the growth origin for the plant fill.

1. Draw a sufficiently large Mesh Object.
2. Create lettering (Font Engine module required). Use "Plain Fill" mode without outlines.
   

   Lettering

3. Position the lettering over the Mesh object and resize it to fit within the boundaries.
4. Use Main Menu > Transform > Envelope to shape the lettering, leaving enough space within the Mesh object for the sprouts to grow.
   

   Lettering adjusted with envelope

5. Convert the fill lettering to outlines using Main Menu > Convert > Fill, Mesh & Sfumato > Create Outlines from Fill.
6. Delete the original plain fill lettering object, leaving only the outlines.
7. Convert the outlines to carvings via Main Menu > Convert > Outline > Outline To Carving. As carvings are not a stand-alone objects, they are automatically attached to previous object, which is the rectangular Mesh object.
   

   Mesh object with carvings created from lettering

8. Open the Parameters window for the Mesh object.
9. Disable Include contours (both outer and inner).
10. Set mesh mode to Plant > Curly Branching and Growth Kind to From Core.
11. Set Span to "Inner" and Maximum Sprout Generations to 2.
12. Under the Core tab, set Core Kind to Carvings and generate stitches.
    

    Plant sprouts growing from the lettering core

Lettering with autocolumn fill

Note

• You may preserve the lettering (step #7) and fill it with Autocolumn for a solid center.
• Ensure the Mesh object is positioned above the autocolumn lettering in the Object Inspector to act as a decorative border.

Example #3 - Symmetrical Corner Decorations

This example demonstrates combining the Curly Plant ornament with the Corner tool. Because the plant generation is pseudo-random, rotating the original mesh object would produce inconsistent results. Therefore, we generate one ornament, convert it to outlines, and then duplicate those outlines.

Vector contour for corner ornament

1. Draw the Mesh object in a horizontal position using Snap to Grid. Create a 90-degree angle at the top to fit the hoop corner.

Resulting symmetrical corner decorations

2. Place the Origin Point.
3. In Parameters, select Plant > Curly Branching and set Growth Kind to Mirror.
4. Set Include Contours to "No", Span to "Interior", and Flower Count to 50%. Generate stitches.
5. Convert the Mesh to outlines via Main Menu > Convert > Fill, Mesh & Sfumato > Create Outlines from Mesh.
6. Use Main Menu > Transform > Transformation Window to rotate the ornament by 45 degrees, then move it to the top-left corner of the hoop.
7. Navigate to Main Menu > Build > Corner, select the desired corner symmetry, and click Apply.