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This is a sub-chapter of the Mesh Parameters chapter.
This page describes the Plant parameters within the Mesh tool of Embird Studio NEXT, offering two distinct methods for creating botanical embroidery fills: Plain Branching and Curly Branching. Plain Branching allows for the creation of simpler plant structures like roots, stems, and designs with flowers or leaves. Curly Branching provides more advanced options for generating intricate, organic plant forms with curled stems and sprouts, offering extensive customization of sprout growth, flower and leaf appearance, and the use of a base and core for complex designs. Parameters for controlling symmetry, randomness (seed), and the span of the fill are also detailed.
Kind. Select the plant mesh mode: roots, bare stem, or stem with flowers, leaves, or both.
Average Cell Size. Flower, fruit, and leaf glyphs are rendered into cells along the stem. The actual size of cells varies above and below this value.
Plant Mesh - plain branching
Span defines the extent of the fill with respect to object contours. Possible values are Overflow, Cropped, and Interior. In the case of Overflow fill, you may want to exclude object contours from the mesh. This can be done in the Common Settings tab.
Overflow, with contours included
Interior, contours excluded
Kind. Choose between Font (letters, dingbat, or clipart) glyphs and glyphs from Library mode.
Scale - this control allows you to enlarge or shrink the glyphs within their cells.
Font - if Font mode is chosen, this control allows you to browse and select a font. Also, Bold and Italic switches are available to modify the font if it supports such options.
Text - if Font mode is chosen, this control allows you to type in the glyphs.
Glyphs from Library - if Library mode is chosen, this control allows you to select one or multiple predefined glyphs.
Kind. Choose between Font (letters, dingbat, or clipart) glyphs and glyphs from Library mode.
Scale - this control allows you to enlarge or shrink the glyphs within their cells.
Font - if Font mode is chosen, this control allows you to browse and select a font. Also, Bold and Italic switches are available to modify the font if it supports such options.
Text - if Font mode is chosen, this control allows you to type in the glyphs.
Glyphs from Library - if Library mode is chosen, this control allows you to select one or multiple predefined glyphs.
This kind of plant fill is composed of curled stems and sprouts. Sprouts can be replaced with flowers, which are either pre-digitized glyphs from the library or glyphs from any TrueType or OpenType font. Another way to decorate sprouts is to widen them so that they look like leaves.
Curly plant with flowers and leaves
Besides filling the interior of an object, curly branching can also be used to generate intricate flower ornaments if symmetry and mirroring are applied.
Curly plant ornament with symmetry
The branching start point is the Origin point of the object. If the Origin point is not defined, branching starts as close to the center of the object as possible (with respect to holes in the object, if there are any). This start point is especially important if symmetry is applied because the symmetry origin is identical to the start point.
Growth Kind. The growth of sprouts is either managed or free (autonomous). Managed growth is more suitable for ornaments, and autonomous growth is intended for fills.
Sprouts Growth - button icons: 1 from origin point (autonomous), 2 from core (font glyph, library glyphs, hole or carving), 3 from origin or from base, rotational symmetry, 4 from origin or from base, mirrored and rotated
Sprouts Growth Examples: 1 from origin point (autonomous), 2a from core (library glyph), 2b from core (font glyph), 3 from base with rotational symmetry, 4 from base, mirrored and rotated
Size Levels. Sprout size may vary from small to large. This control allows you to limit the range of sizes. A value of 8 means the full range of sprout sizes. A value lower than 8 means a limited range of sizes. A value of 1 means that only the smallest sprouts are generated.
Maximum Sprout Generations. Sprouts grow from their platforms (origin point, core, base, or other sprouts) in layers called generations. This control allows you to control the maximum number of generations before growth is stopped. Another factor that can limit the growth of sprouts are contours of the object. If sprouts grow from the core or base, restricting the number of generations makes the overall shape of the plant roughly similar to the platform it grew from.
Core from font glyph, 1 sprout generation
Core from font glyph, 2 sprout generations
Overall Sprouts Scale. Increase the scale if you want to enlarge all sprouts. Decrease it if you want to make them smaller. This control does not affect the base and core.
Span defines the extent of the fill with respect to object contours. Possible values are Overflow, Cropped, and Interior. In the case of Overflow fill, you may want to exclude object contours from the mesh. This can be done in the Common Settings tab.
Seed - the plant fill is generated pseudo-randomly, which means that it is not truly a random process. It is designed so that when you run the generation of stitches multiple times, it will always produce the same result unless you change some parameters or the size of the object. The seed is a quick way to obtain another result without changing parameters. In other words, if you want to preserve your current set of parameters but want to generate a different-looking fill or ornament, change the seed value and generate the stitches. In most cases, you will get a new layout of the plant. The Arrow buttons perform a double action: they increase or decrease the seed and apply its new value to the mesh object (generating its stitches) so that you can preview the result in the Work Area without leaving the Parameters window.
Source Sector for Symmetry. Symmetry uses some sector of the object as a source for the cloning. The sector is defined by origin point and an angle. This control allows you to change the position of the source sector by rotating it around the origin point. It is intended for rotated ornaments. The default position of the source sector is bottom-left to the origin point (-90 degrees). The source sector is used only with growth kinds that use symmetry and/or mirroring. Note: in the parameters window, you may need to scroll down the content of the Options Tab to see this control.
Flower Kind. Choose between Font (letters, dingbat, or clipart) glyphs and glyphs from the Library flower mode.
Scale - this control allows you to enlarge or shrink the flower glyphs.
Amount specifies the approximate ratio between flowers and leaf sprouts. As flower generation is a random process, the actual flower/sprout ratio may be different, usually smaller than this value.
Compression causes the bottom of flowers to be thinner and thus fit better into the inner curves of parent sprouts.
Glyphs from Library - if Library mode is chosen, this control allows you to select one or multiple predefined glyphs.
Font Glyphs - if Font mode is chosen, this control allows you to type in the glyphs.
Font - if Font mode is chosen, this control allows you to browse and select a font. Also, Bold and Italic switches are available to modify the font if it supports such options.
Rotation control allows you to rotate font glyphs with respect to the stem to which they are attached.
Leaf Kind - select the shape of leaves.
Leaf Width - this control allows you to make the leaves wider or narrower. The layout of leaves is not affected.
Leaf Length - this control allows you to truncate the leaves. The layout of leaves is not affected.
Curliness - the amount of winding applied to the leaves.
Center Line Length - this control allows you to create a center line inside the leaves. It has no effect if the width of the leaves is zero.
Base Sample - the plant may grow from a pre-digitized base or even from multiple bases. Use this control to choose from pre-digitized base samples.
Bases are available only if Growth Kind is any of the rotation/mirror items, i.e., not core and not origin point.
Base Size - adjust the scale of the pre-digitized base.
Base Width - adjust the width of the pre-digitized base. Base samples are arranged around the symmetry center, which is identical to the origin point of the mesh. This arrangement means that the base is a kind of ring around the symmetry center. Base Width controls how wide this ring is.
Multiple bases may be combined within a single object. The bases may overlap and/or intersect each other.
Two bases combined in a single object. The design is monochrome; the colors in this illustration were added only to differentiate bases (red and green) and leaves (violet).
Three bases combined in a single object.
The Core is available only if the Growth Kind value is From Core.
Core Kind - Select the shape of the core. Possible values are Font, Library, Holes, and Carvings.
A Font core allows you to create letter glyphs with ornaments.
The Library provides predefined glyphs like coats of arms, geometric shapes, etc.
If the Holes option is selected, the sprouts grow from the contours of holes in the parent mesh object, which allows the user to use their own core shape. The same applies to the Carvings core with a significant exception: the core has no inner area in this case because carvings are linear objects.
Core Scale - Font and Library cores can be scaled in size. This parameter has no meaning for Holes and Carvings cores; they preserve their original size and are not scaled.
Symmetrical Sprouts - Sprouts growing from the library glyph core may be mirrored horizontally to achieve a symmetrical look. Other types of cores do not have this option.