Save Singer Multi-Hoop Design

Embird Embroidery Software Tutorial

This tutorial was written by Mrs. Elaine Bell. It explains have to split and save a large Multi-Hoop design for Singer embroidery machine. Before you start splitting the design in Embird, you must prepare the cross reference line either in PSW program, or in Embird.

Preparing Cross Reference Line in PSW:

1 - Click "New icon or Files -> New". At the Open menu, click "New". At the New menu, click "210x430mm". Click "OK".

2 - Load the 210x430 Multi Hoop.

3 - Click "Create -> Add multiple hoop cross"

4 - A stop is automatically added at the beginning of the cross to give you the option of sewing it. The cross is a reference line used to align designs at the XL1000 layout screen. The cross is optional, but I find it invaluable in lining up designs. The cross is a basting stitch and is easily removed. The color stop is unnecessary in Embird, so to delete it - click the "Edit Outline icon" (or "Edit -> Edit Outline"). Press Home on the keyboard to go to the beginning of the cross, press the right arrow on the keyboard twice to move to the STOP.Press delete to remove the color stop. 5 - Save the cross reference line as "crossref.xxx".

Preparing Cross Reference Line in Embird:

You can create the reference line easily also in Embird. In Editor, choose the "Options -> Hoop Size" command from the main menu and choose "Singer Multi-Hoop Horizontal" hoop option in the dialog box which appears on the screen. Then click "Insert -> Cross Reference Line" command in main menu. Finally, save the cross reference line to "crossref.xxx" by clicking "File -> Save As" command.

Splitting and Saving Multi-Hoop Design:

1 - Run Embird and click "Editor" menu to switch to Editor window.

2 - Click the "Hoop Size" button, or select the "Options -> Hoop Size" menu. Choose "Singer Multi-Hoop Horizontal" hoop option (Picture No. 1). Click "OK" button to confirm this selection.

Picture No. 1

3 - Press "Ctrl+Page Down" keys on the keyboard (or use "View -> Zoom -> Out" menu) to zoom out the work are until hoop fits within screen. Picture No. 2 shows the darker blue lines that indicate the center of the Singer multi hoop. These lines correspond with the cross reference line created either in PSW or Embird (see the steps above).

Picture No. 2

4 - Select "File -> Merge" command to bring in files to be split. Files will be rotated automatically by -90 degrees. You can repeat this step several times to bring in more designs.

5 - Move, rotate and size designs as you please. When the designs are in desired arrangement, click " Edit -> Select All" command in the main menu and then click the "Edit -> Center -> Both Axes" menu to center the designs both horizontally and vertically. This step is optional.

6 - Decide how the design will be split. Picture No. 3 shows the designs that will be split into three sections - 1) elephant, 2) tree, 3) zebra and giraffe.

Picture No. 3

7 - Select "File -> Merge" command to merge the previously saved cross reference line. The cross is automatically centered and aligned with the darker grids in the multi hoop (Picture No. 4).

Picture No. 4

8 - The "elephant" will be split first.

Note: Hide colors of any design(s) that interfere with splits. In this example, only the "tree" interferes with splitting the left and right sections.

a) From the Objects Order Bar (right side of screen), right click one of the colors in the tree. Choose "Hide All Colors" command from the popup menu which appears on the screen. This will hide the "tree" obect.

b) Select "Mode -> Freehand Select Mode" command from the main menu. Left mouse click to draw a polygon around the "elephant" and the center of the cross (Picture No. 5). Double click when finished to close the polygon - the elephant will be selected and drawn in red color. Click "Edit -> Split" command in the main menu.

c) Use "File -> Save Selected As" command from main menu to save the selected object  - elephant with portion of the cross reference line.In the dialog boxes which appear on the screen choose "Compucon .XXX" format and save the stitches to "AnimLeft.xxx" file on your hard disk.

d) Click the "Edit -> Undo" command in the main menu. Since a portion of the cross reference line was included in the split, we will need to undo this action so the entire line will be available for future splits.

Picture No. 5

9 - Split the "giraffe" and "zebra":

a) With "tree" still hidden, click "Mode -> Freehand Select Mode" and left click around the "giraffe" and "zebra" and the center of the cross reference line (Picture No. 6). Click "Edit -> Split" command in the main menu.

b) Use "File -> Save Selected As" command from main menu to save the selected object  - giraffe and zebra with portion of the cross reference line.In the dialog boxes which appear on the screen choose "Compucon .XXX" format and save the stitches to "AnimRt.xxx" file on your hard disk.

c) Click the "Edit -> Undo" command in the main menu. Since a portion of the cross reference line was included in the split, we will need to undo this action so the entire line will be available for future splits.

Picture No. 6

10 - Split the "tree":

a) From the Objects Order Bar, right click one of the colors in the tree and choose "Show All Colors" from the popup menu which appears on the screen.

b) For this exercise, the height of the tree should fit within the 130 mm width of the large hoop. Since the tree is 126 mm tall, only 4 mm of the vertical cross can be included before we're at the 130 mm limit. Zoom in (using "Ctrl+Page Up" keys or "View -> Zoom -> In" menu) so the tree will fill the screen.

c) Click "Mode -> Freehand Select Mode" and draw line around the tree, getting as close as you can at the top and bottom so you won't pick up more than 4 mm of the cross reference line (Picture No. 7). Click "Edit -> Split" command in the main menu.

d) Use "File -> Save Selected As" command from main menu to save the selected object  - tree with portion of the cross reference line.In the dialog boxes which appear on the screen choose "Compucon .XXX" format and save the stitches to "AnimCtr.xxx" file on your hard disk.

Note 1:  A quick method to select several designs, left click first design, then while holding down the Shift key, left mouse click on another design to add to your selection. You can click a design within the design screen or click a design icon on the "Objects Order Bar" (right side of the screen).

Note 2:  After a design has been selected and split, the bottom of the screen will show size, stitch count and color count of the selection.

Note 3:  When you "Save Selected As", Editor will display an error message if the design is too large or exceeds the color and stitch count limitations.

Note 4:  When you save the parts to .XXX format, they will be rotated back by 90 degrees.

Picture No. 7

Writing Designs to Card in PSW:

Open each split design in PSW (1.1 users do not convert stitches to block). Write designs to card.

Sewing Designs using Singer XL1000:

1 - At the XL1000 embroidery screen, select Multiple Hoop Embroidery.

2 - Load each multi hoop design into the embroidery machine.

3 - Use "Zoom" and Edit/Position to align the multi hoop cross from each design with the X/Y axis on the XL1000 layout screen.

For detailed instructions on loading multi hoop designs in the XL1000, please read the XL1000 manual.

Back to Embird Tutorial Contents