From d4c84a0fdb02b2deb8ec49cedfed4a641ae19eb4 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Lex Neva Date: Wed, 3 Jan 2018 11:41:03 -0500 Subject: remove outdated index.html --- index.html | 159 ------------------------------------------------------------- 1 file changed, 159 deletions(-) delete mode 100644 index.html (limited to 'index.html') diff --git a/index.html b/index.html deleted file mode 100644 index 67dbe136..00000000 --- a/index.html +++ /dev/null @@ -1,159 +0,0 @@ -Embroidery output extension for Inkscape -

Embroidery output extension for Inkscape

- -NOTE: This file is part of Jon Howell's original inksape-embroidery project. Much of what is below is outdated, but it is included here for historical purposes. - -Inkscape is a natural tool for designing embroidery patterns; -the only challenge is converting the Inkscape design to a stitch file. -Here's a rough cut as such a tool that got me through my first project; -it may work for you, or maybe you can fix a bug or two and make it -more robust for your application. - -
-
-
My very first outputs. Scale is wrong, stitch spacing is wrong. -
-
A better version. Mostly correct, but still shows poor spacing. -Jump stitches all over the place because -the first TSP implementation was very broken. -
-
And now it's working well enough to embroider this shirt! -

-The most difficult part was carefully lining up the sequential panels -to make the design appear continuous. One tip: baste the working piece down -to a big piece of stabilizer, so that they stay together as the hoop is -repositioned. -

- -

Installation.

- -
Download the distribution from here. -
Install shapely, Python bindings to the GEOS library. -
apt-get install python-shapely
-
Place or link embroider.{inx,py} into ${HOME}/.config/inkscape/extensions. - -

Usage.

- -Create a drawing in Inkscape made of filled regions. -Select the regions you want to export as a stitch file. -Ungroup repeatedly until there are no groups left, -and convert objects to paths. -(Embroider doesn't know how to handle text or rectangle objects; -they must be converted down to paths before it can work with them. -I don't know how to call "back into" Inkscape to do this automatically.) -Select the Embroider filter. -

-If it works (and it very well might!), you'll get a new grouped object -showing the proposed stitching path. It may be easy to miss, since the -new strokes appear in the same color as the underlying fill. (If you -forgot the "ungroup" step, it may also appear at a random place on -your canvas; see BUGS below.) -

-As a side effect, Embroider also creates a file in Inkscape's current -directory called embroider-output.exp. -If you like the stitch pattern you see, then open that output file -in a converter program and save it to the appropriate format for -your machine. -(I use Wilcom's TrueSizer, available as free-as-in-beerware, -inside WINE to convert my output to Brother .PES format.) - - - -

Theory of operation.

- -For each input path, -if the path is closed & filled, -we fill it with rows of stitches. -That's done by finding the path's bounding box, -deciding whether to use horizontal or vertical rows based on the long -axis of the region, -drawing a bunch of equally-spaced line segments across the bounding box, -and finding the intersection of the row lines with the path region. -(We import shapely to do the intersection computation.) -

-Each path generates a "patch" of stitching. -We sort all the patches by color, to minimize thread changes. -Then we use a Traveling Salesman Problem implementation -(a cheesy, greedy one, plus a little hill-climbing at the end) -to sort the patches to minimize the length of the jump stitches -(the unintended stitches between patches). - -

updates

- -2012.10.19 Implemented stroke stitches. Strokes <= 0.5pt are rendered -as straight lines, following the Inkscape path, obeying the max_stitch_len -parameter. -Strokes wider than 0.5pt are drawn with a zig-zag stitch. It's a bit -ugly around corners and sharp curves, leaving gaps at the outside edge, -but come on, I wrote it in like 45 minutes. [An ideal algorithm would -compute the boundary of the stroke correctly, and then come up with a nice -way to fill it with the zig-zag. This one isn't ideal.] - -

You can use strokes to do applique embroidery. Draw a (not-too-complicated) -closed curve. Generate it both as a 0.5pt line and again with a wider stroke -width, like 3mm. Stack two fabrics in the hoop, and embroider the thin path. -Remove the hoop from the machine (but leave the fabrics in the hoop). -Carefully trim away the top fabric at the stitched boundary. Then replace -the hoop and embroider the wide path. The wider path will cover the first -stitch line and secure the applique'd piece. - -

-Tips on strokes: use Extensions -> Modify Path -> Flatten Beziers -to change curves down to linear approximations. (The Embroider -extension's supposed to do this, but it's not so good at it.) - -

- -
-More tips on using Inkscape to get from a raster example to an embroidery file. - - - -

TODOs.

-

-TODO: when a single patch is split into multiple sections (because -of concavities), two problems occur: -

-First, the sections are treated -as one big patch with an implicit jump. It would be better to make -them separate patches so that TSP can do a better job planning to -minimize jumps. -

-Second, the algorithm "assumes" that all the stitches -in the left "column" are part of the same patch, so it will also incur -horizontal implied jump stitches because it doesn't realize that the -rows are from disjoint parts of the underlying region. A smarter algorithm -would break each time the number-of-segments changes, and start a new -patch each time, again relying on TSP to put them back together in a -sane order. -

-TODO: when a row is longer than the max stitch length, use a global-phase -("tajima") stitch, rather than phase relative to where the row starts, -to avoid troughs in the middle of the filled region. -

-TODO: remove small stitches. TrueSizer uses a 0.5mm threshhold. -

-TODO: implement melco jump-stitch, so jumps don't put holes in the fabric. -

-done: sort compound paths biggest-area first, to at least get holes right. -

-BUGS: shapely thinks all compound paths are holes; it doesn't understand -the even-odd rule. -

-BUGS: Can't handle the "transform=" property that inkscape loves to -glue onto <g>roups. To work around this, ungroup all the way down to -separate <path>s, # which applies all the transforms down to the path -point level, then regroup as desired. -

-TODO: Call into Inkscape to do this behind the scenes. -

-TODO: Call into Inkscape to convert objects to paths automatically. - -

LICENSE

-This code is copyright 2010 by Jon Howell, -licensed under GPLv3. - -

AUTHOR

-Written by Jon Howell, jonh@jonh.net. -If you email me, expect an initial bounce with instructions to pass the -spam filter. -- cgit v1.2.3