Printwear - February 2010

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purchased in book form, CDs and online varieties have outstripped the paper variety in popularity.

When Adobe Systems introduced Adobe Illustrator for the Macintosh in 1986, home computer users were able, for the first time, to manipulate vector art. The first vector clip art collection was published in 1987.

The two different types of clip art file formats are bitmap and vector graphics. Most common web-based file formats are GIF, JPEG, and PNG—bitmap file formats.

The most common vector file format is Adobe’s EPS (Encapsulated PostScript). Microsoft has a simpler vector format called Windows Metafile (WMF). And, the World Wide Web Consortium has developed a new vector format called SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics).

Clip art comes with all its attendant copyrights and warnings which can be as complicated as the mathematical formulae that govern vector art. (Sneak peak: More to come on copyrights in next month’s column.)

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Digitizing magic

One of the “bestest things” (as my Dad used to say, tongue in cheek), is that the digitizing programs are evolving as well. Many of the programs available today have capabilities that allow vector art to be imported and the outlines of that design selected and filled with your choice of stitches.

I remember the first object-based software (c1990), Capital Automation, allowed objects to be drawn which could then be selected for stitches. A square could be filled or outlined or both, using the same object. It was one of the attributes of that software that made it a favorite of mine. And now, just two decades later, we can import the outlines (vector art) and proceed with the digitizing. Functions in graphic-arts programs, stand-alone conversion programs and even some of the new and re-vamped digitizing programs are letting us skip that “draw the object” step entirely.

“Auto” digitizing, contained in digitizing programs that have/are partnering with Corel, has its supporters and detractors. In this software you convert directly to stitches, not to objects, leaving the would-be digitizer out of the stitch-selection loop.

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Behold the future

When shopping for a digitizing program, be sure to ask about how—and if—it works with vectors. Ask, too, about the knowledge and resume of the developers. I always want to know if the mind that’s really behind the development is an accomplished digitizer or just a software tech that knows how to make buttons work, but not the why of things. Be careful in your shopping and you can end up with software that will grow with creative zest.

I love the vector compatibilities and capabilities that result from these exciting new innovations in designing software. Unlike the man in the patent office, I can imagine millions of things being developed, making each era an exciting time in which to live. We may have smaller, more subtle and computer-related advances but their impact will be just as exhilarating as the automobile and the airplane.

Hug each other this month, as we struggle through some trying times, and remember to reassure those in your life. If anyone can do that, the creative embroiderer and digitizer can.—HHM Pw