Question from Newbie: digitizing machine embroidery designs

**handrawn** · 04 September 2008, 07:44 AM

Hi welcome Sewcrazy

the second image you posted is large because it is 300dpi

the first image is 72dpi which is fine

96dpi is the maximum that is necessary - any higher tends to make the image too big

**ss-kalm** · 04 September 2008, 12:56 PM

Originally Posted by Sewcrazy

Another fellow Canadian...

Not quite, I'm actually British, but have lived in Canada since 1991.

Originally Posted by Sewcrazy

...You live in my step-Mom's neck of the woods. She's in Smith Falls.

Know it quite well. Have visited there a number of times. Especially the Hershey Chocolate Factory. Mmm!

**Sewcrazy** · 04 September 2008, 05:17 PM

Originally Posted by HayTay

SewCrazy,

Here's a quick sample of what you can do with Xara Xtreme after some practice and only using the 'Shape Editor', 'Rectangle', 'Ellipse', 'Text' and 'Fill' tools. The lines were modified using profiles from the 'Line Gallery'. Other tools that came in handy were the 'Group/Ungroup', 'Put to Front' & 'Put to Back' and the 'Clone' shortcuts.

Look for, and view the many tutorials on the above subjects and you should be well on your way with a little practice. Xara Xtreme really does make graphic creation and editing easy and fun. It does take a little effort on your part, though, so dig in, take a look at the examples, and ask away here on TG when you get stuck.

I modified the bear's message a bit (

), although I do enjoy reading as well.

I look forward to seeing your efforts,
HayTay

Hi HayTay:

You make it all look so easy. Okay I've written down they keywords for the tuts that I'm going to look for. When I get something accomplished, I will share my creatiion.

I do have one question. Did you use my pic as a template and worked on top of it?

Thanks

**Sewcrazy** · 04 September 2008, 05:23 PM

Originally Posted by handrawn

Hi welcome Sewcrazy

the second image you posted is large because it is 300dpi

the first image is 72dpi which is fine

96dpi is the maximum that is necessary - any higher tends to make the image too big

Thanks Steve...I couldn't figure out for the life of me why I kept changing the size, but nothing was happening when I posted it. I guess I was changing the pixels, but not the dpi. Learn something new everyday

**Egg Bramhill** · 04 September 2008, 06:51 PM

Hi and welcome Sewcrazy. I hope you find Xtreme the software you're looking for. I've changed the size of your clipart image so it matches the first post.

Egg

**Sewcrazy** · 04 September 2008, 07:44 PM

Hi Egg:

Thanks for the welcome and thanks so much for changing my huge graphic for me. It certainly looks much nicer now.

I stumbled upon XaraXtreme when I was hunting for graphics. Got talking with the lady who had the graphics that I like and she convinced me to give it a try. Said most of her clipart starts as photos and her work is beautiful. So here I am and I'm going to give this 100%!

**Egg Bramhill** · 04 September 2008, 08:09 PM

Cheers Sewcrazy. If you click on the search link at the top of the page and choose advanced search then enter "embroidery" and choose Xara Xtreme forums, this turns up quite a lot of posts. Not 100% sure it'll all be of use to you but give it a try. Click here for an example.

As an aside, it's not really necessary to quote earlier posts in your reply. Post extracts of post by all means but not the whole post.

**HayTay** · 04 September 2008, 10:36 PM

Originally Posted by Sewcrazy

You make it all look so easy.

It actually is very easy with Xara Xtreme. You just need to add some practice, patience, study, and determination. For what you're trying to do you can get 'up to speed' with XX very quickly. Oh, and did I mention it was FUN!

Originally Posted by Sewcrazy

Did you use my pic as a template and worked on top of it?

Exactly. I used the embroidered bear as the pattern/template in order to recreate them using the previously mentioned tools. One 'secret' I forgot to mention is the 'Transparency' tool. You can use it to fade your shapes to better see what you're trying to reproduce. Once you get the shape to your liking you can remove the transparency, or keep it, whatever your preference.

I'll be keeping an eye out for your creations,
HayTay

**HayTay** · 10 September 2008, 01:52 AM

Sewcrazy,

Just wondering how you were getting along with Xara Xtreme and any of the associated tutorials? Figured you would probably have some questions by now or need something explained more clearly or differently. Don't be afraid to ask if you need some assistance. TG has lots of help on standby.

Keep at it,
HayTay