WildWestDesigns
Active Member
I found one that I could use. It wasn't digitized with a vector output in mind, but it'll work for this purpose.
1st picture is native EMB format which treats embroidery objects as vector objects. Don't want to get an embroidery program that doesn't do this or you don't want to cheap out and not get the module that does this. You can't beat this option for workflow.
The 2nd picture is the reshape tool in the embroidery interface. Bezier curves, lines, stitch angles, start and end points can all be edited here. Not all the options are available in the other versions, however. Now stitch angle and start and end points for sure are only available in Level 3 and there is good reason for that. A lot of issues that I see with the cheap embroidery services could be solved just by changing the start/end points with relation to the stitch angle, particularly on the fill stitches, but I digress (big time I'm sure).
3rd picture is the actual vector conversion of the embroidery file. It would still need to be tweaked a little. This one wasn't destined for vector output, so there is a little more leeway in what you can do. Even thought that looks for the most part the Corel interface, it is still apart of my embroidery program. If you look at the top with the blue menu options, you'll see "embroidery mode" and "graphics mode", those are the toggle buttons to change the interface between the two, but you don't open another program.
4th picture is the DST embroidery file of this same pattern. Contrary to what some think, you can vectorize embroidery files, but you have two hurtles. One is, as I'm sure everyone has seen, DST files do not retain color memory. Only file that I'm aware of that does is the PES format and not every machine can handle that format, DST is the universal extension for embroidery machines. This problem is solved if there is a picture with the true colors for the logo or better yet, a thread stitch out chart that shows those colors. The 2nd problem is that embroidery files are very much like raster files, so when you do the conversion with this type of file, it is going to be along the lines of live trace or power trace, but without any options. Very much in the "infant" stage right now.
