ESDesigner - Tips and Tricks for Input C

Working with Input C (also known as center-line input) can be a fast and accurate way to digitize a column of stitches with a consistent width. It works well for borders and outlining designs, however there are many quick tricks you can use when working with Input C that make it more powerful than you may have realized.

Creating an Input C object.

When creating an Input C object, you first define the outline, then set the width of the satin stitches and the offset.

There are three ways you can do this:

1. Press the enter key without defining the width on the screen. Column width and offset will be determined by the settings in the Input C tab (Figure 1) under object properties.
2. Left click on the screen to define the width. The offset will be defined by the settings in the Input C tab (Figure 1).
3. Right click on the screen directly over the Input C line to define the width and the offset yourself and override the default settings.

Adjusting Input C Properties.

Corner Fraction determines how many stitches will turn or angle as they flow around a tight corner. The larger the value, the more stitches will turn or angle toward the corner.

Round Sharp Corners is used in conjunction with Smart Cor ners. It allows you to have a more rounded corner when using the Miter or Capping feature available with Smart Corners. For a reference on working with Smart Corners refer to the ES Designer User Manual.

Figure 2 and Figure 3 show the effects of the Round Sharp Corners feature:

Figure 2 Figure 3

Converting an Input C object.You can convert an Input C object to a run stitch object, and visa versa:

Select the Input C object.

Left click on the Run stitch input tool

• Following the ”Enter Entry Point‘ instructions that appear in the prompt line, left click on the object to indicate where the start point of the object will be.

• The object will now be changed into a run stitch object. You can adjust the stitch length, shape etc… Note: You can convert back and forth from Run stitch to Input C.

You can convert an Input C object to an Input A object for advanced editing.

This is done by splitting the Input C object:

• Using the travel toolbar, travel through the Input C object. Note: You cannot split an object on the first or last stitch, however you can travel just one stitch and split the object, or travel part of the way through the object and split it.

• Select Split Object from the Edit menu. The Input C object is turned into an Input A object.

• Select the object and click the Reshape tool to see how the input points have changed:

• You will have separate objects based on where you split the original object.

Notes:

1. o Once you have split the Input C object to create an Input A, you cannot convert it back. To get the object back to Input C you would either need to use the Undo button or recreate the object.

2. o Splitting the object also gives you access to the underlay as a separate object for editing.