NeedleCraft Plus/needlecraftplusvolume1.iso/win/sp2demo/demoinfo.tx_/demoinfo.tx

Text File | 1995-03-07 | 13KB | 312 lines

STITCH PAINTER DEMO DISK
WINDOWS VERSION

Cochenille Design Studio
P.O. Box 4276, Encinitas, CA  92023
[phone] phone
[phone] fax
CompuServe: 76702,1664
2/25/95

Welcome to the Stitch Painter 2.0 Demo Disk.  Stitch
Painter may be used by anyone who wants to create
gridded image designs for their crafts.  The grids may
be sized to any proportion, rectangular or square, and
thus the program suits knitters, weavers, needleworkers,
beaders and numerous other craftspeople.  Experiment with
the demo, and feel free to call with questions.

This demo is a working version of the Stitch Painter
program. Numerous functions have been disabled but you
should be able to get a good sense of how the program
works.  We have chosen a grid size, as well as a
document size.  In addition, we have selected a limited
number of textures, symbols and colors for you to
experiment with. You are able to see all functions of
the program through the menus and toolbox. Several of the
functions in the menus (such as Brush functions) will be
ghosted until you have created a brush.

So, what can you do with this Demo?  You may:
ò  draw stitches on the screen with a variety of
   tools such as the pencil, line, curve and shape tools.
ò  change colors or use symbols and textures as your
   drawing palette color.
ò  edit and create your own symbols and textures in the
   symbols and textures windows.
ò  draw a motif, and then use the Select tool (upper
   left corner of the toolbox) to select or frame off your
   motif, and capture it as a brush (using the Capture option
   of the Brush menu).
ò  flip and rotate the motif and stamp it down in its new
   location on the screen.  These functions are achieved
   via the various options in the Brush menu.
ò  open and explore the Colors, Symbols and Textures
   Palettes.
ò  swap colors, symbols and textures from the menu palettes
   into the working palette, and thus your image on the screen.
ò  experiment with a working palette (palette on the left)
   of 250 colors.
  - You may enlarge this palette by dragging the window frame
    larger or smaller.
  - you may change the size of the working palette color boxes
    by holding the Shift key on the keyboard, as you resize the
    window.
  - swap colors in the palette by clicking on the first color
    and dragging it over a second color.
  - swap colors on the screen and in the palette by holding the
    Shift key down as you swap palette positions.
  - copy colors from one position to another by holding the Ctrl
    key down as you click on a color and move it to a new location.
  - create a color gradient by clicking on the first color, then
    pressing the Ctrl and Shift keys on the keyboard before you
    click on the second color.
  - count the number of stitches on screen of a given color,
    achieved by clicking and holding on the color in the palette
    until the number of stitches shows in the coordinates box.


Unfortunately, in the demo version, you may not:
ò  save or load files.
ò  import or export
ò  design in repeat mode
ò  experiment with grid proportion and document size
ò  utilize all the powerful Palette controls
ò  open multiple documents
ò  use the clipboard for copy, paste and cut

This document will explain the difference between the
two shipping versions;  Stitch Painter Standard and Stitch
Painter Gold.

Computer Requirements
The Windows Stitch Painter will run on a 386 VGA system
with 4 MB RAM and a hard drive,  running Windows 3.1 or
greater computer.  The more memory your computer has,
the larger documents (in stitches and rows or grid
dimensions) you can create.

Loading the Program
You may run this demo from a floppy, or from your hard
drive.  If you want to install the program on you hard
drive, simply insert the Demo Disk into Drive A: (or
other appropriate drive, move to the Windows Program
Manager, and choose the Run command from the File menu.
When the dialog box appears, type A:\SETUP in the requester,
and click once on OK.  Follow the prompts as you work
your way through the installation.

Versions of Stitch Painter
Demo Version - tools and menus shown with many disabled
Stitch Painter Standard - has a color palette and standard
    menus    $85.00
Stitch Painter Gold - has 3 palettes, color, texture and
    symbols plus extended menus.    $165.00
Stitchery Module - provides a shift grid feature and DMC
    colors. $25.00
Various Stitch Painter Clip Art Collections - $24.00 each
Stitch Painter Training Video - $32.95
Note: The color palette contains the standard 256 colors
screen display pulling from a larger palette dictated by
your computer.


Key to the Menu Items:
All black menu functions are available for your use in
this demo version.
The grey menu functions indicate that they are disabled.

You may receive a credit of the $5.00 you paid for this
demo disk towards the purchase of the program.  Enclose
a copy of your receipt.

Upgrade Policy
If you purchase  either version of the standard Stitch
Painter, you may later upgrade to the Gold version for
$90.00.

Tour of the Software
The Palette -
On the left side of the program, you will see your
'working' palette.  This palette may be resized and
enlarged. In this demo, you have a mixture of 9
textures, 12 symbols and 33 colors.  In the working
program, you may have up to 250 palette positions
available. In the Gold version, you may intermix the
palette with different colors, textures and symbols.
You may experiment with this feature in this Demo
version by selecting a color in the palette (click
on one), then go to the Windows menu, and open any
of the textures, symbols or color palettes, and select
a new option.  Watch the color/symbol/texture in the
main palette change.  Note that symbols and textures
may be two colors.

Stitch Painter can count the number of stitches of
each color in your image.  Click and hold on the
palette position of a given color.  Then look at
the coordinates box in the lower left side of the
screen.  You will see that Stitch Painter shows
you the number of stitches of that color.  The DMC
color will be seen only if you have the Stitchery
plug in module.

The Toolbox -
Stitch Painter contains 12 tools in its toolbox.
These are your drawing tools:  select, brush, pencil,
eraser, color eyedropper, fill bucket, line, curve,
solid and hollow circle/ellipse, solid and hollow
rectangle.  Use these tools to draw and design.  Note
that the tools measure as they draw (observe the
coordinate box).  The select tool may be used in
conjuction with the brush capture menu to create brushes
or clips that you may use and manipulate while
designing.  These are free floating images which may be
manipulated and saved.

The Texture Palette -
In the working program, this palette contains over 100
built-in textures. You have the ability to edit any of
these, plus you may add and design your own.  To get
into the edit mode, you double click on the Title Bar of
the window to open the Edit mode, then click on the
texture you want to change (a new window appears), and
then create the edit in the new window that opened.  Click
on the close gadget of the second window when you are through
to close this window.  Double click on the Title bar of the
Textures window when you are through to exit the editing mode.
You may enlarge or reduce your working palette to suit your
needs.
If you have a black and white printer, you may choose to
substitute your colors for textures prior to printing,
as this controls the dither pattern on your printer, and
thus you can distinguish colors more readily.  Two
colored textures may be also used to simulate two-color
yarns such as tweeds.

The Symbols Palette -
The Symbols palette works the same as the texture
palette.  You may create your own symbols, and expand
the palette if desirable.  Note that some symbols in the
palette work together to represent an action.  Editing in this
windows works the same as the Textures palette.

The Color Palette -
The color palette has 256 colors to work with (as
accessed through the edit mode).
The edit mode operates as the other palettes.  You will
access the Windows Color Mixing screen.

Other Menus

File Menu
This contains 13 sub-menus in the Gold version.  We will
explain a few of these which have special functions in
relation to Stitch Painter.
ò   Set Document Size allows you to choose how many
    stitches and rows you want in the document.
ò   Print - You may print your designs with or without
    the gridlines.  If you want a numbered ruler to
    display in the printout, you may hold the Ctrl key
    as you print.  Rulers appear on the left and upper
    edges of the graphed image. Printing is disabled in
    this demo version.
ò   Save Selection as... -  This menu allows you to
    export PCX files (as well as a variety of IBM
    formats) to be used in other applications.
ò   Set Defaults - allows you to set the program up in a
    preferred way, and then save the set-up as the
    default.  The following items may be used in default
    mode; document size, grid size, palette, current
    color, background color and stencil.

Edit Menu
This menu contains standard editing functions, plus a
few special functions.  Paste Special is a menu which
allows you to  import bit-mapped images from the
clipboard.  Currently, only 2-color images may be
imported.  Full color importing will happen in the
future.  The Fill menu is used in conjunction with the
Select tool.

Layout Menu
These menu items allow you to work with and manipulate
the layout of your page/design.  In this menu you will
find grid options, zoom options and repeat drawing
options.  The Standard version allows you to set a
repeat size and repeat over the entire document.  The
Gold version (in addition to full page repeat) allows
you to select given areas and repeat only within those
areas.  Regrid (Gold only) allows you to keep your image
size the same, and 'superimpose' a new grid proportion
over the image.  This allows people to move from gauge
to gauge, canvas count to canvas count, or to move from
a square grid to a rectangular grid with the image size
and proportions remaining the same proportional image.
Minor touchup may be needed.  The Shift Grid function is
available in a special Stitchery plug in module (for
Gold versions only).  This function allows you to shift
the grid, so that the symbols position themselves over
the intersection of the grid lines.

Brush Menu
This menu contains functions that pertain to creating,
using and manipulating brushes.  Brushes are created  by
using the Select tool to frame off a section of the
screen and then choosing the Capture option of the Brush
menu.  You will have a free floating clone of the selected
area - this is a brush.  This may be manipulated and moved
around the screen.  Manipulations include flipping, rotating
and size adjustments.  Brushes may be saved for future
use.  This allows you to build a library of motifs.

Palette Menu
These menu items allow you to control the palettes you
create, plus manipulate how colors/textures/symbols are
used in designing and brush capturing.  The red menus
items are only found in the Gold version.  They allow
you to exchange and/or intermix brush and picture
palettes.  These are very sophisticated features.  All
versions allow you to set the background color of the
palette, which will be the color you erase with.  Only
the Gold versions will allow you to create multiple
transparent colors.  All versions will allow you to lock
selected colors/textures/symbols in order to make a
stencil, and protect the colors as you work.  The No
Grid feature allows you to turn off the gridlines in
selected areas.  This is handy for showing the void area
of a neckline (allowing shaping stitches to be counted
more easily) and for building keys.

The PCX Folder contains PCX images of some sample
Stitch Painter files.  Load these into your favorite
paint program.  The Samples folder will contain files for
your use in the actual Stitch Painter program.  Ignore
this folder in the demo.


The Stitch Painter manual explains the use of every
tool.  It also contains tutorials which will walk you
through the use of every tool and menu.  Keyboard
shortcuts are available for most tools and menus and a
shortcut card is included with the program.

A Training Video is available for those who prefer to
learn by watching rather than reading manuals.

We hope you enjoy this demo.  We welcome comments and
wishlists for future versions.  Feel free to write,
call, or leave a message for us on CompuServe
(76702,1664 - Susan Lazear).



Cochenille Design Studio