Basic concepts

Base properties or ‘defaults’ are stored with the design template and form the basis of all new designs. These may be overridden by fabric settings which are adjusted to suit different fabric types. These in turn may be overridden by individual property settings.

Actual settings

Each object has its own unique set of properties. Actual object properties are those settings stored with each object in the design. These may or may not be the same as the defaults.

Default settings

Default or starting property settings are the ones stored with the design template and/or selected fabric (if activated). These are automatically applied to any newly created objects in the design.

Current settings

You can define ‘current’ settings to influence all the objects you create in the current design. Simply change property settings in the Object Properties docker with no objects selected. These settings then apply to all new objects.

You generally change them to save time when digitizing. For example, you may preset Tatami stitch spacing to use a specific density for all new Tatami objects you create. Alternatively, you can make a selected object’s ‘actual’ properties ‘current’ for all new objects. You can also apply current settings to existing objects.

When you close a design, current settings are not automatically saved to the template. You can save them as the new default settings of the current template or to another template altogether. Or you may be able to save them as a custom fabric.

Fabric settings

Matching object properties to the intended fabric is critical for good quality designs. Fabric settings are a subset of settings stored in the template which are fine-tuned to different fabric types. Although the NORMAL template settings are suitable for a range of fabrics, selecting a matching fabric automatically customizes object properties to the intended fabric.

Styles

A style is a group of property settings stored under a unique name. You can save any combination of settings to a style. This makes it easy to apply these settings to selected embroidery and lettering objects. When you apply a style to an object, style settings replace current properties. Any properties not specified by the style, retain their current settings.

Templates

Templates are special files used to store styles, default properties, as well as default fabric settings. Use templates when digitizing frequently-used design types to save time re-adjusting current property settings.