Digitizing RCC designs

Designing for RCC is not much different to normal Schiffli digitizing. However, you need to set the design repeat to the largest used in the design. To visualize which needle is stitching at a particular point in the design, you should use only as many colors as there are needles in the design repeat. To change the design repeat without changing needles – e.g. 8/4 ndl 1 to 16/4 ndl 1 – you should insert a Stop function. See also Digitizing RCC designs in EmbroideryStudio.

Note: If you are working with an older machine without thread trimming, you still need to consider the basic rules of tacking the thread before and after color changes.

Handling frame movements

When the Schiffli machine selects another needle, the frame does not move automatically under it. This can either be done manually during digitizing or left to be calculated by ES Schiffli itself. The software is capable of calculating the automatic frame movements in a similar way to Borer offset. For instance, to change from 12/4-1 to 12/4-2 means a horizontal frame movement by a positive 27.07mm. This is usually broken down into several Needles Out movements of around 7mm.

Displaying RCC patterns

From the digitizer’s point of view, changing colors for RCC is the same as for multihead machines. However, displaying RCC machine files using the FIXPAT Show Design function will display a design shift on-screen. This is because the frame movement looks to the software like a jump movement to the right. The next color will thus be displayed 27.07mm to the right of the previous color. This is only a visual limitation. EmbroideryStudio will output the colors correctly on the production worksheet with a station label configured by the user.

Changing design repeats within the same design

In most Schiffli designs, the design borders are usually in 4/4, changing to 8/4, 12/4 or 16/4 for the main body of the design. Another border may then be made in 4/4, upside down. Explicit design repeat changes in the design are not supported in EmbroideryStudio. Currently the design can have only one design repeat value which is saved with the design. You can, however, output a Stop or a Color Change which you can then assign to any of the stations using the Schiffli Disk Converter. See Convert EMB to RCC file format for details.