Stitchboard Support message #1
Operator's manual
April 28, 2011 at 2:54:28 PM
 
Ok, as I've said before, this new version is so powerful, I feel we need to create a manual that explains every option fully.  Sometimes you may wonder why certain options come and go as you make selections on the main screen, but, hopefully, these have been well thought out and happen for a reason!

So in the next couple days, we'll be publishing the first draft of the manual.

And also, as I've said before, I really feel that the program is very intuitive and fully functional without ever looking at a manual.  By scanning through the manual, though, you may find options you didn't even know existed.  So have fun, and watch for more information about the program.

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Stitchboard Support message #3
Re: Operator's manual
March 22, 2012 at 9:31:53 PM
 


Hi.  No, I haven't created a manual quite yet.  BUT, consider your message a kick in my butt!    I'm working feverishly to wind up our new Community this coming week.  I'll be coming back to a few items after that, and will start converting our other areas over to new, completely re-written software.

As I get some other areas renovated, I'll also be coming back to the Pattern Wizard and will be adding several new and more powerful functions.



Yes, we sometimes have gotten comments on how complex it sometimes seems.  Our new Community software is MUCH simpler (and cleaner).  We've been testing it for a couple weeks, and I'm winding up a list of about 15 other things to clean up on it before we open it up. 

Again, the new Community is a totally custom-written package (by us) so we'll always be very flexible in adding things and making changes.

I expect to open the new Community by month end and all existing messages will be transferred into the new software, so we won't lose any messages.

By the way, if you would like to test the new area before we open it, let us know.

Terry

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Stitchboard Support message #5
Re: Operator's manual
March 23, 2012 at 12:43:07 PM
 


Thanks.  We'll let you know when it's available for testing.  At that time, I'll give you a link.  You certainly don't have to be an expert user for the test.  What we're looking for are comments about the ease of use and any suggestions of any features you'd like to see.



Currently, there's some help at: this link.
It also explains some of the tweaking options.



First, let me tell you that the function itself works, but the resulting colors it chooses internally, are not the same colors it shows on the screen or in a pdf.  Yes, this is a bug that's been in there for months.  I've been meaning to temporarily disable the artwork feature until I fix the bug.  So, again, with a "kick in my butt", I just disabled the "artwork" option.

Since I will eventually re-enable it, let me explain the option in as simple terms as I can because it's very technical. 

Normally, in the "gradual tones" setting, when the Wizard gets an image from which to create a pattern, it takes the color palette you've chosen, and the number of colors you want, and matches the closest colors to what's in the image (using a sort of 3-D plotting of the R-G-B color values, but now we're getting technical, so I'll shut up about this:))

The "artwork" setting handles the color choosing method more intelligently.  It tries to weed out similar colors when deciding on the final ones to use.  So in the "artwork" setting, you will get fewer colors, and the ones you get will not be slight shades apart.  I'll probably rename these options to make it clearer.  And I can't resist getting technical again.  :-( Instead of using RGB colors, it uses their HSV (hue, saturation, and value) representations in a 3-D Stitchboard-proprietary method. Yes, we spent many, many, many hours running spreadsheets and calculations to finally come up with the set of formulas the Wizard uses in the "artwork" option.



That'd be great!    We'd love to see this.

Finally, we'll let you know when you can preview the new Community.  And thanks again!

Terry

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