Stitchboard Support message #2
Re: Sizing of photos and text Fonts
May 16, 2013 at 2:31:12 PM  (in response to Redhouse message #1)
 
Hi and thanks for asking your question here.

It's a complex answer and you can stop reading at any point.

First, I'm assuming your original image is 95x250 pixels.  Second, unfortunately, the Community editor compresses uploaded images to reduce image file size.  This, unfortunately, introduces subtle changes to the image which you often can only see when it's magnified many times.  The reason I mention this is that I blew up the image and see black, white, and various shades of gray.  So your original image may be fine to use... I can't tell unless you attach it in an email.

I assumed that your original does not have the shades of gray so I used Photoshop to clean it up (removed the graying from compression) for testing purposes.

Then I made a simple loom and square stitch bead pattern.  I was able to see what you're asking about.  The lettering was all messed up (that's a technical term).  The key I was looking at was the thickness of the I's and T's.  The original was 2 pixels wide, while the PatternWizard showed 2 or 3 pixels wide.

I then did a quick test of creating a cross stitch pattern since that uses squares instead of rectangles.  The letters in the cross stitch pattern were perfect!  So this told me it related to the various pixels across vs. down to keep the final bead-stitched item proportional.

I went back to the PatternWizard program and can tell you that beading in square stitch with oval beads uses a mathematical 12:9 ratio.  (Bet you're glad you asked your question!)  What this means is that there are 12 pixels across and 9 pixels down for each bead.  Unfortulately, this also means that there will be slight changes in the image when the PatternWizard massages it to show a proportional pattern.  And by doing this, it may or may not add or drop a pixel row or column (bead row or column).

So here's an idea.  Try changing the number of stitches across.  You may find that 94 or 96 stitches work better (or worse).  You MAY find a setting that will suffice.

You've also started me thinking about this problem.  Off hand, it could be that if the PatternWizard slightly alters the "canvas size" or horizontal/vertical pixel count of the original image, that it could mathematically figure a "common denominator", or way of correcting the problem, keeping the final pattern proportional.  I haven't thought this through yet but will.  Give me a few days.

Thanks again.

Terry

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