Loes Posted August 8, 2007 Report Share Posted August 8, 2007 Hi everyone, A big welcome to all of you. This part of the APQS forum will be dedicated to (future) users of the Pre-Design drawing software. If you have any questions about the program I'll be happy to answer them. I do my best to post tips and tricks too: how to draw and print your own pantos from PreDesign, but also tips how to draw for CompuQuilter. I am very proud that Pre-Design can be purchased at APQS soon. Again, welcome. In your dreams you can create your own quilting patterns..... soon you will be drawing for real! Loes http://quilters.pre-design.eu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue E. Posted August 8, 2007 Report Share Posted August 8, 2007 Loes, welcome! I can attest to how easy this program is to use - for both digitizing designs and creating your own paper panto patterns. I love the ease of this program. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClaudiaPfeil Posted August 8, 2007 Report Share Posted August 8, 2007 ........*heavily waving with her arms* Nice to see you here (again)! A wonderful idea to open this special space for Pre-Design! I love your program and I´ve played already a little bit ..... Not perfect....still working on it;) Best wishes from Germany to the Netherlands....hope to meet you both soon again! Claudia Pfeil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loes Posted August 8, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2007 Hi Sue, Hi Claudia! Nice to see you too. We'll meet soon for sure: in October we will be demoing Pre-Design in Waalre (NL) and in November I come back to your APQS Open House in Krefeld (for demos, but also to look again at your award winning swarovski quilt!!). Hopefully you will have Lenni in your store then I have just submitted my class proposal to the MQS 2008 in Kansas: all about how to get inspired, how to "see" designs and how to draw quilting patterns. So, see you soon! Loes http://quilters.pre-design.eu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loes Posted August 8, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2007 Hi Claudia, Wow, what a beautiful drawing. Made in Pre-Design and used the Magic Circle I presume?? Super! Loes http://quilters.pre-design.eu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue E. Posted August 8, 2007 Report Share Posted August 8, 2007 Claudia, I love your design. Now you need to create a matching rose to put in the center! I want you to create my patterns for me. You are much more creative and talented than I am:) Great design! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susanri Posted August 8, 2007 Report Share Posted August 8, 2007 Do you have a mac version? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loes Posted August 8, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2007 No, sorry. Pre-Design is only suitable for Windows (all versions, including Vista). But you could perhaps try it on a Mac via "Virtual PC"? You can download a 21 day trial version from our website http://quilters.pre-design.eu Loes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myrna Ficken Posted August 9, 2007 Report Share Posted August 9, 2007 Hi Loes, How are you. I have to find mine, I have not finished unpacking yet. Very nice Claudia. Myrna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Beth Posted August 9, 2007 Report Share Posted August 9, 2007 I have to be the really dumb one here...is this just for people with computers on the quiting machines...or can those of us that refuse to buy one use this too?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loes Posted August 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2007 Hi Mary Beth, You'll love Pre-Design even if you don't have a computerized quilting system You can draw your own pantos and print them at actual size from Pre-Design. Take a look at a slide show on page: http://quilters.pre-design.eu/apqs_longarm1.htm'>http://quilters.pre-design.eu/apqs_longarm1.htm Drawing in Pre-Design is very easy: it really is just taking a tool, clicking from point to point and double click to finish a line. Selecting and moving points to perfect the lines. And selecting and copying, pasting, mirroring and flipping is easy too. You can draw from scratch or open a background image to trace. (In the slide show I traced a freemotion motif I made when I was playing with a millennium on a show.) There's a free trial version of Pre-Design, which is fully functional for 21 days. Creating your own pantos is really fun: no searching for special patterns anymore, because you just create them yourself: scan a piece of fabric of the quilt and trace a motif for a matching quilt pattern. Have fun, Loes http://quilters.pre-design.eu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmquilt Posted August 9, 2007 Report Share Posted August 9, 2007 This software does sound fun!!! One more thing to put on the wish list. Michele Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dtreusch Posted August 9, 2007 Report Share Posted August 9, 2007 Loes, I don't have a computerized system. In addition to pantos, can predesign also be used to print block motifs ? Debbi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loes Posted August 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2007 Yes! You can print in true size. So you can draw your own blocks (select all, right click and choose size: set it to the desired size) then print. Or draw paper piecing blocks and print on special foundation paper to sew the pieces right on that material. Or print large quilting blocks and designs on that special Golden Threads quilting paper. That paper can then be pinned on the quilt and you can sew right over it. Paper can be thorn away very easily without distorting the stiches. Loes http://quilters.pre-design.eu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan Beidler Posted August 9, 2007 Report Share Posted August 9, 2007 This looks fantastic! I could have used it so many times! When will it be available at APQS and how much will it cost? I checked out the web site, but I can't read the language. Thanks so much for sharing it with us! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
appr216 Posted August 9, 2007 Report Share Posted August 9, 2007 Oh this sounds just too neat. Anxious to check it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loes Posted August 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2007 Price is US$ 124 (EURO 109). The sweet folks at APQS are working hard on a new look and feel of apqs.com and the Pre-Design information should be on it in 10 days or so. In the meantime you can go ahead and download the trial version from: http://quilters.pre-design.eu (button Free Trial). It is fully functional, and inludes the User Guide, which can be opened via menu Help > Help (PDF). Be sure to check out the helpful screenshots on page: http://quilters.pre-design.eu/screenshots.htm Loes http://quilters.pre-design.eu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Circle Square Posted August 10, 2007 Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 Do we need a wide printer to make pantos. Where do we get the long sheets (or rolls) of paper? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loes Posted August 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 Letter size/A4 is suitable for pantos with a height of 10 - 11 inch, which is fine in most cases. Length of the panto will automatically be divided over several pages, which are numbered. You can tape those together. If your printer supports banner paper, you don't have to tape the pages together. Tip: while taping pages together I always use little post-it notes to hold the pieces in place on the table. Hmm, hard to explain but if you take the time to look at a little demo on page: http://www.pre-design.eu/sewingpatterns02.htm you'll know what I mean Loes http://quilters.pre-design.eu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoAnnHoffman Posted August 10, 2007 Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 Pre-Design is fun and easy. Will it be able to format for all makes of machines? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue E. Posted August 11, 2007 Report Share Posted August 11, 2007 Originally posted by JoAnnHoffman Pre-Design is fun and easy. Will it be able to format for all makes of machines? JoAnn, I'm not sure what you mean by this. When using the Pre-Design software, you are able to save the drawing in several different formats. For digitizing you would save it as a dxf and then bring it into the conversion program. All the computerized systems, as far as I know, take the dxf file and then convert it to whatever they need- Statler is qli, CompuQuilter is cmd, and Intelliquilter is something else- I don't know what it is. If you want to print out the design, it doesn't really matter what system you have because you will be printing on paper. Also, if you use this program for embroidery, there are several formats you can save it in for your particular system. I believe the program was originally created with the Brother PE-Design software in mind, but over the years Loes has supplied export formats for other systems such as Viking, Husquevana (sp.) etc. There is now a module in the software that lets you create patterns to size for clothing - Loes please correct me if I'm not explaining this correctly. I hope this explains the versatility of this easy-to-use program;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loes Posted August 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 11, 2007 Originally posted by JoAnnHoffman Pre-Design is fun and easy. Will it be able to format for all makes of machines? Joann, In addition to Sue's excellent reply about the exported DXF format here are some tips. Pre-Design's DXF can be read directly by the following programs: CompuQuilter via the program part "DXFtoCQ.exe" Open the DXF there and save as cmd. You will see that the DXF exported from Pre-Design has a lot of points: the drawing has a high resolution. Don't delete those points!!! More is better and gets smoother lines! IntelliQuilter: you can load the DXF exported from Pre-Design directly in IntelliQuilter (Pattern folder on the USB stick): if the design doesn't look smooth in the IQ tablet, then go back to Pre-Design and resize the design: make it larger and export to DXF again. It will have a higher resolution (more points) and this will make the lines smoother. The final quilt design size is set in IntelliQuilter. You can also load the DXF into the IQ conversion program and save as IQL if you like (to share or sell designs). Tip for Statler Stitcher: The DXF exported from Pre-Design cannot be read directly by Statler - you will have to open it in AutoSketch first, then Select All and convert to Polylines. Then add First and Last commands. Save again as R2D2 DXF. See slide show http://quilters.pre-design.eu/autosketch.htm'>http://quilters.pre-design.eu/autosketch.htm Hope this helps, Loes http://quilters.pre-design.eu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanieceKS Posted August 30, 2007 Report Share Posted August 30, 2007 I downloaded the trial version and think it's great! I only have one question - I don't yet have the Compuquilter (hope to have it soon), but was told that once the design is done it needs to be "thinned". What is this, and how is it done in the software? Janiece Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loes Posted August 30, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 30, 2007 Hi Janiece, No, no no, please do NOT thin the design!! Patterns made in Pre-Design have a high resolution: that means that the Pre-Design patterns have a lot of points. People abusively think that this is not good, but in fact it is very good! More points means smoother lines. So please do not thin the lines. Thinning the lines could be done in the CompuQuilter program: it reduces the number of points. But when you do that, the lines get edgier, so please do NOT do that Loes http://quilters.pre-design.eu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loes Posted August 30, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 30, 2007 Oh, forgot to mention: take a look at the first 4 demo slideshows on page: http://quilters.pre-design.eu/screenshots.htm'>http://quilters.pre-design.eu/screenshots.htm The slide shows only take a few minutes and in fact that is pretty much the learning curve of the Pre-Design program. Then you will have an idea how to use Pre-Design for CompuQuilter. Hope this helps. Loes http://quilters.pre-design.eu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.