by mops Moderator 14 Jun 2012

Auto digitising vs manual digitising


I read the question about manually punched. Being back home again I digitised one design by Clipartopolis 3 ways today to show the difference it can make in the end result.

The first one is made in 5DExtra - a few clicks and as by magic the design appears. Time spent about 5 minutes.

#2 is made using the magic wand in Embird. That takes longer as it auto-digitises the different parts of a design separately. I did not colour sort which would have reduced the number of thread changes neither did I correct crooked lines. Time spent about 30 minutes

#3 is done manually. I left out a number of outlines as I liked it better this way, I set different angles for the fill stitches, which will give a nice effect when stitches out. Time spent about 3 hours.

145190

by seworkemb 05 Jan 2014

I like manually punch

41
by sewilso 01 Jan 2014

Thanks for explaining this and sharing with us. I don't digitize, but wish I could, many thanks to all who do so for sure. I didn't realize all the differences that were possible, number three is definitely tops!

23281
by haleymax 31 Dec 2013

Thank you for answering some of my questions before I could ask them.

15626
by graceandham 31 Dec 2013

I get it!

66478
by hightechgrammy 31 Dec 2013

Thank You so much for demonstrating the difference! What a difference your time spent does make, too. Yours is something worth stitching, while the other two simply are not.

59592
by Sewmum1 31 Dec 2013

Thank you for this easy to read explanation. I am new to machine embroidery so this helps me see what good designs look like so I can be more selective in the designs I choose.

13241
by desotoginny 14 Aug 2012

I have the Perla8800S program, I don't like the auto-digitizing programs, designs just don't look right. I can save to any format except ART.

427
by desotoginny 14 Aug 2012

I use Perla 8800S for manual digitizing-it has an autodigitizer but I have never cared for the end result, coloring is wrong, shapes are off kilter. With this program I can save into any format except ART. I have a Janome Mb4 and have never had a problem with the formatting (except for my own mistakes--sending wrong format to machine OOPS! won't sew!)

427
by nancygiroir 13 Aug 2012

Now I understand. Thank you so much for the time and effort you put into this. I clearly see the difference and appreciate everyone who digitizes designs. I didn't realize how much time it took to create a design.

985
by marjialexa Moderator 13 Aug 2012

Martine, I must have missed this somehow when you first put it up. THANK YOU so much for this simple, graphic lesson. I hope this helps people to understand that it takes time to do a good design, and that auto-digitizing doesn't work like some of the manufacturers would like you to believe. These are super examples, although your 5D extra surely does a better job than my Janome Digitizer Pro would have, hee hee hee. Manual punch gives you so much control, and a much better design that won't give people trouble on the sew out. Thanks again for taking the time to do this, even if I am several months late. Hugs, Marji

33451
by lflanders 13 Aug 2012

Thanks for the explaination and the 3 pics that truely show the difference. My problem is: I have to see something done with my own eyes before I can actually learn how to do it. I decided a long time ago that digitizing was not something I wanted to tackle! At that time, I did have more to do than I could keep up with 2 full-time jobs but even now, it does not interest me and sometimes I get nothing done all day! Having to deal with the super intense pain 24 hrs a day, I try to keep everything fairly simple. Maybe that is one reason I admire all of you that do such great work! If it was not for the Veronika's and the Martine's and other great digitizers we have access to everyday, I would not even have the hobby of Machine Embroidery! Many thanks to all of the great digitizer's that share their skills with all of us! Hugs, Linda

24961
by debswebster 16 Jun 2012

Thank you for this example. Your work is much appreciated, and knowing how time-consuming manual digitizing is, makes it even more special. ***'s4U!

11329
by pennyhal 16 Jun 2012

Thanks for this mini lesson on creating designs. I know this took a lot of your time to do and to follow up to our questions. I certainly learned a lot from you today! Your efforts are truly appreciated!

6788
by jacquipaul 16 Jun 2012

Thank you Martine for taking the time and effort to do this and post the pictures.
A big difference!
Hugs,
Jacqueline

70914
by jrob Moderator 16 Jun 2012

It's a whole different animal (pun intended)! Thank you for the example, I can easily see the differences.;)

158548
by dididwiar 16 Jun 2012

Wow I had no idea of the differences. Thanks so much for the explanation. I really do appreciate the time, effort and generousity of all of you who digitize and give so much. Thankyou! Thankyou!!

4666
by lbrow 16 Jun 2012

Martine I wish either you or Meg would come spend a few weeks with me and teach me a few things. You guys are so very smart./Much love Lillian

2 comments
mops by mops 16 Jun 2012

I'd love to, but it's a bit far...

nanniesara by nanniesara 16 Jun 2012

WE could have a big time I know of three of us that would love to learn more. LOL

145789
by muflotex 16 Jun 2012

Thank you Martine for pointing this out, now I can see and watch out for the quality of a design much better and work harder on my embird skills until the stich fits 8-)

20463
by cfidl 15 Jun 2012

Thank you! After reading everthing here I have 1 question. Do you know what programs PE Design, Embird, Artista have the manual digitizing option? and also is there 1 that is not machine associated?

4 comments
danababes by danababes 15 Jun 2012

PE Design and Embird both allow manual punching/digitising, I dunno about Artista but I assume so :)

mops by mops 16 Jun 2012

Manual digitising can be done in PE design and in Embird. The Husqvarna software has a digitising module Design Creator which can be bought separately when you have 5D Embroidery 0r 5D Embroidery Extra and is part of the full version 5D Pro.

Embird is not machine related, it can save in numerous formats, but not in ART - only Artista can do that. You need Embird Basic and the digitising module Studio.
Most software packages can save in several formats - I use Embird as well as 5D for both my Husqvarna machine and my Melco.

mops by mops 16 Jun 2012

is not machine related, you need Studio for digitising. But all software packages (at least the newer versions of them) can convert to numerous formats except ART - for that you have to have Bernina software.

cfidl by cfidl 16 Jun 2012

Thank you very much! Is there a babylock person, I would like to know about this brand also, and janome. Did I hit all the major brands. Thanks

173578
by mamshoes 15 Jun 2012

Wow! Thank you for showing the difference. I would not have know there would be one. Wow.Thank you

269
by mooie24 15 Jun 2012

Thank you for taking the time to share..
I also like designers that show a stitchout of the design rather then the snap shot of the design as this can also differ quite a lot.. I always try to do this when I put design in DBC.. and this is just the beginning as we all know materials, backings ect also make a hug differnece on a designs outcome
Big hugs from London Maria xx

20276
by susiesembroidery 15 Jun 2012

Thank you for the insight into the different digitizing. Very informative and nice design.***

21543
by tmcginn 15 Jun 2012

Great Example. But what exactly are you doing when you say that you manually digitized it? Is that still using a program and you manually select the areas for the stitches or are you really typing in the stitching instructions?

3 comments
mops by mops 15 Jun 2012

You use a programme and outline every area you want to stitch either with the mouse or a stylus on a drawing tablet, set all parameters, like sort of stitch, direction of fill stitches, density, push pull compensation, stitch length, underlay and so on. Auto-digitising is a shortcut which gives less satisfying results, but the programmes are still being sold and some websites, especially the "every hour another freebie" offer nothing but auto-digitised designs.

mops by mops 15 Jun 2012

Auto-digitising is a shortcut, you can see the results are far from perfect. The AD-software is still widely sold, but if you want to start digitising don't fall for it, IMO it's not worth the money, buy something that gives better results.

tmcginn by tmcginn 16 Jun 2012

Thank you. I am inexperienced at digitizing and really appreciate your explanations and examples.

784
by sqdancer 15 Jun 2012

Thanks Martine, certainly no comparison in the finished product - great explanation...Hugs x0x0x0x Glenda

27071
by quilter124 15 Jun 2012

thank you for the great visual demonstration...

15874
by cclark 15 Jun 2012

That was very informative! Thank you for such a terrific lesson!

14208
by emanuille 15 Jun 2012

ok *3 I like done manually more beautiful

10973
by mary51 15 Jun 2012

Thank you!

26711
by michemb 15 Jun 2012

Thanks martine for such an informative lesson.
hugs
Michelle

64451
by mops Moderator 15 Jun 2012

Thank you all for your nice comments. Flowers to all.

145190
by dec716 15 Jun 2012

very enlightning
thanks

2848
by meganne 14 Jun 2012

Great idea Martine, the pity is that there are a lot of, shall we say, "less discerning" people who would be happy with any of them.

What a shame the artwork isn't a Windows Metafile because then you could have shown a fourth and sometimes even worse option. Worse because auto digitising from WMF (in Embird) will digitise layer after layer of underlay, over the whole design, usually starting with the base layer of black and you end up spending hours trying to remove the unnecessary underlay.
But I bet you had fun doing ALL of them. :-))
Hugs n love, Meganne

4 comments
mops by mops 15 Jun 2012

Thanks Meganne, I had indeed great fun doing them.
I'd tried to convert a wmf once and decided never again, but for demonstration purposes it would have been nice. However, I did not download the wmf-file and the set had just changed to the new freebie when I thought of this.
What the pictures don't show are the ragged outlines of the fill sections of the first two. It would take hours to get those right!

mops by mops 15 Jun 2012

freebie when I thought of it.

You are right about some people being happy with even the worse designs, but quality shows - and gives far less trouble when stitching it.

ezzemml by ezzemml 15 Jun 2012

Megan can the picture format be changed through paint if you open with paint and then save as and change it there

meganne by meganne 15 Jun 2012

Hi Ezzeml,
Paint can saveas: bitmap; jpegs; GIF; TIF and PNG, but not WMF.
It is a good standby if you don't have any other graphics programs.
HNR, Meganne

122864
by capoodle 14 Jun 2012

The manual one has a much cleaner appearance with less stitches and a neater looking fill. Thanks for showing the differences.

89895
by lidiad 14 Jun 2012

Thank you for showing us the difference, Martine. Of course, manual digitizing is the best and your work is very much appreciated. Hugs, Lidia

78092
by noah 14 Jun 2012

Oh my i thought it was just a matter of a few clicks lol noooooo thanks a million for all you do for us big hugs carolyn

360344
by pennifold 14 Jun 2012

Well, I know which design I'd choose!!!!!! You are a wonderful digitiser Martine thanks for your generosity. Love and blessings Chris

234247
by drro 14 Jun 2012

Thanks Martine for taking the time to do this for us. It certainly shows even in the pictures here the differences. I can well imagine the sew-out quality differences:>)

19452
by vickiannette 14 Jun 2012

thankyou. I am not interested in digitizing because I can get anything i need from someone else and spend my time doing the sewing.

16529
by shirlener88 14 Jun 2012

WOW, thanks for the lesson.

211078
by almag 14 Jun 2012

If you want a really good design there's no choice, really, is there!! Speed and ease are not always the best answers.
This illustration must surely make the non-digitisers amongst us appreciate the time taken to produce quality designs.
Thank you for your time and effort taken to let us see the differences.
AlmaG.

17214
by kiffuri 14 Jun 2012

Thank you!

3809
by shirley124 14 Jun 2012

A great example with ways of digitizing. Many thanks for yor time. Shirley

52668
by crafter2243 Moderator 14 Jun 2012

Thanks Martine for taking the time to demonstrate. This is a very good example.

109749
by dragonflyer 14 Jun 2012

Thanks so much for the visuals...I learn better with visuals! Appreciate all you do!

313222
by alexgrandma 14 Jun 2012

Thanks!! You are the BEST!!

8047
by basketkase 14 Jun 2012

What a great demo on the various digitizing techniques!! Something the dealer will never show you when trying to sell it!! Your auto digi software looks much better than the bernina software, Martine.....when I first started out and tried the auto on mine it was almost unrecognizable!

261149
by pldc 14 Jun 2012

That was my question & thank you sew much I didn't really understand it! This makes a very big difference I guess it's like that old saying you get what you pay for! You buy the best you can afford, & when you can buy the best buy the MANUAL PUNCH! sew much cuter thanks Martine I appreciate the visuals! Hugs Loralye

1 comment
pldc by pldc 14 Jun 2012

it really gives a whole new meaning to the freebies...... the time spent creating for FREE! wow digitizers like you are very very generous & I always thought sew but now I can see the difference & understand it sew much better!

299557
by blueeyedblonde 14 Jun 2012

Glad you're back. This is so awesome of you to show everyone what a difference it makes! Manual wins, hands down!

38558
by edithfarminer 14 Jun 2012

Interesting, thanks for showing, the manal one wins it by a mile I think. So worth the extra work

57801
by berny 14 Jun 2012

Thank you,I have pe.design 8 but never tried anything yet.

7314
by bumblebee 14 Jun 2012

Nice job showing us the differences.

37638
by spendlove Moderator 14 Jun 2012

Welcome home!
Interesting that the manual version has a lot less stitches (a great plus point in my opinion.) Much nicer result as well.

3 comments
mops by mops 14 Jun 2012

I think yhr greatest difference is because I left out a number of satin stitch outlines - those always have a high stitch count.

mops by mops 14 Jun 2012

how come I get yhr when I mean the??

gerryb by gerryb 14 Jun 2012

I do that all the time! Your fingers are one key off. If you're a typist, you don't look at the keys. The smaller keyboard of the new computers really throw me off! But that's ok, we know what you mean! And now I know why manual done designs are more costly..look at the time difference!

140716