Auto-digitize: turning an image into stitches

Auto-digitize converts a picture into embroidery objects: fills for the areas, satin columns for narrow shapes and run stitches for thin lines. It works best with logos, clip art and flat illustrations with distinct solid colour areas. Convert an image now, or read on for what it does and what it cannot do.

How to Use

1. Click Import or drag a PNG/JPG onto the import dialog
2. Leave Colors on Auto, or untick it and set a count yourself (fewer = simpler, more = detailed)
3. Set the desired width in millimetres
4. Click "Digitize image"
5. Review the detected colours. The background is found for you and left unticked
6. Click Import to create the objects

What Happens Inside

• Background. The colour that dominates the picture's border is treated as the background and left unstitched. Tick it if you want it sewn.
• Colour count. With Auto on, the picture's colours are clustered in a perceptual colour space and the count is chosen for you. Small but real details, such as seeds or dots, keep their own colour; blended edge pixels between two colours do not become a colour of their own.
• Shape classification. Each colour region is traced and smoothed, then classified by its width and shape: narrow shapes (arcs, rinds, bars) and the outlines drawn around things become satin columns with a centre-walk underlay, one column per stretch between corners and junctions; lines too thin to hold a zigzag (about half a millimetre) become run stitches, triple run by default so they read as bold as the picture's lines; and everything else becomes a tatami fill. A colour's row shows what it produced; switch it from Auto to All fills if you would rather have fills only.
• Underlap and order. Every fill is extended a fraction of a millimetre under its neighbours so no fabric shows at the seams. Objects sew background first, then the fills by colour, and the outlines last, on top of the areas they border; within a colour each object is the nearest one to the last, so the machine walks rather than trims.

Color Exclusion

Each detected colour shows a checkbox and its share of the picture. Untick colours you don't want in your design. At least one colour must stay selected. The import button updates to show how many objects will be created.

Holes

The digitizer automatically detects holes inside shapes (like the inside of an "O" or the loops of a bow). These areas are left empty in the final embroidery, just like the original image.

Tips for Best Results

• Use images with clear, solid colours. Gradients and photos don't digitize well.
• Use an image at least 600 px wide. Hairlines thinner than the picture's own edge blur merge into the colour around them, so thicken them in the artwork first if you need them stitched.
• Digitize at the size you will sew. The classification depends on real millimetres, so an outline that is a run stitch at 60 mm becomes a satin column at 100 mm, and a shape that is a satin column at 80 mm may become a fill at 200 mm.
• After importing, adjust fill angle and density per region in the Properties panel.
• For complex or detailed artwork, consider using the backdrop feature and tracing manually for better control.