Using KG Chart and Making Patterns

[pinkcatflower]

I seem to have a lot of trouble getting any of the programs I've tried to give what seem like reasonable thread selections across an entire image. Of course, that's largely based on comparing the original image colors to this image: http://www.thestitchershideaway.com/sto ... colors.jpg, all on a computer.

Is it foolish to attempt thread selection in this manner? Should I be comparing a printout to threads in-store (or on-hand)? Or, am I just being overly picky for something that'll generally look pretty good as long as it's not WAY off?

In my experience, programs can pick some pretty off colours... Like...WAY off in some cases. I ended up picking them all by eye.... Very time consuming though! I made little swatches of colour in photoshop and brought them on my smartphone into the shop to compare them by eye. What I would probably recommend is buying a DMC floss colour chart (I should probably take my advice and get one for my next project!) Apparently you can get printed ones, or ones with samples of actual floss on them.

I had also tried using that dmc colour chart on my computer screen but found it actually did not capture the floss colours accurately when I compared with real floss I had on hand. I hope this information helps you!

And remember this one last thing- No-one but you will notice if some of your colours are a bit off

[tbsp]

Thanks RockstarGirl for the tip on PatternMaker, I hadn't tried that program yet and it seems to have some very extensive import features (as well as lots of control over chart formatting).

Also, thanks pinkcatflower for the tip about buying an actual color card (and confirming that I'm not crazy to be considering manual selection of 50+ colors). Now I just need to find a place that sells the cards with real floss.

[pinkcatflower]

Hey tbsp, I found the topic where someone linked me a place to buy colour cards, just in case you want to buy online (I won't be buying one online though, shipping to NZ is craazy)

Here is what LordLibidan said:
"http://www.sewandso.co.uk/Products/Prin ... 100AR.aspx - printed one, which costs £6, which is... $10 I think...
and
http://www.sewandso.co.uk/Products/DMC- ... W100A.aspx - this one actually has the threads on it, so you can see exactly what it looks like. I'd suggest getting this one, which is £14.50 or $24.
They are quite expensive, but I use it for every pattern I make, a lot of the pattern making programs often get things a little wrong... Also, I'm not great at converting from pounds to dollar, so they might not be right. I'm not sure how easy it might be to find it in NZ, but I found mine in a badly stocked store, so you should be able to find it."

oh and p.s Yeah you aren't crazy! I am a perfectionist and wanted to have something I was going to spend lots of time stitching end up just right! Nothing crazy about pride in your work

[RockstarGirl]

Thanks RockstarGirl for the tip on PatternMaker, I hadn't tried that program yet and it seems to have some very extensive import features (as well as lots of control over chart formatting).

Yeah, KG Chart is great for basic sprites, but PatternMaker's import features are great for larger and more complicated stuff. Some of its color choices are still a little off sometimes, but generally it does better than KG Chart - I've run the same sprite through both programs (several different times, actually) just to compare results.

The one thing I've found that KG chart does that I haven't been able to find on PatternMaker is the ability to switch a color for another - KG chart you just right-click the color and choose "change color." The only way I've found of changing a color on PatternMaker is add the new color to the palette and use the flood fill tool to fill all areas of the old color, then delete the old one from the palette. Which can be annoying.

[Servotron]

KG Chart is now up to version 1.22.04, and there are now two versions:-

KG Chart LE, which is free and more or less the same kind of program we have been using, and
KG Chart Pro, which cost $35 and has a few extra features.

The list of differences can be found here: http://www.iktsoft.net/kgchart-en/blog/

[spinuntilyoufall]

KG Chart is now up to version 1.22.04, and there are now two versions:-

KG Chart LE, which is free and more or less the same kind of program we have been using, and
KG Chart Pro, which cost $35 and has a few extra features.

The list of differences can be found here: http://www.iktsoft.net/kgchart-en/blog/

Oooooo.... that's a bit expensive, but I may have to get it anyways - those are some neat features...

[Hithlain]

Actually, I have a question. I'm a newbie trying to make my own pattern and I went through and edited a photo pixel by pixel exactly the way I wanted it... except I didn't pay attention to the size of the picture too much when I started. Now it's 17x12! I would prefer to have it somewhere under 8x11 but I can't see any way of resizing. When I go to chart size and try resizing the canvas, it crops the picture instead of resizing like I want. Is there any way to scale the picture down, or will I have to start over again?

Not that I don't want a giant chibi amaterasu, but I would prefer something slightly smaller on my first try.

[blackmageheart]

Actually, I have a question. I'm a newbie trying to make my own pattern and I went through and edited a photo pixel by pixel exactly the way I wanted it... except I didn't pay attention to the size of the picture too much when I started. Now it's 17x12! I would prefer to have it somewhere under 8x11 but I can't see any way of resizing. When I go to chart size and try resizing the canvas, it crops the picture instead of resizing like I want. Is there any way to scale the picture down, or will I have to start over again?

I don't think there is a resize tool, as such. When you resize the canvas, you're changing the size of the work area and so it crops the picture.

When you import your image into KGChart, you can change the size, as well as number of colours, etc. The size will be in centimetres though. FInd out the size you need and set it there, then OK to import. The chart will appear but at the size you wanted, then you can edit away.
If you find you can't do it, post a request in the appropriate board and someone will be happy to help!

[Hithlain]

Actually, I have a question. I'm a newbie trying to make my own pattern and I went through and edited a photo pixel by pixel exactly the way I wanted it... except I didn't pay attention to the size of the picture too much when I started. Now it's 17x12! I would prefer to have it somewhere under 8x11 but I can't see any way of resizing. When I go to chart size and try resizing the canvas, it crops the picture instead of resizing like I want. Is there any way to scale the picture down, or will I have to start over again?

I don't think there is a resize tool, as such. When you resize the canvas, you're changing the size of the work area and so it crops the picture.

When you import your image into KGChart, you can change the size, as well as number of colours, etc. The size will be in centimetres though. FInd out the size you need and set it there, then OK to import. The chart will appear but at the size you wanted, then you can edit away.
If you find you can't do it, post a request in the appropriate board and someone will be happy to help!

Bah, I knew that I should have payed more attention at the beginning screen. Thanks anyway!

[spinuntilyoufall]

This may be a bit of work - but less than starting over. I did the same thing once.

So - start out in KGChart by going into "View" and unchecking "mesh" and "mark."

Hit "PrtScn" on your keyboard.

Open Paint and copy in the screen shot you just took. Crop to fit the image, and save.

Import the new image into KGChart. It sometime helps if you tell it the total number of colors you had in your original pattern, so it doesn't go nuts (don't forget to add +1 for the background if you didn't have a filled in background on your original pattern.)

Again, this may not be exact, but you should be able to do just a bit of clean up and have what you wanted.

Hope that helps!