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Husqvarna Viking Plus Software
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Autodigitizing
Husqvarna Viking now has two large software packages available and both retail for a similar price in Australia. This gives the customer a choice but the question asked is “What is the difference between them?”
Husqvarna Viking provide various combinations of software You can buy the various parts separately or in a collection called Professional PLUS
Husqvarna Viking Professional PLUS contains:
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Customizing PLUS
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D-card Reader Writer
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Reader Writer
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Disk manager PLUS
THE ABOVE 4 ARE CUSTOMISING PLUS
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Digitizing PLUS
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Stitch Editor PLUS
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Design Splitter
THE ABOVE 2 ARE STITCH EDITOR PLUS
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Resize PLUS
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Quick Fonts PLUS
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Color Picture Stitch
Husqvarna Viking Customizing PLUS
Customizing Plus includes the following features:
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Unlimited hoop sizes.
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See your 3D design in the colors it will stitch out in.
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Change the color of the background to match your fabric.
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100 shapes included that can be added to your design.
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12 fill patterns in 17 different fonts.
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Stitch count and density settings adjust instantly when resizing lettering.
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Variety of lettering positions available.
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Mirror and rotate designs to any angle.
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Search facilities to find designs.
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Drag and drop from windows.
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100 free designs.
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Convert from most embroidery format into PCS, VIP, HUS and SHV.
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Send designs via cable connection to Pfaff 2140, 7560,7563 and 7570 machines.
Customizing PLUS allows you to combine designs together, adjust colors to the threads from your preferred manufacturer, and then combine them with Lettering or Shapes
This package will allow you to convert from most formats (but not ART) into HUS, VIP or PCS format. You can customize designs, add text and format designs for the PLUS hoop.
Color sorting will now be included in the Customizing package. It will include the extra fonts, borders, shapes and frames that were in the Pro package as standard. Thread charts for various manufacturers will also be included in the software.
Customizing PLUS will now be a complete package for the owners of Designer series of machines. However resizing is not included and the software still will only alters designs by 20% with no alteration of stitch count.
Customizing PLUS comes with a USB dongle as standard and if you wish to change to a serial port dongle it is the purchasers’ responsibility to return the dongle to the Head office of Husqvarna Viking including proof of purchase. A serial port dongle will then be mailed back to the purchaser. The dongle key system will be replaced by a USB dongle that will respond to a serial number and access code system.
Orchidea (1+), Rose and Iris owners will still need the reader writer kit in Addition to Customizing PLUS to interface their machines with the computer.
Husqvarna Viking Digitizing PLUS
Digitizing Plus includes the following features
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Import a large variety of images formats including .eps (Adobe) &.pcd (Kodak ).
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Edit pictures within the software 50 MiniPics in two sizes for instant designs.
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Drawing tools provide a range of geometrical shapes.
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QuickstitchTM features allow instant digitizing of fill with holes, borders, appliqué and tie off stitches.
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FreeHandTM features allow manual punching of step, satin and running stitches.
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12 satin fills and 108 pattern fills.
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Automatically set compensation,understitching, stitch angles, satin rings and feathered satin stitch.
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Manual punch if desired.
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Save files as .CAN files for modification, including resizing, at a later date.
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Save files in a variety of machine formats including VIP and PCS.
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Improve picture quality for digitizing.
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De-speckle filter, Line Expander, Monochrome Filter, Outline Filter.
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Advanced color recognition tools
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Able to reduce lines to one pixel in width.
Digitizing PLUS can be purchased separately but to use it you will need to have previously purchased Customizing PLUS. The dongle that is provided with the Customizing PLUS will be required for the operation of Digitizing PLUS.
Digitizing PLUS has a number of graphics functions, which will allow you to edit various image formats from within the software. An automatic outline tool allows you to instantly click outlines in single, double or quadruple stitch. This is really impressive. The trend is to instant digitizing of reworked graphics images.
System requirements for Customizing, Digitizing and Stitch Editor Plus.
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PC with Pentium processor (600MHz recommended)
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Windows*95/98/2000/ME 16 MB RAM (64 recommended)
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70MB Hard disk space
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SVGA monitor 800 x 600 res high color (1024 x 768 res, 16 million colors recommended)
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Mouse, CD-ROM or DVD-ROM Drive
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USB port or Serial Port (COM)
Husqvarna Viking Stitch Editor PLUS
This package provides editing ability to the software system. It includes the Design splitter software, which allows you to select parts of a design to insert into new designs via Customizing PLUS
You can alter:
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Color sequences
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Rotate elements
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Add or delete color changes, trim commands, stops or jump stitches
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Mirror image sections of designs
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Change pattern fills
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Create new fills with stamps,
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Alter compensation values for different fabrics
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Reduce stitch length in designs that have been enlarged.
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Split designs into sections for the rose, Orchidea or iris PLUS hoop.
Husqvarna Viking Resize PLUS
This allows you to alter the size of designs with a recalculation in stitch count. It will read in most formats and will also allow you to save designs in the .can format which means you can alter them in digitizing PLUS.
Husqvarna Viking Quick fonts PLUS
Allow you to vastly expand the fonts available by accessing all true type fonts.
Husqvarna Viking Color Picture Stitch
This allows you to work with photos and images to create unique designs in either monochrome or color. Based on four optical colors, magenta, cyan, black and yellow, which blend to create a variety of shades
Extensive picture editing tools are available to alter the contrast saturation and colors in a color photo and the design Is created automatically
Text can be added in a box of the Background color, or with a transparent background so it appears directly on top of any image or color already on the Work Area. Use any TrueType Font on your computer in a regular, bold, italic or bold italic styles,
Husqvarna Viking Cross Stitcher
Add On software, which allows you to manually or automatically create cross-stitch designs from images.
Settings are shown for a variety of styles such as :
Single, double or triple treads can be used in designs.
Images can be altered within the software
Designs can be created in a variety of sizes.
Autodigitizing
This is an entirely separate system to the previous collection of software.
Instead of being a collection in separate parts it is all in one environment.
It does not interface with an embroidery machine so you will still need the software to link to your machine.
For Example If you have a :
Designer I or II machine you will need Customizing PLUS
Rose, Orchidea or iris you will need Customizing PLUS and the Reader Writer kit
Pfaff 7500 series will need Customizing PLUS
Pfaff 21240 will need File Assistant (which is provided with the machine)
Autodigitizing is extremely powerful software that allows you to edit ALL aspects of the design. True Autodigitizing works with only the simplest of designs or very well edited artwork. Most designs will still need editing. A multitude of editing commands are located within three main windows. Submenus are accessed using a right click on the mouse.
It does some of what the Professional PLUS software can but has a lot more.
In addition Autodigitizing can:
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Interface with windows XP when selecting files
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Automatically create a variety of tie off stitches and underlay styles
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Align designs or elements by top, bottom, left ,right, horizontal and vertical edges.
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Reposition the start and end points of blocks of stitching.
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Use an extremely detailed filmstrip method to select and edit individual sections of stitches.
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Draw lines, shapes and outlines with a motif fill
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Create new motifs for fill or outlines
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Extensively edit photos and other artwork to reduce colors and simplify digitizing
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Insert areas of cross-stitch into designs with step and satin stitches.
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Produce random stitch designs from photos
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Automatically adjust compensation when resizing or digitizing.
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Place radial fill and gradient fill in several colors in the one shape.
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Automatically digitize satin stitch of a varying width
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Automatically create text in different colors for each letter
System requirements are :
Try to run it on a system that is less than this and it will lock up when handling images.
My personal thoughts on the two systems:
AD Autodigitizing and PP Professional Plus.
September 2003
- AD does not cope that well with outline drawings. If red work or quilting designs are your thing then PP will be the superior system.
- If you want to digitize multi-colored complex designs to a professional standard, and you know your way around computers, then AD is the way to go
- PP will be an easier system for someone inexperienced with computers as all tools have an icon in the separate sections. In AD you need to know what you are looking for as there are nested menus accessed by a right mouse click.
- In my opinion AD would be a better system for a professional digitizer working with a variety of designs, fonts and fabrics.
- PP has easier picture editing tools based on a Microsoft Paint style. You see the changes very graphically. In AD the changes are not displayed as simply. But AD has more picture editing ability overall.
- PP has the Outline thinner which is NOT in AD. In AD, to make an outline in straight satin stitch you need a really good image that is pre-edited in graphics software such as Paint Shop Pro.
- AD does allow you to create areas of satin stitch which you cannot do automatically in PP
- Multicolored random picture stitch is only available in AD. PP has a line or grid system based on four colors.
- Blocks of satin stitching and motif fill have to be done manually in PP. But they can be done!
- Designs created using the automatic tools in PP have a lot more jump stitches that those created in AD.
- When transferring designs created in AD through Customizing PLUS to the sewing machine the colors change when processed. Shades that are close are not recognized as different colors in Customizing plus. You need to carefully check the colors in a design especially when using the SnapShot option in AD.
- The “Intelligent Design Processor” is not THAT! smart. You still need to edit designs to get a good quality stitch-out. The time saved in the few clicks that automation gives you is taken away by the time spent in either editing the image beforehand or in editing the design after digitizing.
I recommend that you ask your dealer to demonstrate the two software packages with AN IMAGE FILE YOU HAVE PROVIDED!
(The dealers of the world will HATE me)
But please do not take in an image that is scanned at more than 150 dpi, or a digital photo. Simple clip art is where you start.
(The dealers of the world will STILL HATE me - at least you will know what sort of help they can give you.)
What you see on the screen is not necessarily what you will stitch out. You can create a design in a few clicks with either software. I can create a reasonable snack in a few minutes with a piece of cheese and a few slices of bread. On the other hand if I had guests coming for dinner I would not offer them toasted cheese sandwiches.
Most designs created with AD would need some editing. But so many components such as underlay etc. are preset. The ability to edit so extensively makes Autodigitizing very powerful software once you learn how to navigate it.
I guess I see it as a natural progression from Professional Plus for someone who will be digitizing on a fairly frequent basis. It could be an easy system to get lost in if you are not using it regularly.
It comes down to what you would feel comfortable with and how much control you want over your designs. Both are great software.
Each has its pros and cons.
I would like Autodigitizing to have Hus colors in the thread charts, and the Digitizing PLUS outline thinner and tracing tools.
I would welcome any comments on what I have written and would like to repeat that these comments are my own thoughts as at September 2003. You can contact me through the Secrets site or direct at:
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