PE-Design is an embroidery digitizing software system available from
Brother dealers and though the 'PE' stands for Personal Embroidery,
don't let that fool you. It's a robust system that allows for some
pretty advanced digitizing and embroidery and is an excellent program to
begin learning the art of embroidery digitizing. The Graphical User
Interface (GUI) or What-You-See/Interact-With-On-The-Screen is colorful
with large, intuitive buttons and fly-outs. It's also organized very
well with no clutter for a large workspace.
PE-Design allows the
digitizer to convert a digital picture to stitches and save it in a
format that can be read by the computer in your embroidery machine. The
image can be one you've hand drawn and scanned, one created in another
imaging program such as Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, or JASC
Paint Shop Pro, one you've captured (legally, of course) from the
Internet, a CD or floppy, or a digital snapshot from your digital
camera. Whatever the case, the original image must be in .jpg, .gif or
.bmp format.
The PE-Design full product package includes a card
reader/writer.embroidery digitizing It must be plugged into a USB port in order for the
program to run. Though you can install the program on any machine, it
can only function on the machine where the reader/writer is installed.
Once
you've created your design, you can save it in Brother (*.PES),
Husqvarna/Viking (*.HUS), Melo (*.EXP), Tajima (*.DST) and Pfaff (*.PCS)
formats. It is a Brother product, so its native format is PES.
What Does It Cost?
The
program will probably run you somewhere between $1,000.00 and
$1,200.00, but if you are purchasing an embroidery machine or are a good
customer of the shop and don't mind a little dickering, you might be
able to negotiate a substantial savings. It never hurts to try. Here's a
tip: Before you buy ask your dealer if any major upgrades to the
software have been announced. If a major upgrade is forthcoming and you
are in no hurry, you may want to postpone your purchase. Major upgrades
come with a price, usually in the range of $250.00 to $300.00, and must
be purchased from a Brother dealer. Though a major upgrade is usually
worth the investment, you don't want to purchase the software one month
just to have to shell out more money a few months later. Minor upgrades,
from the current version 6.0 to version 6.03 for instance, are free,
and are downloaded from the Brother web site.
Commercial or Home-based?
PE-Design
is designed with the home-based digitizer and personal embroiderer in
mind. That means that many functions or settings are automatic with
limited manual control available to the digitizer. Commercial digitizing
software is just the opposite: Functions and settings are in the hands
of the digitizer and automatic settings can be adjusted and saved. Of
course, commercial digitizing software will cost five to twenty times
more than PE-Design. Still, in the hands of a skilled and creative
digitizer, PE-Design produces excellent embroidery designs.
Beginning to Digitize
As
with any sophisticated software be prepared to practice, practice,
practice and use your creativity to explore and push the program to its
limits. Learn the fundamentals of what makes a design sew out perfectly,
then look at the designs you like with an analytical eye. Ask, "How did
they do that?" and try to recreate the technique. With time you'll
develop your own style and find your digitizing niche.
Many shops
offer digitizing classes. Ask to sit in for free on a few before making a
time or financial commitment. If all the instructor does is follow the
booklet that came with the software, save your money. You'll probably
teach yourself quicker.
Speaking of the manual: It is 262 pages
and was obviously written by a team very familiar with PE-Design and the
English language. It is well organized with plenty of images and
screenshots, is very easy to read and covers the basic use of every tool
in depth. It is not a digitizing teacher. Use it to learn the tools, it
won't take long, then practice, practice, practice.
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