Ink/stitch: an Inkscape extension for machine embroidery design
inkstitch.org
inkstitch.org
I remember Linus writing a blog post about this exact problem. Seems it was in 2010.
http://torvalds-family.blogspot.com/2010/01/embroidery-gaah....
I do have some ideas for a fill algorithm based on origami complex fold rule thingies that I think would be interesting, especially the curved folding algorithm[0]. I also think the 6(?) folding rules would be a good start for laying down the fill paths following the outline of complex shapes.
Perhaps someday I'll explore this, depends on how bad I want the dancing bears I suppose...
[0]http://graphics.stanford.edu/~niloy/research/folding/folding...
I'm kind of vaguely intrigued by the whole idea, but unlikely to run out and buy a machine. Some photos that show what's possible could tip me over the edge.
The manufacturer has some photos on their site where you can buy e.g. Toy Story patterns, but a) they're not created via this software, b) they don't actually show you them on a backpack or whatever in real life, just the design.
https://github.com/lexelby/inkstitch/tree/master/images/patc...
https://www.amazon.com/Brother-SE400-Combination-Computerize...
If so, what would be the next likely step up?
I would recommend picking up an "obsolete" home embroidery machine. Models that were top of the line 10+ years ago can be had for a steal and most have seen little use. That will require sacrificing USB connectivity but you can get a more capable machine in the end.
I've been personally using the SewArt software (paid $75) with Wine emulator on my Mac and it miraculously works. I'm looking forward to trying out this Inkscape extension, the SewArt stuff is hilariously bad while simultaneously being one of the most expensive software licenses on my computer.
Fun fact, this machine has 476KB (kilobytes!!) of memory to hold these designs, which is smaller than I thought possible for consumer hardware in this day. How do you outfit a machine with a USB connector and then put 400k of memory on it? Also fun, your PES file sizes can't be more than around 40k.
(Safari on iOS, so same rendering engine)
Mostly just used to flip designs upside down and stuff like that.
I remember the commercial software my employer was using was something like $5k per computer per year.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embroidermodder#Embroidermod...
"In theory, this project was going to be exactly what I wanted. In practice, it never got funded on Kickstarter and it’s largely incomplete."
lexelby also describes what exactly was used from the Embroidermodder2 project:
"...it contains a really awesome core library that knows pretty much every machine embroidery format and how to convert between them. I use it to convert the CSV files that ink/stitch outputs into the PES files..."
This is tangentially interesting for me, because in one of my pursuits, I want to fabricate a little over a hundred, uniquely-worded "Remove Before Flight"-style-streamers [1], and would continue to create them at a constant, reduced frequency after the initial run. The custom embroidery industry doesn't seem to cater to that kind of use case; all the vendors I visited online want multiple orders per design, and have high setup costs per design.
That made it expensive enough that it is worth it to me to purchase an entry-level embroidery machine like the Brother SE400 and have at it myself with the built-in fonts. But ink/stitch seems ideal if I ever extend my use case (which is just crank out some sans serif text with blaze orange orange thread onto some thick black fabric) in the future to include some simple graphics. Learning to re-hoop (since most of my streamers will be a foot or longer) seems tricky, though.
[1] http://www.aircraftspruce.com/pages/ps/coversaircraft_remove...
Also, a subtle quibble, but embroidery is the original 3D printing. Should just call the newer stuff plastic embroidery. ;)