StitchBuddy News

StitchBuddy HD for iPad released

info@stitchbuddy.de — 2012-05-11T11:00:00+02:00

The last months it was pretty quiet, wasn't it? Actually I was really busy working on a new version of StitchBuddy. This time I didn't add some feature, but … a new device: StitchBuddy runs on iPad!

A tablet is not a powerful computer, for sure, and modifying large designs might be beyond its capabilities. Personally I don't want to digitize or change single stitches on a tablet, but what about all these purchased designs you might want to tweak a little? Wouldn't it be great to look at them on the go or sitting on the couch? To change some colors, combine some designs, and share the result by email? I think it would be cool, and now you can: StitchBuddy HD is available on the App Store, and can be purchased for only USD 29.99. Learn more about its features in this video.

StitchBuddy HD uses the same core functions as the Mac app, which was updated, too: With the new version (v2.4) you can easier identify single stitches even if 3D effects are turned off.

Some bugfixes

info@stitchbuddy.de — 2011-12-22T16:22:17+01:00

Some issues required an immediate bugfix, especially the first two:

StitchBuddy crashed on Mac OS X 10.5.x when opening any design. This was caused by using an internal function available since Mac OS X 10.6 (aka "Snow Leopard"), only.
By eliminating the title bar of the delay screen, it was impossible to enter a license code.
When the "Stitch Simulator" was closed after forwarding, but without running the simulation, the display showed an unfinished design.

All these issues were fixed with StitchBuddy 2.3.1, which can be downloaded here.

Simulator, Full-Screen, Resume

info@stitchbuddy.de — 2011-12-11T11:00:00+01:00

Today I released the first version with features especially for users of OS X 10.7 "Lion":

Full-Screen allows you to edit embroideries without any disturbance from the dock or the menu bar, fully integrated with Mission Control
Resume (aka "Windows Restoration"), prevents the status of open windows incl. zoom level, scroll position, selections / selection mode even if you close and relaunch StitchBuddy

Do you miss "Autosave" or "Versions"? In my opinion Apple's implementation of a (basically) good idea is quite poor, and Versions and the locking mechanism will need much more refinement, before users will feel confident about it. To avoid file modifications being accidentally saved by StitchBuddy users, I didn't implement Auto-Saving.

An additional new feature for all users is the Stitch Simulator: This "Virtual Embroidery Machine" gives you a perfect impression how a design will stitch out in reality: The stitching process is drawn step by step, showing underlays, jumps, the color sequence, and all details. You can abort or pause a stitch out, adjust its speed, and jump to any position. StitchBuddy stays completely operational, so you can change zoom levels, view options, even select stitches during the animation. This function is extremely helpful to examine designs before stitching, and just for the fun of it I've added an appropriate sound effect (actually it's my wife's Janome MC350E).

StitchBuddy v2.3 is a free update for all registered users. New users are encouraged to download and test the full-featured trial version before purchasing a permanent license for USD 49.95 / EUR 39.95.

Coexistence with others

info@stitchbuddy.de — 2011-11-19T09:48:41+01:00

A few customers were reporting that StitchBuddy wouldn't open embroidery files it claims to handle: The designs were not selectable in the "Open" window (greyed out), and even the Finder refused to open these files with StitchBuddy.

It turned out these customers were using other Mac embroidery software in parallel, and this software assigned file types to embroidery designs, StitchBuddy didn't know. For some reason this issue wasn't effecting all users of such a software combination, but only a minority; I wasn't able to reproduce it myself.

Fortunately this behaviour could be fixed by a small configuration change in StitchBuddy. Therefore a minor release v2.2.3 is available for download, and is still compatible with the PowerPC architecture (despite my former posting). But this version is expected to be the last one…

Bye bye, PowerPC...

info@stitchbuddy.de — 2011-09-16T08:30:00+02:00

With OS X 10.7 (aka "Lion") Apple has completely dropped support for Macs with PowerPC processors: Five years after the transition of all desktops / laptops to Intel processors, and shipping the last model with a PowerPC, it is no longer possible to run PPC applications on the current OS. Additionally there is no (officially supported) way for developing PPC applications under Lion.

After long considerations I decided to move forward, and StitchBuddy v.2.2.2 is the last "Universal" application, supporting both, the Intel and PPC architecture: Future versions with additional features will require an Intel processor, but StitchBuddy v2.2.2 will remain available for download.

So you might have noticed: StitchBuddy's summer break has ended, and I'm eager to implement some cool new things, finally with Lion and a new development environment ("Xcode 4").

Janome Memory Craft 12000

info@stitchbuddy.de — 2011-09-16T08:00:00+02:00

I just released a minor update of StitchBuddy and both plugins: Janome has introduced their new "top-of-the-line" embroidery machine, the Janome Horizon Memory Craft 12000, and it features a couple of new hoops:

StitchBuddy v2.2.2 is able to write JEF embroidery designs up to the size of 230 x 300 mm, and its USB export function supports the MC 12000 as well. Look at the version history for some details.

And again: This update is a free download for all registered users, and can be evaluated by others with all features before purchasing a license.

Lion fully supported

info@stitchbuddy.de — 2011-07-23T17:21:50+02:00

Today I published StitchBuddy v2.2.1 as a bugfix release. It mainly addresses two problems with OS X 10.7 (aka "Lion"): As mentioned in the previous article Apple decided to change the background color of Quick Look plugins to a solid white, so now StitchBuddy-QL displays black text when used under Lion. As a second issue toolbar icons were not displayed correctly after a printing operation was canceled.

Additional I fixed some minor bugs unrelated to Lion, more details can be found in the version history. Unfortunately one of them prevents the update check of StitchBuddy to notify about this minor release...

StitchBuddy v2.2.1 is a free download for all registered users, and can be evaluated by others with all features before purchasing a license

Roar!

info@stitchbuddy.de — 2011-07-20T21:21:09+02:00

I'm happy to announce that StitchBuddy v2.2 is compatible with Apple's brand-new OS X 10.7 aka "Lion".

There's one small issue when viewing embroidery files with the Quick Look plugin: As Lion uses a white background, the white text (thread names, etc.) is unreadable. I will fix this problem with a minor release the next days.

Another problem unrelated to Lion was reported by a user, and will be fixed as well: StitchBuddy crashes after entering too small or too large zoom factors manually. Thanks, Gregor!

StitchBuddy v2.2 writes PES files

info@stitchbuddy.de — 2011-06-02T12:00:00+02:00

For over two years many users asked me to support writing of PES embroideries, a file format used by Brother, Baby Lock, and Bernina. A long time I wasn't able to offer this feature, but finally I was able to decrypt PES version 1.0 embroideries, and now a new release of StitchBuddy is released with write support for this file format. Major new features are:

write support of Brother / Baby Lock / Bernina PES v1.0 designs
read and write support of Brother PEC designs
three new thread charts: Ackermann Isacord, Floriani Polyester, Fufu Rayon
some minor bug fixes and enhancements (look at the versions history for more details)

StitchBuddy v2.2 is a free update for all registered users. New users are encouraged to download and test the full-featured trial version before purchasing a permanent license for USD 49.95 / EUR 39.95.

3D View enhanced, bugs fixed

info@stitchbuddy.de — 2011-02-10T08:45:00+01:00

I decided to release a minor update of StitchBuddy and both plugins as a specific error should be fixed as soon as possible: Under very rare conditions a JEF file could be corrupted, and wasn't recognized by Janome embroidery machines, anymore. This issue occurred only if a color change happened to be a jump stitch, too, a possible combination introduced with Janome Designer 3.0N.

Together with this bug fix StitchBuddy v2.1.2 includes some minor enhancements, my favorite is the improved 3D view I mentioned earlier:

3D effects improved (using gradients): Much better visualization at higher zoom levels
Jump stitches are ignored when marking the first stitch; until now it was always at (0, 0)
JEF export corrected: Files were corrupted if a color change happened to be a jump stitch (rare situation with Janome Digitizer 3.0N)
Alignment of PES files corrected: Offsets to the design's origin were ignored
Export function supports devices with a smaller capacity (max. 16 MB), formatted with MS-DOS (FAT12)

As you might have guessed StitchBuddy v2.1.2 is a free update for all registered users, and can be purchased for USD 49.95 / EUR 39.95.

Version 2.1.1 fixes PES bug

info@stitchbuddy.de — 2011-01-27T09:00:00+01:00

Sometimes life's funny! A few days ago I stumbled over a long-time error in StitchBuddy reading PES files: Under certain conditions regular stitches were interpreted as jumps / link stitches. While viewing an unmodified design, these stitches were still shown as dashed lines (if the display option "View" - "Design" - "Jumps" is checked), but when modifying / saving a design, the jump stitches were combined automatically, leading to holes in the design. As a blessing in disguise StitchBuddy still doesn't save PES files, so the original embroideries were never in danger.

Changing a single line of code fixed this bug, and as no user seemed to be effected by the error for two years, I decided to incorporate it with upcoming enhancements into the next release.

Yesterday a user reported this issue, so I changed my mind and released StitchBuddy v2.1.1 today, which also includes some minor corrections (details can be found in the version history).

Eye Candy

info@stitchbuddy.de — 2011-01-21T08:00:00+01:00

From the first days of StitchBuddy I was looking for a way to make the look of displayed embroideries more realistic. Users should get an impression about the stitches, their directions and layers, with the drawing still fast enough to allow modifications. I don't like static 3D previews without any user interaction.

I faked a 3D display by drawing a black outline around each stitch, and an additional white one in its center: Good enough for overviews, but pretty rough at higher zoom levels. The last days I evaluated several other methods, looking for a faster display performance and a better look, and I succeeded. Here's a comparison between the current and the new approach:

With the next release StitchBuddy will use gradients to simulate 3D stitches, and as you can see the effect is quite impressive, with even a (slightly) faster performance.

StitchBuddy v2.1 released

info@stitchbuddy.de — 2010-12-21T09:00:00+01:00

I decided not to wait for more feature enhancements before releasing a new version of StitchBuddy: On one hand I'd like to spend the next days with my family celebrating Christmas, on the other hand I want you to benefit from new developments as soon as possible.

Feel free to download version 2.1 of the application and both plugins including the following new features:

Support for different measurement units (millimeters, inches with decimals, inches with fractions)
Auto conversion of thread charts
Selected stitches can be moved by Drag'n'Drop
New function "Measure" to measure a distance in a design
Designs can be copied as images or text by Drag'n'Drop, even to Mac OS X Finder (creating JPEG files)

Starting today StitchBuddy and both plugins will share the same version number: As all modules are based on the same core functions, any modification will lead to new releases anyway. The same version number will avoid unnecessary confusions.

StitchBuddy v2.1 is a free update for all registered users and can be purchased for USD 49.95 / EUR 39.95.

"Open" dialog confuses users

info@stitchbuddy.de — 2010-09-11T14:14:34+02:00

Sometimes starting StitchBuddy causes confusions: The "Open" window looks very similar to one of Mac OS X's Finder (which is true for a lot of applications using this standard dialog). So some users tried to navigate to the application again, and found its icon grayed out (as StitchBuddy can't open its own program file).

The solution is quite simple: StitchBuddy is already running, so just navigate to any supported embroidery file and open it.

Because some users faced the same confusion, I decided to add a related answer to this "Frequently Asked Question", which might help others facing the same situation.

New section "User Comments"

info@stitchbuddy.de — 2010-09-11T14:09:57+02:00

StitchBuddy has received some very positive feedback, both, by email and on the web. I will not reveal personal mails without permission, but I decided to link public user comments / reviews in a separate section. There you'll find Jim's review and some other opinions about StitchBuddy. Check it out!

Unreachable for the last week

info@stitchbuddy.de — 2010-07-21T17:56:34+02:00

Due to a misconfiguration all StitchBuddy email addresses were unreachable for the last week. This effected PayPal payment notifications as well as individual mails. Fortunately I received a user's request today and was able to fix the issue and send the pending license codes. Please accept my sincere apologies for this issue, which was totally my fault.

If you tried to contact me since July, 14th, please re-send your email!

StitchBuddy reviewed by Jim Stutsman

info@stitchbuddy.de — 2010-07-14T18:54:59+02:00

Some of you might know Jim Stutsman, Janome guru and owner of "The Sewing Room" in Frisco, Texas. Jim is one of my first customers and during the last year we discussed a lot of topics related to machine embroidery, especially involving Macs and Janome embroidery machines. A lot of his suggestions found their way into StitchBuddy and he was an early beta tester of version 2.0.

These days Jim wrote a review in his blog "Online Sewing" and I'm really proud about his conclusion: "If you only work with purchased designs, then StitchBuddy is all you need for the Mac. It's the single best tool I've ever found for working with Janome embroidery designs, and that includes all of the ones available for the PC". Thank you, Jim!

Support of more PES formats

info@stitchbuddy.de — 2010-11-07T12:00:00+01:00

I just released a minor update of StitchBuddy and both plugins, because a user stumbled over PES files that couldn't be opened. Actually she found freebie designs of version 5.5, 5.6, 7.1, and 8.0 at Babylock's website. Although I don't know, what is changed in detail, the part of a PES file StitchBuddy uses to read designs isn't modified. So more PES formats could be supported by changing a single line of code.

StitchBuddy v2.0.2 is a free update for registered users and as always StitchBuddy-QL / -MD v1.4.2 can be downloaded for free.

Website relaunched

info@stitchbuddy.de — 2010-03-21T14:00:00+01:00

I relaunched StitchBuddy’s website with a complete new layout: The old version was designed with Apple’s iWeb, which I found sufficient for a small product page when I started with JEFview over two years ago.

In the meantime StitchBuddy, its website, and my requirements have grown and I wasn’t satisfied with the more or less limited iWeb look. When I realized the website couldn’t be viewed with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, I decided to switch the web design (although MSIE users aren’t in focus as potential StitchBuddy customers).

RapidWeaver is my web editor of choice as it combines the easy use of templates with the flexibility of HTML coding. While searching for more sophisticated templates I stumbled over the Chameleon theme from Elixir, a very versatile and sleek design. The most work was to recreate the FAQ section, based on a blog before. Unfortunately I had to sacrifice the comment feature. Anyway, feel free to contact me by mail and I will incorporate useful hints ...

StitchBuddy 2.0

info@stitchbuddy.de — 2010-02-12T12:00:00+01:00

Happy birthday, StitchBuddy, you’ve grown up!

After four months of serious coding and one year after its first release, a major update of StitchBuddy is released. I won’t summarize all changes in this blog entry (some more details can be found in the version history), but now StitchBuddy has become a full-featured embroidery editor: You can select parts of a design and move, resize, rotate, flip and delete them. All modifications can be undone, real-size templates can be printed and a lot more functions were added. Just look at the feature page for more information. StitchBuddy-QL and StitchBuddy-MD were updated to support new thread charts and hoops.

To reflect these major changes this web site was completely redesigned, featuring a blog, some YouTube videos and a detailed FAQ section to answer all product-related questions.

StitchBuddy v2.0 is a free update for all registered users and can be purchased for USD 49.95 / EUR 39.95.

Snow Leopard bug fix

info@stitchbuddy.de — 2009-09-01T12:00:00+02:00

Mac OS X 10.6 aka „Snow Leopard“ was released by Apple, and users reported StitchBuddy and its plugins to work well. Anyway, after I received the OS update for my new MacBook Pro I realized a bug in StitchBuddy v1.2: When zooming into a design no scrollbars became visible. This issue will be addressed by a complete new zooming in the next major release, which is already under construction. In the meantime I disabled the „auto-hide“ feature of the scrollbars, now they are visible all the time, and StitchBuddy v1.2.1 is released as an interims bug fix.

More Pfaff formats

info@stitchbuddy.de — 2009-08-09T12:00:00+02:00

After the last feature update I focused on file formats in the last weeks. Now all StitchBuddy components read Pfaff’s KSM, PCS, PCQ and PCD files, and PCS embroideries can also be written. While KSM is once again an industrial format without color information, PCQ and PCD are used for small hoopless embroideries, e. g. at a hemline. I’ve learned that there are different PCD formats, text-based and binary ones, and StitchBuddy can read the binary type, only.

Thread charts and VP3

info@stitchbuddy.de — 2009-05-01T12:00:00+02:00

The first (free) update of StitchBuddy changes the handling of thread colors: The color picker of Mac OS X is used to select colors (it was just a list of items before), and I updated the internal representation of colors: It’s possible to change the thread charts of a design, and even EXP/DST files can be colorized. In addition designs can be rotated by any angle,q and Pfaff’s VP3 embroidery format can be read, now.

Both plugins are updated as well to support the new thread colors and VP3 embroideries.

Stand-alone application StitchBuddy

info@stitchbuddy.de — 2009-01-31T12:00:00+01:00

Yippee! One year after the first JEFview version the stand-alone StitchBuddy application is born!

Its main purpose is to preview changes of a design’s thread colors, but I added some more features: Designs can be flipped and rotated by 45° and it’s possible to center a design in its hoop. Based on the StitchBuddy framework the application can read JEF, PES, SEW, EXP, and DST embroidery files. Unfortunately I didn’t find enough information to write PES, so saving designs is limited to JEF, EXP, and DST.

StitchBuddy can be purchased for USD 25 / EUR 20.

SEW, DST and EXP supported

info@stitchbuddy.de — 2008-12-26T12:00:00+01:00

I found some descriptions of additional embroidery formats on the web: Janome’s SEW, which is a simplified JEF format (actually its predecessor), Melco’s EXP and Tajima’s DST: Both are mainly used for industrial embroidery machines and don’t hold any color information.

Both plugins (StitchBuddy-QL and StitchBuddy-MD) are updated to read this formats.

StitchBuddy-QL / -MD released

info@stitchbuddy.de — 2008-09-27T12:00:00+02:00

I rewrote all code to support more file formats and enable future enhancements, now it’s a kind of embroidery framework I’ll use for upcoming applications. The first steps are releases of StitchBuddy-QL and StitchBuddy-MD to preview PES and JEF embroidery files in the Finder and search for them with Spotlight.

I registered the domain stitchbuddy.de and created a small product website based on Apple’s iWeb, featuring some descriptions, FAQs, and screenshots. Both plugins can be downloaded from this site and used for free.

The developments of JEFview and PESviewQL are discontinued.

PESviewQL released

info@stitchbuddy.de — 2008-03-31T12:00:00+02:00

After JEFview’s release a lot of people asked me to support more file formats. The highest demand was for Brother’s PES. Now I duplicated the code of JEFview, wrote a new import routine for PES files and PESviewQL is released. Not a way to cover multiple file formats, but a first step in this direction.

PESviewQL can be downloaded and used for free.

Bundle identifier fixed

info@stitchbuddy.de — 2008-03-31T12:00:00+02:00

I messed up the bundle identifier in info.plist, which might cause collisions: corrected.

JEFview released

info@stitchbuddy.de — 2008-01-04T12:00:00+01:00

My wife bought a Janome MC350E last year and started to collect embroidery files. It’s easy to transfer them from her Apple iBook to the embroidery machine as the Janome supports USB memory sticks: Just plug the stick into the iBook, copy JEF files into the right folder and you’re done.

Unfortunately previewing designs isn’t that easy: Although the touchscreen of the Janome shows thumbnail images, there’s no way to identify designs in the Finder of Mac OS X.

I used the Christmas season to dive into Objective-C, Cocoa and Quick Look development, and finally JEFview is released. It integrates as a Quick Look plugin into Mac OS X, and now JEF embroideries show their design in the Finder and can be previewed by hitting the spacebar.

JEFview can be downloaded and used for free.

Error handling enhanced

info@stitchbuddy.de — 2008-01-06T12:00:00+01:00

Now JEFview will provide better error descriptions if a file could not be read (to be checked with Console.app).

More hoops and "any color"

info@stitchbuddy.de — 2010-04-16T12:00:00+02:00

I just released a minor update of StitchBuddy and both plugins:

Now owners of Janome's MB-4 can select the standard hoop M1 (I just missed it for some reason) and the new AcuFil Square Quilting Hoop (ASQ) was added.
JEF designs with the "any color" thread code (like some of Janome's quilting designs) are supported.
Some minor adjustments were made to improve the usability when switching between color modifications and selection modes.

StitchBuddy v2.0.1 is a free update for registered users and as always StitchBuddy-QL / -MD v1.4.1 can be downloaded for free.