machine embroidery with Inkscape

[brynn]

Hi Friends,
Over the last few months, I've heard more and more questions about the possibility of using Inkscape for machine embroidery.  It seems there are a lot of bits and pieces around, although few if any work with the current stable version of Inkscape (0.92.2) afaik.  But I wanted to try and pull it all together into one place - mostly so I don't have to run around gathering all the info, every time someone asks.

So I'm just going to start a list, and if others can help fill in the gaps, especially if you know which version of Inkscape the various extensions work with, it would be helpful.  (Some of these may be the same thing under a different name.)  I don't think any of them were ever fully fledged embroidery programs.  As far as I understand, they all lack the digitizing component.  But they prepare the Inkscape file to be converted or digitized.  In no particular order:

https://github.com/stesie/inkscape-embroidery (known not to work in Inkscape 0.48.3 on Unbuntu 12.04)

https://github.com/garfieldkass/embroidery

http://www.jonh.net/~jonh/inkscape-embroidery/

https://github.com/lexelby/inkscape-embroidery

This isn't really an Inkscape extension, but provides tutorials for using Inkscape to prepare the needed files, and offers to convert uploaded SVG files to embroidery files.  http://svg2embr.wasbo.net/index.php

There is some good news on the horizon, which might make all of that moot.  Someone has been working on, as far as I know, a fully fledged embroidery tool.  This mailing list thread is where the author has been getting help from Inkscape developers:  https://sourceforge.net/p/inkscape/mailman/message/34888776  Skipping to the last message there, it sounds like the last hurdle has been jumped, and all that's needed now is to code it all out (that's my simple understanding).  It sounds like part of it could be availabe sooner than the whole thing (sounds like it might be hung up awaiting developers review?) (merge requests).  But it seems unclear when it might become available for users.

[Moini]

All the extensions listed are the same, only in different stages of development. The most recently updated one is the one by lexelby.

[brynn]

Oh, that's good to know!  Thanks, Moini.

I think ha1flosse has noted that it has some problems:  http://www.inkscapeforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&p=100096&sid=f7303afbfe7af0898850e383a88a5ff1#p101696

[Moini]

The best way to get things fixed is by asking the author, i.e. make a bug report on github.

[Moini]

(writing this for the third time because of that silly 60 second limit...) Not you Brynn, but ha1flosse.
I wonder is sergstetsuk  the same as lexelby? ha1flosse was reporting to / about the extension by sergstetsuk...

[brynn]

If you scroll up in that thread (2nd message on page 2, for me) (phpBB doesn't number each message) you can see it was sergestuk who provided the lexelby github link.  I suppose sergestuk and lexelby might not be the same person.  But since ha1flosse called it sergestsuk's extension (in the specific linked message), and since sergestuk provided the link, I thought it was his (or hers).

Maybe ha1flosse knows?

Off-Topic: show

I seem to recall IF used to have a 60 sec buffer as well.  Maybe it was lost during the breakdown a couple of years ago?  But I used to hit that all the time. (Not sure if you saw the discussion, but I recently experimented with a mod which prevents losing the message if something like that happens.  But it was pretty awful.  If you use the full editor, you could save a Draft.  Although I guess you're probably using the Quick Reply.  Then let Ctrl A > Ctrl C be routine   Meanwhile, as SMF is open source sw, I'm advocating for a fixed or better mod.  Not much else I could do but offer to test.

[brynn]

sergstetsuk posts currently a new version: 

https://github.com/lexelby/inkscape-embroidery

[Moini]

Yes, the lexelby version is the one that still seems actively maintained. You could ask if serg... is the author

[brynn]

Based on recent comments in the IF thread, serg is lexelby.  But now we have lexelby posting under the github name.

[brynn]

Here starts a rough draft of a tutorial for using Inkscape for machine embroidery, using lexelby's extension.  When we have input from others (ha1flosse, and maybe lexelby) and it's correct, I'll write it up into our small collection in the IC Tutorials tab.  (Hah - this will be my first tutorial written by a group!)

From ha1flosse's topic which displays his recent work, he wrote this, to help someone else get started:

choose the package you want to use - 2.7. or 3.4, download the file and click to install python:

Python 2.7 for Win 64bit

https://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.7.14/python-2.7.14.amd64.msi

Python 3.4 for Win 64bit

https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.4.1/python-3.4.1.amd64.msi

/break/

It's my understanding that Inkscape installs python for its own use, and that a separate installation of phython is not necessary.  Is there something different about this extension, which requires Python to be installed separately?

If so, how does one decide which version to get?

After that, he tells about installing the Shapely module:

after the installation is finished, choose the python package you need regarding the python version you previously installed:

Python Shapely 1.4.0 for Windows 64bit and Python 2.7 - Installer

https://pypi.python.org/packages/9b/9f/1a9c26b8e8a2f74fe3bc97c560ce80cecef09291776f7d8e6d8172d8632e/Shapely-1.4.0.win-amd64-py2.7.exe#md5=38aad844178d3aa78065cae51849d3ca

Python Shapely 1.4.0 for Windows 64bit and Python 3.4 - Installer

https://pypi.python.org/packages/73/f4/61ae7814edef3d9711b9ecae3cc4ad76c4be049151dc315525d308f80e5d/Shapely-1.4.0.win-amd64-py3.4.exe#md5=6dd955382488f3bb3477e269360a210d

click the downloaded file to install it. then start inkscape and the extension should work correctly.

In case I'm correct, that Inkscape already contains all the python it needs, then which version of Shapely should be installed?  Hah!  Think I just found the answer on my own.  It looks like Inkscape 0.92.2 uses Python 2.7.  Correct?  (....so python is a library?  thought was more....thought was a programming language)

Download :

• https://github.com/lexelby/inkscape-embroidery
• Python and/or Shapely module (will make a link when the correct version is confirmed)

Install:

• instructions for installing the extension
• Python and/or Shapely module -- On Windows, navigate to where you have Inkscape installed (probably C:\Program Files or C:\Program Files (x86)) find Inkscape\lib\Python2.7 and.... 
  Ok, I need some help here.  Will Shapely need to be unpacked somewhere else, and pasted here, or installed directly into this folder?  (my own attempt to install)

[lexelby]

Oh dear... I see I'm very late to the party.  Hopefully I can set the record straight on a few things.

First off, no, I am not the same as sergstetsuk.  Here's how things played out:

• ages ago, jonh made this, a very basic extension that could do simple satin and fills: http://www.jonh.net/~jonh/inkscape-embroidery/
• github user stesie uploaded that code and made some modifications: https://github.com/stesie/inkscape-embroidery
• I "forked" (made a copy of) stesie's code and made a ton of modifications: https://github.com/lexelby/inkscape-embroidery
• sergstetsuk forked mine (I think, maybe stesie's) and made their own modifications: https://github.com/sergstetsuk/inkscape-embroidery
• sergstetsuk made a few changes to their copy and suggested I merge them into mine, which I chose not to do: https://github.com/lexelby/inkscape-embroidery/pulls?q=is%3Apr+is%3Aclosed+author%3Asergstetsuk

I've changed the code so much that I've touched nearly every line of it at some point.  Features I've added:

• satin column: zig-zag stitching between two paths that are not necessarily parallel, with a high degree of control over how the stitching works
• enhanced fill: fill stitching used to be spaced randomly, resulting in weird divots and troughs.  I rewrote the code to space the stitches evenly, staggering successive rows to make a nice fill pattern.
• params: you can set options (implemented as additional properties in the SVG XML that inkscape itself ignores) controlling how a given object is stitched out, including zig-zag spacing, fill spacing, pull compensation, and a ton of others.
• params dialog: a GUI that lets you view and edit the embroidery parameters easily and includes editable presets
• auto-fill: jonh's code did its best to break fill areas into sections and then do those sections in an order that reduced jump stitches.  It only sort of worked, it was slow, and it often put jump stitches all over.  My algorithm avoids jump stitches and can fill an entire complex region automatically.
  

My ultimate goal is that folks can use my extension and inkscape as a full embroidery workflow, and in fact that's exactly what I do.  However, since a lot of this stuff is still a work in progress, the user interface is not as simple as it could be -- perhaps better for power users?  In any case, I've managed to make some pretty fun designs and I've learned a ton about machine embroidery design in the process.

[brynn]

Yikes!  Well I'm glad we have it cleared up now!   Thanks for the input.

I bought a home sewing machine back in the....mmm, mid to late 80s!  It was some off-brand.  It was supposed to do embroidery, but I never could make it work.  The most I could get out of it was a zipzag stitch.  And that machine is a piece of crap, compared to my mom's 1950s era Singer, which still works perfectly!  Perfectly, no exaggeration!

Sigh! I yearn for the day when people took pride in building quaility products, especially machines.  Maybe when the human culture has used up enough resources, they'll start to make things that last longer, once again.

[Moini]

@lexelby: Thanks for the summary!

[lexelby]

Here's a screencast I recorded as I made an embroidery design from the inkscape logo:

I added captions that explain what I'm doing and why the heck I'm doing it.

[Moini]

Btw. there would have been a black-and-white version of the logo, too: https://inkscape.org/en/about/branding/ (scroll to bottom)