mySewnet™ Draw & Paint

Reference Guide
Windows®

The software to which this Reference Guide relates is subject to change without notice. All efforts
have been made to ensure the accuracy of the contents of this Reference Guide.
The software described in this book is furnished under a license agreement and may be used only
in accordance with the terms of the agreement.
Permission is hereby granted to the licensee of the software to which this guide is related to
reproduce and distribute copies of this guide for nonprofit educational purposes. The copyright
statement on this page must be included on any copy of this work.
Windows® is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Acrobat®, the Adobe PDF logo and Reader are
either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other
countries.

mySewnet Draw & Paint is a trademark of KSIN Luxembourg II, S.a.r.l.

© 2022 Singer Sourcing Limited LLC
All rights reserved (Version C)
Contents
1 Chapter 1: Getting Started
2 Where to Start
3 Parts of the Software Window
6 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Terms and Conventions
7 Touch Gestures

8 Chapter 2: Managing Images

8 Insert
9 Open
10 From Scanner or Camera
11 New
11 New Window
11 Save Designs

14 Chapter 3: Select, Modify & Copy

14 Selecting Areas and Objects
14 Select a Block
21 Modify a Block
23 Delete
24 Cut, Copy and Paste
25 Undo and Redo

26 Chapter 4: Creating a Drawing

27 Choose Drawing Colors
31 Drawing Lines
41 Insert Tab
41 Drawing Shapes
42 Insert Lettering
43 Design Gallery

45 Chapter 5: Editing Drawings

45 Editing Tools
45 Editing Individual Point Lines
45 Edit Points
47 Delete Points
48 Insert Points
49 Converting Point and Bezier Lines
51 Knife
53 Transform
54 Alignment Tools
55 Grouping Selected Objects
56 Group
57 Ungroup
58 Ungroup All

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Contents i

 58 FilmStrip
60 Make Holes
61 Uncombine
61 Send to Paint

62 Chapter 6: Motifs and Machine Stitches

62 Using Motifs
62 Insert and Export Motifs
65 Creating Motifs
68 Machine Stitches

71 Chapter 7: Multiply
79 Chapter 8: Creating a Painting
80 Mode
80 Choose Painting Colors
81 Tools
82 Flood Fill
83 Erase Tools
86 Brush Types
86 Tolerance

88 Chapter 9: Editing Paintings

89 Remove Red-eye
89 Adjust the Canvas and Picture
93 Line Finder

96 Chapter 10: Using Effects

104 Chapter 11: Viewing Pictures and Designs
104 Canvas
105 Grid
106 Background
107 Zoom Commands

109 Chapter 12: Preferences

111 Chapter 13: Troubleshooting
111 Error Messages
113 Other Topics

115 Chapter 14: Quick Reference Guide

115 Ribbon Tabs
115 File Tab/Menu
116 Draw Tab
119 Paint Tab
120 Insert Tab
121 Multiply Tab

ii mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Contents

122 View Tab
123 Help Tab
124 FilmStrip
125 Draw Panel
127 Paint Panel
129 Toolbars

131 Chapter 15: Index

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Contents iii

Getting Started 1
Welcome to mySewnet™ Draw & Paint, the software that helps you create wonderful
drawings for embroideries, quilting and cutter designs, and pictures for backgrounds,
PhotoStitch embroideries, and ExpressDesigns. Work with clipart images or create your
own designs using a background picture in the Paint window.

Finding Information
Reference Guide
The Reference Guide shows how to start the software and provides a quick tour of the
main screen. This is followed by information on key features, together with short ’How-To’
examples, which will help you learn how to use the your software. The Reference Guide
additionally contains full reference information. The Reference Guide is supplied in PDF
format , ready for printing.
To view and print the PDF Guides, you will need a PDF reader such as Windows® Reader (included in
Windows® 10 & 11) or Adobe® Reader (available from adobe.com).

Tooltips and Online Help

To learn the name of a function, position the arrow pointer over its icon. A tooltip with the
function name will appear.
The online help contains the ’How-To’ examples and full reference information. Use the
Help icon , press F1 or click the Help button. Where available, a help topic will appear
that is relevant to the item where help was requested.

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Getting Started 1

 Where to Start
Starting mySewnet™ Draw & Paint
Windows® 10 & 11 Start Screen
1 At the bottom left of your computer screen, open the Windows® 10 or 11 Start menu.
2 In the Windows Start menu, scroll down to the mySewnet folder.
3 In this section, click on mySewnet™ Draw & Paint to launch it.

Shortcuts
An alternative to the Start screen/menu method described previously is to use a Shortcut
to mySewnet™ Draw & Paint. This is created automatically during the installation process.

Windows® 10 & 11 (Start Screen)

1 Click on the mySewnet™ Draw & Paint tile in the Start Screen.

Windows® 10 & 11 (Desktop)

1 Close or minimize any programs you have running.
2 Double-click on the Shortcut to the mySewnet™ Embroidery Software folder. A list of the programs
appears.
3 Double-click on mySewnet™ Draw & Paint to launch it.

Closing mySewnet™ Draw & Paint

Exit
Ends the mySewnet™ Draw & Paint session. You can also use the Exit command on the
mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Control menu.

Shortcuts
■ Mouse: Click the Close icon on the title bar or double-click the Control menu box.
■ Keys: Alt + F4

About mySewnet™ Draw & Paint

Access via the Help tab. The version number of mySewnet™ Draw & Paint is given here. You
will need this if you contact technical support at any time.

Shortcut
■ Keys: Alt, H, A

2 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Getting Started

Parts of the Software Window
Title Bar
The title bar at the top of the window is highlighted if
mySewnet™ Draw & Paint is active. The Quick Access toolbar
gives icons for the following frequently used features: Insert, Save, Save As, Undo, Redo.
If more than one instance of mySewnet™ Draw & Paint is open, each open window will
show the name of the drawing file.

Ribbon Bar
There are 7 tabs on the ribbon: File, Draw, Paint, Insert, Multiply, View and Help.
An alternative way to access ribbon options is to press the Alt key, then the highlighted letter of the tab,
followed by the highlighted letter of the tab item, e.g. Alt, D, CC to Copy the selected object. Some functions
are available by pressing the Ctrl key and another key at the same time. These shortcuts are shown in the
tooltip for the relevant function.
Use the Draw tab to select, copy and Group parts of a drawing; and to create holes in filled
shapes.

Make and Uncombine Holes Snap to Grid or Line Create Motifs

Select part or all of the drawing Group or Ungroup the selected objects
Cut, copy, paste or delete the selected objects Send the selected object(s) to the Paint tab

Use the Paint tab to select, copy and delete parts of a bitmap (raster) picture.
Cut, copy, paste or delete an area of the picture

Use a selection tool to choose part or all of the picture

Use the Insert tab to add Shapes, Lettering and Designs to your drawing.
Use the Multiply tab to repeat drawings or actions automatically by reflecting across and/
or down, and by rotating.
Use the View tab to adjust the Grid, measure the design, and show and fade the
background picture.

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Getting Started 3

 Draw Window
Quick Access Toolbar Ribbon Bar Tabs Ribbon Bar Title Bar Draw Panel

FilmStrip Canvas Status Bar

Use the Draw window to load or create a vector drawing for your design. Modify a drawing
as desired, or make your own drawing. Load a raster image to use as a background in the
Paint window. The Draw window contains a FilmStrip to the left and design panel to the
right of the Canvas, in addition to the ribbon tab.
The Draw tab has tools for copying, selecting, combining and grouping objects.

FilmStrip
To the left of the Canvas is the FilmStrip. The FilmStrip displays the objects such as the
lines, fills and groups in the drawing, and enables you to move objects within the drawing.
Use the FilmStrip to view the numbered sequence of objects, select objects, change the
sequence of objects, and delete objects.

Design Panel
To the right of the Canvas is the design panel. At the top are the line and fill colors, each
giving access to a color palette of 40 common colors, and the Colors dialog which enables
you to use many more colors.
The middle section has tools for drawing and editing pictures. The tool options change
according to the drawing tool being used.

4 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Getting Started

Paint Window
Quick Access Toolbar Ribbon Bar Tabs Ribbon Bar Title Bar Paint Panel

Canvas Status Bar

Use the Paint window to load, scan or create a picture or background for your design. Load
pictures or photos, modify pictures as desired, or draw your own picture. The Paint
window contains a control panel to the right of the work area, as well as the ribbon tab.
In the Paint tab, select part of your picture with one of the range of selection tools, and
Copy, Cut or Duplicate the selected area.

Control Panel
To the right of the Paint window work area is the control panel. Choose a design mode,
and add to your picture with paintbrush, pen and fill tools. Select colors in the color box
with a color palette of 40 common colors, or choose a wider range form the Colors dialog.
Use Effects to alter all or part of the picture.

Title Bar
The title bar at the top of the window is highlighted if mySewnet™ Draw & Paint is active.
The title bar shows the program name and the name of the currently loaded drawing.

Canvas
The Canvas is the area where the picture is displayed and edited, and the design is created
and edited.

Status Bar
The status bar is found at the bottom of each window. Starting from the left, the status bar
shows:
• The zoom tools.
• The Zoom Bar.

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Getting Started 5

 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Terms and Conventions
On-screen Pointers
The pointer is most commonly shown as an arrow on the screen.
If it is positioned over a text box it changes to an I-bar and you can type, such as the
Edit Notes dialog box in the Design Panel.
If Zoom To Rectangle is chosen, the Zoom In pointer appears. If the Pan feature is
used to move around the screen, the Pan cursor appears. If Get Length is chosen the
Measure pointer appears.
If the Freehand functions are used the pointer becomes a pen .
If the Point Line functions are chosen the pointer becomes a circle , and when lines are
drawn with Bezier Draw , the pointer becomes a Bezier Draw pointer . When points
are converted to Curve the pointer becomes the Convert Points to Curve pointer , and
when points are converted to Corner points the pointer becomes the Convert Points to
Corner pointer .
When points on Point Lines or Bezier Lines are adjusted the pointer becomes a small
cross (a Move pointer).
When the Pick Line Color or Pick Fill Color functions are selected, the eyedropper
pointer appears.
The Box Select pointer , Freehand Select pointer or Point Line Select pointer
appear when the associated Select function is chosen.
There are several pointers indicating functions in the selection box. The Rotate pointer
appears when the mouse pointer is over the Rotate handle . The cross-hair pointer
appears when the mouse is over the center of rotation .
The diagonal double-headed arrow pointer appears when the mouse pointer is over a
square corner handle . The horizontal double-headed arrow pointer appears when
the mouse pointer is over the Flip Horizontal handle . The vertical double-headed
arrow pointer appears when the mouse pointer is over the Flip Vertical handle . The
horizontal and vertical double-headed arrows also appear when the Skew handles are
used. The pointer becomes a four-headed arrow (a move pointer) when it is over a
selection box.

6 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Getting Started

 Touch Gestures
Touch gestures are used when viewing and moving drawings in mySewnet™ Draw & Paint.
They are available when using a touch-sensitive screen.

General
Select and move
One finger touch and one finger slide are equivalent to click and drag with a mouse. Use
to move embroideries, select, draw or create stitches with freehand features, and so on.

Autoscroll
When you drag within a document, the autoscroll feature moves the pointer
automatically, changing the view of the Canvas.
This is useful when zoomed in. Use autoscroll while moving or resizing a selected
embroidery.
■ Use a two finger swipe on the Canvas.

Pinch to zoom
Pinch two fingers to zoom in, and spread two fingers to zoom out.

Context menu
Press and hold and a context-sensitive menu will appear if available (similar to a right-
click).

Picture File Formats

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint can load vector files in the following formats: mySewnet™ Draw
& Paint Files (.ecq), 4D / 5D QuiltDesign Creator 4QB (*.4qb) and Scalable Vector Graphics
(.svg) formats. Windows Meta File (.wmf ), Windows Enhanced Meta File (.emf ), CorelDraw
(.cdr version 7-13, .cmx) and Encapsulated PostScript File (*.eps) files can also be loaded.
mySewnet™ Draw & Paint can load quilting files in the following formats: QuiltSewClever /
Quilt Artist / Shirley Stitcher QCC (*.qcc), HPGL (*.hp and *.plt), PC Quilter (*.txt), Statler
Stitcher (*.qli), AutoCAD (*.dxf ), CompuQuilter (*.cmd and *.cqp), Handi Quilter (*.hqf ) and
IntelliQuilter (*.iqp).
mySewnet™ Draw & Paint can load the following bitmap (raster) file formats: Windows or
OS2 Bitmap (.bmp), JPEG-JFIF Compliant (.jpg, .jif, .jpeg), Portable Network Graphics (.png)
and Tagged Image File Format uncompressed (.tiff, .tif ).
mySewnet™ Draw & Paint can save drawings in the mySewnet™ Draw & Paint (.ecq)
drawing file format.
mySewnet™ Draw & Paint can Export a picture in any of the following picture file formats:
Scalable Vector Graphics (.svg), JPEG Low Quality (.jpg), JPEG High Quality (.jpg) and
Portable Network Graphics (.png).

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Getting Started 7

 Managing Images 2
You may open drawings (vector graphics) and pictures (bitmap graphics) with Insert
and Open , and open pictures with From Scanner or Camera .

You can only use Open when there are no objects in the drawing. Either use Insert instead, or click
File, New Window and then open the drawing.

Insert
Use Insert to add an existing drawing or painting to the current design. All sections of a
vector graphic design will be grouped together, ready for moving, resizing and so on.
mySewnet™ Draw & Paint displays the Open dialog so you can choose an image to open.
You may load quilting and vector graphic design files in a variety of formats, and bitmap
files.

Browse to a different folder

Search for a picture
Change the view or icon size

Click on an image to select it

Click Open to load the

selected image

Open a folder, and scroll down and click a drawing to select it. Click OK to load the drawing
on the Canvas.

File Name
Type or select the filename you want to open.

Files of Type
This is set to All Files (*.*).

Look In
Select the drive or folder containing the file that you want to open.

More Options
Switch from list or details view to icons with thumbnail images of the drawing. For
example, Extra Large icons .

Preview Pane
Preview the drawing file before opening .

8 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Managing Images

 You can change the icon size, and show the names of the drawings.
You may load vector files in the following formats: mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Files (.ecq),
4D / 5D QuiltDesign Creator 4QB (*.4qb) and Scalable Vector Graphics (.svg) formats.
Windows Meta File (.wmf ), Windows Enhanced Meta File (.emf ), CorelDraw (.cdr version 7-
13, .cmx) and Encapsulated PostScript File (*.eps) files can also be loaded.
You may load quilting files in the following formats: QuiltSewClever / Quilt Artist / Shirley
Stitcher QCC (*.qcc), HPGL (*.hp and *.plt), PC Quilter (*.txt), Statler Stitcher (*.qli),
AutoCAD (*.dxf ), CompuQuilter (*.cmd and *.cqp), Handi Quilter (*.hqf ) and IntelliQuilter
(*.iqp).
The following bitmap file formats may be loaded: Windows or OS2 Bitmap (.bmp), JPEG-
JFIF Compliant (.jpg, .jif, .jpeg), Portable Network Graphics (.png) and Tagged Image File
Format uncompressed (.tiff, .tif ).

Shortcut
■ Quick Access Toolbar and File Menu:
■ Keys: Ctrl + I

Insert an Image
1 In the Quick Access toolbar, click Insert . The Open dialog box appears.
Alternatively, click File, Insert .
2 Browse through the drives and folders of the computer to the desired folder.
3 Click on an icon to select the image.
4 Click Open to load the image into the Canvas.
Alternatively, double-click the icon for the drawing.

Open
Use File, Open to open an existing image. mySewnet™ Draw & Paint displays the Open
dialog box so you can choose an image to open.

Browse to a different folder

Search for a picture
Change the view or icon size

Click on an image to select it

Click Open to load the

selected image

Open a folder, and scroll down and click a drawing to select it. Click OK to load the drawing
on the Canvas.

File Name
Type or select the filename you want to open.

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Managing Images 9

 Files of Type
This is set to All files.

Look In
Select the drive or folder containing the file that you want to open.

More Options
Switch from list or details view to icons with thumbnail images of the drawing. For
example, Extra Large icons .

Preview Pane
Preview the drawing file before opening .

Shortcuts
■ File Menu:
■ Keys: Ctrl + O

Open an Image
1 Click File, Open . The Open dialog appears.
2 Browse through the drives and folders of the computer to the desired folder.
3 Click on an icon to select the drawing.
4 Click Open to load the drawing into the Canvas.
Alternatively, double-click the icon for the drawing.

From Scanner or Camera

Use From Scanner or Camera to display the program that is used to acquire pictures
from the selected scanner, digital camera or other suitable device. Only devices that use
Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) can be used to obtain pictures.
WIA (Windows Image Acquisition) is a standard method for transferring pictures from the device’s
scanning or downloading program to another program, in this case the mySewnet™ Draw & Paint module
of the mySewnet™ Embroidery Software. If the manufacturer provides the appropriate software
components needed for WIA compliance, these should have been installed when the device was installed.
Each scanner or digital camera has its own program that is used to scan or download
pictures. Refer to the manual or online help provided with the program for instructions, if
required. When the device and its software finish processing the picture, it will be shown
in the work area.
mySewnet™ Draw & Paint displays pictures in High Color (16-bit), so some difference may be noticeable
compared with the display in other picture viewing programs if your computer is set to True Color (24-bit or
32-bit). This does not affect the quality of the embroideries produced.

Shortcut
■ File Menu:

10 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Managing Images

 Load a Design with Drag and Drop
To drag and drop a drawing or bitmap graphic file onto the screen, use Windows®
Explorer.

Drag a Design to the Canvas

1 In Windows®, open an Explorer window. If required, resize the Explorer window so you can see both
Explorer and mySewnet™ Draw & Paint.
2 Browse through the drives and folders of your computer to find the folder with your drawings in it.
3 Click on the desired design name or icon to highlight it.
4 Use the mouse to drag and drop the design onto the mySewnet™ Draw & Paint screen. The design will
be displayed on the screen.
5 Close Explorer.

Recent
Open previously used image files via the file names in the Recent section of the File menu.
Select the name of the desired design file.

Shortcut
■ File Menu: Recent

New
Use New to clear the mySewnet™ Draw & Paint screen and create or load a new design.
You are prompted to save the current design if changes have been made.

Shortcuts
■ File Menu:
■ Keys: Ctrl + N

New Window
Use File, New Window to open an additional mySewnet™ Draw & Paint window so that
you can start a new design. To move between open mySewnet™ Draw & Paint windows,
hover over the mySewnet™ Draw & Paint icon on the taskbar, and select the desired
window.

Shortcuts
■ File Menu:
■ Keys: Ctrl + Shift + N

Save Designs
Save
Use Save to save the design file under its current name and folder. When you save a
design for the first time, mySewnet™ Draw & Paint displays the Save As dialog box so you
can name the design file. To change the name and folder of an existing design file, use
Save As.

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Managing Images 11

 Shortcuts
■ Quick Access Toolbar; File Menu:
■ Keys: Ctrl + S; Alt, 2

Save As
Use Save As to save and name the design file. mySewnet™ Draw & Paint displays the
Save As dialog box so you can name your design. To save a design with its existing file
name and folder, use the Save command.

Shortcuts
■ Quick Access Toolbar; File Menu:
■ Keys: Ctrl + Shift + S; Alt, 3

Export Picture
Use Export Picture to export your picture in .SVG, .PNG or .JPG graphics format.

Use Save or Save As to save both the Draw and Paint parts of your picture in .ECQ format.

• When you export as .SVG the vector graphics from the Draw tab are saved.

12 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Managing Images

 • When you export as .PNG, the raster graphics from the Paint tab, and the vector
graphics from the Draw tab are saved as a single .PNG layer.
• When you export as .JPG, the raster graphics from the Paint tab, and the vector graphics
from the Draw tab are saved as a .JPG file. Select the quality of the image from Low,
Medium or High.

Shortcut
■ File Menu:

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Managing Images 13

 Select, Modify & Copy 3
Selecting Areas and Objects
When one of the editing tools is being used, the currently active line or area is surrounded
by a box. If that box is selected, the line or area can be moved, resized, mirrored, rotated
and skewed. The selection tools can also be used to select and manipulate several
individual objects at once, or several objects forming a Group.
You can select more than one object by holding down Ctrl and clicking the desired objects in the
FilmStrip.See “FilmStrip” on page 58.You can also select a sequence of objects in the FilmStrip with Shift.
See “Select Objects in the FilmStrip” on page 59. To change the selection of objects on the Canvas, use Add
to Selection and Remove from Selection . See “Add To Selection” on page 20 and “Remove From
Selection” on page 20.

Select a Block
The select functions allow you to select a block of lines or areas. A selected block can be
resized, rotated, skewed, mirrored, moved, copied, cut and deleted.
When making a selection, only objects that are completely enclosed by the selection line will be included in
the selection.
When a block has been selected, it has a Mirror Vertical Handle
selection box around it on the Canvas. Resize
The selection box has handles which are Handle
used to resize, rotate and mirror the
block.
• Click and drag inside the block to Mirror
Rotate
Horizontal
move it, or use the arrow keys on the Handle
Handle
keyboard to nudge the block by small
amounts. Center of Skew
Rotation Handle
• Click and drag the square corner
handles to resize the block.
Hold down Shift as you click and drag to resize proportionally. Hold down Ctrl to resize
from the center.
• Click and drag the round rotate handle to rotate the block freely.
• Click the triangular handles to mirror the block horizontally or vertically.
• Click and drag the center of rotation to rotate around a different point.
• Click and drag on of the skew handles to skew the block.
• Right-click the block to change the properties of the lines and fills within it. The
Changing the Colors for Lines and Fills dialog will appear.
See “Changing the Colors for Lines and Fills” on page 30.

14 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Select, Modify & Copy

 If the block is smaller than 1.5mm high or wide, the selection box will just be a plain rectangle with no
handles.
Object Select Click to select an object. (Draw only)

Box Select Click and drag to draw a rectangle around the area you want to select.

Freehand Select Click and drag to draw an irregular outline around the desired area.

Point Line Select Click a series of points to create an irregular outline of straight or
curved lines around the desired area.
Ellipse Select Select an area of the picture by drawing a circle or ellipse around it.
(Paint only)
Magic Want Select an area of similar color to where you clicked. (Paint only)

Select All Select all visible objects in the drawing with one click.

Select None Deselect all of the objects in the drawing.

Invert Selection All the currently selected areas become deselected, and the
deselected areas become selected. (Paint only)
Replace Selection Replace the currently selected area with the new selection.
Add to Selection Add the new selection to the currently selected area.

Remove from Selection Remove the new selection from the currently selected area.

Inserting or Pasting a Block

When a new selection is added to a design by paste or one of the insert functions, it is
automatically selected as the current block and Object Select (Draw only) or Box
Select is activated.

Deselecting a Block
Click the drawing area outside a block to deselect it. The selection box around the block
will disappear. Right-click to deselect a block and also turn off the current select function.

Object Select
Object Select is only available on the Draw tab.
With Object Select , click on the object (line or filled area) that you want to select. The
selection box will show you the extent of the block. Click outside the block to deselect it.
Object Select is also activated automatically when a block is pasted.
Object Select is enabled until another tool is activated.

Use Add to Selection with any select function to increase the area of selected objects, or use Remove
From Selection to make the currently selected area smaller.
If the wrong area is selected, click in the active window, but outside the box, to deselect.

Shortcuts
■ Draw Tab, Select:

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Select, Modify & Copy 15

 ■ Keys: Alt, D, O

Select an Object with Object Select

1 In the Draw tab, click the Object Select icon .
2 Click on the required object. It becomes the current selection, indicated by a rectangle with white
handles.
3 If you want to make a new selection, click on a different object to select it.
4 Object Select is enabled until another tool is activated.

Box Select
With Box Select , click and drag to draw a rectangle around the area you want to select.
Alternatively, click on a line or group to select it. The four-headed arrow Move pointer
appears as you approach an object. Click and drag around the area you want to select.
When you release the mouse button, the selection box will show you the extent of the
block. Click outside the block to make a new selection using this method. Only objects
that are completely enclosed by the selection line will be selected.
Box Select is enabled until another tool is activated.

Use Add to Selection with any select function to increase the area of selected objects, or use Remove
From Selection to make the currently selected area smaller.
If the wrong area is selected, click in the active window, but outside the box, to deselect.

Shortcuts
■ Draw Tab, Select; Paint tab: Select:
■ Keys: Alt, D, B; Alt, P, B

Select Objects with Box Select

1 Click the Box Select icon .
2 Click and drag to draw a rectangle around the required objects.
3 Lift the pen or release the mouse button when the required objects are enclosed. They will become
the current selection, indicated by a rectangle with white handles.
4 If you want to make a new selection, click outside the current selection to deselect it. Then draw a
new box around the required objects.
5 Box Select is enabled until another tool is activated.

Freehand Select
With Freehand Select , click and drag to draw an irregular outline around the desired
area. Alternatively, click on a line or group to select it. The four-headed arrow Move
pointer appears as you approach an object. Click Freehand Select and the pointer
changes to the freehand select pointer . Click and drag to draw an irregular outline
around the desired area. When you release the mouse the area is closed automatically
with a straight line between the last mouse position and the start position. The selection
box will show you the extent of the block. Click outside the block to make a new selection
using this method. Only objects that are completely enclosed by the selection line will be
selected.
Freehand Select is enabled until another tool is activated. Right-click to deselect.

16 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Select, Modify & Copy

 Use Add to Selection with any select function to increase the area of selected objects, or use Remove
From Selection to make the currently selected area smaller.
Freehand Select is useful when an area cannot be easily selected by using the simpler Box
Select function.
If the wrong area is selected, click in the active window, but outside the box, to deselect.

Shortcuts
■ Draw Tab, Select; Paint tab: Select:
■ Keys: Alt, D, F; Alt, P, F

Select Objects with Freehand Select

1 Click the Freehand Select icon .
2 Click and drag to draw a line around the required objects. The objects inside the line will become the
current selection, indicated by a rectangle with white handles.
3 The line is closed automatically in a straight line between your start point and end point. If you are
not close enough to your start point then you could leave out some desired objects by accident.
4 If you want to make a new selection, click outside the current selection to deselect it. Then draw a
new line around the required objects.
5 Freehand Select is enabled until another tool is activated, or you right-click to deselect.

Point Line Select

With Point Line Select , click a series of points to create an irregular outline of straight or
curved lines around the desired area. Click Point Line Select and the pointer changes to
the Point Select pointer . Click a series of points to create an irregular outline of
straight or curved lines around the desired area, using Shift+click to place a square
(straight line) point. Click and drag to reposition an existing point. Click Delete to
remove the last–placed point. Right-click when the area is complete. The selection box will
show you the extent of the block. Point Line Select may be easier to use than Freehand
Select for precise selections. Click to deselect. Only objects that are completely enclosed
by the selection line will be selected.
Point Line Select is enabled until another tool is activated. Right-click to deselect.

Use Add to Selection with any select function to increase the area of selected objects, or use Remove
From Selection to make the currently selected area smaller.
If the wrong area is selected, click in the active window, but outside the box, to deselect.

Shortcuts
■ Draw Tab, Select; Paint tab: Select:
■ Keys: Alt, D, P; Alt, P, P

Select Objects with Point Line Select

1 Click Point Line Select . The pointer changes to the Point Line Select pointer .
2 Click to place the first point for the selection. A yellow square point appears.
3 Click to place a series of points around the desired area.
As you click the third point on the line, the line becomes closed (it becomes a loop). As you place more
points the line adjusts itself.
The line may ’swing’ while you place points. Just carry on, you can adjust it afterwards.

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Select, Modify & Copy 17

 4 Use Shift+click to place square points for straight lines.
5 Move the pointer over one of the points on the line. The pointer changes to the Move Point
pointer . Adjust the point as desired.
When the Move Point pointer is active you can adjust existing points.

If you click while the Point select pointer is active, another point will be added to the line.
6 When your line is as desired, right-click to surround the area with a selection box.
7 Right-click to deselect Point Line Select.

Ellipse Select
Ellipse Select is only available on the Paint tab.
Use Ellipse Select to select an area of the picture by drawing a circle or ellipse with a
rectangular selection box around it.
Click Ellipse Select and the pointer changes to the ellipse select pointer . Click and drag
around the area that you want to select.
If the wrong area is selected, click in the active window, but outside the selected area, to deselect.
To resize, click and drag one of the corner resize handles as desired. Rotate the selection to
any degree with the rotate handle. Click and drag inside the selection to move it to a new
position in the picture.

Use Add to Selection with any select function to increase the selected area, or use Remove From
Selection to make the currently selected area smaller.
After selection, move, delete, cut, copy, resize, rotate, or mirror the selection. Crop the
picture so that only the selected area remains. Apply image effects to enhance or adjust
only the selected area.
Ellipse Select is enabled until another tool is activated. Right-click to deselect.

Shortcuts
■ Paint Tab, Select:
■ Keys: Alt, P, E

Select an Area with Ellipse Select

1 Click Ellipse Select .
2 Click and drag around the desired area of the picture. The selection will be shown by the dashed
selection box.
3 If you want to make a new selection, click outside the current selection to deselect it. Then draw a
new ellipse around the required area.
4 Ellipse Select is enabled until another tool is activated, or you right-click to deselect it.

Magic Wand
Magic Wand is only available on the Paint tab.
The Magic Wand selects an area of similar color to where you clicked. The color, hue
and brightness are used when making this selection.
Click Magic Wand Select and the pointer changes to the magic wand pointer .
If the wrong area is selected, click in the active window, but outside the selected area, to deselect.

18 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Select, Modify & Copy

 Use the Tolerance settings on the Paint tab to set the color variation for the Magic
Wand selection. Drag the slider, or change the numbers. See “Tolerance” on page 86.
The Magic Wand is enabled until another tool is activated. Right-click to deselect.

Use Add to Selection with any select function to increase the selected area, or use Remove From
Selection to make the currently selected area smaller.

Shortcuts
■ Paint Tab, Select:
■ Keys: Alt, P, M

Use Magic Wand Select

1 Click Magic Wand Select .
2 Change the color sensitivity of the Magic Wand with Tolerance , by moving the slider, or adjusting
the numbers.
3 Click on a color within your picture. Adjacent areas in the picture with a similar color to the area that
you clicked are selected.
The selection will be shown by a dashed line.
4 If you want to make a new selection, click outside the current selection to deselect it. Then make a
new selection.
5 The Magic Wand is enabled until another tool is activated, or you right-click to deselect it.

Invert Selection
Invert Selection is only available on the Paint tab.
When Invert Selection is clicked all the currently selected areas become deselected,
and the deselected areas become selected.
This is useful when you want to apply an effect to everything except a small area.
If the wrong area is selected, click in the active window, but outside the selected area, to deselect.

Shortcuts
■ Paint Tab, Select:
■ Keys: Alt, P, SV

Exclude a Small Area when Selecting

1 Use one of the selection tools to select the area that you want to exclude from an effect.
2 Click Invert Selection .
3 The previously selected area becomes deselected, and the deselected area becomes selected.

Select All
Select All is a one click function that selects all visible objects in the drawing, or the
whole image. This is useful to resize or reshape the entire drawing.

Shortcuts
■ Draw Tab, Select; Paint Tab, Select:
■ Keys: Ctrl + A; Alt, D, SA; Alt, P, SA

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Select, Modify & Copy 19

 Select None
Use Select None to deselect all of the objects or selected areas in the image.

Shortcuts
■ Draw Tab, Select; Paint Tab, Select:
■ Keys: Alt, D, SN; Alt, P, SN

Replace Selection
Use Replace Selection to replace the currently selected area with the new selection.

Replace a Selection
1 Place an image on the Canvas.
2 Use Box Select (or another selection tool) to select an area.
3 Ensure that Replace Selection is selected.
Replace Selection is initially selected.
4 Using Box Select , select something else.
The new selection replaces your old selection.

Shortcuts
■ Draw Tab, Select; Paint Tab, Select:
■ Keys: Alt, D, SR; Alt, P, SR

Add To Selection
Use Add to Selection to add the new selection to the currently selected area.

Add an area to a Selection

1 Place an image on the Canvas.
2 Use Box Select (or another selection tool) to select an area.
3 Click Add to Selection .
4 Using Box Select , select a different area.
The new selection is added to your old selection.

Shortcuts
■ Draw Tab, Select; Paint Tab, Select:
■ Keys: Alt, D, SD; Alt, P, SD

Remove From Selection

Use Remove from Selection to remove the new selection from the currently selected
area.

Remove an area from a Selection

1 Place an image on the Canvas.
2 Use Box Select (or another selection tool) to select some an area.
3 Click Remove From Selection .
4 Using Box Select , select an area within your selection.
The new selection is removed from your original selection.

20 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Select, Modify & Copy

 Shortcuts
■ Draw Tab, Select; Paint Tab, Select:
■ Keys: Alt, D, SM; Alt, P, SM

Modify a Block
Move a Block
Move a selected block using click and drag, or nudge. Click on an area or object inside the
block and drag it to the required position, or use the arrow keys to nudge it into place.
If Snap to Grid is enabled in the Draw window, the block of objects will snap to the grid when moved.
If you accidentally move the center of rotation , simply click and drag it inside the selection box again.

How to Move a Block

1 Click on an area or any of the objects inside the selection. The pointer becomes a four-headed
arrow . Drag the selection to the required position. The rectangle around the selection will be
dragged with the pointer.
2 Lift the pen or release the mouse button to drop the selection in place. The selected area will be
redrawn in its new location.
Alternatively, use the arrow keys to nudge the selection into position, then click outside the block to place
it.
When you move a selection, you may sometimes move the center of rotation by accident. Simply
release the center of rotation, then click and drag the selection as usual. The center of rotation will
snap back to the center of the selection when you drop the selection in its new position.

Resize a Block
Click and drag one of the square corner handles to resize the block. The pointer
becomes a double-headed arrow .
Hold down Shift as you click and drag to resize proportionally. Hold down Ctrl to resize from the center.
Mirror Vertical Handle
Resize
Handle

Mirror
Rotate
Horizontal
Handle
Handle
Center of Skew
Rotation Handle

How to Resize a Block

1 If you want to keep the selected area in proportion, hold down the Shift key.
2 Click and drag any of the square resize handles. The pointer becomes a double-headed
arrow .
3 Lift the pen or release the mouse button, and then release the Shift key if you used that to keep the
proportions. The selection will be redrawn at its new size.

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Select, Modify & Copy 21

 Skew a Block
Skew a block vertically or horizontally using the Skew handles to the right of and
below the Center of Rotation. Click and drag either handle to reshape the selection box,
and the drawing.
Mirror Vertical Handle
Resize
Handle

Mirror
Rotate
Horizontal
Handle
Handle
Center of Skew
Rotation Handle

How to Skew a Block

1 Mouse over the horizontal diamond shaped skew handle. The
pointer becomes a vertical double-headed arrow .
When the vertical skew handle is used, the pointer becomes a horizontal
arrow .
2 Drag to skew the drawing.
3 Adjust the skew, then release the mouse button.
When you release the mouse button the selection box is redrawn as a
square in the new position.
4 Click and drag again to make any further adjustments.
If you mirror a skewed object, this applies to the original shape before the
skew was applied. To apply it after the skew, deselect and reselect the
object.
Otherwise, if the skewed object was originally symmetrical only the mirror
handle may appear to move.

Mirror a Block
Mirror a block vertically or horizontally using the triangular mirror handles on the
block selection box. The pointer becomes a double-headed arrow .
Mirror Vertical Handle
Resize
Handle

Mirror
Rotate
Horizontal
Handle
Handle
Center of Skew
Rotation Handle

If the area to be mirrored was originally symmetrical, and has been rotated or skewed, deselect and
reselect before mirroring. This is because the mirroring effect is applied to a design before rotating or
skewing.

22 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Select, Modify & Copy

 Horizontally Mirror Block
Click the Mirror Horizontal handle to mirror a block horizontally.

Vertically Mirror Block

Click the Mirror Vertical handle to mirror a block vertically.

Rotate a Block
Click and drag the rotation handle to rotate the block freely to any angle. The pointer
becomes the rotate pointer . If desired, move the center of rotation before rotating
the block.
Mirror Vertical Handle
Resize
Handle

Mirror
Rotate
Horizontal
Handle
Handle
Center of Skew
Rotation Handle

The selection box around the block is rotated around the center of rotation.

Move the Center of Rotation

The center of rotation is initially shown in the middle of the block. Click on or within
the center of rotation, then drag it to any position in the drawing. This changes the pivot
point around which the block rotates.
If you mirror a rotated area, this applies to the original shape before the rotate was applied. To apply it
after the rotate, deselect and reselect the object.
Otherwise, if the rotated area was originally symmetrical only the mirror handle may appear to move.

Delete
Use Delete to delete a block after it has been selected using one of the block selection
methods (for example, Box Select, Freehand Select, Point Line Select or Select All).
Alternatively, use the Delete key.
This function differs from Cut because it does not place the objects on the Clipboard Block. Therefore
objects that have been Deleted cannot be pasted into another drawing (although Undo can be used if the
wrong area is deleted).

Deleting Single Points

Use Delete Points to delete individual points in a drawing in the Draw window.
See “Delete Points” on page 47.

Shortcuts
■ Draw Tab, Clipboard; Paint Tab, Clipboard:

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Select, Modify & Copy 23

 ■ Keys: Delete; Alt, D, CX; Alt, P, CX

Cut, Copy and Paste

Once an area has been selected with the selection tools, it can be cut and copied onto the
clipboard.
In the Draw window, only objects that are completely enclosed by the selection line will be selected.

Cut
Use Cut to cut the selected part of the drawing to the clipboard, where it can be pasted
into the same file or a new drawing.
Cutting to the clipboard replaces the contents previously stored there.

Shortcuts
■ Draw Tab, Clipboard; Paint Tab, Clipboard:
■ Keys: Ctrl + X; Alt, D, CU; Alt, P, CU

Copy
Use Copy to make a copy of the selected part or all of the drawing and place it on the
clipboard, where it can be pasted into the same file or a new drawing.
Copying to the clipboard replaces the contents previously stored there.

Shortcuts
■ Draw Tab, Clipboard; Paint Tab, Clipboard:
■ Keys: Ctrl + C; Alt, D, CC; Alt, P, CC

Paste
Use Paste to place part or all of a drawing that has been cut or copied to the clipboard
onto the screen. The pasted area appears in a highlighted box, ready to be moved or
altered.

Shortcuts
■ Draw Tab, Clipboard; Paint Tab, Clipboard:
■ Keys: Ctrl + V; Alt, D, CP; Alt, P, CP

Duplicate
Use Duplicate to make a copy of the selected part or all of the drawing, which is
automatically pasted on the Canvas below and to the right of the original.

Shortcuts
■ Draw Tab, Clipboard; Paint Tab, Clipboard:
■ Keys: Alt, D, CD; Alt, P, CD

24 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Select, Modify & Copy

 Undo and Redo
Undo
Use Undo to reverse the last action that has been applied to the picture on the screen,
such as moving, deleting or mirroring an area, drawing a line, box or ellipse, or an effect
that has been applied. Unlimited Undos are possible in the Draw window.
Only actions that change the picture can be reversed using Undo on the Draw window. For example, the
Zoom commands cannot be reversed using Undo.
The Undo and Redo steps are reset when a new picture is opened.

Shortcuts
■ Quick Access Toolbar:
■ Keys: Ctrl + Z

Redo
Use Redo to reverse any actions that have been undone. Redo only works if nothing
has happened after the last Undo. For instance, if you draw a line, then Undo and draw a
rectangle then it is not possible to Redo the line because something different has
happened instead. Unlimited Redos are possible in the Draw window.
The Undo and Redo steps are reset when a new picture is opened.

Shortcuts
■ Quick Access Toolbar:
■ Keys: Ctrl + Y

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Select, Modify & Copy 25

 Creating a Drawing 4
A full range of drawing functions is available for vector graphics files (easily resizable
images using lines, curves and shapes). Use the Draw tab to select, organize and edit your
drawing.

Make and Uncombine Holes Snap to Grid or Line Create Motifs

Select part or all of the drawing Group or Ungroup the selected objects
Cut, copy, paste or delete the selected objects Send the selected object(s) to the Paint tab

Use the design panel to select colors, and to draw and edit lines and fill areas.

Pick the line color, or set no line

Swap the line and fill colors

Set the line width
Pick a fill color, or set no fill

Draw a freehand line, and set the smoothing

Place points or draw a Bezier line

Trace the background picture

Add, remove, or adjust the points in a line

Cut or join lines

Convert points in a Bezier line
Align the objects in your drawing
Rotate and transform objects in your drawing

Convert between Point and Bezier lines

After drawing lines and areas, use the Multiply feature (see “Multiply” on page 71) to repeat them in your
drawing.

Creating Drawings
Create your designs using the drawing tools and Gallery designs. Save or Export the
designs as drawings or pictures.

26 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Creating a Drawing

 The Freehand, Point and Bezier Draw features allow you to work in detail. Draw an outline,
place points, or draw Bezier curves freely or over a picture to create your design.

Design Choices
Adjust designs using easy editing features: Navigate around the design with the Filmstrip.
Grouping features allow you to keep smaller parts of your design together.

Choose Drawing Colors

Colors and the Color Palette
Use the Color palette to choose the colors for
Change the Color
drawing Lines and Fills.
The Color palette provides 40 commonly used Select a color
colors. Click on a color in the palette to place it in
the Design Panel as the Line or Fill color. See more colors

Colors Area
The Colors area at the top of the Design Panel displays the currently selected Line and Fill
colors. The top color is the Line color and the lower color is the Fill color.

Change a Color in the Colors Area

■ Click the drop-down menu for Line or Fill, then click on a color from the Color palette to
select it as the Line or Fill color.
■ To choose a color that is not in the Color palette, click More Colors in the palette to bring
up the Colors dialog box. (After a color is chosen, it will be placed as the Line or Fill color.)
■ To select a color from the picture on the screen use the Pick Line Color or Pick Fill
Color function in the Drawing panel.

Pick Line Color

Use Pick Line Color to select a color from the picture on the screen and make it the
Line color in the Color box.

Change the Color

Select a color

See more colors

This is useful for choosing colors from the picture for drawing that do not appear in the
Color palette.

Shortcut
■ Draw Windows Control Panel, Line:

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Creating a Drawing 27

 Pick a Color for Line Color
1 Click Pick Line Color . The pointer changes to an eyedropper .
2 Click the desired color in the drawing or background picture to make it the Line color.

Remove Line Color

Use Remove Line Color to draw a fill area with no surrounding line.

Shortcut
■ Draw Windows Control Panel, Line:

Line Width
Select a line width from the drop-down list in the Line section. The
available widths are 0.1, 0.25 and 0.5mm, and 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 5, 6,
7, 8, 9 and 10mm. The default width is 0.5mm.

Swap Colors
Use Swap Colors to switch the line and fill colors for the selected
object, or before creating a new object.

Shortcut
■ Draw Windows Control Panel, Line:

Pick Fill Color

Use Pick Fill Color to select a color from the picture on the screen, or other objects in
the drawing, and make it the color in the Fill color block for drawing. Also use Pick Fill Color
to change the Fill color for the selected object or objects.

Change the Color

Select a color

See more colors

This is useful for choosing colors from the picture for drawing that do not appear in the Color palette.

Shortcut
■ Draw Windows Control Panel, Fill:

Pick a Color from the Picture for a Fill

1 Click Pick Fill Color . The pointer changes to an eyedropper .
2 Click the desired color in the drawing or background picture to make it the color for the Fill color
block.

Remove Fill Color

Use Remove Fill Color when you do not want a fill within a closed line.

28 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Creating a Drawing

 Shortcut
■ Draw Windows Control Panel, Fill:

Colors Dialog Box

The Colors dialog box is used to choose a new color for
the Line, Fill or Paint color.
When the Colors dialog box appears, it shows the
Standard color selection. If desired, click one of the
Standard colors. A highlight shows the selected color.
The New/Current box shows the difference between
the newly chosen color and the color currently used.
Click the Custom tab to be able to select any of the 16
million RGB colors.

Click in the blended color palette to choose a basic

color, then use the slider at the side to choose the
desired brightness level. The HSL and RGB values are
updated as you change the color and the color is
previewed in the New/Current box.
You can also directly enter Hue, Sat(uration),
Lum(inance) (HSL) and/or Red, Green, Blue (RGB)
values. Alternatively, use the up/down buttons on each
of the HSL and RGB value boxes to make fine
adjustments to the color.

Color Models
Hue, Saturation, Luminance (HSL) Color Model
Hue is the color (red, yellow, green, or blue) for the selected color, expressed as a value
between 0 and 239. Saturation (Sat) is the strength or purity of color in a specified hue.
This is related to the amount of gray in it and is measured from 0 (completely gray) up to a
maximum of 240 (no gray). The higher the saturation, the purer or more vivid the color.
Luminosity (Lum) is the intensity of lightness or darkness in a color, specified by a value
between 0 (black) and 240 (white). If Saturation is 0, the Luminosity setting specifies a
shade of gray.

Red, Green, Blue (RGB) Color Model

The RGB model, one of the Additive Color models, is used on computer monitors. It has
three primary colors — red, green, and blue — that it creates by emitting light. These
three colors are combined in various proportions to produce all the colors displayed on
your screen. They are referred to as additive because they combine to produce white.
Primary colors are measured as a value from 0-255. The colors produced by combining the
three primaries are a result of the amount of each of those shades present. For example,

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Creating a Drawing 29

 pure red has a red value of 255, a green value of 0, and a blue value of 0. Yellow has a red
value of 255, a green value of 255, and a blue value of 0. If Red, Green and Blue are set to
zero, the color is black; if all three are 255, they produce white.

Changing the Colors for Lines and Fills

You can change line and fill color for the selected block in the Design Panel.
Select a block, and the Line and Fill colors become those for that block. Change the colors,
then deselect the block.
See “Change Color and Other Properties” on page 52.

Change the Colors for an Existing Line and Fill

1 Click to select a block of objects. The block is surrounded by a box.
The objects can be a variety of colors.
2 Look at the Design Panel, the Line and Fill color are those for the selected block.
3 In the Line section select a color and the width that you want to use, or select Remove Line Color .
4 In the Fill section select a color for the Fill or choose Remove Fill Color .
5 All of the objects in the block change to your selected color, Line and Fill type.

30 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Creating a Drawing

 Drawing Lines
Freehand Draw
Use Freehand Draw to draw a line that follows the movement of the pointer. Adjust the
flow of the line with the smoothness options. Freehand Draw is enabled until another tool
is selected.

Shortcut
■ Draw Windows Control Panel, Draw

Draw a Line with Freehand Draw

1 Select the desired line color from the Color palette. Use Pick Color if you want to select colors
from the picture.
If you want a fill, also choose a Fill color.
2 Select a line thickness option from the drop-down list in the Lines section.
3 Click the Freehand Draw icon .
4 If desired, change the line smoothness by clicking on the desired
setting in the Smoothness Options menu.
5 Click and drag across the Canvas from the desired start point to the
desired end point to draw a line. A line appears showing the
freehand line as it is drawn.
6 Lift the pen or release the mouse button and the freehand line is
completed. Each time you drag and release a new freehand line will
be drawn, until another feature is selected.

Smoothness Option
When the line is drawn it is converted into points. How smooth the line is will depend on
which option is set.
Very Smooth Smooth Minimal Smoothing

The line is greatly smoothed, with The line is slightly smoothed, The line is represented as a
very few points. with fewer points. series of points, with minimal
This is the default option. smoothing.

Point Draw
Use Point Draw to place points from which a line will be made. Point Draw is a good
way to draw either a curved line, or one with straight sections.
The minimum number of points is two (which forms a straight line). Three points form an angled line. The
line is smoothed after placing four or more points. Hold down Shift to place straight sections.
Point Draw is enabled until another tool is selected.

Shortcut
■ Draw Windows Control Panel, Draw:

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Creating a Drawing 31

 Using Point Draw
1 Select the desired line color from the Color Select panel. Use Pick Color if you want to select
colors from the picture.
To make an enclosed area, also choose a Fill color.
2 Click the Point Draw icon .
3 Click a series of points on the Canvas from the desired start point to the desired end point to draw a
smoothed line. The points (nodes) are displayed as circles.
4 Right-click on the Canvas to place the line. Each time you click, a point for a new line will be placed
until you select another feature.

Straight and Curved Lines

Hold down Shift while placing a point to make an angled section. The point will be
displayed as a square, and that part of the line will be converted to points with no curves.

Draw Straight and Curved Lines

1 Select the desired color in the Color palette.
2 Click the Point Draw icon .
3 Click seven points in a zigzag line, following the squares on the drawing area grid.
The points formed where you clicked are round.
4 Right-click the mouse button to draw the line. A curved line is drawn, using the points that you
clicked on the drawing area.

5 Hold down the Shift key and click seven more points.
The points are now square.
6 Right-click the mouse button to draw the line. This time the line has straight sections.

Bezier Draw
Use Bezier Draw to draw shapes with finely graduated curves. Control the exact shape
of the line using the black handles to either side of the points you place.
The points (nodes) for Bezier lines are always square.

32 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Creating a Drawing

 Click to place Corner points, or click and drag to place curve points
with handles.
For information on Control Points and the other Bezier Line editing tools, see
“Convert Points” on page 49.

Creating Bezier Lines

When creating Bezier lines:
• Click without dragging to create a Corner point (no handles)
• Click and drag to create a Curve point (the handles are initially symmetric)
Use the Shift key while drawing to affect how the handles are placed:
• Hold down the Shift key while dragging to place the first handle opposite the position
where the key was pressed, and the second handle where the mouse button was
released (the handles are asymmetric and can be angled ).
• Hold down the Shift key before clicking, then drag and release. A single handle is placed
where the mouse button was released .

Editing Bezier Lines

When a point is dragged, its handles move with it, keeping the same angle and distance.
• The handles on a Curve point can be moved independently along the straight line
between the point and handles.
• Hold down the Shift key while dragging a handle to create an angle at the
point between the two handles.
• Use Insert Points and Delete Points on the Design Panel to add and
remove points from the Bezier line.

Shortcuts
■ Draw Windows Control Panel, Draw:
■ Keys: Alt, P, BM

Draw a Circle in Bezier Mode

1 Click the View tab, and ensure that Grid size is set to 10mm, and that the canvas is set to 100mm x
100mm.
2 Click the Draw tab.
3 Ensure that Fill is not selected (Remove Fill Color should be highlighted).
4 Select a color for your line.
5 Click Bezier Draw to select (highlight) it. The Bezier Draw pointer appears .
6 Click to place a point, then click to place three more of these square points in a rough curve.
7 Right-click to finish the line. The points are joined by straight lines.
These are Corner Points, in Bezier Mode they are joined by straight lines.
8 Click Undo to remove the line.

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Creating a Drawing 33

 9 Starting 2 squares above the center of the canvas, click and drag to
the right one square, to the crosshairs of the next grid square.
10 Release the mouse button.
A white square (a Point) appears at the placed where you clicked, and a
black handle appears at the place where you released the button. This is
the forward handle.
11 Note that a second handle has appeared the same distance behind
the white point.
This is the backward handle, it is the same distance from the white point
as the forward handle (it is symmetrical).
12 Starting 2 squares to the right of the center of the grid, click and drag
downwards one square, then release the mouse button.
A curved line appears between the two square white points.
13 Starting 2 squares below the center of the grid, click and drag one
square to the left to place the next section of the curved line.
14 Then, starting 2 squares to the left of the center of the grid, click and
drag one square upwards to place another section of the curved line.
You should now have three quarters of a circle.
15 Move the pointer over the square white point on the right. The
pointer changes to the Move pointer .
16 Drag the point and place it exactly where the grid lines cross.
17 Move the pointer over the forward handle for that point (the black
handle below the point that you just moved).
18 Drag the handle a about half a square downwards. The backward
handle for this point moves the same distance upwards.
While you are still placing points, if you adjust the handles they behave symmetrically. You can also drag to
add symmetrical handles to a Corner point.
19 Move the handle to the right and left.
Note that the curved line changes shape as you move the handle.
20 Move the forward handle so that both handles are over the cross
hairs of the squares above and below the point, and so that the line
between the handles runs along the grid line.
21 If needed, adjust the other points and handles so that you have a
smooth three quarters curve.
22 Move the pointer over first point that you placed until it becomes a
cross.
23 Click on that original point to form a circle.
Alternatively, right-click and select Finish and Close Line in the
context menu to place the line.

Edit a Bezier Line

24 In the Draw section of the Design Panel, click Edit Points . The
points and their handles are displayed.
25 Move the pointer over the handle above the point on the right (the
backward handle for the second point in the line).
26 Drag the handle a short distance downwards. This time the handle
below (the forward handle) does not move, and the shape of the
circle distorts.
When editing a line the points are Curved, and not Symmetric. The
handles can be moved independently along the straight line.
27 Drag the handle up to its previous position and the shape becomes a
circle again.
28 Hold down the Shift key and drag the handle to one side. A corner is
created in the shape.
Use the Shift key to create a corner or other angle in the line.

34 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Creating a Drawing

29 In the Points section of the Design Panel, select Convert Points to Curve . The pointer changes to
the Convert Points to Curve pointer .
30 Click on the point. The handles become symmetrical, and the shape you drew becomes a circle again.
For more information on Control Points and the other editing tools, see “Convert Points” on page 49.
31 In the Points section of the Design Panel, select Convert Points to Corner .
32 Move the pointer over one of the points in your line. The pointer
changes to the Convert Points to Corner pointer ..
33 Click on the point. It now has no handles, and the sections of the line
by it are straight.
There are no handles to drag, so you can only change the line by moving
this Corner Point. Use Corner Points for straight lines.
34 In the Points section of the Design Panel, select Convert Points to
Curve .
35 Click on the corner point. It changes back to a curved point.
36 Click Edit Points .
37 Drag the upper handle downwards very close to its point and release
the mouse button. The handle vanishes, and the section of the line
without a handle becomes straight.
38 Drag the other handle upwards. It also vanishes.
This is another way of creating a corner point.
39 Select Convert Points to Curve and use it to change the corner
point back to a curved point.
You can use Convert Points to Curve to regain use of both handles.
40 Right-click to deselect Convert Points to Curve.
To create a corner point with full control over the angle of the lines, hold
down Shift and click the point. You can then move the handles
independently.
To create a flower design from a motif using Bezier lines see “Draw a
Flower using Bezier Curves” on page 35.

Draw a Flower using Bezier Curves

1 Open mySewnet™ Draw & Paint, and in the View tab ensure that Grid size is set to 10mm, and that the
canvas is set to 100mm x 100mm.
2 In the File menu, click Open .
3 Load the picture file 'Motif Flower.png’ from the samples area on the website:
www.premierplusecq.com
4 Drag the Background slider to the left so that the picture is very pale.
5 In the Design Panel, ensure that Fill is not selected (Remove Fill Color should be highlighted).
6 Select a color for your line.
7 Set the Line width to 0.5mm.
8 Click Bezier Draw to select (highlight) it. The Bezier Draw
pointer then appears .
See “Draw a Circle in Bezier Mode” on page 33 for the essentials
of drawing Bezier lines.
9 At the left side of the base of the petal at the top, click and
drag up and slightly to the left, then release the mouse
button.
10 Starting where the petal to the left meets the petal you are
drawing, click and drag upwards a short distance to where
the next set of grid lines cross.
11 Click (without dragging) to place a point at the tip of the
petal. This is a Corner point.
12 Move the pointer over the second square white point. The
pointer changes to the Move pointer .

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Creating a Drawing 35

 13 Drag the point a short distance up and to the left, along the
outline of the petal until the curved line underneath fits the
outline of the drawing.
14 Click and drag downwards a short distance from the mid
point of the right side of the petal.
15 Click to place a single point where the line touches the next
petal.
As you become more skilled, try clicking and dragging to place
a curved line using a single point at the base of the petal.
16 Right-click to place the line.
The curve of the line will probably need some adjustment, but
this is better done later, after you have placed lines for the other
petals.
17 At the left side of the base of the petal to the right of the one
that you just drew, click and drag upwards a short distance,
then release the mouse button.
18 Starting where the petal to the left meets the petal you are
drawing, click and drag diagonally towards the top right
corner of the grid.
19 Release the mouse button when you reach the grid line
above.
20 Click (without dragging) to place a point at the tip of the
petal.
21 From the mid point of the right side of the petal, click and
drag diagonally towards the bottom left corner of the grid.
22 Click to place a single point where the line touches the next
petal.
23 Use the Move pointer to adjust the position of the white
squares so that the curved line fits the picture behind.
You can further adjust the Bezier line using the black handles.
24 Right-click to place the line.
25 Starting at the bottom left of the third petal, click and drag a
short distance diagonally to the right to place the first point.
26 Where the outline of the petal meets the grid, click and drag
a horizontal line a short distance to the right to place the
next part of the curve.
27 Click to place a point at the tip of the petal.
28 Mid way down the other side of the petal, click and drag to
the left and slightly down to place the next point.
29 At the base of the petal, click to place a final point, then
right-click to place the line.
30 Place Bezier curve lines to draw the other petals, finishing at
the petal to the left of where you started.
If you move the black handle to the left or right as you draw,
you can place the curve to follow the outline, often with no
need for later editing.
31 Right-click to finish placing the Bezier line.
32 Click outside the design to deselect the final petal.
33 Click the Line color block and choose a golden yellow color.
34 Click the Fill color block and choose a pale yellow color.
The Fill color changes to your selected color from no color.
35 Click Bezier Draw to select (highlight) it. The Bezier Draw pointer appears .
36 Starting at the top of the center of the flower, click and drag a short distance to the right, then release
the mouse button.

36 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Creating a Drawing

37 Click and drag vertical and horizontal lines of similar lengths to place the other three points creating
the circle.
38 Right-click to place the center of the flower.
39 Click Edit Points . The points you drew for the center of the flower can be seen.

40 In the FilmStrip, click on each petal in turn, and make a note of the ones you will need to adjust.
41 Adjust the handles on the points to make the Bezier line follow the
background.
If the handles from two different points overlap, move both nearer to
their own point, to smooth the curve. For more information on editing,
see “Edit a Bezier Line” on page 34.
42 When you have made your changes on one petal, select the next
petal in the FilmStrip and adjust that one.
If you find that one of corner points actually has very short handles,
either use Convert to Corner in the Draw tab to change it to a corner,
or drag the handles sufficiently close to their point that they vanish.
43 Save your flower. You can adjust it further when you open the file
again.

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Creating a Drawing 37

 Snap to Line
When the Snap to Line option is selected, if the mouse pointer is close to an existing
line, any points placed will move on top of the old line, and the new line will snap to the
existing one.

Place points with Snap to Line Lines snapped together

Snap to Line works with Point Draw and Bezier Draw , and when using Edit
Points .
Snap to Line allows you to place points so that they align with other objects cleanly and without a gap.
You can use Snap to Line when editing. See “Snap to Line” on page 46.

Shortcuts
■ Draw Tab, Snap:
■ Keys: Alt, D, NL

Snap to Grid
Use Snap to Grid to align objects to the Grid lines when they are drawn using Point
Draw , Bezier Draw and Insert Shape , or when they are moved.

Shortcuts
■ Draw Tab, Snap:
■ Keys: Alt, D, NG

Closing Lines
You can join lines to themselves when using Freehand Draw , Point Draw and Bezier
Draw .
Use Multiply to automatically create copies of lines.

Closed Lines
If a line is drawn close to its own starting point, then the mouse
pointer will change to a cross .
If that line is completed while the pointer is a cross, the line will be
closed to form an area that may be filled.

Trace Line
Use Trace Line to trace the outline of a background picture to create a line drawing.
Use the Color Tolerance slider to select the desired part of the picture.

38 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Creating a Drawing

 Use Trace Area to trace a picture with no outlines.

Shortcuts
■ Draw Windows Control Panel, Draw:

Trace a Picture with Trace Line

1 In the Paint tab, load a picture with clear outlines, or a line drawing.
Trace Line finds the center of a line or area when tracing. Use Trace Area,
or Trace Area & Hole to trace a filled area without clear outlining.
2 In the Design Panel, click Trace Line .
3 Hover the pointer over the outline that you wish to trace.
A red and blue highlight on the Canvas shows the outline that will be
traced.
To find an outline, it may be best to zoom in and to fade the background
on the View tab.
4 Drag the Color Tolerance slider below the Trace icons until the
required part of the picture is selected.
5 Click to trace the outline.
Your traced outline will appear in the FilmStrip.

Trace Area
Use Trace Area to trace a background picture with no outline to create a filled drawing,
or a line drawing. Use the Color Tolerance slider to select the desired part of the picture.
Use Trace Line to trace a picture with good outlines to create a line drawing.

Shortcuts
■ Draw Windows Control Panel, Draw:

Trace a Picture with Trace Area

1 In the Paint tab, load a picture without clear drawn outlines.
Trace Area finds the outline of an area when tracing. Use Trace Line to
trace a clear outline, or Trace Area & Hole to trace a filled area with a
hole.
2 In the Design Panel, click Trace Area .
3 Hover the pointer over the area that you wish to trace.
A red and blue highlight on the Canvas shows the area that will be
traced.
To view the area that you have placed, it may be best to zoom in and
to fade the background on the View tab.
4 Drag the Color Tolerance slider below the Trace icons until the
required part of the picture is selected.
5 Click to trace the area in the picture.
Your traced area will appear in the FilmStrip.

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Creating a Drawing 39

 Trace Area & Hole
Use Trace Area & Hole to trace an area of a background picture that includes a hole to
create a filled drawing, or a line drawing. Use the Color Tolerance slider to select the
desired part of the picture.

Shortcuts
■ Draw Windows Control Panel, Draw:

Trace a Picture with Trace Area & Hole

1 In the Paint tab, load a picture without clear outlines.
Trace Area & Hole finds the outlines of an area when tracing to trace a
filled area with a hole.
2 In the Design Panel, click Trace Area & Hole .
3 Hover the pointer over the outline that you wish to trace.
A red and blue highlight on the Canvas shows the outside of the
area that will be traced, and any holes in the area are highlighted
by a green and yellow dashed line.
To view the area that you have placed, it may be best to zoom in and
to fade the background on the View tab.
4 Drag the Color Tolerance slider below the Trace icons until the
required part of the picture is selected.
5 Click to trace the area in the picture.
Your traced area will appear in the FilmStrip.

40 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Creating a Drawing

 Insert Tab
Use the Insert tab to add Shapes, Lettering and Designs to your drawing.

Create Lettering to add to your drawing Send the selected object(s) to the Paint tab

Choose a Shape to add to your drawing Add designs to your drawing

Drawing Shapes
Insert Shape
Use Insert Shape to add shapes to the drawing. The shape will be drawn as a closed
line, that may be filled. Select your shape from the drop-down list. 120 different shapes are
available.

Hold the Shift key down when resizing with Insert Shape to keep the original proportions of the shape.
For example, use Shift to draw a square rather than a rectangle, or a circle instead of an ellipse.
If Snap to Grid is used when drawing a shape, the shape will snap to the grid lines.
Use Multiply to automatically create copies of shapes.

Shortcuts
■ Insert tab, Shape:
■ Keys: Alt, I, S

Draw a Shape
1 Select the desired line and fill colors and the line width.
2 In the Insert Shape drop-down menu, select a shape.
3 Click the Insert Shape icon . The shape is placed on the
canvas.
4 Drag the corner handles to resize as desired.
To resize proportionally (so that a square remains square), place the
pointer over the corner handle so it becomes a double-arrow pointer,
then hold down the Shift key and drag.
Hold down Ctrl to resize from the center. By default, shapes are
drawn from the corner.
5 Click outside the shape to deselect.
6 If the shape needs to be moved, click to reselect, then move.
Alternatively, use one of the select tools to move the shape.

Shape Type
Select one of 120 shape types from a drop-down list.

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Creating a Drawing 41

 Insert Lettering
Use Insert Lettering to add text to your picture in any TrueType® or Open Type® font
available on your computer. Text is drawn using the selected line and fill colors.

Choose from Regular, Bold, Italic or Bold Italic styles, and adjust the font size in points.
Then enter the desired text and click Insert Lettering . The text then appears in the
center of the canvas in a highlighted box that may be moved, resized or rotated. Create
multi-line text by pressing ENTER while typing in the Text box.
Use the Alignment tools to align multi-line text to the Left , Center or Right .

Shortcut
■ Insert tab:
■ Keys: Alt, I, L

Add Lettering to Your Drawing

1 Select the desired colors for line and fill in the Design Panel.
Use Pick Line Color or Pick Fill Color to select colors from the picture.
2 Click the drop-down arrow for the Font and
select the desired TrueType® Font installed on
your computer.
3 Click the drop-down arrow for Style and choose
Regular, Bold, Italic or Bold Italic.
4 Set the size in points by typing in a number, or click on the drop-down arrow and choose a point size.
5 Choose the Alignment for your text.
6 Click in the Text box and the arrow cursor becomes an I-bar.
7 Type the desired text. Press Enter to create a new line and type more text.

42 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Creating a Drawing

8 Click the Insert Lettering icon . The lettering is placed on the canvas. The selection box has
handles to adjust it.

9 If desired, use the resize handles to make the text bigger or smaller. Hold down Shift to resize
proportionally, and Ctrl to resize from the center. Use the rotate handle to rotate the text to any
degree.
10 Click anywhere outside the box to deselect.
Use Multiply to automatically create copies of the text.

Design Gallery
Use the Design Gallery to add any of the clipart pictures included with your
mySewnet™ Draw & Paint. An added Gallery design is automatically selected, ready to be
moved or copied.
To see the name of a Gallery design, position the arrow pointer over the desired
thumbnail. A label showing the file name will appear.
Use Multiply to automatically create copies of Gallery designs.

Shortcut
■ Insert tab:
■ Keys: Alt, I, M

Add a Gallery design to Your Drawing

1 Click the Design Gallery icon and the Viewer dialog box will be displayed.

2 To look at Gallery designs in a different folder, select a folder in the browse pane on the left.
The browser only looks for Gallery designs folders in ProgramData\mySewnet\Embroidery1\Gallery
3 Scroll down to see more Gallery designs, if available.

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Creating a Drawing 43

 4 Click a thumbnail picture to select a Gallery design, then click the
Open button at the bottom of the window. Alternatively, double-
click on a thumbnail picture to load the Gallery design onto the
screen. The Gallery design is placed in the picture with a selection
box around it.
5 Click and drag the newly placed Gallery design to the required
position on your picture. You can also resize the Gallery design, and
flip it or rotate it. You may need to move the Viewer dialog box out
of the way to position the Gallery design where you want it (click
and drag the Viewer dialog box using its title bar).
6 Use the scroll bar on the right to display all the Gallery designs in
the folder, and click a picture to choose a new Gallery design.
7 Continue adding Gallery designs as required. When you select the
next Gallery design, the previous design is deselected.
Each Gallery design is inserted as a group, so it can be separately
selected later.
8 Click Close to finish adding Gallery designs.

Insert File
Click Insert File to display the Open dialog box to add a drawing from your computer
to your design. See “Insert” on page 8.

Shortcut
■ Insert tab:
■ Keys: Alt, I, F

44 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Creating a Drawing

 Editing Drawings 5
Editing Tools
The editing tools are found on the Design Panel and the Draw tab. The editing tools are
Edit Points , Insert Points , Delete Points , Knife , Join and Make Holes .

Editing Individual Point Lines

In the Draw window of mySewnet™ Draw & Paint, all drawings are made up of lines or
groups of lines (objects), and each line is defined by a series of points (nodes). You can
select any individual line and change it by adjusting, adding or deleting points. You can
also cut lines and groups of lines with the Knife .
Use the Zoom Bar to zoom in close enough to see the separate points clearly.
Point types vary according to the form of the line.
When a line is first drawn, the end points are round unless Shift was used.

Round Points
Round points indicate a curved line.
You can change a round point to a square point by holding down
Shift and clicking the point. To change it back, hold down Shift and
click the point again.

Square Points
Square points indicate a straight line with angled sections.
You can change a square point to a round point by holding down Shift
and clicking the point. To change it back, hold down Shift and click the
point again.

Edit Points
Use Edit Points to change the position of the points on the currently selected line. Edit
Points is enabled until another tool is selected, or you right-click to deselect.
If you edit the points of a filled object, the fill will adjust to the new shape.

Shortcut
■ Draw tab, Points:

Editing the Points in a Line

1 Click the Edit Points icon .
2 Click the line that you want to edit. Its points will be displayed.
3 Click and drag a point to change the shape of the line. Lift the
pen or release the mouse button to place the point in its new
position.

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Editing Drawings 45

 The Edit Points tool is active until another feature is selected, or you right-click to deselect.
Moving a round point affects the two sections of line to either side of that point. This ensures line
smoothness.

Reshaping a Curved Line

1 Draw a curved line.
2 Click the Edit Points icon .
3 Click the line you just drew. The line is defined by a series of round
points.
4 Click and drag one of the points in the middle of the line.
5 Move the point around freely. You will see the line flex not only up to
the adjoining point, but to the next point on either side. (The line
beyond the second point is unaffected.)
6 Release the mouse button. The line takes on the new shape.
7 Hold down Shift and click the points to either side of the
point you were moving. They become square.
8 Move the point around again. This time the line to the far
side of the square points will not flex.

Snap to Line
Snap to Line is available as an option for Edit Points. When selected, if the mouse
pointer is close to an existing line, the pointer will change to a diagonal bar .

You can use Snap to Line when drawing. See “Snap to Line” on page 38.

Using Snap to Line

1 Use Freehand Draw to draw two separate curved lines.
2 Click the Edit Points icon .
3 Select Snap to Line .
4 Click one of the lines you just drew.
5 Click and drag one of the end points towards the middle of the
other line. As it nears the line, the pointer changes to a diagonal
bar .
6 Release the mouse button or lift the pen. The two lines are neatly
joined.
7 Click one of the round points in the middle of the line. Drag the
point towards and over the other line. Note how the pointer
changes as you pass over the other line.

Join
Use Join to join two open lines together.
You cannot join closed lines (shapes) with Join.
Click Join , and all open line endings are highlighted with a circular handle. Click the
two handles to be joined, or drag one on top of the other.
The line will take on the color of the second handle clicked.
If you Join the two ends of the same line, a closed area is formed.

Joining Two Lines

1 Draw several lines with different colors.

46 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Editing Drawings

2 Click Join .
All open line endings are highlighted with a circular handle.

Draw some lines Click Join to highlight the line ends.

3 Click the end handle of one of the lines to be joined.

4 Click the end handle of the other line to be joined.

Click the handle for the first line to join. Click to join the two lines.
The two lines are joined with a straight section, and the joined line takes on the color of the second
line selected.
You can also drag one handle on top of the other to join two lines.
5 Right-click to deselect.

Delete Points
Use Delete Points to remove the currently selected point.
If a middle point is deleted, the line will be redrawn to follow the path between the points
that are left.
If an end point is deleted from an open line, the line will be shortened and the next point
in the line will become the end point.
Delete Points is enabled until another tool is selected, or you right-click to deselect.

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Editing Drawings 47

 Shortcut
■ Draw tab, Points:

Delete a Point
1 Click the Delete Points icon .
2 Click the line that you want to edit. The points will be displayed.

3 Click each individual point that you want to delete.

4 The line will be reshaped. The Delete Points tool is active until another feature is selected, or you
right-click to deselect.

Insert Points
Use Insert Points to add a point to the currently selected line.
Insert Points is enabled until another tool is selected, or you right-click to deselect.

Shortcut
■ Draw tab, Points:

Add a Point to a Line

1 Click the Edit Points icon to make sure that you are in Edit Points mode.
2 Click the line that you want to edit. The points will be displayed.
3 Click the Insert Points icon . The pointer changes to the Insert Points pointer .
4 Click the place on the line where you want to add a point.

Click the line to display the points Click to add a point

The line will be reshaped accordingly. The Insert Points tool is active until another feature is selected,
or you right-click to deselect.

48 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Editing Drawings

 Converting Point and Bezier Lines
Use the Convert Points functions to change Bezier lines and Point lines.

Convert Points
Use the Convert Points functions Convert Points to Curve and Convert Points to
Corner to change between types of points in a line in Bezier Mode.
For information on how to draw and adjust Bezier Lines, see “Bezier Draw” on page 32.

Convert Points to Curve

Use Convert Points to Curve to change the selected point in a Point line or Bezier line
to a Curved point (for Bezier, a point with handles that can be adjusted independently).
Right-click to deselect the function.

Shortcuts
■ Design Panel, Points:

Change a Bezier Mode Point to a Curve Point

1 In the Points section of the Design Panel, click Edit Points .
2 Click on a line created with Bezier Draw to show the points that make it up.
3 In the Points section of the Design Panel, select Convert Points to Curve .
Edit Points is no longer highlighted.
4 Move the pointer over a corner point in your line. The pointer changes to the Convert Points to Curve
pointer .
5 Click on the point. It now has two handles, and the dashed line between them is straight.
6 Click to adjust any other points that you want to change in your design.
7 Right-click to deselect the function.
8 If desired, click the Convert Points to Curve again and repeat.
For more information on how to adjust Bezier Lines, see “Edit a Bezier Line” on page 34.

Convert Points to Corner

Use Convert Points to Corner to change the selected point in a Point or Bezier line to a
Corner point (a point with no handles for Bezier). Right-click to deselect the function.

Shortcuts
■ Design Panel, Points:

Change a Bezier Mode Point to a Corner Point

1 In the Points section of the Design Panel, click Edit Points .
2 Click on an line created in Bezier Draw to show the points that make it up.
3 In the Points section of the Design Panel, select Convert Points to Corner .
Edit Points is no longer highlighted.
4 Move the pointer over one of the points in your object. The pointer changes to the Convert Points to
Corner pointer .
5 Click on the point. It now has no handles, and the sections of the line by it are straight.
6 Click to adjust any other points that you want to change in your design.
7 Right-click to deselect the function.
8 If desired, click the Convert Points to Corner again and repeat.
For more information on how to adjust Bezier Lines, see “Edit a Bezier Line” on page 34.

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Editing Drawings 49

 Convert to Point Line
Use Convert to Point Line to change the selected Bezier Line to a Point Line.
The change takes place immediately.

Shortcut
■ Design Panel, Points:

Change a Bezier Line to a Point Line

1 Click on an object created in Bezier Draw.
2 In the Edit section of the Design Panel, click Convert to Point Line .
The line changes to a standard Point Line immediately.

Curved points are added to the line when it is converted. If you change your mind, use Undo rather than
converting back.
3 If desired, select another object and click Convert to Point Line again to repeat.

Convert to Bezier Line

Use Convert to Bezier Line to change the selected Point Line to a Bezier Line. The
change takes place immediately.
A smoothly drawn line with the minimum of points is more likely to produce a good result.

Shortcut
■ Design Panel, Points:

Change a Point Line to a Bezier Line

1 Click on an object created in Point Mode.

50 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Editing Drawings

2 In the Design Panel, click Convert to Bezier Line . The line changes to a Bezier line immediately.
If you change your mind, use Undo rather than converting back.

Point Line Converted to Bezier Line

3 If desired, select another object and click Convert to Bezier Line again to repeat.
The number of points in the Bezier line will depend on the number of points in the original line. Delete
points and adjust the handles on the remaining points to optimize the Bezier line.

Knife
Use the Knife tool to cut the currently selected line, shape or group (object) into two
parts.
One part is automatically selected.
The Knife is deselected automatically after use.
Any filled shapes will be converted into lines when cut with the Knife. As the cut lines will still have a fill type
assigned to them, the fill will be displayed again if those lines are joined to make another shape, or a
different shape.

Shortcut
■ Draw tab, Points:

Cut a Shape with the Knife

1 Draw a line, or place a shape.
2 Click Object Select , then click the object that you just drew to ensure it is selected. It is now
surrounded by a box.
3 Click the Knife Tool icon .
4 Click to one side of the object that you drew, then drag to get to the other side of the object. A
straight line representing the path of the cut is displayed.

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Editing Drawings 51

 5 Release the mouse button to cut diagonally across the object with the Knife. It is divided in two, as
can be seen in the FilmStrip.

Select the line Draw the cut line Right-click to end cutting
6 Right-click to finish using the Knife. One section is selected
The Knife can also be used to cut groups. Load a Gallery design , then cut it with the
Knife. It will now be displayed as two groups that can be moved separately.
Use the Knife Tool to remove an unwanted section of a drawing, then join the remaining lines to make a
single line.

Change Color and Other Properties

Once objects have been selected, the line and fill color and other properties of the
selected block can be changed.
Select a block to change its properties in the Design Panel.

Change the Color of a Block

1 Select a block of objects of varying colors.

2 In the Design Panel, click on the lower color by the drawing tools, then select a new
color in the palette.
To select a new line color, click on the upper color, then select a new color in the palette.
3 Click OK to apply the new color to your selected block.

52 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Editing Drawings

 Rotate 45º
Use Rotate 45º to rotate all selected objects in a block around the Center of
Rotation .

Shortcuts
■ Design Panel, Edit:

Transform
Use Transform to open the Transform dialog, where you can show and change the size,
rotation and skew of the currently selected block.

Shortcuts
■ Design Panel, Edit:

Transform Dialog
Use the Transform dialog box to show and change the size,
rotation and skew of the currently selected block.
Modify the currently selected block as desired, then click OK
to show your changes on the Canvas.

Click Undo to reverse your changes.

Size
Show and change the height and width , or height
and width percentage of the currently selected block.

Proportional
Use this option to keep the relative Height and Width in
proportion when either is changed.

Rotate
Enter an angle , from 0 to 359 degrees, in the Angle box. The preview shows the
selected angle.
If desired, move the center of rotation before rotating.

Skew %
Skew the currently selected block horizontally and vertically. Enter values in the
horizontal and vertical percentage boxes, then click Apply.
For Horizontal Skew , positive numbers will skew the lower part of the block to the left
and negative numbers will skew it to the right. For Vertical Skew , positive numbers will
skew the right part of the block upwards, and negative numbers will skew it downwards.

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Editing Drawings 53

 Resize a Flower Drawing
1 Click the Design Gallery icon and the Viewer dialog box will be
displayed.
2 Browse to the folder Flowers and Leaves, and click to highlight the
design Orange Flower.
3 Click Open to load the flower design.
4 In the Draw tab, ensure that Object Select is active.
5 Click the flower to select it.
6 Click Transform . The Transform dialog box appears.
7 In the Size section, ensure Proportional is checked, then change
8 Height percentage to 75%.
The Width percentage will decrease by the same amount, and in the
background the flower changes in size.
9 In Rotate, click and hold on the up arrow. The flower rotates.
10 Change the width and height percentage Skew to reshape the flower
design.
11 Click Close. The flower now uses your new settings.
12 Left-click outside the select box to deselect the flower drawing.

Alignment Tools
The Alignment tools allow objects to be aligned precisely.
The Alignment tools are only available when more than one object is selected.
Select the objects that you want to align, then use one of the alignment tools.
Objects can be aligned horizontally or vertically. They can also be centered.

Horizontal Alignment
Align objects horizontally with the Horizontal Alignment tools.

Align Left
Align Left aligns all selected objects with the left edge of the object furthest to the left.

Shortcut
■ Keys: Alt, D, AL, H, L

Align Center
Align Center centers all selected objects horizontally relative to each other.

Shortcut
■ Keys: Alt, D, AL, H, C

Align Right
Align Right aligns all selected objects with the right edge of the object furthest to the
right.

Shortcut
■ Keys: Alt, D, AL, H, R

54 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Editing Drawings

 Distribute Horizontally
Distribute Horizontally aligns all selected objects to be equally spaced horizontally.

Shortcut
■ Keys: Alt, D, AL, H, D

Vertical Alignment
Align objects vertically with the Vertical Alignment tools.

Align Top
Align Top aligns all selected objects with the top edge of the highest object.

Shortcut
■ Keys: Alt, D, AL, V, T

Align Middle
Align Middle centers all selected objects vertically relative to each other.

Shortcut
■ Keys: Alt, D, AL, V, M

Align Bottom
Align Bottom aligns all selected objects with the bottom edge of the lowest object.

Shortcut
■ Keys: Alt, D, AL, V, B

Distribute Vertically
Distribute Vertically aligns all selected objects to be equally spaced vertically.

Shortcut
■ Keys: Alt, D, AL, V, D

Center in Canvas
Use Center in Canvas to move the selected objects to the center of the Canvas.

Shortcut
■ Status Bar:

Grouping Selected Objects

In the Draw tab you can edit lines or areas individually, in a selected block, or in groups
which can remain as a section after saving. You can also place groups in larger groups.
When a drawing is loaded using Insert, all sections will be grouped together, ready for moving, resizing
and so on.

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Editing Drawings 55

 Group
Use Group to make a group of all the currently selected objects. Either Group the
objects permanently, or Group them temporarily while moving or editing them.
A group can be modified in the same way as a block. You can move, resize, skew, mirror and rotate it, and
change the color of its objects.
Gallery designs are made from groups. You
can use the FilmStrip to see the objects inside
complex group structures such as the Gallery
design Hearts.ecq in the Objects section of the
Design Gallery.
Group can only be used in conjunction with one
of the selection tools.

Shortcuts
■ Draw Tab, Group:
■ Keys: Alt, D, G

Group Several Objects

1 Use Freehand Draw to draw several short lines in the drawing
area.
2 Look at the Group area in the ribbon bar. The tools are currently
grayed out (unavailable).
3 Use Box Select to click and drag to draw a rectangle around the
lines to select them. The Group tools are now active.

4 While the lines are selected as a block, click Group . The block
will be changed into a group.
5 Move, rotate and resize the group as a single unit.
6 Click outside the group to deselect it. The Box Select tool is now
active again, and Group is grayed out.
In the same way that an object partially outside the selection does not
become part of a block, only objects fully inside the selection can
become part of a group.

Highlighting a Group or Line

You can select existing objects on the Canvas when a selection tool is active.

56 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Editing Drawings

1 Place a mixture of lines and groups in the
drawing area.
2 Right-click on the Canvas to deselect the
drawing tool.
3 Click outside the drawing area to deselect
everything.
4 Click to select a line. If it is part of a group the
whole group will be displayed as a block. If it is
not, the line will form a block on its own.
5 Move the mouse pointer over the drawing
area. As it goes over a selected line the pointer
changes from an arrow to a four-headed
arrow .
6 To select all objects at once, click Select
All .
Highlight each group, or individual line, in turn using the Tab key. Alternatively, view the complete
structure of your drawing in the FilmStrip.

Ungroup
Use Ungroup to split the currently selected group into the objects which make it up.
These may be lines, filled or unfilled areas, or smaller groups.
Ungroup can only be used when a group is selected.

Shortcuts
■ Draw Tab, Group:
■ Keys: Alt, D, UG

Ungroup Grouped Objects

1 Open the Insert tab.
2 Select the Design Gallery and
load a design into the Canvas.
Click Close.
The design is displayed as a
group in the drawing area.
3 Click the Draw tab.
Note that the Group tools in the
ribbon bar are active.
4 Move the design around the
screen. It moves as one unit.
5 In the Group section of the Draw
tab, click Ungroup . The
group has now become a block.
In the FilmStrip note that there are
now several objects within the
block.
6 Move the Gallery design. As it is a block it moves in one piece.
While the block is still selected you can reverse the effects of Ungroup by using either Group or Undo.
7 Click outside the design. A box is no longer displayed around the design.

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Editing Drawings 57

 8 Click inside the design again. This time only a part of the design is selected. You can move it
separately.

A Gallery design is a single Group When Ungrouped it is a block. You can move
a part separately
Use Ungroup followed by Delete, then Group again to remove an unwanted section from a drawing.
If a piece of a drawing is accidentally left behind when you move it, use Undo and Group before trying
again.

Ungroup All
Use Ungroup All to split all the groups within the selected group into their individual
lines and areas.

You can use Undo to reverse the effects of Ungroup All.

Use Select All and then Ungroup All to Ungroup whole drawings.

Shortcuts
■ Draw Tab, Group:
■ Keys: Alt, D, GA

FilmStrip
Use the FilmStrip to view the structure of objects in your drawing. View your drawing
structure by opening its groups. Examine and move the individual lines or fills (paths) and
groups within those groups.

FilmStrip Items
The top, or Root, entry in the FilmStrip shows the whole drawing in miniature. It represents
the Group (object) that contains all the other objects in the drawing.

58 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Editing Drawings

Below the top entry, the FilmStrip shows the sequence
of objects within the drawing. The currently selected
object is highlighted in the FilmStrip, and objects can
be selected directly in the FilmStrip.
Each item in the FilmStrip shows two pieces of
information: the object and its type.

Object
Each object is represented graphically, showing its
shape and color. Double-click a group to see the
objects within it.

Object Type and Name

The name of the object type may be shown. The types
are Group and Path (for Cardinal Path, or line). Paths
may be open or closed. Closed paths may be filled or
unfilled.

Scroll Bar
Use the scroll bar to move rapidly up and down the
FilmStrip. Group Object Layout Scroll
Order Bar
Select Objects in the FilmStrip
To select an object, click it in the FilmStrip. If necessary, use the scroll bar on the side of the
FilmStrip to view the object, or double-click to open the Group it is in. When you edit or
select a line in the drawing area it is also highlighted in the FilmStrip.
If you have zoomed in, the selected object may not be shown on the visible part of the drawing area. To see
the object, either Zoom To Canvas or use the scroll bars on the edges of the drawing area.
You can also select objects using the keyboard. Click on the FilmStrip, then use the arrow
keys to step up and down the list by one object at a time. Use the Page Up and Page Down
keys to jump up and down the list one screenful at a time. Use Home to go to the first
object and End to go to the last object.

Open a Group by double-clicking it, or by clicking on the plus sign to its left.
To select several objects that are next to each other, hold down the Shift key, and click the
start and end object in the sequence.
To select objects that are not next to each other, hold down the Ctrl key and click the
desired objects.
When selecting a mixture of paths and groups with Ctrl + click, if you want to change their properties,
select the paths within the groups, not the group headings.

Change the Sequence of Objects

Objects and groups of objects may be moved up and down the FilmStrip with the arrow
(Layout Order) buttons.

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Editing Drawings 59

 Objects can only be moved within their current group within the FilmStrip. To move an
object outside its group, Cut and Paste it. Alternatively, use Ungroup, move the object, and
Group the remaining objects again.
You can move any object in the FilmStrip except the Root (first) entry.
To delete an object, select it in the FilmStrip and click Delete .

Layout Order
The Layout Order buttons are used to move objects within the FilmStrip.

Move Forwards
Move Forwards brings the object one step down the FilmStrip.

Move Backwards
Move Backwards brings the object one step up the FilmStrip.

Move to Front
Move to Front places the object at the bottom of the FilmStrip or Group.

Move to Back
Move to Back places the object at the top of the FilmStrip or Group.

Make Holes
Use Make Holes to create a hole in the fill for a shape. This is done by combining the
paths (lines) for the selected objects. Make Holes is only enabled when more than one
filled shape is selected.
The shapes should overlap for Make Holes to show an effect.

Shortcuts
■ Draw Tab, Combine:
■ Keys: Alt, D, MH

Use Make Holes to Create a Filled Shape with a Hole

1 Use Freehand Draw or Insert Shape to draw a filled shape.
Make Holes is grayed out (unavailable) while you do this.
2 Use Freehand Draw or Insert Shape to draw a second filled shape completely inside the first filled
shape (for example, a circle within a circle).
3 Use Box Select to select both shapes as a block. Make Holes is now available.
Check in the FilmStrip to see that both shapes are selected.

60 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Editing Drawings

4 Click Make Holes . The shape within a shape is now a filled area with an unfilled hole in it.
All of the combined lines and fills are now the same colors.

Draw a filled shape Add a filled shape inside Select Make Holes

Uncombine
Use Uncombine to break apart an object combined with Make Holes .

Shortcuts
■ Draw Tab, Combine:
■ Keys: Alt, D, P, U

Uncombine a Combined Object

1 Use Box Select or another selection tool to select an object that you combined with Make
Holes .
2 In the Combine area of the Draw tab, click Uncombine . The combined object is split into separate
paths, and any holes in fill areas have now gone.
The lines and fills remain the same colors that they were when combined.

Send to Paint
Use Send to Paint to send the selected vector objects in the Draw window to the Paint
window as a raster image (area of pixels).
Use Send to Paint to build up your background picture, or even to add a cartoon to a photo!

Shortcuts
■ Draw Tab:
■ Keys: Alt, D, ST; Alt, I, ST

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Editing Drawings 61

 Motifs and Machine Stitches 6
Using Motifs
Create and adjust motifs and machine stitches in the Motifs and Stitches drop-down
menu.
A motif is a small element in the mySewnet™ Embroidery Software designed so that it will
repeat along a line or along multiple lines to fill an area.
You can choose any available motif for motif lines, tapered motifs columns and fill areas.
The size of motifs can be changed. For motif fill areas, a second motif can be chosen for
alternating lines, and the spacing, offset and angle of lines can be changed.
All the system motifs are in the Universal Group. You can use My Motifs for motifs that you
create.
The default motif is a star, Pattern 5 in the General Motifs 1 category.
Create and modify motifs, and machine stitches for certain machines, using these
functions.

Insert and Export Motifs

Insert Motif
Use Insert Motif to open an existing motif
to modify it, or to create a stitch for certain
sewing machines.
Use the motif viewer to browse thumbnails
of motifs before opening them. mySewnet™
Draw & Paint displays the Viewer dialog box.
Choose a Group and a Category to view, then
load a motif.
To see the motif number, position the arrow
pointer over the desired thumbnail. A label
showing the number will appear.

Shortcuts
■ Draw Tab, Motif:
■ Keys: Alt, D, M, I

Insert a Motif
1 Click My Motifs, Insert Motif and the Viewer dialog box appears.
2 Click on the drop-down menu on the left to select a motif Group (for example Universal or My Motifs)
3 Click on the drop-down menu on the right to select a Category (for example Candlewicking).
4 Click on a motif thumbnail to load it into the Draw window in mySewnet™ Draw & Paint. The Viewer
closes.

62 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Motifs and Machine Stitches

 Click the down arrow icon at the left hand side of the dialog box to see more motifs, if available.
Click the exit icon at the bottom left of the dialog box to exit without selecting a motif.

Export to My Motifs
Use Export to My Motifs to save the design or selected area on the screen to the My
Motifs database. There is no confirmation of this action.
Only the motif design is saved, not the color.
The start and end stitches should always be aligned horizontally. If the motif is saved with start and end
stitches that are not level, or are reversed, the motif is automatically rotated when it is used to make a
motif fill area or a motif line. The rotation forces the start and end stitches to be aligned from left to right.
If the first and last stitches are not aligned horizontally, a message appears to give you the
option to add an alignment stitch.

Click Yes to add the alignment stitch and then export the motif to the My Motifs database.
Click No to export the motif in its current state. Click Cancel to do nothing, which will give
you to the opportunity to align the start and end stitches as required.
If the start and end points are the same, for example if a closed line or shape is used, a different message
about start and end points will be displayed, and the design will not be exported to My Motifs. Edit the
design to give suitable start and end points, then export again.

Shortcuts
■ Draw Tab, Motif:
■ Keys: Alt, D, M, E

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Motifs and Machine Stitches 63

 Manage My Motifs
Use Manage My Motifs to delete unwanted My Motifs.

Shortcuts
■ Draw Tab, Motif:
■ Keys: Alt, D, M, M

Delete
To remove an unwanted My Motif, select the desired motif then click Delete. A message
will appear to ask for confirmation.
Click OK to remove the motif.
When a My Motif pattern is deleted, this will affect the numbering of all following My
Motifs. Any design outline files in mySewnet™ Digitizing that used that motif, or any of
those that followed, will change accordingly.
If there are more than 12 My Motifs, the number at the right-hand end of the slider bar will show how
many pages of My Motifs there are. Use the slider bar to select the required page of My Motifs.
if there are no My Motifs, an error message will be displayed before the dialog box is opened.

Backing up My Motifs
To backup up My Motifs, use the Backup MySettings feature in mySewnet™ Configure.

64 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Motifs and Machine Stitches

 Creating Motifs
Creating Motifs
Any drawing can be made into a motif, but for best results use a
simple design with start and end points that are aligned horizontally
to the left and right.
To save the design or selected area on the screen as a motif, use
Export to My Motifs .

To make a permanent copy of the motifs you create, use Save As to save the
design as an .ecq drawing file. This will save the precise position of the nodes that you used, and whether
they were for curves or corners.
Create motifs manually, or by tracing an existing design loaded as a background picture.
When saving a partially complete drawing to finish creating a motif, save as an .ecq file, then reload the
file to continue.

Create a Motif
1 In the Draw window, select Point Draw .
2 Place points, using the Shift key to create corner or square points, to draw the
outline of a tree from left to right. Right-click to finish the line.
Start and finish on the same horizontal line.
The start and end stitches should always be aligned horizontally. If the motif is
saved with start and end stitches that are not level, or are reversed, a stitch will be
added, or the motif will be automatically rotated when it is used to make a motif
fill area or a motif line. The rotation forces the start and end stitches to be aligned.
3 Click Save As and save the motif design as Tree Outline.ecq.
4 Ensure that the tree outline is selected.
5 Click My Motifs, Export to My Motifs .
6 If the first and last stitches are not aligned
horizontally, a message appears to give you
the option to rotate the motif or add an
alignment stitch. Click the desired option and
then export the motif to the My Motifs
database.
If you want to adjust the motif yourself, click
Cancel to return to the work area, where you
can align the start and end stitches as required.
7 If the start and end points are the same, for example if a closed line or shape is used, a different
message about start and end points will be displayed, and the design will not be exported to My
Motifs. Edit the design to give suitable start and end points, then use Export to My Motifs again.
If there are more than 12 My Motifs, the number at the right-hand end of the slider bar will show how
many pages of My Motifs there are. Use the slider bar to select the required page of My Motifs.

Design Size
Motifs should be designed at the size they are most likely to be used, as this will match the
detail in the motif to the scale at which it is used. If you are likely to use the same motif at
different sizes, where one size is at least twice as big as the other, make two versions of the
motif. Decreasing the size of a motif will create too much detail, and increasing the size of
a motif will give an apparent loss of detail and smoothness.

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Motifs and Machine Stitches 65

 The design size of a My Motif in mySewnet™ Draw & Paint is the default size it is set to
when it is initially selected for use in a motif fill area or a motif line.

Moving Forward
Motifs are generally used as a chain of motifs in a motif fill area or a motif line. Motifs
should be designed so that when they are used they are connected in sequence at the
start and end points. Generally, the first and last points should be on the left and right of
the motif respectively. This is so the motif can be used without it overlapping itself. For
some motifs, however, it may be desirable to overlap the motif if it is a shape that can be
nested as it repeats.

Lining Up the Motif

It is desirable for the first and last stitches to be created on the same horizontal line of the
grid. This is so that the motif will be used with the orientation that is shown on the design
area. If the first and last stitches are not lined up, the motif will be rotated when it is used
so that they do line up from left to right.

Use of Nodes
Corner (square) nodes will always be stitched. Curved (round) nodes indicate the line to be
used, but the program will calculate the number of points (stitches) required to make the
curve.

Test Stitchouts
Always test your motifs on scrap pieces of the fabric you are going to use. Always use
stabilizer to help prevent pull on the fabric.

Connecting Parts of a Design

You can only make a motif from an image that is entirely connected. If there is no direct
connection between parts of the design, they cannot be exported as a motif. Add
connecting lines to the design in the design area before using Export to My Motifs.
Alternatively, delete any unconnected details, leaving an outline.

Lead-in and Lead-out Lines

Add lines that lead in and lead out of your design before exporting.
To ensure that the motif is created to line up correctly, use the grid.
The example shows how you might use lead-in
and lead-out lines; they have been added to
give the illusion that the car is sitting on the
road.
Notice that the lead-in and lead-out lines are
the furthest left and furthest right parts of the
design.

66 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Motifs and Machine Stitches

 Simplifying the Design
There may be too much detail in a design. Use Edit Points and Delete Points to
remove extra details, and smooth outlines.

Use Edit Points to change the position of the nodes on the currently selected line. Moving a round node
affects the two sections of line to either side of that node. This ensures line smoothness. You can append
one line to another by joining two end nodes. The line that is joined to will take on the characteristics of the
line that does the joining.
Use Delete points to remove the currently selected node. If a middle node is deleted, the line will be
redrawn to follow the path between the nodes that are left. Use Add Points to add a node to the
currently selected line.

Using Your Motifs in mySewnet™ Digitizing

The motif that you created will be in the My Motifs Category in Manage My Motifs.
You will also be able to see them in the Fill Area and Line Properties dialog box for any
type of motif line or fill in mySewnet™ Digitizing, and other mySewnet™ Embroidery
Software modules.
See “Export to My Motifs” on page 63.

Use a Motif that you Created in mySewnet™ Digitizing

1 In mySewnet™ Digitizing select a line or fill area using Motif Line , Motif Fill , Tapered
Motifs , Shape Fill , MultiWave Fill or Curved Crosshatch Fill .
2 Right-click the object to open the Fill Area and Line Properties dialog box.
3 In the Group drop-down list select My Motifs. The My Motifs Category is selected automatically.
4 From the Pattern drop-down list select the desired motif.
5 Use Height and Width to set the size of your chosen motif.
When checking a new motif in Fill Area and Line properties, increase the Vertical Gap to see the individual
rows of the motif.
6 Click OK to place the motif in your line or fill.

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Motifs and Machine Stitches 67

 Machine Stitches
Insert Machine Stitch
Use Insert Machine Stitch to open an existing stitch to modify it, or to export it as a
motif. mySewnet™ Draw & Paint displays the Open dialog box so you can choose a
machine stitch design file to open. 9mm, Maxi and Spx files may be loaded.

The following options allow you to specify which file to open:

File Name
Type or select the filename you want to open. This box lists files with the extension you
select in the Files of Type box.

Files of Type
Select the type of file you want to open, .9mm, .max or .spx files.

Look In
Select the drive or folder containing the file that you want to open.

Shortcuts
■ Draw Tab, Motif:
■ Keys: Alt, D, H, I

68 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Motifs and Machine Stitches

Export as Machine Stitch
Use Export as Machine Stitch to save the drawing or selected area as an .spx machine
stitch for certain sewing machines, or send it to the sewing machine. Save and name the
design file. mySewnet™ Draw & Paint displays the Export as Machine Stitch dialog.
If the first and last stitches are not aligned, a message appears to give you the option to add an alignment
stitch.

Maximum Stitch Length

Define a maximum length for the stitch.

Output
Save or send the design as a machine stitch.

Export as Machine Stitch

Click Export As Machine Stitch to export the stitch, then click Save. The Save As dialog
for machine stitches is displayed so you can name your stitch.
Files can be saved in Spx (.spx) format.

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Motifs and Machine Stitches 69

 Send to Machine
Use Send to Machine to send a saved Spx stitch file to your connected machine.
Alternatively, copy the Spx stitch file to a USB Embroidery Stick.

Zoom
Use the Zoom functions to change the view of the stitch.
Use Zoom In to magnify the view. Move the pointer over the picture and the pointer
changes to the zoom in pointer . Then either click a point you want to zoom in towards,
or click and drag a rectangle around the area you want to zoom in to and release the
mouse button to zoom. When zoomed in, use the scroll bars to move around.
Use Zoom Out to shrink the view. Move the pointer over the picture and the pointer
changes to the zoom out pointer . Then click a point you want to zoom out from.
Click Zoom To Fit to fit the picture to the preview area.
Click Real Size to view the picture at its real size in pixels. This means that one pixel of
the picture uses one pixel of the screen.

Shortcuts
■ Draw Tab, Motif:
■ Keys: Alt, D, H, X

70 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Motifs and Machine Stitches

 Multiply 7
Use Multiply to repeat drawings or actions automatically by reflecting across and/or
down, and by rotating. Symmetrical designs can be created quickly and easily. All changes
in the drawing, such as adding, editing, pasting and removing lines and groups are
multiplied.

Multiply the selected objects Set options for Multiply in Circle Set options for Vertical and Tile

Cancel Choose a Multiply mode

Place multiplied objects on canvas Set options for Horizontal and Tile

You can use the select tools, and Group and Ungroup, while Multiply is active.
Multiply can reflect or rotate images. Existing objects will not be affected, but the selected
objects or any new object that is either drawn or pasted in will be reflected or rotated. The
blue Multiply reflection lines are shown on the canvas when Multiply is enabled.
Try drawing and inserting designs while Multiply is active.
Click Enable Multiply on the Multiply tab to turn Multiply on, and click Apply
Multiply to place the multiplied designs on the canvas.

Multiply Mode
Use the Multiply Mode functions to set your Multiply style, and to enable Multiply.

Enable Multiply
Use Enable Multiply to activate the Multiply options.
Only new objects, or objects that were selected when Multiply was started, are affected by Multiply.

Shortcuts
■ Multiply Tab, Multiply Mode:
■ Keys: Alt, M, E

Apply Multiply
Use Apply Multiply to place the multiplied designs on the canvas.

Shortcuts
■ Multiply Tab, Multiply Mode:
■ Keys: Alt, M, A

Cancel Multiply
Use Cancel Multiply to cancel the current Multiply.

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Multiply 71

 Shortcuts
■ Multiply Tab, Multiply Mode:
■ Keys: Alt, M, N

Circle
Use Circle to multiply designs in a circle, and to create kaleidoscope style patterns. Use
the Circle Options to change the number of designs, and to mirror the designs.

Shortcuts
■ Multiply Tab, Multiply Mode:
■ Keys: Alt, M, MC

Horizontal
Use Horizontal to multiply designs along a horizontal line. Use the Horizontal Options
to change the number of designs, the size of the Multiply zone, and to mirror the designs.

Shortcuts
■ Multiply Tab, Multiply Mode:
■ Keys: Alt, M, MR

Vertical
Use Vertical to multiply designs along a vertical line. Use the Vertical Options to change
the number of designs, the size of the Multiply zone, and to mirror the designs.

Shortcuts
■ Multiply Tab, Multiply Mode:
■ Keys: Alt, M, MV

Tile
Use Tile to multiply designs within a horizontal and vertical
grid, from a square blue Multiply zone.
Use the Horizontal Options and the Vertical Options to change
the number of designs, the size of the Multiply zone, and to
mirror the designs.

Shortcuts
■ Multiply Tab, Multiply Mode:
■ Keys: Alt, M, MT

Use Multiply to Create Copies of a Design

1 Load or draw a design.

72 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Multiply

2 Select the design with Box Select , Point Line Select , or
Freehand Select .
3 Drag the design upwards and to the left to move it a short distance
from the center of the canvas.
4 Click the Multiply tab.
5 Click Enable Multiply . Your design is multiplied in a circle with four
repeats. The reflected areas are marked by heavy horizontal and vertical
blue lines.
The initial settings are Circle and four Repeats, without Mirroring.
6 In the Multiply tab, click Horizontal . The three repeated designs are
now either side of the original, and the blue Multiply lines run vertically.

7 In the Multiply tab, click Vertical .

The three repeated designs lie above and below the original, and the Multiply lines run
horizontally.
8 In the Multiply tab, click Tile .
There are now 15 copies of your original design, forming a grid, with the original design
within a blue outlined square.
9 If needed, move your original design within the blue square.
This blue square forms the original area that is multiplied.
You can use the Mirror and Size options to reflect the multiplied designs, and to set the
size of the zone within the blue lines.

10 Click Apply Multiply to place the multiplied designs on the canvas.

To go back to your original single design, click Undo after using Apply Multiply.

Circle Options
The Circle Options enable you to set the number of repeats and reflect copies of the
multiplied designs as facing pairs.

Repeats
Set the number of repeats for the multiplied circle of designs from 2 to 40. The initial
number is 4.

Shortcuts
■ Keys: Alt, M, CR

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Multiply 73

 Mirror
Use Mirror to reflect the designs to form pairs. Each alternate copy of the design is
reflected. This generally looks best if the number of Repeats is an even number.

Shortcuts
■ Keys: Alt, M, CM

Alternative Mirror
Use Alternative Mirror to reflect the designs with a rotated axis.

Shortcuts
■ Keys: Alt, M, CA

Use the Multiply Circle Options

1 Use New Window to start a new work area.
2 Load or draw a design.
3 Select the design with Box Select , Point Line Select , or
Freehand Select .
4 Drag the design upwards and to the left to move it a short distance
from the center of the canvas.
5 Click the Multiply tab.
6 Click Enable Multiply . Your design is multiplied in a circle with four
repeats. The reflected areas are marked by heavy horizontal and vertical
blue lines.
The initial settings are Circle and four Repeats, without Mirroring.
7 In the Circle Options area, increase Repeats to 6.
There are now six blue Multiply lines.
8 Move your design so that it does not cross any of the blue Multiply lines.

Without Mirror With Mirror With Alternative Mirror

74 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Multiply

9 In the Circle Options area, click Mirror .
Pairs of designs now face each other.
10 In the Circle Options area, click Alternative
Mirror .
Some of your designs may now be badly overlapping.
11 Move your original design so that it is between two
of the blue Multiply lines, and over the central grid
line.
When using Mirror and Alternative Mirror, designs will
overlap if they cross one of the blue Multiply lines.
12 Try using a different number of Repeats, and options
with and without Mirroring.
13 Click Apply Multiply to place the multiplied
designs on the canvas.

Horizontal Options
The Horizontal Options enable you to set the number of repeats, set the Size of the
Multiply zone, and reflect copies of the multiplied designs as facing pairs.
The initial settings use 4 Repeats and a Size of 25.0 mm in a 100 mm x 100 mm Canvas.
The Horizontal Options are used with the Horizontal and Tile Multiply Modes.

Repeats
Set the number of repeats for the horizontal line of designs from 2 to 40. The initial
number is 4.

Shortcuts
■ Keys: Alt, M, RR

Size
Use Size to set the width of the Multiply zone from 10.0.mm to 1000.0 mm. in steps of 0.1
mm. The initial Size is 25.0 mm.
Increase the Size to move the designs further apart. Decrease the Size to move the designs
closer together, and to overlap the designs.
It is often desirable to adjust the Size until designs are touching or very close together when creating an
embroidery, as this will reduce the number of movement stitches.

Shortcuts
■ Keys: Alt, M, RS

Mirror
Use Mirror to reflect the designs to form pairs. Each alternate copy of the design is
reflected.

Shortcuts
■ Keys: Alt, M, RM

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Multiply 75

 Use the Multiply Horizontal Options
1 In the View tab, ensure that the Canvas is set to 100mm x 100mm in size.
2 Load or draw a design.
3 Select the design with Box Select , Point Line Select , or Freehand Select .
4 Drag the design upwards and to the left to move it a short distance from the center of the canvas.
5 Click the Multiply tab.
6 In the Multiply tab, click Horizontal .
7 Click Enable Multiply . Three repeated designs can be seen either side of the original. Blue
Multiply lines run vertically.

The initial settings are 4 Repeats, with the Size of the Multiply zone set to 25.0mm.
8 Set Repeats to 5. At least one of your designs is outside the Canvas grid, and the central blue line may
cross your design.

Pale blue lines mark out the other Multiply zones.

9 Set the Size to 20mm, so that the designs will fit within the Canvas grid.
Use Size to fit a design within a Multiply zone.
10 Ensure that your original design is between the two central heavy blue lines, then click Mirror .
The designs form facing pairs.

11 Move the central design to the right towards its reflected copy. The designs now overlap.

Vertical Options
The Vertical Options enable you to set the number of repeats, set the Size of the Multiply
zone, and reflect copies of the multiplied designs as facing pairs.
The initial settings use 4 Repeats and a Size of 25.0 mm in a 100 mm x 100 mm Canvas.
The Vertical Options are used with the Vertical and Tile Multiply Modes.

Repeats
Set the number of repeats for the horizontal line of designs from 2 to 40. The initial
number is 4.

Shortcuts
■ Keys: Alt, M, VR

Size
Use Size to set the width of the Multiply zone from 10.0.mm to 1000.0 mm. in steps of 0.1
mm. The initial Size is 25.0 mm.
Increase the Size to move the designs further apart. Decrease the Size to move the designs
closer together, and to overlap the designs.

76 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Multiply

 It is often desirable to adjust the Size until designs are touching or very close together when creating an
embroidery, as this will reduce the number of movement stitches.

Shortcuts
■ Keys: Alt, M, VS

Mirror
Use Mirror to reflect the designs to form pairs. Each alternate copy of the design is
reflected.

Shortcuts
■ Keys: Alt, M, VM

Use the Multiply Vertical Options

1 In the View tab, ensure that the Canvas is set to 100mm x 100mm in size.
2 Load or draw a design.
3 Select the design with Box Select , Point Line Select , or Freehand Select .
4 Drag the design upwards and to the left to move it a short distance from the center of
the canvas.
5 Click the Multiply tab.
6 In the Multiply tab, click Vertical .
The three repeated designs lie above and below the original, and the Multiply lines run
horizontally.
The initial settings are 4 Repeats, with the Size of the Multiply zone set to 25.0mm.
7 Set the Size to 20mm, to reduce the size of the Multiply zone.
8 Click Mirror , half of your designs are now upside down!
Use Size to adjust the distance between your designs, and use Repeats to increase or
decrease the number of designs.
9 In the Multiply mode section, click Tile .
Both the Horizontal and Vertical Options are now available.

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Multiply 77

 10 Increase both the Horizontal and Vertical number of Repeats
to 5.
Your designs may show confusing overlapping.
11 Drag your original design into the center of the blue Multiply
box.
If your design is larger than the box, there will still be some
overlapping.
Increase the Horizontal or Vertical Size to prevent overlapping.
12 Try using a different number of Repeats, and different settings
for Size and Mirror with both the Horizontal and Vertical
Options.
13 Click Apply Multiply to place the multiplied designs on the
canvas.
If you change to Circle with a design in the center of the
Canvas, all of the design copies will appear to collapse into the
middle.
Drag your original design up and towards the left, and your designs will spread out around the circle.

78 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Multiply

Creating a Painting 8
A full range of painting functions is available for raster graphics files (created using a grid
of pixels, and less easily resizable than vectors). In addition to the standard features,
mySewnet™ Draw & Paint includes a range of Effects for improving pictures ready for
creating designs.
Use the Paint tab and control panel to select and edit your picture.

Cut, copy, paste or delete an area of the picture

Use a selection tool to choose part or all of the picture

Use the Paint window control panel to select colors, and paint lines and fill areas for your
picture.

Choose a painting mode

Paint with brush or line, or flood fill an area

Clone areas of the picture
Expand the width of outlines
Blur, lighten or darken part of the picture
Erase or flood erase parts of the picture
Pick a color from the palette
Pick a color from the picture
Change the intensity of the color

Select a brush type and set its size and angle

Set the Tolerance for brushes, flood and selection tools

Rotate by 45 degrees, or remove red-eye effect from photos

Color and light Effects
Line editing tools
Resize, crop, and fill the background to the picture

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Creating a Painting 79

 Mode
Choose a mode for editing your picture:

• Soft Edges are used when editing photographs, paintings or pictures for
PhotoStitch. The Tools give a softer (anti-aliased) edge with gradients and semi-
transparencies.
• Hard Edges are used when editing and cleaning clipart for designing over, such as
when using the Express Design Wizard or digitizing in the Create windows. The Tools
will give a pixelated edge.
Select a Mode from the drop-down menu before starting work.

Some tools are not available in both modes, for example Expander cannot be used with Soft
Edges , and Blur cannot be used with Hard Edges .

Soft Edges
Soft Edges are typically used when editing photographs, paintings or pictures for
PhotoStitch. The Tools give a softer (anti-aliased) edge with gradients and semi-
transparencies.

To see the effect of using Soft Edges , draw a thick line in a dark color with the Paintbrush , using the
Brush type Very Soft Circle.

Shortcut
■ Paint Window Control Panel, Mode:

Hard Edges
Hard Edges are typically used when editing and cleaning clipart for designing over,
such as when using the Express Design Wizard or digitizing in the Create windows. The
Tools give a pixelated edge.
Tools such as Blur, Highlight and Lowlight that would create a gradient or semi-transparency are grayed
out.

Shortcut
■ Paint Window Control Panel, Mode:

Choose Painting Colors

Color Box and Color Palette
Use the Color box and Color palette to choose
Change the Color
the colors for painting.
The Color palette provides 40 commonly used Select a color
colors. Click on a color in the palette to place it in
the Design Panel. See more colors

80 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Creating a Painting

 The Colors area in the Design Panel displays the currently selected color.
For information on selecting additional colors, see “Colors Dialog Box” on page 29.

Change a Color in the Colors Area

■ Click the drop-down menu for colors, then click on a color from the Color palette to select
it.
■ To choose a color that is not in the Color palette, click More Colors in the palette to bring
up the Colors dialog box. (After a color is chosen, it will be placed as the color.)
■ To select a color from the picture on the screen use Pick Color in the Paint panel.

Pick Color
Use Pick Color to select a color from the picture on the screen and make it color in the
Color box.
This is useful for choosing colors from the picture for drawing that do not appear in the
Color palette.

Shortcut
■ Paint Window Control Panel, Color / Intensity:

Intensity
Intensity controls the intensity of the tool you are using. Drag the slider or change the numbers
to alter the Intensity.
For example, Paintbrush paints in full color using 100%, but is faded at lower values; at 1% it is barely
visible, but will show if you constantly paint over the same area.
Intensity is initially set to 100%.

Tools
Paintbrush
Use the Paintbrush to paint lines on the picture that follow the movement of the
pointer. Choose one of the Brush Shapes, and set its Size and Angle. See “Brush Types” on
page 86.

Shortcut
■ Paint Window Control Panel, Tools:

Draw a Line with the Paintbrush

1 Select the desired color in the Color panel. Use Pick Color if you want to select a color from the
picture.
2 Click the Paintbrush icon .
3 Change the line width and style if desired by selecting a Brush Shape, Size and Angle.
4 Click and drag across the work area from the desired start point to the desired end point to draw a
line. A line appears showing the freehand line as it is drawn. Lift the pen or release the mouse button
and the line is completed.
5 Each time you drag and release a new line will be drawn, until another feature is selected.
You can single-click to place dots of color.

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Creating a Painting 81

 Line
Use Line to draw straight lines in the picture. Set the width of the line with Size in
the Brush section. See “Size” on page 86.

Shortcut
■ Paint Window Control Panel, Tools:

Draw Straight Lines with the Line Tool

1 Select the desired colors for foreground and background in the Color panel. Use Pick Color if you
want to select colors from the picture.
2 Click the Line icon .
3 Change the line width if desired by selecting a line width in Size in the Brush section.
4 Click and drag across the work area from the desired start point to the desired end point to draw a
line. A line appears "attached" to the pointer showing the size of the line that will be drawn. The
length of the line in pixels is shown in the status bar.
5 Lift the pen or release the mouse button and the line is drawn in the foreground color.
6 Each time you drag and release a new line will be drawn, until another feature is selected.

Flood Fill
Use Flood Fill to fill an area of the picture with the selected color. The pointer changes
to the paint bucket . The area to be filled is defined by other colors surrounding it or the
edges of the work area. Click to fill an area using the selected color. Flood fill will not flow
across gaps between separate areas of the same color. Either fill each area separately, or
use other drawing tools to 'patch up' a shape to make it a continuous area of the same
color.

Shortcut
■ Paint Window Control Panel, Tools:

Flood Fill an Area

1 Select the desired color in the Color panel. Use Pick Color if you want to select colors from the
picture.
2 Click the Fill icon and the pointer changes to the paint bucket .
3 Change the color sensitivity of Flood Fill with Tolerance , by adjusting the slider.
See “Tolerance” on page 86.
4 Click on a color within your picture. Adjacent areas in the picture with a similar color to the area that
you clicked are filled with the foreground color (or the background color, if you right-click).
5 Flood Fill is enabled until another tool is activated, or you right-click to deselect it.

Blur
Not available with Hard Edges.
Use Blur to blur the area under the brush.
Blur has soft edges. The pixels closer to the center of the brush are affected more than those around the
edge.

Shortcut
■ Paint Window Control Panel; Tools:

82 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Creating a Painting

 Blur an Area of the Picture
1 Click the Blur icon .
2 Change the line width and style if desired by selecting a Brush Shape, Size and Angle.
See “Brush Types” on page 86.
3 Click and drag across the work area from the desired start point to the desired end point. The detail in
that part of the picture is slightly blurred. Lift the pen or release the mouse button to complete the
action. Each time you drag and release a new area will be affected, until another feature is selected.

Highlight
Not available with Hard Edges.
Use Highlight to increase the lightness of an area of the picture, and make it more
prominent.
Highlight has soft edges.The pixels closer to the center of the brush are affected more than those around
the edge.

Shortcut
■ Paint Window Control Panel; Tools:

Highlight an Area of the Picture

1 Click the Highlight icon .
2 Change the line width and style if desired by selecting a Brush Shape, Size and Angle.
See “Brush Types” on page 86.
3 Click and drag across the work area from the desired start point to the desired end point. That part of
the picture will be highlighted (brightened). Lift the pen or release the mouse button to complete the
action. Each time you drag and release a new area will be affected, until another feature is selected.

Lowlight
Not available with Hard Edges.
Use Lowlight to decrease the lightness of an area of the picture, and make it less
prominent.
Lowlight has soft edges.The pixels closer to the center of the brush are affected more than those around the
edge.

Shortcut
■ Paint Window Control Panel; Tools:

Lowlight an Area of the Picture

1 Click the Lowlight icon .
2 Change the line width and style if desired by selecting a Brush Shape, Size and Angle.
See “Brush Types” on page 86.
3 Click and drag across the work area from the desired start point to the desired end point. That part of
the picture is made darker, by removing brightness from it.
4 Lift the pen or release the mouse button to complete the action. Each time you drag and release a
new area will be affected, until another feature is selected.

Erase Tools
Use the erase tools to remove part of the picture, leaving a transparent area.

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Creating a Painting 83

 Erase
Use Erase to erase areas of the picture. The pointer changes to the Erase pointer .
Choose one of the Brush Shapes for the eraser, and set its Size and Angle. See “Brush
Types” on page 86.

To remove a large area of the picture, select the area then Delete or Cut the area. Alternatively, use
Flood Erase .

Shortcut
■ Paint Window Control Panel; Tools:

Erase Part of the Picture

1 Click the Erase icon . The pointer changes to the eraser pointer .
2 Change the style and width if desired by selecting a Brush Shape, Size and Angle.
3 Click and drag across the work area to erase an area. Whenever the cursor passes over a pixel that is
not transparent, it changes it to transparent.
4 Each time you click and drag, areas will be erased, until another feature is selected. Also use single
clicks to erase dots.

Flood Erase
Use Flood Erase to fill areas of the picture to make them transparent. The pointer
changes to the Flood Erase pointer . The area to be filled is defined by other colors
surrounding it or the edges of the work area. Click to fill an area.
Flood Erase will not flow across gaps between separate areas of the same color. Either fill
each area separately, or use other drawing tools to 'patch up' a shape to make it a
continuous area of the same color.
Use the Tolerance settings to select the color variation for the area to be erased. See
“Tolerance” on page 86.

Shortcut
■ Paint Window Control Panel; Tools:

Remove a Background with Flood Erase

1 Click the Flood Erase icon and the pointer changes to the Flood Erase pointer .
2 Change the color sensitivity of Flood Erase with Tolerance , by adjusting the slider.
See “Tolerance” on page 86.
3 Click on a color within your picture. Adjacent areas in the picture with a similar color to the area that
you clicked are erased.

Clone
Use the Clone tool to copy a color and texture from one part of a picture to another.
The Clone tool is useful for editing out unwanted features in a photo, or stamping a motif
on part of an image.

84 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Creating a Painting

 Right-click and select Reset Origin from the context menu, or press the Ctrl key, to reset
the origin point when cloning.

Place the origin pointer Remove unwanted details

Use Persistent Offset for Clone Tool in Preferences to change the behavior of the origin
point. See “Persistent Offset for Clone Tool” on page 110.
When set, the origin moves with the pointer when lifted. Otherwise, the origin point reverts to its original
position each time the pointer is lifted.

Shortcut
■ Paint Window Control Panel; Tools:

Using the Clone Tool

1 Load a photo or picture for editing.
2 Choose the brush size.
A small brush will take longer, but help with detail.
3 Choose the type of brush for copying.
Clone is most easily used at 100% Intensity, and with a solid edged brush such as Circle.
For a smooth shading between copied and original areas, use a soft brush such as Soft Circle, or a lower
Intensity.
4 Click the Clone tool, and move over the Canvas. The crosshairs pointer can be seen.
5 Move the pointer over the area that you want to copy from.
6 Click the area to be copied.
The Clone pointer appears .
7 Move over the area that you want to cover with the copied color and texture.
8 Paint the area with the borrowed color.
Use a single click with Clone to stamp an area, or paint with Clone to mask unwanted areas in a photo.
9 Lift the pointer frequently if copying large areas.
The copied area is refreshed each time the pointer is lifted, so lift frequently when copying cloned areas.
10 Right-click and select Reset Origin Point from the context menu to use the crosshairs pointer to select
a new area to copy from.
Alternatively, press Ctrl to reset the origin.

Expander
Not available with Soft Edges.
Expander increases the width of lines or areas in the picture.

Shortcut
■ Paint Window Control Panel; Tools:

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Creating a Painting 85

 Expand the Width of Lines in a Picture
1 Click the Expander icon. The Expander pointer appears.
2 Zoom in on a line that you want to expand.
3 Click on the line to expand it. All lines using that color in the picture will be expanded.
Click again to expand the lines further.

Brush Types
Choose a Brush Shape, then set a Size and Angle for your painting tool.
Select Calligraphy and use a slight Angle for writing a greeting.

Brush Shape
Choose a Brush shape for painting with.
A greater range of brush shapes is available with Soft Edges mode. See “Mode” on
page 80.

Brushes for use with Soft Edges Brushes for use with Hard Edges

Size
Use Size to set the width of your brush stroke. Use the slider or change the numbers to change
the size.
Size can be set from 1 to 100.

Angle
Use Angle to set the angle of your brush. Use the slider or change the numbers to change the
angle.
Use Calligraphy at a slight Angle for writing.
Angle can be set from 1 to 180 degrees.

Tolerance
Use Tolerance to adjust the number of shades of a color that are selected when using a tool such
as Flood Fill or Magic Wand . A higher tolerance increases the range of color shades that are
selected, and a lower tolerance reduces the range of shades.
A Tolerance value of 0 will select only pixels that exactly match, whereas a value of 100 will select all pixels.
Drag the Tolerance slider to choose the range of color shades that will be selected with
Tolerance.

86 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Creating a Painting

Tolerance can be used with: Flood Fill , Flood Erase and Magic Wand .

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Creating a Painting 87

 Editing Paintings 9
Use one of the selection tools: Box Select , Freehand Select , Freehand Point
Select , Ellipse Select , or Magic Wand Select to select part of the picture as a
block.
After selection, delete, cut, copy, resize, rotate Resize
or mirror the selection. Crop the picture so that Handle
only the selected area remains. Apply effects to
Rotate
enhance or adjust only the selected area. Handle
For more information on selecting, modifying Selection
copying and cutting, see “Select, Modify & Box
Copy” on page 14. Center of Rotation Skew Handle

Resize Part of a Picture

When part of the picture has been selected with one of the selection tools, click and drag
one of the corner resize handles to change the size of the area. When the pointer is over a
resize handle the pointer changes to a double-headed arrow pointer .
Hold the Shift key down when resizing to keep the proportions the same. Hold the Ctrl key
down to resize from the center. With selection tools other than Box Select, only the area
that was selected is resized, even though the selection box appears rectangular.

If no part of the picture is selected, use the Scale Image function to change the size of the whole
picture. See “Scale Image” on page 89.

Rotate Part of the Picture

Rotate part of the picture using the Rotate Handle on the selection box.

To rotate part or all of the picture by exactly 90 degrees, use Rotate 45 .

Rotate Part of a Picture

1 Select part of the picture using one of the selection tools.
2 Click and drag the round rotate handle on the selection box to Rotate the area to any degree.
When an area is chosen with one of the selection tools, only the area that was selected is rotated, even if
the selection box appears rectangular.

Rotate 45
Use Rotate 45 to rotate the selected part of the picture by 45 degrees.
When an area is chosen with one of the selection tools, only the area that was selected is rotated, even if
the selection box appears rectangular.
Rotate 45 is unavailable if there is no selection.

Shortcuts
■ Paint Window Control Panel, Edit:
■ Keys: Alt, D, 9

88 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Editing Paintings

 Remove Red-eye
Use Remove Red-eye to reverse the red-eye effect caused when flash is reflected back
by the retina of the eye.
Remove Red-eye can also be used to remove other intrusive reds, such as red lights.

Remove the Red Eye Effect from a Photo

1 If desired, use Zoom To Rectangle to magnify the affected area.
2 Use Ellipse Select to draw an ellipse around the affected eye.
If desired, use Add to Selection and select the other eye at the same time. See “Add To Selection” on
page 20.
3 Click Remove Red-eye . Any bright red in that part of the picture has a blue cast added to it, to
counteract the red effect.
If you make a mistake, use Undo to reverse red-eye removal, then try again.
4 Check the result in the work area.

Shortcuts
■ Paint Window Control Panel; Edit:
■ Keys: Alt, P, D

Adjust the Canvas and Picture

Scale Image
Use Scale Image to increase or
decrease the size of the whole picture
on the Canvas. The Resize dialog box
appears so you can enter a new
picture size.
The Scale Image function only resizes the
whole picture, any selection within the picture is ignored. To resize part of the picture, use the resize
handles to resize that selection. See “Select a Block” on page 14.
When the picture is resized it is automatically resampled. For example, if the picture size is
increased, the resampling process interpolates (adds) pixels until the desired size is
reached, matching the colors used to those already used in the picture. This produces a
more pleasing result than if the pixels were simply expanded in size, which would produce
a 'blocky' effect. However, it should be realized that whenever a picture is resized, some
change occurs compared with the original.
A picture may be resized up to a maximum of 2000 pixels in each dimension.

Shortcuts
■ Paint Window Control Panel, Edit:
■ Keys: Alt, D, I

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Editing Paintings 89

 Resize a Picture
1 In the Canvas drop-down menu, click Scale Image . The Resize dialog box will appear.
2 Move the slider bar until the desired width or height is shown, or type in the desired figure. The
percentage related to the original picture is shown in the box to the right. For example if the width is
increased from 1000 pixels to 1100, the Percentage of Original Width would be shown as 110%.
3 If the Proportional option is selected, the slider bars will move together to keep the Height and Width
in proportion. Deselect Proportional to change the Height and Width separately.
4 Click OK when the desired size is shown. The picture will be resized.

Crop to Selection
Use Crop to Selection to decrease the size of the picture by removing the parts that are
not wanted. Use one of the selection tools, e.g. Box Select or Freehand Select , to
select the area of the picture that you wish to keep, then in the Canvas drop-down menu,
select Crop to Selection . The parts of the picture outside the selection box are removed
and the display adjusts to show the remaining part of the picture at the largest possible
magnification.
Crop to Selection is unavailable if there is no selection. Crop to Selection only removes rectangular areas of
the picture, therefore the results will be the same whether you select the area using Box Select or
Freehand Select .

Shortcuts
■ Paint Window Control Panel, Edit:
■ Keys: Alt, D, P

Rotate Canvas
Use Rotate Canvas to rotate the whole
picture by any degree. The Rotate dialog box
appears so you can enter the rotation angle.
The Rotate function only rotates the whole picture, so
any selection within the picture is ignored. To rotate part
of the picture, use the rotate handle on the selection box
to rotate the selection. See “Rotate Part of the Picture” on
page 88.
To rotate part or all of the picture by exactly 45 degrees,
use Rotate 45 .
When an area is chosen with one of the selection tools,
only the area that was selected is rotated, even if the
selection box appears rectangular.

Shortcuts
■ Paint Window Control Panel, Edit:
■ Keys: Alt, D, R

Rotate a Picture
1 Ensure that no part of the picture is selected.
Any selection will be ignored.
2 In the Canvas drop-down menu, click Rotate Canvas and the Rotate dialog box will appear.

90 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Editing Paintings

3 Use the up and down arrows to select the desired angle of rotation, or enter the desired figure.
4 When the rotation is as desired, click OK. The picture will be rotated and, if necessary, resized.

Perspective Correction
To remove the effects of perspective in a picture, or to correct skew, select Perspective
Correction . When using Perspective Correction, the crop handles are red.

Move the red handles so that the crop lines frame the picture. Use the Zoom tools to view
the outline of the picture more clearly. Drag the Stretch Picture slider to make the
picture in the Preview wider or narrower.

Shortcuts
■ Paint Window Control Panel, Edit:
■ Keys: Alt, D, R

Expand to Match Canvas

Use Expand to Match Canvas to resize the contents of the Paint canvas so that it fits the
width of the Draw Canvas.
The picture on the screen is not resized. Any area that is added around the edge of the
picture is added as a Transparent area.
To resize the picture itself, or part of the picture, select and resize the block. See “Resize Part of a Picture” on
page 88.

Shortcuts
■ Paint Window Control Panel, Edit:
■ Keys: Alt, D, R

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Editing Paintings 91

 Fill Transparent
Use Fill Transparent to fill any transparent areas of the canvas with the selected color.

Fill the Background to a Picture

1 Use Pick Color to select the background color from the picture on the screen.
This selects the color that you will fill with.
2 In the Canvas drop-down menu, click Fill Transparent .
3 Any transparent areas around the picture, or within the picture, will be filled with your selected color.

Shortcuts
■ Paint Window Control Panel, Edit:
■ Keys: Alt, D, R

92 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Editing Paintings

 Line Finder
The Line Finder tools are:
• Find Center Line
• Find Outline

The Line Finder tools are only available when Hard Edges is enabled. See “Hard Edges” on page 80.

Shortcuts
■ Paint Window Control Panel, Line Finder
■ Keys: Alt, D, E, N

Find Center Line

Use Find Center Line to reduce the thickness of the selected color area to one pixel only, or
to the selected thickness (up to 5 pixels). The new outline will be halfway between the
adjoining color areas, as they are widened to allow the selected color to be narrowed. The
function works on any continuous color area within the picture, but it is most often used
to thin an outline so that there are smaller gaps between areas of the picture. This can
produce a more pleasing picture.
The thinning process produces a thinner outline that is more suitable for the QuickStitch™ features in
mySewnet™ Digitizing.

Reduce the Thickness of an Outline

1 Click Open and open ThinEg.bmp from Documents\mySewnet\Samples\Digitizing\Pics.
The black outline around the flower is relatively thick and looks unnatural. Use the Find Center Line to
make the black area narrower.
2 Click Line Finder in the Paint window Control Panel, and the Line Finder dialog is displayed.
If you do not select a line color with Pick Color, the current line color will be used. If this color is not used in
the picture, the Find Center Line will have no effect.
3 Click to select Find Center Line.
4 Use Pick Line Color in the Find Center Line area to select the desired line color from the picture.

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Editing Paintings 93

 Be careful where you click when using Pick Line Color. The color you click on is the color that will be
thinned. If you click on a fill area, this area will be thinned and the outline around it will be thickened to
compensate. If the changes are not as desired, click Cancel and try again.
5 Click the thick black outline color in the picture.
6 In the preview pane the picture is redrawn with the thickness of the black outline reduced to one
pixel. The green and yellow areas have become wider, as has the blue background. The new black
outline runs through the center of the old one.

7 When the picture in the preview window at the right appears as desired, click OK.
The Find Center Line tool may not work if your picture has dithering, for example a scanned image or one
that has been converted from a JPEG file.

94 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Editing Paintings

 Find Outline
Find Outline finds the outlines around color areas in the picture. This may turn solid lines
in the picture into paired outlines. The color of the original area is used for the outline, and
the area inside each outline is filled with the background color.

Find the Outline in a Picture

1 Click Line Finder in the Paint window Control Panel, and the Line Finder dialog is displayed.
2 Click to select Find Outline.
A Background Color is automatically selected from the picture, and in the preview pane, color areas in the
picture are turned into outlines.
3 If desired, use Pick Background Color in the Find Outline area to select a different background
color from the picture.

4 When the picture in the preview window at the right appears as desired, click OK.

Zoom
Use the Zoom functions to change the view of the picture.
Use Zoom In to magnify the view. Move the pointer over the picture and the pointer
changes to the zoom in pointer . Then either click a point you want to zoom in towards,
or click and drag a rectangle around the area you want to zoom in to and release the
mouse button to zoom. When zoomed in, use the scroll bars to move around.
Use Zoom Out to shrink the view. Move the pointer over the picture and the pointer
changes to the zoom out pointer . Then click a point you want to zoom out from.
Click Zoom To Fit to fit the picture to the preview area.
Click Real Size to view the picture at its real size in pixels. This means that one pixel of
the picture uses one pixel of the screen.

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Editing Paintings 95

 Using Effects 10
Use the Effects dialog in the Paint tab control panel to change and enhance the
picture; for instance, to make certain features stand out or improve the color
representation of the picture. Effects act on all, or the selected part, of the picture.

Effects

The effect types are:

■ Brightness
■ Contrast
■ Gamma
■ Autolevel
■ Auto-contrast
■ Negative
■ Saturation
■ Hue
■ Grayscale
■ Sepia
■ Colorize
■ Color Filter
■ Inverse Color Filter
■ Blur

96 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Using Effects

■ Sharpen
■ Despeckle
■ Monochrome
■ Reduce Colors

Zoom
Use the Zoom functions to change the view of the picture.
Use Zoom In to magnify the view. Move the pointer over the picture and the pointer
changes to the zoom in pointer . Then either click a point you want to zoom in towards,
or click and drag a rectangle around the area you want to zoom in to and release the
mouse button to zoom. When zoomed in, use the scroll bars to move around.
Use Zoom Out to shrink the view. Move the pointer over the picture and the pointer
changes to the zoom out pointer . Then click a point you want to zoom out from.
Click Zoom To Fit to fit the picture to the preview area.
Click Real Size to view the picture at its real size in pixels. This means that one pixel of
the picture uses one pixel of the screen.

Undo
Reset the picture back to the original settings.

Shortcuts
■ Paint Window Control Panel, Edit:
■ Keys: Alt, D, E, L

Select an Effect
1 Click Effects in the Paint tab control panel.
2 In the Effects dialog box, click the drop-down arrow and a list of effects appears.
3 Click the desired effect type. The effect dialog box opens.
4 Adjust the effects until the Preview window at the right appears as desired.
5 Click OK and the effects will be applied.

Brightness
The Brightness effect makes the selected part or all of a picture lighter or darker than
the original. Use it to lighten pictures that are too dark.
Adjust Brightness from -255 (Dark) to +255 (Light) in steps of 1. The initial setting is 0.
Adjust Brightness for the whole picture, or use Box Select or another selection tool to choose an area of the
picture to change.

Change the Brightness of a Picture

1 Click Effects in the Paint tab control panel.

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Using Effects 97

 2 In the Effects dialog box, click the drop-down arrow and select Brightness .
3 Adjust the Brightness between -255 and +255 relative to the starting point by typing in a number,
using the left and right arrow keys, or by clicking and dragging the slider bar. To brighten the picture,
move the slider to the right, use the right arrow key, or type a positive number in the box. To darken
the picture, move the slider to the left, use the left arrow key, or type a negative number in the box.
4 When the picture in the preview window at the right appears as desired, click OK.
Click Undo to start again.

Contrast
The Contrast effect changes the amount of shading between areas for the selected
part or all of a picture. Use it to make specific areas stand out. Adjust Contrast up to +10 or
-10 more or less than the original. Increasing the setting will increase the darkness of dark
areas and the lightness of light areas.
Adjust Contrast from -10 to +10 in steps of 0.1. The initial setting is 0.
Adjust Contrast for the whole picture, or use Box Select or another select tool to choose an area of the
picture to change.

Change the Contrast in a Picture

1 Click Effects in the Paint tab control panel.
2 In the Effects dialog box, click the drop-down arrow and select Contrast .
3 Adjust the Contrast between -100 (Low) and +100 (High) relative to the starting point by typing in a
number, using the left and right arrow keys, or by clicking and dragging the slider bar. To increase,
move the slider to the right, use the right arrow key, or type a positive number in the box. To decrease,
move the slider to the left, use the left arrow key, or type a negative number in the box.
4 When the picture in the preview window at the right appears as desired, click OK.
Click Undo to start again.

Gamma
Use Gamma to adjust the brightness and contrast together so that dark areas are made
brighter, but bright areas are not overexposed.
Adjust Gamma from 0.2 (Light) to 4 (Dark) in steps of 0.1. The initial setting is 1. Lower
values will make the picture appear lighter.
Adjust Gamma for the whole picture, or use Box Select or another select tool to choose an area of the
picture to change.

Adjust the Gamma in a Picture

1 Click Effects in the Paint tab control panel.
2 In the Effects dialog box, click the drop-down arrow and select Gamma .
3 Adjust the Gamma between 2 and 40 by typing in a number, using the left and right arrow keys, or by
clicking and dragging the slider bar. To increase, move the slider to the right, use the right arrow key,
or type a positive number in the box. To decrease, move the slider to the left, use the left arrow key, or
type a negative number in the box.
4 When the picture in the preview window at the right appears as desired, click OK.
Click Undo to start again.

Autolevel
Use Autolevel to adjust brightness and contrast in the picture automatically. Autolevel
improves brightness and contrast in most pictures, and can be used to bring out the color
in underexposed pictures.

98 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Using Effects

 Use the slider to change the degree of Autolevel. Autolevel is set at 100% initially.
Occasionally Autolevel does not improve the appearance of a picture, and may need to be switched off.

Auto-contrast
Use Auto-contrast to adjust the contrast between the bright and dark areas in the
picture automatically, while retaining the detail. It can be used to sharpen a hazy picture.
Use the slider to change the degree of Auto-contrast. Auto-contrast is set at 100% initially.

Negative
Use Negative to invert the luminosity of the picture, so that bright areas appear dark,
and dark areas bright.
Use the slider to change the amount of inversion of the colors. Negative is set at 100%
initially.

Saturation
The Saturation effect changes the amount of gray in the selected part or all of a picture.
Adjust Saturation between -100 (Gray) and +100 (Bright).
Increasing the setting enhances the intensity of colors in a picture, for instance, to make
pale skin tones appear 'warmer'.
Adjust Saturation from -100 (Gray) to +100 (Bright) in steps of 1. The initial setting is 0.
Adjust Saturation for the whole picture, or use Box Select or another select tool to choose an area of the
picture to change. To turn part or all of a picture completely gray and create a grayscale effect, set
saturation to -10.

Change the Saturation in a Picture

1 Click Effects in the Paint tab control panel.
2 In the Effects dialog box, click the drop-down arrow and select Saturation .
3 Adjust the Saturation between -100 (completely gray) and +100 relative to the starting point by
typing in a number, using the left and right arrow keys, or by clicking and dragging the slider bar. To
increase, move the slider to the right, use the right arrow key, or type a positive number in the box. To
decrease, move the slider to the left, use the left arrow key, or type a negative number in the box.
4 When the picture in the preview window at the right appears as desired, click OK.
Click Undo to start again.

Hue
The Hue effect changes the shades of the colors in the picture. Adjust the Hue between
-180 and +180.
This effect makes colors change as if rotated around a color wheel. A small adjustment can make
considerable changes to the color of a picture.
Adjust Hue from -180 to +180 in steps of 1. The initial setting is 0.
Adjust Hue for the whole picture, or use Box Select or another select tool to choose an area of the picture to
change. To tint a picture with a specific color, use a Color Filter.

Change the Hue in a Picture

1 Click Effects in the Paint tab control panel.
2 In the Effects dialog box, click the drop-down arrow and select Hue .

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Using Effects 99

 3 Adjust the Hue between -180 and +180 relative to the starting point by typing in a number, using the
left and right arrow keys, or by clicking and dragging the slider bar. To increase, move the slider to the
right, use the right arrow key, or type a positive number in the box. To decrease, move the slider to the
left, use the left arrow key, or type a negative number in the box.
4 When the picture in the preview window at the right appears as desired, click OK.
Click Undo to start again.

Grayscale
The Grayscale effect changes all of the color shades in the picture to shades of gray.
Adjust Grayscale between 0% and 100% in steps of 1. The initial setting is 100%.
Adjust Grayscale for the whole picture, or use Box Select or another select tool to choose an area of the
picture to change.

Sepia
The Sepia effect changes all of the color shades in the picture to shades of sepia
(reddish-brown). Adjust the Sepia effect between 0% and 100% in steps of 1. The initial
setting is 100%.
Adjust Sepia for the whole picture, or use Box Select or another select tool to choose an area of the picture
to change.

Colorize
The Colorize effect applies a single color to the picture at varying intensities. Use the
upper slider to colorize with the selected color as from a color wheel, and the lower slider
to fade the effect.
This effect makes colors change as if rotated around a color wheel.
The upper slider adjusts the color from 0 (Red) to 360 (Violet) in steps of 1 via orange,
yellow, green and blue. The initial setting is 0 (Red).
The lower slider fades the effect from 100% (fully colorized) to 0% (original colors). The
initial setting is 100%.

Color Filter
Use Color Filter to tint the picture using the selected color and intensity. Only the light
from the selected color passes through.
This effect makes colors change as if rotated around a color wheel.
The upper slider adjusts the color from 0 (Red) to 360 (Violet) in steps of 1 via green and
blue. The initial setting is 0 (Red).
The lower slider sets the intensity of the color tint. 100% uses only the shades of the
selected filter color, and 0% is no tint. The initial setting is 100% (fully tinted).
Use Color Filter for the whole picture, or use Box Select or another select tool to choose an area of the
picture to change.

Use a Color Filter

1 Click Effects in the Paint tab control panel.
2 In the Effects dialog box, click the drop-down arrow and select Color Filter .
3 Adjust the color for the filter (upper slider) between 0 and 360 typing in a number, using the left and
right arrow keys, or by clicking and dragging the slider bar.

100 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Using Effects

4 Adjust the color tint (lower slider) between 0% (no tint) and 100% (your selected color) relative to the
starting point by typing in a number, using the left and right arrow keys, or by clicking and dragging
the slider bar.
5 When the picture in the preview window at the right appears as desired, click OK.

Inverse Color Filter

Use Inverse Color Filter to tint the picture in the opposite way to a physical filter using
the selected color and intensity. Only the light from the selected color is removed.
This effect makes colors change as if rotated around a color wheel.
The upper slider adjusts the color from 0 (Red) to 360 (Violet) in steps of 1 via orange,
yellow, green and blue. The initial setting is 0 (Red).
The lower slider sets the intensity of the color tint. 100% uses only the shades of the
selected filter color, and 0% is no tint. The initial setting is 100% (fully tinted).
Use Inverse Color Filter for the whole picture, or use Box Select or another select tool to choose an area of
the picture to change.

Use Inverse Color Filter

1 Click Effects in the Paint tab control panel.
2 In the Effects dialog box, click the drop-down arrow and select Inverse Color Filter .
3 Adjust the color for the filter (upper slider) between 0 and 360 typing in a number, using the left and
right arrow keys, or by clicking and dragging the slider bar.
4 Adjust the color tint (lower slider) between 0% (no tint) and 100% (your selected color) relative to the
starting point by typing in a number, using the left and right arrow keys, or by clicking and dragging
the slider bar.
5 When the picture in the preview window at the right appears as desired, click OK.

Blur
Use Blur to blur the edges between differently colored areas in the picture, by
smoothing the contrast between pixels adjacent to defined lines and shaded areas. Use
the Blur effect to change the focus of a picture, or to remove unwanted detail from part of
a picture.
Adjust Blur for the whole picture, or use Box Select or another selection tool to choose an area of the
picture to change.
The upper slider adjusts Blur between 0 (Soft) and 3 (Strong) in steps of 1. The initial
setting is 0.
The lower slider sets the intensity of the blurring from 0% to 100%. The initial setting is
100%.

Blur a Picture
1 Click Effects in the Paint tab control panel.
2 In the Effects dialog box, click the drop-down arrow and select Blur .
3 Adjust the amount of blurring between0 and 3 by typing in a number, using the left and right arrow
keys, or by clicking and dragging the slider bar.
4 Adjust the intensity between 0% (no blurring) and 100% (full effect) by typing in a number, using the
left and right arrow keys, or by clicking and dragging the slider bar.
5 When the picture in the preview window at the right appears as desired, click OK.

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Using Effects 101

 Sharpen
Use Sharpen to enhance the edges between differently colored areas in the picture, by
increasing the contrast between pixels adjacent to defined lines and shaded areas. Use the
Sharpen effect to change the focus of a picture, or to enhance detail in part of a picture.
Adjust sharpness for the whole picture, or use Box Select or another selection tool to choose an area of the
picture to change.
The upper slider adjusts Sharpen between 0 (Soft) and 100 (Strong) in steps of 1. The initial
setting is 0.
The lower slider sets the intensity of the sharpening from 0% to 100%. The initial setting is
100%.

Sharpen a Picture
1 Click Effects in the Paint tab control panel.
2 In the Effects dialog box, click the drop-down arrow and select Sharpen .
3 Adjust the Sharpness between 0 and 100 by typing in a number, using the left and right arrow keys, or
by clicking and dragging the slider bar.
4 Adjust the intensity between 0% (no sharpening) and 100% (full effect) by typing in a number, using
the left and right arrow keys, or by clicking and dragging the slider bar.
5 When the picture in the preview window at the right appears as desired, click OK.

Despeckle
Despeckle removes small spots from the picture anywhere between 1 and 100 pixels in
size. The initial setting is 1 pixel.
It is useful for pictures that have been scanned.

Despeckle a Picture
1 Click Effects in the Paint tab control panel.
2 In the Effects dialog box, click the drop-down arrow and select Despeckle .
3 Either use the up and down arrows, or enter a number representing the size in pixels of the largest
spot(s) to be removed. The preview on the right shows the despeckled version.
If some of the detail that you wish to use to create your embroidery has been removed, click Undo. Then try
again using a a smaller number.
4 When the picture in the preview window at the right appears as desired, click OK.

Monochrome
The Monochrome effect turns all shades or colors in the selected part or all of a picture
into either black or white. It acts on the whole picture, or a selected area. The
Monochrome effect is useful to create defined color areas that you can then color with the
painting tools for artistic effects.
Adjust Monochrome between 0 and 254 in steps of 1. The initial setting is 254.
Use Monochrome on the whole picture, or use a selection tool to choose an area of the picture to change.

Change a Picture to Monochrome

1 Click Effects in the Paint tab control panel.
2 In the Effects dialog box, click the drop-down arrow and select Monochrome .

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3 Adjust the Monochrome Threshold between 0 and 254 by typing in a number, using the left and right
arrow keys, or by clicking and dragging the slider bar. To make more of the picture black, move the
slider to the right, use the right arrow key, or type a higher number in the box. To make more of the
picture white, move the slider to the left, use the left arrow key, or type a lower number in the box.
4 When the picture in the preview window at the right appears as desired, click OK.

Reduce Colors
Use Reduce Colors to reduce the number of colors in the picture, matching each pixel
to a limited palette. It acts on the whole picture, or a selected area.
Use Reduce Colors to reduce the number of colors in the picture, for example to 'flatten' some complex
areas of color, which can make the picture easier to use with the QuickStitch™ and QuickTrace features in
mySewnet™ Digitizing.
Reduce Colors determines the optimal number of colors for the picture. This optimal
number is given as the recommended number of colors, out of the total number of colors.
The total number of colors is the number of colors in the picture, or 255 if more than 255 colors are present.

Reduce the Number of Colors in a Picture

1 Click Effects in the Paint tab control panel.
2 In the Effects dialog box, click the drop-down arrow and select Reduce Colors .
The Reduce Colors window appears, with the slider set at the recommended number of colors.
3 Adjust the number of colors between 0 and the original number of colors (or 255) by typing in a
number, using the left and right arrow keys, or by clicking and dragging the slider bar.
To use more colors, move the slider to the right, use the right arrow key, or type a higher number in
the box. To use fewer colors, move the slider to the left, use the left arrow key, or type a lower number
in the box.
4 When the picture in the preview window at the right appears as desired, click OK.

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Using Effects 103

 Viewing Pictures and Designs 11
Use the View tab to set how you view the drawing, grid fade the picture, and measure
aprts of your design.

Set the size of the Canvas Measure an object or design

Show and adjust the grid Fade the background picture in the Paint tab

Canvas
Use the Canvas area to set the size of the Canvas.

Use Scale Image to increase or decrease the size of the picture on the Canvas. See “Scale Image” on
page 89.

Resize Canvas
Use Resize Canvas to change the size of the
Canvas for the Draw and Paint windows.
Use the Width and Height settings for Canvas to
set or change the size of the design area. Click OK
to use the new settings.
If Scale up or down to fit is selected in Paint
Image, the image in the paint tab will be rescaled
to fit the new canvas.
If Keep original scale is selected in Paint Image, the Paint image may be cropped to fit the
new canvas.
If Keep original scale is selected, a drawing created in the Draw window over an image in the Paint window
may no longer fit over the image in the Paint window.

Width
Set the Canvas Width from 20mm to 1000mm. The initial size is 100mm.

Height
Set the Canvas Height from 20mm to 1000mm. The initial size is 100mm.

Paint Image
Scale up or down to fit
Add padding to the sides of the image so that the canvas matches the new proportions.
The Paint image will remain the same quality, but any Draw objects drawn over it may no longer match.

104 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Viewing Pictures and Designs

 Keep original scale
Maintain the scale of the Paint image in relation to the Draw objects. This will crop the
Paint image when the size is reduced.
Any Draw objects drawn over the Paint image will retain the same proportions. The Paint image may be
cropped, or become pixellated.

Grid
Use the Grid functions to set the position and size of the grid, and to show or hide it.

Show Grid
Use Show Grid to turn the background grid on and off. The grid may be used to help
align objects and points.
Turn the background grid on or off using Show Grid.
The grid size is measured in pixels of the background picture, so the apparent grid size will vary according
to the dimensions of the picture.

Shortcuts
■ View Tab, Grid:
■ Keys: Alt, V, SG

Grid Start
Choose a position for the start of numbering for the grid. Select Center or Top-Left from
the drop-down menu. The initial Start position is Center.

Shortcut
■ Keys: Alt, V, GS

Grid Size
Choose the distance between the heavier grid lines.
The grid size is initially set to 5mm. Adjust its Size between 2 and 50mm, depending on
what setting is most suitable for your screen resolution and design. Type in a figure and
press ENTER (or use the up and down arrows to change the number).

Shortcut
■ Keys: Alt, V, GR

Sub-divisions
Choose the distance between the pale grid lines.
Sub-divisions are initially set to 1/4. In the drop-down menu, choose from: None, 1/2, 1/3,
1/4, 1/5, 1/6, 1/8, 1/10 or 1/16.

Shortcut
■ Keys: Alt, V, SU

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Viewing Pictures and Designs 105

 Background
Show, fade or hide the picture in the Paint window to use it as a background on which to
create a drawing.

View Background
Use the Background slider bar to show, fade or hide the background picture in the Canvas.
Change the view of the background picture to make it easier to see the lines and fills for
the design.

Use Background On to show Use Fade to show the picture Use Background Off to hide
the picture in the background. in the background with the colors the picture.
faded by 50%.

Get Length
Use Get Length to measure the distance between any two
points on the canvas. Click the Get Length icon and the
mouse pointer changes to the Measure pointer . Then click
and drag a line across the design. The length of the line is
displayed.
For example, use this to obtain the width of a design, or the
distance between two sections.
The length is shown in millimeters or inches, according to the setting for Show Measurements in
Preferences. The alternative units are shown in parentheses.

Shortcuts
■ View Tab:
■ Keys: Alt, V, GL

Measure a Distance with Get Length

1 In the View tab, click the Get Length icon. The pointer changes to the measure pointer .
2 Click and drag across the part of the design you want to measure. A line will show the length you are
measuring, and a tooltip displays the distance.
If desired, make a note of the number.
3 Repeat the click and drag to measure any other distances, as required.
4 Right-click to deselect the function.

106 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Viewing Pictures and Designs

 Zoom Commands
A number of functions are available to make it easier to navigate around designs. These
include the Zoom functions and the Overview Window. By default, each design is shown
at a size so that the grid fills the window, the same as if you click Zoom To Canvas after
zooming in or out.

Click and drag to zoom in on an area Click to zoom out instantly

Click to zoom in instantly
Drag to zoom in and out
Zoom to Canvas Select or input percentage zoom

Shortcuts

Zoom Out Keys: Ctrl + -

Zoom To Rectangle Keys: Ctrl + 0
Zoom In Keys: Ctrl + =
Zoom To Canvas Keys: Ctrl + 9
Zoom to Selection Keys: Ctrl + 8

Zoom To Rectangle
Use Zoom To Rectangle to enlarge the view of an area of the design.
Click the Zoom To Rectangle icon to the right of the status bar, and the mouse pointer
changes to the zoom in pointer . Then either click a point on the design you want to
zoom in towards, or click and drag a rectangle around the area you want to enlarge and
release the mouse button to zoom.
Zoom To Rectangle is automatically deselected after you have used it.

Shortcuts
■ Status Bar:
■ Keys: Ctrl + 0
If you have a wheel mouse, hold the Ctrl key and move the wheel to zoom.

Pan Mode
Use the Pan feature to move around the screen easily. The Pan feature works when you are
Zoomed In on part of the screen, making the scroll bars visible at the right and bottom of
the Canvas.
Hold the Space key down until the pan cursor appears, then click and drag.
The pan occurs in real time, that is you see the canvas move as you drag across the screen.

Pan Around the Canvas

1 Click Zoom To Rectangle and the arrow pointer changes to the zoom in pointer .
2 Click and drag to draw a box, then release to zoom in. Scroll bars appear to allow you to move around
the screen at this higher zoom level.

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Viewing Pictures and Designs 107

 3 Hold the Space key down, then start to click and drag. The pan cursor appears.
4 Click and drag until the pointer is in the desired part of the screen. (If you have a wheel mouse, you
can click the wheel to pan around the screen.)
5 Lift the pen or release the mouse button.

Zoom To Canvas
Use Zoom To Canvas to view the whole work area. Click the Zoom To Canvas icon
and the view will zoom in or out to show the Canvas in the window.

Shortcuts
■ Status Bar:
■ Keys: Ctrl + 9

Zoom to Selection
Use Zoom to Selection to zoom to the selected designs, or to all designs on the canvas.
Click the Zoom to Selection icon and the view will zoom in or out to show the selected
designs, or all designs on the canvas.

Shortcuts
■ Status Bar:
■ Keys: Ctrl + 8

Zoom by Percentage
Use the drop-down list in the Status Bar to set percentage levels to zoom in from 10% up
to 800%. Alternatively, enter a number in the percentage text box.
Select 100% to display the design at a magnification as close as possible to the Real Size setting you chose
in Preferences.

Zoom Bar
Use the Zoom Bar to zoom in or out from the center of the picture or design.

The Zoom Bar is on the right side of the Status Bar.

Use the slider to zoom in or out of the picture or design, or click on the Zoom Out or
Zoom In icons.

108 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Viewing Pictures and Designs

 Preferences 12
Use Preferences to select the Surround color and Transparency pattern, and to choose
whether to show the rulers around the Canvas, and use pressure sensitivity with graphics
tablets. When these are changed, the new settings will be remembered when mySewnet™
Draw & Paint is closed and reopened.

Set the Surround color

Preview the Surround color

Choose the pattern for transparent areas

Show the Rulers around the canvas

Use pressure sensitivity with graphics tablets
Use a relative position when cloning

Shortcut
■ File Menu:

Colors
Change the color for the Canvas and Grid in mySewnet™ Configure.

Surround
The Surround color is the color used outside the grid boundaries. Set
the Surround color for your mySewnet™ Draw & Paint software to
whatever you prefer. Click on the down arrow next to the Color block
and a palette appears of 40 colors. Move the pointer over the Color
palette until the color you prefer is highlighted, then click again.
Alternatively, select More Colors and the Colors window appears to
allow you to choose any color from the 16 million colors of the
Windows Color Matrix (see “Colors Dialog Box” on page 29). The color set by default is 210,
210, 210 (RGB).
When you change the Surround Color the new color is immediately applied.

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Preferences 109

 Transparency
Set the color and pattern indicating transparency for your
mySewnet™ Draw & Paint software. Click on the down arrow next to
the Color block and a menu of options appears. Choose a color from
the menu.

Tools
Rulers
Hide or show the rulers around the left and top sides of the canvas.

Use Pressure Sensitivity

Use pressure sensitivity with graphics tablets.

Persistent Offset for Clone Tool

Change the default behavior for the origin pointer when using the Clone tool. See
“Clone” on page 84.
• The area copied moves with the pointer when this option is selected. This is the default
setting.
This happens even when the mouse button is released, enabling you to copy multiple areas
within a picture, and to clone recently cloned areas.
• If Persistent Offset for Clone Tool is not selected, when the mouse button is released the
origin point reverts to its original position. The same area is then copied each time
Clone is used.
This is useful when copying the same motif repeatedly in different part of a picture.
Right-click and select Reset Origin from the context menu, or press the Ctrl key, to reset
the origin point when cloning.

110 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Preferences

Troubleshooting 13
Error Messages
Acquiring and Loading Pictures
"Could not load picture file."
This message could appear if the desired picture is not where the module expects it to be,
for example if it was loaded from a USB stick, then closed and the USB stick removed. It
could also appear if the file you are attempting to load is corrupt. For example, it might
have an extension such as .bmp or .jpg, yet not be a proper picture file.

"Error while inserting file. "Filename.svg" could not be inserted. The error
"No usable vector graphics objects" occurred."
This message could appear if the vector graphics .svg file being opened contains no
vector objects, for example, if it contains only a Bitmap graphic.
You may still be able to use the affected graphic if you open it in a graphics package which
can handle .svg files with no vector objects (for example Inkscape), and then save the
picture as a .png file.

Saving Files
"Error saving picture."
This message appears on attempting to save the picture and the picture is not saved. For
example, if you attempt to overwrite an existing picture that is read only or if you attempt
to save the picture to a read only location such as a CD-ROM.

Exporting Files
"Cannot export design."
This message appears if you try to use the Export function when there is no information to
export.

"Cannot save file."

The program cannot save the file. Ensure that the disk where you are trying to save the
design is not write-protected, then try again.

"You can’t save here. Please choose another location."

This message appears if, for instance, you have loaded a drawing from a CD-ROM and then
attempt to save the embroidery back to the CD. A CD-ROM is read only, therefore you will
not be able to save the embroidery.

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Troubleshooting 111

 "Design File is read-only. Cannot continue."
This will happen if you attempt to open a design that has been set as read-only, or is read-
only because it is stored on a CD-ROM, for example. If the design file is on your hard disk as
read-only then you must change its properties in Windows® Explorer so that it is no longer
read-only. For designs on CD-ROMs or similar, use Windows® Explorer to copy them to
your hard disk, then change the properties so that they are no longer read-only.
(Windows® Explorer Help has information on the read-only attribute.)

"Filename already exists. Do you want to replace it?"

This happens when you are doing a Save As on the .ecq design file and you have given the
name of a file that is already there. Click Yes or No as appropriate. You may have to replace
a file several times if you are creating stitch files to stitch out tests of your design.

"Disk is write-protected. File not saved"

This will happen if you try to save a file to a floppy disk that has the write-protect tab open.
Either take out the floppy disk and close the write-protect tab, or use a different floppy
disk.

Choosing and Creating Motifs and Creating Machine Stitches

"Please choose a valid motif pattern."
This message appears if you try to select a motif from My Motifs, and all the motifs have
been deleted from My Motifs. Use mySewnet™ Draw & Paint to add at least one motif to
My Motifs.

"The start and end points do not line up. Add a stitch?"
This message may appear when exporting a drawing to My Motifs or as a Machine Stitch.
Motifs and machine stitches are usually designed to stitch from left to right, and to start
and finish at the same level. This function allows you to add a stitch to ensure the start and
end points line up.

Miscellaneous
"Error. Not enough memory to perform operation."
This message will appear when system resources are low. Close other programs and try
again. If this does not work, try restarting your computer.

112 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Troubleshooting

Other Topics
Screen Appearance
"Some of the icons in the Ribbon bar are 'grayed out'."
Certain icons (for example Cut on the Draw tab) are only highlighted once a design is
shown on the screen. Also, when there is a design on the screen, some functions that
might cause a mismatch between the size of the design and the size of the picture are not
available in the Picture window.

"I have changed grid color and spacing and now I wish to return to the
original settings."
Use Preferences to change the grid color. Follow the instructions in the Preferences
section and select Mid Blue (RGB values 85, 150, 185) from the standard color drop-down
on the Grid Color button.
Use the Size setting on the View tab to change the grid spacing. Set the Grid Size to 10.

"I have changed the screen background color and now I wish to return to
the original light blue."
Use Preferences to change the background color. Follow the instructions in the
Preferences section and select the RGB values 230, 245, 255 in the Colors dialog box.

Loading Pictures
"I loaded a small picture, and it has too many jagged lines."
Although the program automatically doubles the size of a picture if its height and width
are less than 500 pixels, this may still produce jagged lines. For a smoother effect, rescan
the picture.

Selecting Parts of a Design

"I did not select all the objects I wanted with Box, Point Line or Freehand
Select."
Objects must be fully enclosed by the selection line to be selected as part of a block. If
even the smallest part of an object is outside the line then it will not be selected.

Working on the Draw Tab

"Color Tolerance does not show me all the lines that will be traced by a
Trace function."
The dashed line used by Color Tolerance only shows the outside of the area that is
selected by the current Color Tolerance value. Simply try the Trace function and if the
result is not satisfactory then Undo the result and retry the trace with a higher Color
Tolerance.

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Troubleshooting 113

 "I have selected Join, but I cannot join any objects."
Join can only join together open lines. Closed lines (shapes) cannot be Joined.
When Join is used, all open lines are indicated by a round handle. If no round handles are
visible when Join is selected, there are no open lines.

114 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Troubleshooting

Quick Reference Guide 14
Ribbon Tabs
File Tab/Menu
New Clear the screen ready to create or load a new design.
Ctrl + N
New Window Open an additional mySewnet™ Draw & Paint window.
Ctrl + Shift + N
Open Open an existing design, replacing the design on the screen.
Ctrl + O
Recent Open recently used designs.

Insert Insert an existing design into your current project.

Ctrl + I
From Scanner or Display the program that is used to acquire pictures from the selected device.
Camera
Save Save the design with the same name.
Ctrl + S
Save As Save the design under a new name.
Ctrl + Shift + S
Export Picture Export your picture in .SVG, .PNG or .JPG graphics format.

Preferences Set the stitch and screen options.

Configure Open mySewnet™ Configure.

Exit Close the current window and prompt to save new and changed designs.
Alt + F4

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Quick Reference Guide 115

 Draw Tab
Clipboard Section
Clipboard
Copy Copy the selected objects to the clipboard, without affecting the current
selection.
Ctrl + C; Alt, D, CC
Paste Paste the objects on the clipboard back into the design.
Ctrl + V; Alt, D, CP
Cut Cut out the selected objects and place them on the clipboard.
Ctrl + X; Alt, D, CU
Duplicate Make a copy of the selected objects, which is automatically pasted on the
Canvas below and to the right of the original.
Ctrl + D; Alt, D, CD
Delete Delete the selected object or the last object in the design.
Delete; Alt, D, CX

Select Section
Select
Object Select Click on the object that you want to select.
Alt, D, O
Box Select Select a block of objects by drawing a rectangle.
Alt, D, B
Freehand Select Select a block of objects by drawing a line around the required objects.
Alt, D, F
Point Line Select Select a block of objects by clicking a series of points to create an irregular
outline of straight or curved lines around the required objects.
Alt, D, P
Select All Select all visible objects as a single block.
Ctrl + A; Alt, D, SA
Select None Deselect all of the objects in the work area, including any outside the grid.
Ctrl + Shift + A; Alt, D, SN
Replace Replace the currently selected objects with the new selection.
Selection Alt, D, SR
Add To Add the new selection to the currently selected objects.
Selection Alt, D, SD
Remove From Remove the new selection from the currently selected objects.
Selection Alt, D, SN

116 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Quick Reference Guide

Combine Section
Combine
Make Holes Create a hole within the selected objects.
Alt, D, MH
Uncombine Break apart an object combined using Make Holes. Any holes in fill areas will
be removed.
Alt, D, MU

Group Section
Group
Group Group all selected objects together.
Ctrl + G; Alt, D, GG
Ungroup Separate the objects, or groups, within the selection.
Ctrl + U; Alt, D, GU
Ungroup All Split all the groups within the selected group into their individual objects.
Alt, D, GA

Snap Section
Snap
Snap to Grid Align objects to the Grid lines when drawn or moved.
Alt, D, NG
Snap to Line Snap to an existing drawn line when drawing.
Alt, D, NL

Send Section
Send to Paint Send the selected vector objects in the Draw window to the Paint
window as an area of pixels.
Alt, D, ST
Motifs and
Stitches
Insert Motif
Open an existing motif to modify it.
Alt, D, MA, IM
Export to My Motifs
Save the design or selected area on the screen to the My Motifs
database.
Alt, D, MA, ET

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Quick Reference Guide 117

 Manage My Motifs
Delete unwanted My Motifs.
Alt, D, MA, M
Insert Machine Stitch
Open an existing stitch to modify it, or to export it as a motif.
Alt, D, MA, IS
Export as Machine Stitch
Save the drawing or selected area as an .spx machine stitch.
Alt, D, MA, EM

118 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Quick Reference Guide

Paint Tab
Clipboard Section
Clipboard
Copy Copy the selected objects to the clipboard, without affecting the current
selection.
Ctrl + C; Alt, P, CC
Paste Paste the objects on the clipboard back into the design.
Ctrl + V; Alt, P, CP
Cut Cut out the selected objects and place them on the clipboard.
Ctrl + X; Alt, P, CU
Duplicate Make a copy of the selected objects, which is automatically pasted on the
Canvas below and to the right of the original.
Alt, P, CD
Delete Delete the selected object or the last object in the design.
Delete; Alt, P, CX

Select Section
Select
Box Select Select a block of objects by drawing a rectangle.
Alt, P, B
Freehand Select Select a block of objects by drawing a line around the required objects.
Alt, P, F
Point Line Select Select a block of objects by clicking a series of points to create an irregular
outline of straight or curved lines around the required objects.
Alt, P, P
Ellipse Select Select an area of the picture by drawing a circle or ellipse around it.
Alt, P, E
Magic Wand Select an area of similar color to where you clicked.
Alt, P, M
Select All Select all visible objects as a single block.
Ctrl + A; Alt, P, SA
Select None Deselect all of the objects in the work area, including any outside the grid.
Ctrl + Shift + A; Alt, P, SN
Invert Selection All the currently selected areas become deselected, and the deselected areas
become selected.
Alt, P, SV
Replace Replace the currently selected objects with the new selection.
Selection Alt, P, SR
Add To Add the new selection to the currently selected objects.
Selection Alt, P, SD
Remove From Remove the new selection from the currently selected objects.
Selection Alt, P, SM

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Quick Reference Guide 119

 Insert Tab
Shape Section
Shapes Select a Shape from the gallery.
Alt, I, P
Insert Shape Add a shape to the drawing.
Alt, I, SS

Lettering Section
Font Choose a font on your computer.
Alt, I, O
Style Choose a font Style.
Alt, I, W
Size Set the font size in points.
Alt, I, I
Alignment Align the lettering Left, Center or Right.
Left : Alt, I, AL
Center : Alt, I, AC
Right : Alt, I, AR
Insert Lettering Add text to your design.
Alt, I, L

Design Section
Design Gallery Add a drawing from the Design Gallery.
Alt, I, M
Insert File Insert a drawing into your design.
Alt, I, F
Send to Paint Send the selected vector objects in the Draw window to the Paint
window as an area of pixels.
Alt, I, ST

120 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Quick Reference Guide

Multiply Tab
Multiply Mode Section
Enable Multiply Activate the Multiply options.
Alt, M, E
Apply Multiply Place the multiplied designs on the canvas.
Alt, M, A
Cancel Multiply Cancel the current Multiply.
Alt, M, N
Circle Multiply designs in a circle.
Alt, M, MC
Horizontal Multiply designs along a horizontal line.
Alt, M, MR
Vertical Multiply designs along a vertical line.
Alt, M, MV
Tile Multiply designs within a horizontal and vertical grid.
Alt, M, MT

Circle Options Section

Repeats Set the number of repeats for the multiplied circle.
Alt, M, CR
Mirror Reflect the designs to form pairs.
Alt, M, CM
Alternative Reflect the designs with a rotated axis.
Mirror Alt, M, CA

Horizontal Options Section

Repeats Set the number of repeats for the multiplied line.
Alt, M, RR
Size Set the width of the Multiply area.
Alt, M, RS
Mirror Reflect the designs to form pairs.
Alt, M, RM

Vertical Options Section

Repeats Set the number of repeats for the multiplied line.
Alt, M, VR
Size Set the height of the Multiply area.
Alt, M, VS
Mirror Reflect the designs to form pairs.
Alt, M, VM

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Quick Reference Guide 121

 View Tab
Canvas Section
Canvas
Resize Canvas Change the size of the Canvas for the Draw and Paint windows.
Alt, V, R

Grid Section
Grid
Grid Show or hide the background grid, and set its size.
Alt, V, SG
Grid Start The start position of the Grid, Center or Top-Left.
Alt, V, GS
Grid Size The Grid size.
Alt, V, GR
Sub-divisions Alt, V, SU

Background Section
Background
Fade Use the slider to Hide, Fade or Show the Paint window image.

Length Section
Get Length Measure the distance between any two points on the Canvas.
Alt, V, GL

122 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Quick Reference Guide

Help Tab
Help Topics List help topics.
F1; Alt, H, H
About mySewnet™ Display program information, version number and copyright.
Draw & Paint Alt, H, A

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Quick Reference Guide 123

 FilmStrip
FilmStrip Items
Object
Each object is represented graphically.

Object Type
The name of the object type is shown.

Object Name
The name of the object is shown.

Layout Order
Move Forwards Bring one step closer to the front of the design.

Move Backwards Bring one step closer to the back of the design.

Move to Front Place at the front of the design.

Move to Back Place at the back of the design.

124 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Quick Reference Guide

Draw Panel
Line Section
Line Color Click to change the line color.
Pick Line Color Select a color from the picture and make it the line color.

Remove Line Color No line is placed around a fill.

Swap Colors Switch the line and fill colors.

Line Width Choose a width for your line.

Fill Section
Fill Color Click to change the fill color.
Pick Fill Color Select a color from the picture and make it the fill color.

Remove Fill Color No fill is placed within an area.

Draw Section
Point Draw Click points to create a line.

Freehand Draw Click and drag to draw a line.

Bezier Draw Use Bezier drawing to create a line.

Trace Line Trace the outline of a background picture to create a line drawing.

Trace Area Trace a background picture with no outline to create a filled drawing,
or a line drawing.
Trace Area & Hole Trace an area of a background picture the includes a hole to create a
filled drawing, or a line drawing.

Points Section
Edit Points Use Edit Points to enable the moving and editing of an object’s points
if another function is being used.
Insert Points Add a new point to the currently selected line.

Delete Points Delete points from the currently selected line.

Knife Slice the selected objects along the line you draw.

Join Join two open lines together.

Convert Points Change the selected point in a Bezier line to a Curve point.
to Curve
Convert Points Change the selected point in a Bezier line to a Corner point.
to Corner

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Quick Reference Guide 125

 Edit Section
Rotate 45 Rotate the selected block of objects by 45 degrees.

Transform Use the Transform dialog to show and change the size, rotation and
skew of the currently selected block.
Center in Canvas Move the selected objects to the center of the Canvas.

Horizontal
Alignment
Align Left
Align all selected objects on the left edge.
Align Center
Center align all selected objects horizontally.
Align Right
Align all selected objects on the right edge.
Distribute Horizontally
Align all selected objects to be equally spaced horizontally.
Vertical
Alignment
Align Top
Align all selected objects on the top edge.
Align Middle
Center align all selected objects vertically.
Align Bottom
Align all selected objects on the bottom edge.
Distribute Vertically
Align all selected objects to be equally spaced vertically.
Convert to Point Change the selected Bezier Line to a Point Line.
Line
Convert to Bezier Change the selected Point Line to a Bezier Line.
Line

126 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Quick Reference Guide

Paint Panel
Mode
Soft Edges Use a soft edged tool for editing photos and paintings.

Hard Edges Use a hard edged tool for editing solid areas in clipart.

Tools
Paintbrush Paint lines on the picture that follow the movement of the pointer.

Line Draw straight lines in the picture.

Flood Fill Fill an area of the picture with the selected color.

Blur Blur the area under the brush.

Highlight Increase the lightness of an area of the picture, and make it more
prominent.
Lowlight Decrease the lightness of an area of the picture, and make it less
prominent.
Clone Copy a color and texture from one part of a picture to another.

Expander Increase the width of lines or areas in the picture.

Erase Remove areas of the picture with the Eraser.

Flood Erase Fill areas of the picture to make them transparent.

Color / Intensity
Color Choose the colors for the picture.
Pick Color Select a color from the picture on the screen.

Intensity Change the intensity of the color in the brush or tool you are using.

Brush
Brush Shape Choose a Brush shape for painting with.
Size Set the width of your brush stroke.

Angle Set the angle of your brush.

Tolerance
Tolerance Adjust the number of shades of a color that are selected when using a
tool such as Magic Wand or Flood Fill.

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Quick Reference Guide 127

 Edit
Rotate 45 Rotate the selected block of objects by 45 degrees.

Remove Red-eye Reverse the red-eye effect caused when flash is reflected back
by the retina of the eye.
Canvas

Scale Image
Increase or decrease the size of the whole picture on the
Canvas.
Crop to Selection
Decrease the size of the picture by removing the parts that are
not wanted.
Rotate Canvas
Rotate the whole picture by any degree.
Perspective Correction
Remove the effects of perspective in a picture, or correct skew.
Expand to Match Canvas
Resize the contents of the Paint canvas so that it fits the width of
the Draw Canvas by adding Transparent areas.
Fill Transparent
Fill any transparent areas of the canvas with the selected color.
Effects Change and enhance the picture.

Line Finder Enhance the picture with Line effects.

128 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Quick Reference Guide

Toolbars
Quick Access Toolbar
Insert Insert an existing design into your current project.
Ctrl + I; Alt, 1
Save Save the design with the same name.
Ctrl + S; Alt, 2
Save As Save the design under a new name.
Ctrl + Shift + S; Alt, 3
Undo Undo the last action.
Ctrl + Z; Alt, 7
Redo Redo the previously undone action.
Ctrl + Y; Alt, 8

Status Bar
Use the Zoom Commands on the Status Bar to navigate around designs.
Zoom To Increase magnification of an area of the design.
Rectangle Ctrl + 0
Zoom To Fit work area to screen.
Canvas Ctrl + 9
Zoom to Zoom to the selected designs.
Selection Ctrl + 8
100%
Display picture at 100% magnification.
Ctrl + 1
200%
Display picture at 200% magnification.
Ctrl + 2
400%
Display picture at 400% magnification.
Ctrl + 3
800%
Display picture at 800% magnification.
Ctrl + 4
75%
Display at 75% magnification.
Ctrl + 5
50%
Display at 50% magnification.
Ctrl + 6

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Quick Reference Guide 129

 25%
Display at 25% magnification.
Ctrl + 7
Zoom Out Decrease magnification.
Ctrl + -
Zoom In Increase magnification.
Ctrl + =

130 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Quick Reference Guide

Index
Numerics B
16-bit High Color 10 Background 106
24-bit or 32-bit True Color 10 Eraser 84
45 Degree Rotate 88 Flood Fill 84
A Background Colors 109
Backup
About the Program 2
MyMotifs 64
Acquire Picture 10 Backwards
Acrobat Reader® 1 Move 60
Add Bar
Points 48 Ribbon 3
Add To Selection 20 Scroll 59
Align
Status 5
Bottom 55
Title 3, 5
Center 54
Zoom 108
Left 54
Bezier Draw 32
Middle 55 Bezier Mode
Right 54 Convert Points 49
Top 55 Bitmap 7
Alignment Block
Horizontal 54 Cut 51
Tools 54 No Handles 15
Vertical 55 Skew 53
All Block of Objects
Select 19 Delete 23
Ungroup 58 Horizontally Mirror 23
Alter Color in Color Box 27, 81 Mirror 22
Angled
Modify 21
Line 32
Append Move 21
To a Line 46 Nudge 21
Apply Multiply 71, 121 Resize 21
Area Rotate 23
Color 125, 127 Select 14
Create 125, 127 Skew 22
Deselect 17 Vertically Mirror 23
Edit 45 Blur 101
Get Length Of 106 Picture 101
Group 55 Bold 42
Select 14 Bold Italic 42
Areas Bottom
Select and Resize 24 Align 55
Auto-contrast 99 Brightness 97
Autolevel 98

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Index 131

C Convert Points to Corner 49
Camera 10 Convert Points to Curve 49
Cancel Multiply 71, 121 Convert to Bezier Line 50
Canvas 5, 104 Convert to Point Line 50
Center
Copy 24
Align 54
Objects 23
Of Rotation 21, 23
Change Picture 24
Create
Line Color 31
Area 125, 127
Sequence of Objects 59
Lettering 42
Size of Whole Picture 88
Choose Pictures 26
Drawing Colors 27, 80 Crop 90
Curved
New Drawing Color 29
Line 32
Circle 72, 121 Curved Line
Draw 41 Reshaping 46
Circle Options 121 Cut 24
Clipart
Block 51
Export as 11
Group 51
Close the Program 2
Closed Line 51
Line 38 Objects 23
Color Picture 24
16-bit 10 D
24-bit or 32-bit 10 Delete 23
Area 125, 127 Block of Objects 23
Change Line 31
MyMotif 64
Choose New Drawing 29
Points 47
Grid 110 Deselect
Line or Fill 29 Selection 15
Models 29 Wrong Area 17
Palette 27, 80 Design
Choices 27
Panel 4
Pick 27, 81
Connecting Motif Parts 66
Load with Drag and Drop 11
Surround 109
Color Box 27, 80
Pasting and Inserting 15

Alter Color 27, 81

Design Gallery 43
Design Size
Color Filter 100
Motifs 65
Colorize 100 Designs
Colors Load 43
Choose Drawing 27, 80
Open Recently Used 11
Dialog Box 29
Save 11
Line and Fill 27
View 104
Connecting Parts of a Design
Desktop Shortcuts 2
Motifs 66
Despeckle 102
Contrast 98
Digital Camera 10
Convert Points 49

132 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Index

Distribute Error Messages 111
Horizontally 55 Existing Line
Vertically 55 Change Color 31
Double-headed Arrow Exit 2
Colors 28 Expand to Match Canvas 91
Drag and Drop to Load Design 11 Export
Draw 26, 79 Clipart 11
Circle 41 Machine Stitch 69
Freehand 31 To MyMotifs 63
Point 31 Export Picture 12
Shapes 41 Exporting Motifs 62
Square 41 F
Draw a Circle in Bezier Mode 33 File
Draw a Flower using Bezier Curves 35 Formats 7
Draw Tab 37, 116, 119 Name 8, 9, 68
Drawing File Menu 115
Insert 8 File Tab 115
Drawing Color Files
Choose 27, 80 Picture 7
Choose New 29 Files of Type 8, 10, 68
Drawing Panel 4 Fill
Edit Area 45 Change Properties 30
Group Area 55 Flood 82
Select Area 14 Properties 30
Fill Color
Duplicate 24
Pick 28
FilmStrip 58, 124
E
Edit
Pictures 14, 45, 88 Items 58, 124

Points 45 Open Group 59

Edit a Bezier Line 34 Select Object 59

Filter
Edit Window
Color 100, 101
FilmStrip 124
Editing Filters 93
Individual Lines 45 Filters and Effects 96
Tools 45 Find
Effects Outlines 95
Image 96 Finding Information 1
Effects and Filters 96 First Visible Object 60
Ellipse Flood Fill 82
Select 18 Background 84
Ellipse Select
Font 42
Remove Red Eye 89
Formats of Files 7
Enable 71
Forward Movement
Enable Multiply 71
Motifs 66
Erase Forwards
Background 84
Move 60
Eraser 84 Freehand

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Index 133

 Draw 31 I
Select 16 Image Effects 96
Freehand Point Import
Select 17 Machine Stitch 68
G Motif 62
Gallery Designs Inches 106
Group 56 Information
Gamma Finding 1
Picture 98 Insert
Get Length 106 Designs 15

Getting Started 1 Drawing 8

Grayness Insert File 44
Color Effects 99 Insert Points 48
Grayscale 99, 100 Insert Tab 41
Grid 105 Intensity
Color Filter 100, 101
Snap to 38, 106
Inverse Color Filter 101
Grid Color 110
Invert Selection 19
Group 56
Italic 42
Area 55
Cut 51 J
Open in FilmStrip 59 Join 46
Grouping Selected Objects 55 Lines 38
H K
Handle Knife Tool 51
Rotation 23 L
Layout Order 60, 124
Round 23
Square 21 Lead-in and Lead-out Lines
Trapezoidal 22 Motifs 66
Triangular 22 Left
Heading 2 Align 54
Brush Types 86 Length
Heading 3h Of Area 106
Fill Transparent 92 Lettering
Help 1 Create 42
Lightness
Help Tab 123
Picture 83
Line 45, 82
High Color (16-bit) 10
Highlight 83
Angled Section 32
Horizontal 72, 121
Appending to 46
Alignment 54
Change Color 31
Horizontal Options 121
Change Properties 30
Horizontally
Closed 38
Distribute 55
Curved 32
Mirror Block 23
Cut 51
Hue 99
Hue Saturation Luminance (HSL) Edit 45
Color Model 29 Properties 30
Smoothness 31, 46

134 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Index

 Smoothness Options 31 Image Effects 102, 103
Snap to 38, 46 Motif
Import 62
Straight 32
Lining Up 66
Line and Fill Colors 27
Motifs
Line Color 27
Creating 65
None 28
Exporting 62
Line or Fill Color 29 Move
Lines Backwards 60
Joining 38
Block of Objects 21
Center of Rotation 21, 23
Lead-in and Lead-out 66
Lining Up the Motif 66
Forwards 60
Load Design with Drag and Drop 11
To Back 60
Look In 8, 10, 68
To Front 60
Lowlight 83 Moving Forward
M Motifs 66
Machine Stitch Multiply 71
Export 69 Reflect Options 75
Import 68 Rotate Options 73
Main Toolbar 129 Multiply Mode 71, 121
Make Holes 60 Multiply Tab 121
Manage MyMotifs
Pictures 8 Backup 64
Manage MyMotifs 64 Export to 63
Match
Manage 64
Line Color 31
Measure N
Background 106 Name
Design 106 File 8, 9

Measurements 110 Name File 68

Negative
Units 106
Picture 99
Menu
New Drawing Color 29
File 115
No Handles
Messages 111 Block 15
Middle
Nodes
Align 55
Motifs 66
Millimeters 106
Point Draw 31
Minimal Smoothing
None
Line 31
Select 20
Mirror Nudge
Block of Objects 22 Block of Objects 21
Horizontally 23
O
Vertically 23
Object 124
Mode 80
FilmStrip 59
Pan 107
Modify First Visible 60
Block of Objects 21 Select 16
Monochrome Select in FilmStrip 59

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Index 135

 Type 59, 124 Combine 60
Object Select 15 Percentage Zoom 108
Objects 45 Persistent 110
Change Color 52 Perspective Correction 91
Change Sequence 59 Pick
Color 27, 81
Copy 23
Fill Color 28
Cut 23
Picture 106
Delete Block 23
Acquire 10
Grouping 55
Brightness 97
Mirror Block 22
Change Size of Whole 88
Modify Block 21
Contrast 98
Move Block 21
Copy 24
Nudge Block 21
Cut 24
Paste 23
Files 7
Resize Block 21
Gamma 98
Rotate Block 23
Load 9
Select Block 14
Paste 24
Selecting 14
Resize Part 88
Skew Block 22
Rotate Part 88
Online Help 1
Picture Window 4
On-screen Pointers 6
Pictures
Open 9
Create 26
Edit 14, 45, 88
Recently Used Designs 11
Options
Manage 8
Line Smoothness 31
Order View 104
Layout 60 Point
Draw 31
Other Topics 113
Outline Point Draw 31
Finder 95 Nodes 31
Thinner 93 Pointers 6
P Points 45
Paint and Draw 26, 79 Add 48
Paintbrush 81 Delete 47
Palette Color 27, 80 Edit 45
Pan Mode 107 Number in Point Draw 31
Panel Round 45
Color 4 Square 45
Drawing 4 Points Section 125, 127, 128
Parts of Software Window 3 Preferences 109
Paste 24 Show Measurements 106
Objects 15, 23 Pressure Sensitivity 110
Picture 24 Properties
Pasting Block Fill 30
Object Select 15 Line 30
Paths

136 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Index

Q S
Quick Access Toolbar 129 Saturation 99
Quick Reference Guide 115 Save 11
R Designs 11
Raster 7 Save As 12
Recently Used Designs 11 Scanner 10
Red Eye Scroll Bar
Remove 89 FilmStrip 59
Select
Red Green Blue (RGB) Color Model 29
All 19
Redo 25
Area 14
Reference 115
Block of Objects 14
Reference Guide 1
Reflect Ellipse 18
Options with Multiply 75 Freehand 16
Regular 42 Freehand Point 17
Remove Invert Selection 19
Red Eye 89 Multiple Objects 14, 59
Remove From Selection 20 None 20
Remove Line Color 28 Object 16
Replace Selection 20 Object in FilmStrip 59
Reshaping
Objects 14
Curved Line 46
Select and Resize Areas 24
Resize 89 Select Area
Areas 24 Drawing Panel 14
Block of Objects 21 Selected Objects
Part of Picture 88 Grouping 55
Selection
Resize Canvas 104
Ribbon Deselect 15
Bar 3 Invert 19
Ribbon Tabs 115 Send to Paint 61
Right Align 54 Sepia 100
Root 60 Color Filter 100, 101
Rotate 90 Sequence of Objects 59
Shapes
Block of Objects 23
Draw 41
Move Center 21, 23
Drawing 41
Options with Multiply 73
Type 41
Part of Picture 88
Sharpen 101, 102
Rotate 45 53 Sharpness
Rotate 90 88 Picture 102
Rotation
Shortcuts on the Desktop 2
Handle 23 Show
Round
Measurements in Preferences 106
Handle 23
Show Grid 105
Points 45 Size
Rulers 110 Whole Picture 88
Skew

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Index 137

 Block 53 Align 55
Block of Objects 22 Trace Area 39
Smooth Trace Area & Hole 40
Line 31
Trace Line 38
Smoothness
Transform 53
Line 46
Triangular Handle 22
Line Options 31
Snap Troubleshooting 111
To Grid 38, 106 True Color (24-bit or 32-bit) 10
To Line 38 Type
Snap to Line Shapes 41
Edit Points 46 Type of Object 59
Soften 82 U
Software Window Parts 3 Uncombine 61
Square
Undo 25
Draw 41
Undo and Redo 25
Handle 21
Ungroup 57
Points 45
Standard All 58
Use
Color Box Tab 29
Effects and Filters 96
Start Menu 2
Use Pressure Sensitivity 110
Starting mySewnet Draw & Paint 2
Status Bar 5, 129
V
Vector 7
Stitchout Test 66
Straight Vertical 72, 121
Line 32 Alignment 55
Stretch Picture 91 Vertical Options 121
Style 42 Vertically
Distribute 55
Surround Color 109
Mirror Block 23
Swap Colors 28
Very Smooth
T Line 31
Terms and Conventions 6 View
Test Stitchouts Pictures and Designs 104
Motifs 66 View Tab 122
Text Box 42 Visible Object
Thinning Outlines 93 First 60
Tile 72, 121 W
Title Bar 3, 5 Wheel Mouse Zoom 107
Tolerance Where to Start 2
Background Eraser 84 Whole Picture Size 88
Magic Wand 19 WIA 10
Toolbar
Window
Quick Access 129
Parts 3
Toolbars 129
Picture 4
Tools
Alignment 54 Windows Image Acquisition 10

Editing 45 Z
Top Zoom

138 mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Index

 Bar 108 Zoom In 107
Commands 107 Zoom Out 107
Mouse Wheel 107 Zoom To Canvas 108
Zoom by Percentage 108 Zoom To Rectangle 107
Zoom Commands 129 Zoom to Selection 108

mySewnet™ Draw & Paint Index 139