Hi. I am currently using Embird and Generations for embroidery digitizing. I like them both for different reasons but I'm interested in the new DecoStudio because I use Corel 3x for all my graphics work. I love Corel 3x with one exception. I wish there was some way to convert line-shaped objects to lines! It's my biggest bug bear. Much of the clipart I purchase comes as a bitmap with thickish black lines. Generations converts these thick lines into filled objects and the results are horrible (IMO). If I delete them in Corel, it leaves big gaps between the other objects. If I make my own clipart, I use hairlines or no lines and the results are great - much more flexible at the Generations end. I've purchased some great clipart and would like to be able to use it without timeconsuming re-work. When I use Embird, I manually digitise everything so it's not a problem, but Generations was an expensive toy and it has features which Embird doesn't have so I feel as if I have two great worlds - yet cannot have the best of both :-(
Anyway, I don't know whether either Corel 4x or Decostudio offer any solutions to this?
My other headache is the fact that there is such a huge difference in the UK and US prices for DecoStudio. It's approx $1999 in the US, but £1799 in the UK which currently equates to about $3,500! I think that's absolutely ridiculous and it doesn't encourage me to buy! Can we Brits buy directly from the States?
Hello Doodle,
Here is my tip: I don't understand why Decostudio is much more expensive in Europe and I'm not willing to comment on this :-) This is just insane! What I recommend you is to be smart, think and evaluate. Since you have got CorelDRAW X4 and you are familiar with it, you can copy-paste the results from CorelDRAW to DRAWings 4 and see if this is what you are looking for; then I propose you to import your clipart design and trace it within DRAWings 4 by using its built-in tracer which seems to output better results for clipart to embroidery tracing. In both cases you can edit the nodes, add, manipulate, or delete objects and a good idea to achieve what you imagine is to add outlines to the traced objects (shift+click on any color) after deleting the background objects you do not want. You don't have to spend a cent to try this; you can simply download DRAWings 4 from http://www.drawstitch.com/DRAWings4EvaluationEdtion.htm and before you ask: yes, what you see is what you get with that software!
Kenneth