Hi, I'm new to the forum and to DS, so I'm probably going to have some basic setup type questions for now.

I want to collect my own set of fabric swatches, but I'm not sure how to do it. I read the info in the program, but the computer that DS7 is on has no modem, so I can't go to those online stores and save anything off for the program!

I have access (obviously) on this computer. Is there a way I can save off swatches here and move them to someplace DS7 can see it?What would I lookf for under 'my computer'??

quote:

Is there a way I can save off swatches here and move them to someplace DS7 can see it?

This depends on yoru resources and where you want the grahics from. You can take digital pictures of your own fabrics, crop and save them using gif or jpeg formats in a paint or photo software program, you can collect swatches from internet sites, put them on a disk, cd or dvd or a thumb drive ( memory stick) and load them into your program.

Lots and lots of choice!
Kaaren

So if I just copy the files into the DS7 main directory, they'll fall into where DS7 needs to see them? If that's all I need to do, then I'm all set! I can move files easily (I think). I just can't take DS7 onto the web.

-Judy

No not the main directory- they must be put in the proper folder- there's an instruction on how to do that which I believe you have already referenced.

Its a large article as I recall and worth reading in tis entirety.

Kaaren

quote:

I have access (obviously) on this computer. Is there a way I can save off swatches here and move them to someplace DS7 can see it?What would I lookf for under 'my computer'??

First, you should read the help article that you can get if you display the Fabric - Swatches page, then select Help - Help About This Page. That article talks about resolution and scale and file names and where to save your samples and it is all too involved to cover in an email like this one. So, read that article first.

Once you gather your samples and have them the correct size and scale, they need to be in the "Fabrics" folder, within your DressShop folder. And, they MUST be named like:

"s000.jpg" (without the quotes).

That name will replace the first blank swatch on the Fabric - Swatches page. The names of the rest of the swatches slots are all labeled on that page and you must use those names.

Once you get going with it, it is all quite quick and easy. Getting that first swatch in there and looking right can be a royal pain, though.

Good luck...

Ok, thanks. Once I can find Files/...DressShop/fabric I'll try a drag&drop of a couple of swatches I sized down to 60x60 and see if that works ok. Right now, I can't find the file! need to wait for hubby (he set up the system).

You have to size down the scan to 1/5 size? not quite sure how to do that. and then resize it to 60x60? whew.

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You have to size down the scan to 1/5 size? not quite sure how to do that. and then resize it to 60x60? whew.

If you have worked much with paint programs, this is a very trivial thing to do. If you have not, then it can be extremely difficult as you will have to learn how to use the paint program, in addition to actually revising your swatch art.

The paint program that I use is Paint Shop Pro. But, almost any paint program has the resize and crop features, so I'll describe briefly how to do it with Paint (comes with Windows - you can find it at Start - All Programs - Accessories - Paint. Once that is running, do this:

1. Load your art sample.
2. Look at Image - Attributes. This will tell you the pixel size of your sample.
3. Decide if you want to scale the art. You don't have to. But, to have it look in Dress Shop as it might on full sized clothing, one-fifth size is good. But, many samples found on the Internet are already scaled, so you really have to make a judgement here.
4. Use Image - Stretch/Skew to resize your sample. Use 20% if your sample was full sized. Use any other percent that you guess would look reasonable.
5. Now, you need to crop your image (cut it to 60 by 60 pixels). Use Image - Attributes again and enter 60 for width and 60 for height. That will cut or crop the image to 60x60.
6. Save it to your Dress Shop fabric folder with the s001.jpg type name.

Now, that is all bad enough, but you have not yet gotten to the real kicker. When you view this fabric sample in Dress Shop, it may well look terrible. There are several reasons:

1. The sample had extraneous art tacked on. Some include a tape measure in the image. That tape measure will show up in Dress Shop as a bunch of un-wanted lines across your swatch. Very ugly.

2. The sample may not "tile" well. To cover the entire garment in Dress Shop, your sample will be stamped down repeatedly, over and over. But, if the original sample had any fabric shading to it (slightly darker at one side, due to the lighting in effect when the photo was taken) that shaping will show up as a checker-board effect. Not as ugly as the tape measure, but not what you were hoping for.

Finding swatches that work well can be challenging. In Dress Shop (Fabric - Collect Swatches) there is a list of websites that have fabric samples on them that work well for Dress Shop. Other sites may or may not work as well.

If you really get into this, you can gather hundreds of swatches and have them looking good with about a minute of work each. But, getting that first swatch to look good may take hours.

Good luck!

Thanks Karen, I went back to re-read those sections and with these comments it made a little more sense.

And thank you to Board Admin - that's a lot of work typing all those instructions in. Unfortunatley I don't have PaintShop, I have Gimp (which I only barely can use) and something called iPhotoPlus. And none of the description tags match up. But, you did explain enough that I think I was able to work it out. I have a button for resampling that works by percentages. From the sound of it I need to set it to 20% and then check the pixel size.

Anyway, that's what I've done and now that I can find where to tuck the swatch files, I think I've got it worked out. Many thanks!

Now I just wish I knew which links were green and which weren't! in my copy of DS7, none of them are colored. <sigh>