ImagesMagUK_August_20

F or this month's step-by-step, Wilcom has designed a modern cityscape logo using the integrated CorelDraw Graphics Suite software along with the latest EmbroideryStudio e4.5. "This design is filled using the Maze Fill, one of our latest stitch types that increases impact and decreases stitch count," says Brenden Prazner, chief product officer at the software company. He reports that it saves both time and money by transforming thickly stitched designs into an open-stitched, artist design that is visually impressive. "This new EmbroideryStudio e4.5 add-on 'Element' is an interpretation of a complex manual stitch type that has been perfected by a few talented digitisers around the world," adds Brendan. It uses evenly spaced, double spiral lines that never overlap, and automatically recalculates the stitches when resizing or reshaping the fill shape. He notes that this style is typically used to create intricate floral designs and paisley prints, but can be used in any closed, curved shape such as the letters in this design. The Maze Fill Element is available as a paid add-on feature in EmbroideryStudio e4.5 Designing. www.wilcom.com STEP-BY-STEP: DIGITISING A LOGO USINGMAZE FILL 2 4 Next, type in the word 'London' from a large selection of embroidery fonts. We were after a classic 'I Love New York' font so chose Cooper Black. Use the letter kerning tool and nudge the letters so that they slightly overlap. It is now one large object and will stitch without trims. To cut the lettering object away from the background silhouette and leave an even gap, use CorelDraw’s Contour feature. Select the lettering object and select Contour Tool (which is very similar to the offset tool in EmbroideryStudio e4) and offset it by 2.5mm. You don’t want the offset, but rather you want to cut it away from the background. So, with Offset Object selected, go to Object >> Break Apart. Open a newwindow in EmbroideryStudio e4.5 and switch to the CorelDraw graphics mode. Once you are in CorelDraw, import a clipart or create the cityscape yourself. In this case, we merged a few different silhouette images to create this solid, single cityscape of London. At the moment, the lettering is still a font type. Go to Object >> Break It Apart and turn each letter into a separate object. Then, select all of the letter objects and go to Object >> Convert To Curves. Now, it is no longer letters but instead vectors that look like letters. Use the 'Weld' tool to join the object letters into one entire object (just like a complex fill with holes in the middle). 1 3 www.images-magazine.com TIPS & TECHNIQUES AUGUST 2020 images 31 Brenden Prazner shows how Wilcom's new Maze Fill stitch type decreases stitch counts while increasing the impact of designs Amazing fills with minimum fuss