DesignaKnit 7 Update
The current update includes all previous updates
Maintenance updates and Enhancements to DesignaKnit 7
- The Help menu on the opening screen has been replaced by a single choice "About". The full Help menu is available in all the other sections of the program.
- In Stitch Designer, pattern lettering has been improved when the "Normal" width option is used.
- In Original Pattern Drafting the following Hot Key Combinations have been added:
Key Alone Shift+ Key Control + key F5 Shortcut to Standard Garment Styling Centralize piece Centralize All F6 No Action Insert Horizontal Insert Vertical F7 Shortcut to Stitch Designer Rotate Anticlockwise Rotate Clockwise F8 Shortcut to Interactive Knitting Insert Curve Measure edge F9 Shortcut to DesignaKnit Graphics Studio Numbering Measure across
- In response to users who suffer from RSI, which is exacerbated by use of the mouse, modifications have been made to allow simple paint operations to be performed using the keyboard:
(a) When Memo numbers are displayed, keying the memo number of a yarn now selects it as the LMB colour and paints that colour at the current mouse cursor position.
(b) When Yarn symbols are displayed, keying the symbol of a yarn sets it as the LMB colour and paints that colour at the current mouse cursor position.
(c) When Yarn colours are displayed, keying a number from 1 to 9 will set the LMB colour to the colour at that position; the top left colour is number 1, the next right is 2, and so on.
(d) When Stitch Type symbols are displayed, keying a number from 1 to 9 will set the LMB stitch type to the stitch type at that position; the top left stitch type is number 1, the next right is 2, and so on.
In all the above cases, the user can choose to proceed in single stitch steps by using the arrow keys to place the cursor and then striking the appropriate key, or to draw continuously by using the Enter key to activate the Pencil tool and moving it with the arrow keys. Strike the Enter key again to turn the pencil off.
- DesignaKnit now stores the name of the the currently selected ease table as a part of the shape file. When a shape file is opened, the ease table which was used in creating it is now the default ease table for that shape file, although of course any modifications which were made will remain.
- If the Roosmalen font is not installed, Stitch Designer now does not allow the user to select Palette/Stitch Types Palette. The Roosmalen font can be installed from the DesignaKnit 7 Set-up disk.
- In Interactive Knitting, Options/E6000 Technique has been renamed to Options/Passap Technique.
- Patterns having method F, W, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 are now reversed from left to right when downloaded to Brother machines.
- A change has been made which affects Interactive Knitting using the Silver Reed/Studio and Singer/White machines. Needle selection is no longer inverted when the colour changer is configured on: instead, the selection of needles is controlled only by the needle selection status which has been set in Stitch Designer.
- The stitch palette now shows the lace symbols highlighted.
- The Knitting Method dialogue box has been enlarged to display all available knitting methods without having to scroll.
- The dialogue titled "Jacquard Errors Option" has been re-named "Checking pattern".
- Row numbering has been improved on template printouts.
- Unless the yarn colour is very light, white symbols are now used to indicate stitch types.
- The program is now ready to accept the Lace Tool upgrade.
- Minor adjustments to prepare for Far Eastern translations
- R or W patterns with more than one contrast stitch type can be downloaded to Silver Reed and Brother Machines. This is particularly useful where hand-tooling techniques such as cabling are used in conjunction with automated textured knitting or, on pre-select machines, where one symbol might perhaps indicate held needles which need to be pulled into position manually. This works as follows:
Brother Machines without Lace Tool
Two types of contrast stitch types will be shown in Interactive Knitting and the needles for both types will select simultaneously. Thus, for example, where six needles are involved in a cabling operation, you can show the two different directions of each set of three stitches as different contrast stitches but all six will select.
Brother Machines with Lace Tool
The program will allow two different contrast symbols in addition to the lace symbols. The lace carriage will select according to the lace symbols and the knitting carriage will select the additional contrast symbols as described above. It is essential that the lace symbols are not used to designate non-lace stitches as the program will automatically separate any pattern containing lace symbols into lace and knitting selection rows.
Silver Reed Machines using Lace Carriage
It is not possible to download selections other than lace selections in a transfer-and-knit row. Interactive Knitting will, however, display the additional symbols so that knitters can easily see where to apply the hand-tooling technique.
Silver Reed Machines using the Knitting Carriage
The machine will select both sets of contrast needles and knit them according to the settings on the cam box. Because these machines do not pre-select needles, it is not advisable to apply more than one contrast stitch type when you are using the cam box buttons. For techniques which do not require tuck, slip or fair isle, such as cables or holding position techniques, the Interactive Knitting display will show where the selections should be and you can apply the hand-tooling before or after knitting the row.- Interactive Knitting with Silver Reed and Windows XP or ME
Some users with Silver Reed machines were experiencing mispatterning when knitting from a computer with Windows XP or ME operating system. This is because Windows background processes were interfering with the signal passed to the knitting machine. In most cases this can be cured by reducing the rate at which the carriage passes across the needle bed, but there may still be occasions when Windows will interrupt the pattern sending, shifting the pattern by one stitch.
DesignaKnit will now warn the user if the carriage has not encountered the expected number of needles when passing across the needle bed. If there is a legitimate reason for this, such as one of the point cams was moved, then the user can ignore the warning, but if the message is unexpected, then the user has the opportunity to check the pattern and make any corrections before moving on.
It should be noted, however that if, when knitting a swatch for example, the number of needles used for the swatch has not been entered correctly in the dialogue box, then this error will occur on every row.- E8000 Tuck and Slip Stitch Patterns
Tuck and slip stitch downloads have now been enabled, using the special tuck () and slip (
) stitch symbols in the stitch type palette to design the pattern. Please refer to your knitting machine manual for information on the restrictions imposed by the E8000 on combining pattern types.
- Adjustments to Interactive Knitting using the SilverLink 4 have produced a slightly faster progress bar and, for larger patterns, a progress bar displays with the caption "Calculating...."
- Lace knitting on the Silver Reed machines has been altered so that the end needles inside a swatch or an integrated garment shape are never selected. This measure prevents lace transfers from end needles.
- For Interactive Knitting with the Pfaff/Passap E6000, techniques 100 - 121, 145 - 147, 152 - 166, 168, 260 - 262 and 283 - 285 can now be entered for knitting where the method is set to Right or Wrong side Facing.
- 'Creative' machines have been added to the list of machines in the German version.
- Fast Serial port is not appropriate for some operation systems (Win NT, Win2000 and WinXP) so the option is disabled when DesignaKnit is running under those systems.
- Improved carriage movement recognition for magnetic switch links.
- Changes to the way the program communicates with the SilverLink 4 and Concept2 and Concept4 cables have improved performance.
- When knitting a swatch using SilverLinks 1, 2 or 4, the stitch pattern is now centred on the needlebed.
- Intarsia Knitting (AG50): Knitters can now control the order in which needles are selected for colours for the AG50. DesignaKnit will use colours in the order in which they appear in the palette. The Piece row counter in Interactive Knitting now shows the finished row of the knitting.
- Intarsia (all machines and hand knitting) To facilitate recognition of multiple instances of the same colour - that is, where each instance of a colour in the palette refers to a separate ball or cone of that colour- yarn symbols can now be displayed in the Woolbox dialogue. Symbols must first be selected in Palette/Symbols but will only be visible if View/Yarn symbols has been selected. This feature has also been added to the Concept version of DesignaKnit.
- A minor change was made to the way in which downloading to the PE1 takes place to prevent it hanging in Windows 2000 or XP.
- Support included for new USB SilverLink2.
- If the Passap Punchcard machine is selected, it is now possible to enter the number of passes per row without having to go into Interactive Knitting: go to Options/Tensions and when that dialogue is closed, either by cancelling or clicking OK, a further dialogue will open asking for the number of passes per row.
Fixed....
- Occasional occurrence of System Error 31.
- In Original Pattern Drafting, the effect of the Odd Stitches button on a standard piece was only temporary.
- Stitch Designer's Copy to Clipboard was not working properly if the box was displayed but the selected area was not all visible. The image on the clipboard no longer corrupts, but is limited to the part of the selection area which is visible on the screen.
- In Stitch Designer, changing the knitting method could sometimes temporarily produce an incorrect display.
- In Stitch Designer, if a shape file was open, using Edit/Import could display all the pieces instead of just the selected one.
- Trying to import a stitch pattern larger than the current one could produce unpredictable results.
- In Stitch Designer, certain combinations of yarn colour and system colour- depth, the outline of a pattern piece could become invisible when moving it.
- In Standard Garment Styling, in the Neck Styling dialogue, the neck rib measurement was mislabelled "Body Rib".
- When opening a stitch pattern of integrated pattern piece for Interactive Knitting, it was possible to get a warning message "This stitch pattern has a knitting method which is incompatible with the selected machine" when the warning was inappropriate.
- Colour names are now restricted to 15 characters. Previously, entering a colour name of more than 15 characters could produce unpredictable colour palette behaviour.
- In Stitch Designer, when drawing text onto a stitch pattern, sometimes the text did not appear to fit the box until the action was completed.
- If DesignaKnit 7 was run in a re-sizeable window rather than the default full-screen, or if the Windows Taskbar
was at the top or left edge of the screen, this created some cursor positioning problems. When the keyboard arrow keys were used to move the active drawing tool in Stitch Designer, stitches were
painted in the wrong place.
In Original Pattern Drafting, if the Enter key was pressed to add a point, the point appeared in the wrong place.- After downloading, the Palette would change to match the palette of the last pattern downloaded.
- Where Stitch Type Symbols was configured ON for Stitch Template print format (ST), these were not showing for punchcards with more than one pattern repeat.
- With Passap as the selected Knitting Machine, opting for Shape Only in Interactive Knitting could result in being asked to enter a technique number twice.
- In Stitch Designer, Interactive Knitting and Graphic Design Studio, selecting File/Open to open a stitch pattern or graphic file could result in a "Drive not Found" error.
- Some earlier versions, especially when run in 32-bit Windows, caused an error in the File/Open dialogue in Stitch Designer and Designer Knit Graphics Studio where the program would report "path not found" or a similar error message.
- For lace knitting, some combinations of direction of transfer, whether the transfer rows were on odd or even rows and the starting position of the carriage could produce incorrect selection or an incorrect number of lace carriage passes.
- Some Pentium III computers with very fast processors were not synchronizing correctly with KH965i and 970 machines. The timing has been corrected.
- Some Computers with Windows XP or ME may interrupt pattern downloading to Silver Reed machines causing the pattern to shift. DesignaKnit will now give a warning if the carriage has not encountered the correct number of needles on a given row. See above for details.
- On computers running in VGA 16 colour mode, the cross indicating background/main/non-selecting stitch type in the stitch-type palette, or when applied to a mid-grey in the colour palette, was not always discernable. This has been corrected.
- E8000 now claims the correct number of passes per row for technique no. 300.
- Better cable recognition especially when running under Windows XP, 2000 and NT4.
- Sometimes the error message generated when a Silver Reed machine Simple Lace pattern needed to be shuffled up or down a row continued to appear even after making the necessary changes.
- Versions 7.07.00 and 7.07.01 only: attempting to print formats ST, IT, CC or IC on some computers could provoke System Error 1.
- Format CC or IC print formats could mistakenly report invalid lace sequences.
- Format IT printouts could display more lace pattern repeats than necessary.
- Patterns saved with filenames which included the # character could cause the program to hang when the tensions dialogue was displayed.
- When the operating system was Windows XP, Interactive Knitting with the SilverLink 4 could hang when interrupted by the screen saver or other Windows scheduled events.
- Using the AG50 with an older SilverLink 1 or 2 sometimes produced an incorrect error message that the carriage was moving in the wrong direction. If DesignaKnit detected an error in the patterning, the instructions to return the carriage to the left or right to knit the row again were reversed.
- When a non-existent serial port had been configured, selecting Transfer/Download sometimes returned directly to the Stitch Designer screen without displaying an error message.
- Certain combinations of seam allowance and rectangular shaping could have unpredictable results.
- In certain circumstances, using the AG50 with SilverLink 1 or 2 could result in the stitch pattern shifting.
- When knitting interactively with a SilverLink, if the user attempted to change Knitting Machine settings while the GO button was ON, the comport could become unavailable and DesignaKnit would have to be restarted.
The GO button is now automatically switched off when a menu is activated.- In Original Pattern Drafting a shape could be corrupted if the Edit Coordinates dialogue was moved across the screen.
- Passap 6000: some downloaded intarsia patterns did not select needles.
- When using the Fill Button in Stitch Designer, sometimes a colour or colours from the fill pattern would not be added to the palette, in which case the fill did not paint correctly.
- Changing the knitting method from Fair Isle to Right or Wrong side facing could produce unexpected results when the texture was knitted on horizontal stripes.
- When interactively knitting with a magnetic switch cable or a SilverLink 4 under Win2000 or WinXP, clicking on the carriage icon on the taskbar could produce an error message.
- When knitting intarsia with the AG50, sometimes DesignaKnit did not allow for a sufficient number of free passes at pattern repeat boundaries, which in turn meant that the carriage direction was incorrect.
- In Graphics Studio a System Error could sometimes be generated by using the woolbox buttons in a particular order.
- When trying to knit an intarsia pattern while connected to Interactive Knitting, some Silver Reed (without AG50) and Brother 940/950i machines using BrotherLink 1 could produce an error message "Wrong cable for synchronized intarsia knitting". This message is no longer given, but the following procedures for following interactive knitting instructions for intarsia patterns where all the colours in a row are laid in simultaneously so that a single pass of the carriage completes the row should be adopted:
Silver Reed (without AG50) with SilverLink 1/2/4: Load the intarsia pattern, whether pattern only or integrated with a shape, into Interactive Knitting. If you are using a SilverLink 4, the pattern will appear to download, but this is only so that the carriage will synchronize with the screen. Lay the yarns across the needles according to the pattern.
Brother 940/950i: In order to connect to interactive knitting, the KC knob must be engaged. This means that a pattern will be selected, it doesn't matter which one because the carriage Intarsia setting will override any needle selection. If you want to be able to use the Hold setting on this button, download a pattern which consists only of a non-selecting colour (such as Default.stp) and set the negative button on the console to reverse the selection. This will have the effect of leaving all working needles pre-selected after each carriage pass.- Using a magnetic link under Windows 2000 and XP could occasionally cause the row indicator to jump forward several rows. This only happened if the carriage was passed very slowly.
- When using the Interactive Knitting with the motor control unit, sometimes the motor was not turned on or off.
- Downloads to the E8000 from a Windows XP system sometimes failed. The timing of the transmission of the data has been altered to solve this.
- The SilverLink 4 could generate an error if, when returning the carriage to re-knit an unravelled row, the movement was detected, resulting in the row counter being needlessly incremented. Additionally, the SilverLink 4 with USB connection required extra time to detect a corrected row.
- If the knitter continues beyond the number of rows entered for a swatch to be knitted via the SilverLink 4, DesignaKnit now allows the pattern to repeat.
- Under Vista, the Stitch Designer palette was too small and could not be resized.
- The GO print format ignored any options set and did not invert from left to right.
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