Pattern Making Software

[BobD]

With all the talk lately, Shannon and I have decided that instead of reviewing just Coyote, we're going to do a roundup article on several different pattern making software. We'll give a screenshot of the software, and list the pros, cons, and some tips for making patterns with that software. I don't want to do too many, but I do want to use common ones.

I was thinking of Coyote, Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop and it's clones, and Corel Draw...

Any thoughts?

Bob

[ozarkhillbilly]

Great idea! I know I will be looking forward to these articles, thanks Bob,oh, and you too Shannon!

[Old Mooner]

Gee BobD, since I requested exactly that (a comparison) in one of my earlier posts, I agree wholeheartedly with the idea. However, please try to get a "reviewer" who will speak to us in layman terms and not some programmer who speaks only computereese. As I have previously stated, the KISS method is best. Or Occam's Razor wherein the "simplest" solution is always best.
Moon

[BobD]

I'm doing the review myself...so I'll keep that in mind OM. I'm good at writing, but...not so graphically savy...

I've got Coyote at home, now, but haven't had time to play with it...I'm on Mac at work, and Coyote is PC only, so...

I should have done something with it last night, but...I made 1st Sgt. on Battlefield 2...and got to pick out some new weapons <grin>

Bob

[Gill]

I'd also love to see a software comparison.

Gill

[sheltiecarver]

Bob,
Here's the dreaded "Me too!"
I'd also want to know how they compare in the "bang for buck" department.
Thanks for being so responsive to our wants.
Sandy

[Marcel in Longueuil]

Hi Bob,

I just bought a Watcom Intuos3 tablet, and I love it.

It came with Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0

...Now if I can just learn how to use them

Regards,
MArcel

[Paul S WI]

Great idea on the Comparison and Eval of the different SW available and used. Since Coyote update I haven't experienced any problems. I do like Coyote. I am not sorry I purchased this program. And I think it would be a great starting program for those folks who are not familiar with PSP, CorelDraw and other programs. But are looking for a simple, straight forward program for Scrolling, Intarsia, etc. It has found a place on my system and will be used more as I find more time for making my own projects. Have made a couple of projects with this program - have yet to cut them out though. But now I know there won't be any fallouts while cutting. That I really like about this program.

Paul

[Paul S WI]

Well, I tried uploading one of my first projects but error message tells me the the site I am trying to reach is down???? It's a 696kb bmp file so it should work right!?
Oh well, may try again later.

Paul

[Okie_Arkie_Wood_Cutter]

I have been struggling with the pattern making art and have finally made some progress in this endeavoir by using Adobe Elements to do do the first have of pattern creation and then finish it off with PSPX and then polished with Inkscape.

My system sounds complicated, but it is drop dead simple.



darrell.......

[Kerux]

You might want to add http://www.phototosketch.com/
... to your arsenal. I use this as a pre-cursor to Corel.

[GrayBeard Phil]

Bob:

Your selection of software to review is going to be enough to cover the basic flavors, IMHO.

However, would you consider a sidebar for your article to explain that your selections of application software is geared to the Microsoft Windows Operating software. Windows is by FAR the most common OS, followed by MacIntosh OS. And then make note which applications you are reviewing offer a MacIntosh version of their software.

However, there is an alternative to MAC and Windows, mainly one of the Linux distributions. However, since the percentage of scroll sawyers using one of these Linux Distro's is so small, for clarity of your article you made an editorial decision to focus on software designed to run on the majority of computers owned by your readers.

GIMP, the most common LINUX bitmap image editor, also has a Windows version and a Mac version. The Windows and MAC versions of GIMP are currently seldom used for several reasons. GIMP is an OpenSource software package, which means the program is free for download and use. Google for GIMP for a link for a free download of GIMP.

(aside: Linux is the deep basic core of the OS, the many flavors of Linux is different distributions: Fedora, Ubuntu, Gentoo, OpenSUSE, and so forth. The two most common user interfaces for the Linux Disto's are Gnome, and KDE. These two interfaces are the mouse and click screens to make the Linux Distro look like Windows or a Mac machine. Any distro can run either Gnome or KDE, but the Distro's are usually optimized to use one or the other interface. )

Phil