Lesson 17 - Digitizing a Stick Figure (As seen in Janome Digest 20)
In this lesson, we will manually digitize a stick figure. You will need to download the Stick Man bitmap images to complete this lesson. The rest of the stick family drawings are available on our Designs Download page.
Download Stick Man Image As A Bitmap
Right-click here and choose Save Target As, then save to your favorite folder.
This lesson begins after inserting the Stick Man bitmap image on the design screen. We scaled it to fit Hoop A.
We plan to have the figure digitized in satin stitch. We want to minimize jump stitches and hoop movement, so we are going to use run stitches to "walk" to the areas we want to digitize. When using this technique, we will use the run stitches as our underlay, so we will turn off automatic underlay.
No two digitizers will digitize the figure the same way! One may prefer to start at the top, and one may start at the bottom. There are no absolutes when digitizing, because we are using science (software) to create art.
Our plan is to digitize the lower half first, so we must magnify this area to see it better.
Click the plus magnifier icon to double the number in the zoom box.
Position the figure to show the bottom half of the figure on the screen.
We are going to use red thread to stand out against the black figure.
Click the Run Line icon.
Click a series of reference points down the figure's right leg and into the foot.
Press Enter to generate the run line.
Click the Border icon.
Click the Object Details icon. We need to set parameters before we start digitizing the satin stitches.
Click the Line Stitch tab. Click the Satin Line radio button.
Click the Underlay tab. Click off the check mark in the Underlay box. Click OK.
Click reference points back up the foot and leg to the top of the leg. Press Enter to generate the embroidery.
Click the Run Line icon,. Click points down the figure's left leg and foot. Press Enter to generate the run line.
Click the Border icon. Click points up the figure's left foot and leg. Move the scroll bar to view the top of the figure. Continue clicking points up to the intersection of the arms. Press Enter to generate the embroidery.
Click the Run Line icon. Click points across the figure's right shoulder and down to the hand. Click points into the upper finger. Press Enter.
Click the Border icon. Click points at the tip of the finger and at the wrist. Press Enter.
Click the Run Line icon. Click points from the wrist into the lower finger. Press Enter.
Click the Border icon. Click points from the tip of the finger and at the wrist. Press Enter.
Click the Run Line icon. Click points from the wrist down to the center finger. Press Enter.
Click the Border icon. Click points from the tip of the finger up the arm, across the shoulder, and to the center of the figure.
Repeat the previous steps to complete the figure's left hand and arm.
To continue up the neck, click the Border icon. Click points from the intersection of the body and shoulder to the face. (Click the first point over the embroidery coming up the body so that the embroidery for the neck looks like it is continuing from the body embroidery.) Press Enter.
Note that there is no run line under this area to act as underlay, but it is such a small area, that it will not affect the sewing here. Click the Run Line icon. Click points from the neck around the figure's right side of the face. Stop at the first hair. Do the walk in technique for each hair: click points from the face to the tip of the hair. Press Enter.
Click the Border icon. Click points from the tip of the hair to the face. Press Enter.
Continue doing the walk-in technique with the rest of the hair.
Click the Run Line icon. Click points along the left side of the figure's face down to the neck. Press Enter.
Click the Border icon. Click points all around the face. (Make sure the final point goes past the first point so that the circle will appear closed and completed.) Press Enter.
The next part to digitize is the mouth. Because there are no connecting areas for this part, a jump stitch will automatically be created from the bottom of the face to the mouth.
Click the Run Line icon. Click points from the left side of the mouth to the right side of the mouth. Press Enter.
Click the Border icon. Click points from the right side of the mouth to the left side. Press Enter.
For the eyes, we can take advantage of the Parallel Fill: Circle tool to create a perfect circle.
Click the Parallel Fill: Circle icon.
Click the Object Details icon. Click the Underlay tab. Click a check mark in the Underlay box to turn the underlay feature back on.
Click the Fill Stitch tab. Click the Satin Fill radio button. (We want satin stitch for the eyes because it is too small of an area for weave stitches.) Click OK.
Click a point in the center of the left eye. Drag the radius until the circle is the same size as the eye.
Do the same for the right eye.
Stick Man is done! Save him as both a *.JAN and *.JEF or *SEW.
Press the number 1 key on the keyboard to bring the design back to 100% magnification.
Congratulate yourself for creating an efficient, smooth running design that only requires two trims!
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