Editing patterns
Treadl offers a rich patten-editor directly within the web platform. This allows you to view and make changes to your patterns as you build up your projects.
Create or import a new pattern
If you already have a pattern in a project (either from starting from scratch or by importing a WIF file), then you can skip this step.
Create a pattern
Creating a new pattern from scratch will provide you with a blank canvas to work from.
To begin, find (or newly create) the project that you want to store your pattern in. Navigate to your project and click the Add something button and then select the Create a new weaving pattern option.
You'll then be presented with the editor showing a new blank pattern to begin editing.
Import an existing pattern
If you have a .wif (Weaving Interchange Format) file you have exported from another weaving program, you can import it into Treadl.
To do so, find (or newly create) the project that you want to store your pattern in. Navigate to your project and click the Add something button and then select the Import a WIF file option.
Your computer will open up a dialog to let you choose a WIF file to upload. Navigate to the folder on your computer storing the file and select the appropriate file
Once chosen, Treadl will load the file into a pattern. You can then select the pattern to view it in the editor.
Using the pattern editor
Once you have a pattern opened up in the editor (whether it's blank or not), you can begin to edit it. The image below shows the layout of the editor.
Please note that the drawdown will not display your pattern until you have "drawn" on the warp and weft and have edited your tieups. All of these concepts are described below.
Tip: you can hover over tools with your mouse to learn what they are.
Using tools to "draw" on the warp and weft
Treadl offers three ways of selecting threads on the warp and weft:
- Manually selecting the thread
- Using "straight draw" to draw threads in diagonal lines
- Using "point draw" to draw threads as a series of points
To manually draw individual threads on your warp, simply select either the straight or point draw (in the tools area) and click the desired threads.
To use the "straight draw", first select the straight draw tool (in the tools area). Next, position your mouse over the start thread, click and hold your mouse button down as you draw from right-to-left (or top-to-down on the weft) moving your mouse gradually upwards to change how the pattern draws. Release the mouse button to complete the draw.
To use the "point draw", first select the point draw tool (in the tools area). Next, position your mouse over the start thread, click and hold your mouse button down as you draw from right-to-left (or top-to-down on the weft) moving your mouse gradually upwards to change how the pattern draws. Release the mouse button to complete the draw.
As you move the mouse while drawing, you'll notice the draw updating - this allows you to release the mouse and complete the draw once you are happy with the threads being selected.
The example below shows a point draw on both the warp and weft.
Note how the drawdown does not yet display any pattern! This is because our tieups are still empty.
Tieups
Interacting with tieups is as simple as clicking on the tieups area of the editor until the selected tieup has been achieved.
In the example below you'll see we have a tieup as a diagonal straight line, and this has resulted (along with the threads on the warp and weft) in a simple diamond pattern being shown on the drawdown.
Adding colour to threads
Individual threads in your warp and weft can be coloured. This will update the drawdown to display the coloured threads.
To begin, select the colour tool, click a colour from the palette, and then either click on individual threads in your warp and weft threading, or click and drag to apply the colour to threads more quickly.
As you paint, you'll notice the drawdown update to show your new colours.
Configuring your pattern
You can rename and adjust the number of treadles and shafts your pattern uses in the properties menu. This information can be changed at any time.
In the example below we have increased the number of treadles and shafts to 12 - allowing for more complex patterns. Note that the tieup also increases in size accordingly.
Changing the view
Treadl offers a number of ways to view your pattern.
Zooming and panning
You can zoom in (to see more detail) and out (to view more of your pattern in one go) of your pattern using the zoom tool.
To do so, slide the zoom from left-to-right to make your pattern bigger, and from right-to-left to make your pattern appear further away.
In the example below, we have zoomed in further to see it in more detail.
If some of your pattern is off the edge of the screen (e.g. if you have zoomed in as described above), you can use the pan tool to "move your view" around the pattern.
To do so, select the pan tool, and then click and drag in your drawdown area to move the view around your pattern.
In the example below, we have moved our view to the left such that the weft and tieups are no longer visible.
View modes
Treadl offers a number of modes for viewing your pattern. The modes are as follows:
- Interlacement (default) - a view that uses shadows to mimic how the threads will interlace
- Colour only - a view that shows the threads and colours, but without shadow
- Warp view - a view that only shows the warp threads
- Weft view - a view that only shows the weft threads
In the example below, you can see the view has been set to "Warp view"
Saving your pattern
To ensure you do not lose your changes, we recommend saving your pattern frequently. To do so, click the "Save" button which will appear when you make changes.
Deleting your pattern
If you want to remove the pattern from your project, it can be deleted from the "Advanced" section of the editor.
