Wilcom -> SWF design color transfer issue

By proost on Nov. 13, 2016

Hi everyone,

Newbie here - big newbie so the chance that I'm a dope in file transfer management is HUGE!

I digitized a logo using Wilcom's e3 embroidery suite and then saved as a .dst file to a thumb drive which SWF recognizes.

Loaded it up into my SWF E/T1501C single head and assigned the colors in the order that it should stitch out. Ran an on screen simulation and it doesn't come out right with different colors to different aspects of the design - even if two components are coded for the same color in Wilcom. For example, wings and text are white but wings come out white but text grey, etc.

For the life of me, I can't get the colors to display and stitch correctly. I'm sure it's operator error and wondering if I'm missing something in the software.

Any thoughts? I've got the needle settings all good for the colors I have loaded.

Thanks for any thoughts on what I could be doing wrong!

Submitted by proost on Sun, 11/13/2016 - 13:10

Another thing I forgot to mention. When I open the .dst file in Wilcom, I get a bunch of multiple colors. .emb file is fine. It's a 4-color logo but I often get more than four in the regenerated file. I'm assuming that this is a colorway issue because without actually assigning color values outside of Wilcom, it just defaults to the first four in the color palette.

Thanks again!

Submitted by ltpemb on Sun, 11/13/2016 - 15:00

1. Always save raw editable files as as EMB files never rely on saving dst files. DST files are export only files for running the machine and ideally should never be used for editing. If you have wilcom always save the EMB files and Export dst as needed/you can save dst too but since it dosn't save color data its easier to export each time you run.

2. DST files are machine code files that only really saves "XY" penetrations/coordinates, auto trims, and "color changes" and dont save color data, what it cares about how long a single color runs for before the color changes (IE if you have a 2 color emb file but sews down for example white, then black, then white. That is a 3 color change dst file)

3. Next your machine doesn't recognize that what color it changes too on its own you assign the color to that section of the file/run. (read your machine manual on color) There are sometimes other file formats that can save and control those colors but that is advanced setup/businesses that only use 1 of (9,12,15 colors depending on the machine).

4. I have in the past had funny errors with wilcom having a save error causing extra colors but usually is caused by autosaving with a massive bitmap or some other similar issues. (very rare but it happens) sometimes you have to save or restart the program. Or go into the stitch list and look at the functions on the stitches.

Submitted by proost on Sun, 11/13/2016 - 15:42

Thanks a lot for the reply. I'm good with 1 through 3 I think. I only edit in the EMB file and save a dst for exporting. After I import the file into the machine, I manually assign the colors to the color changes and that's where the issue is. When I load up the color assignments and run "simulation," the color assignments are scattered and section like the white lettering actually change to something different every time I add another color (I ran a simulation every time I added a color to see if I could ID what was going wrong and where). Weird.

Submitted by proost on Tue, 11/15/2016 - 21:04

Thanks folks. FOUND THE ISSUE! In my elementary attempt at digitizing, I left some elements of the graphic I used to pattern from. Saw it in the color-object profile above the stitch segments. Removed them (1 went peacefully and the other didn't so I had to copy the stuff I wanted to a new file) and it worked! Phew!

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