Existing SVG file as a background

This sounds fantastic! I think it is along the lines of the program Fittingly Sew 2, where you can import an image and build your pattern on top of it. Is there a build available with it yet, please?

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Exactly. Actually the way I set it up is each draft block can have itā€™s own background image.

Officially, noā€¦ there were a few items I wanted to resolve, but I may push what I have so far to my fork as a test build. You could then check that outā€¦ maybe provide some feedback before I push this feature to the main. If you followed along the thread here, one of the things Iā€™m trying to resolve is making the background interactive - like the labels - that and some easy method of setting the proper scale of the image.

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I am willing (anxious) to test whatever you have. I am willing to provide feedback. Also, I am happy to navigate the technical part of downloading from your personal fork. Thank you for the opportunity.

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Thatā€™s great! I would love to give it a try. With regard to scaling, I agree that including a square of known size in the image would be a pretty reasonable requirement. Thank you for your great work!

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Yeahā€¦ even when I figure out a way to interactively scale an imported image, you still need something in the image to reference the scale. Easiest thing I found is to just cut out a 3x3 or 4x4 cardboard or paper square you can just place in whatever youā€™re taking picture of.

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FWIW, here are some tracing features that would be handy to have.

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Not sure how these are tracing features applicable to a background image in the context of this issueā€¦ image features yes, but not tracing.

  • Use scans or photos of fabrics to display fabric colour patterns on your pattern pieces.

While easy to implement- just apply a pixmap (image) to the brush of the pattern pieceā€¦ but not in the scope of this issue.

  • Pattern pieces are now colour coded according to how they were made

This is in the worksā€¦ more specifically color coded to material type. Again not in the scope of this issue.

  • New grid & zoom options

A grid could be usefulā€¦ already looked into code for thisā€¦ which kinda goes along with ruler displays. Might be applicable to this issue?

  • Fade or tint the background image in order to make the shape outline and points more clearly visible.

Already incorporated into this issue. There is an opacity setting for a background image.

  • Finally use the new Rescale Piece option to obtain the exact overall size.

I think for our use this is backwordsā€¦ IMO we need to scale the image to real size first, then trace. More importantly we need to be able anchor the image to a basepoint - as that is the starting point of any draft block.

  • Printing

Out of scope.

  • Scan or photograph your fabric for a precise fabric layplan

Again - out of scope - has to do with for ex: matching & laying out plaids.

  • Join the digital fabric printing revolution! Design totally original fabric colour patterns starting from any graphic image using spatial distortions, geometric reflections and colour effects.

Totally out of scope. This is better suited to a paint / vector application.

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Hi Douglas and everyone,

I signed up 2018 but quite soon I stopped using this otherwise very nice software, precisely because it was not foreseen to import an image as background. I really missed this possibility, because my aim mainly was ā€“ and still is ā€“ to get a precise digital copy of a pattern first drawn on paper (until I am good enough to draw them directly in the software, but this might last a bitā€¦)

I hope to understand well (English ist not my mother tongueā€¦) that this feature is very close to be implemented, and that is what made me come back :slight_smile: Thank you so much for working on this developpment!!

Please keep us informed as soon as it is possible to use it. I am very, very, very much looking forward for this news function (and I guess I am not alone!) and I canā€™t wait to have my first tries with it.

Thank you again, best regards, Noukita

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@KeithFromCanada Please add these ā€œout of scopeā€ items as feature requests on GitHub, plz!!! Thanks, itā€™s good to hear from you!

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Meanwhile, to see transparent overlay windows (OSX / Windows) : Overlay 2.1 software, created by Colin Thomas.

The trial version is not too disturbing.

Best regards from Paris !

Nicolas

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Looks interestingā€¦ but how does this help trace an image to a Seamly2D pattern?

Douglas, I only use the software to refine curves. :wink:

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Hmmmā€¦ interesting. So the overlay program allows you to overlay another program on top?

As an asideā€¦ did you parametize the control points so it adjusts with a measurement file?

This gives me an idea thoughā€¦ a possible way to add french curves to the app to do what youā€™re doing in your example.

At any rate, what I have already working is a way to add a background image, scale it, positionit, rotate it, and set the opacityā€¦ just havenā€™t pushed the changes yet as I wanted an easier way to interactively set the controls rather than trial and error with the spin boxes. I have an idea thoughā€¦ I can add keyboard shortcuts to the controls.

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Only a picture can overlay Seamly2D.

Unfortunately, I canā€™t adjust the control points with the measurement file - freehand, only !

ā€œa possible way to add french curves to the app to do what youā€™re doing in your exampleā€ : it would be great (thank you so much) !

imperial-french-curves1.pdf (131.4 KB) imperial-hip-curve.pdf (72.6 KB) metric-french-curves2.pdf (141.5 KB) metric-hip-curve3.pdf (96.3 KB)

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Ahh. Ok so the overlay program is putting an image on top of Seamly. Makes sense now.

Thanks for the curve pdfs. What I have in mind is having a preset number of french curves a user could select from a drop down, and it gets loaded as an SVG background. That way the curves are embedded in the app, and it would be an easy way to select one.

What I really need to figure out is a way to be able to select a point on the background image and snap it to a pattern point - such as the basepoint or in the case of a french curve select a point on the curve, and snap to for example a point on the armhole.

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A preset number of french curves would be a substantial improvement, indeed, that so many users expect.

I find that this is the only real weak point of Seamly2D, which improves from version to version.

The mathematical methods to trace perfect curves are very precise, I agree, but a little bit tricky.

As far as I am concerned, I trace the curves a second time, by hand, after printing. Attaching old world !

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I like the notion of using the test square to scale and rotate the image. Excellent concept.

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French Curve tool parameter options:

  • French Curve with BeginPoint and EndLine:

    • Enter BeginPoint and two Points on Line where French Curve ends (eg EndLine)
  • French Curve with BeginPoint, MidLine, and EndLine:

    • Enter BeginPoint and two Points on Line where French Curve touches in the middle (eg MidLine), and two Points on EndLine
  • French Curve with BeginPoint, MidLine, and EndPoint:

    • Enter BeginPoint, EndPoint, and two Points on Line where French Curve touches in the middle (eg MidLine)
  • French Curve with BeginPoint, MidPoint, and EndLine

    • Enter BeginPoint, MidPoint, and two Points on EndLine

For all options above, enter TangentLine info if desired:

  • Two Points for BeginTangentLine and select ā€˜Parallelā€™ or ā€˜Perpendicularā€™
  • Two Points for EndTangentLine and select ā€˜Parallelā€™ or ā€˜Perpendicularā€™

These parameters can be processed to find any BeginAngle, MidAngles, EndAngle constraints. Remaining processing can follow this example, piecewise for each curve segment, and final results for defining a two-segment spline (P1, c1angle, c1length, c2angle, c2length, P2, c3angle, c3length, c4angle, c4length, P3) can be plugged into our current Spline tool for display:

trigonometry - Connecting points with a spline based on a logarithmic spiral - Mathematics Stack Exchange

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Sorry for this question - I am a newbie with Seamly2d and have used it successfully to make my first pattern. I would really like to be able to use the feature discussed above to digitise some pattern pieces that I have sketched to scale on a piece of paper but canā€™t seem to find the import graphic feature in my version of seamly. I have just downloaded the latest release but still donā€™t see this option.

How do I activate this feature?

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Hello and welcome @wavedt13

Iā€™m sorry but this feature isnā€™t available yet, it is still a work in progress.