I want to be able to save a set of measurement variables so that I can duplicate it and save myself from picking them out for every individual. It seems like the Patternmaking System selection in Seamly Me was supposed to do something like this—select a patternmaking system for an individual’s measurements and then just fill in the appropriate measurements for that person—but as far as I can tell this feature hasn’t been developed beyond selecting which system (but then SeamlyME doesn’t do anything further with the info) (https://forum.seamly.io/t/pattern-making-system-question/5276/11).
I’m guessing that what I really want to do is create a Template file to use as a patternmaking system, but I’m not sure how to do that. From the File menu I can Open Template, and I’m directed to a “Templates” folder, but it’s empty. Templates, therefore, would seem to exist, but I can’t find any way to set up or create a template file and that’s where I’ve gotten stuck. How do I proceed? I know the software is still under development so some features aren’t complete yet, if this is the case, any suggestions for a workaround?
My measurements are based off of a block drafting method that I’ve found works for me/my process, but it’s not one of the “big” systems.
Just wanted to say that I’ve tracked down an answer. It was in the Wiki, but not very clear.
Open Template - This will open a measurement Template file that you have previously created. Templates have not yet been covered in the tutorial, but once you have been over the tutorials, I’m sure you will be able to make your own measurement templates according to the items you wish to create and the measurements you prefer to work with, which will also include the basic information that you would like, thus saving you time in setting things up from scratch each time you wish to create a measurements file. The only difference in a template file from other files is the location that the file is saved to. And by choosing ‘Open Template’ will take you directly to the templates folder.
This works in terms of setting up a file with measurements (but not inputting any values), saving it, manually moving it to the templates folder, and opening it for later use. However, the template file isn’t protected from future edits—if I forgot to do a Save As and instead did a Save of this file, my “template” now has a bunch of data in it.
Hmm, yeah, I just tried setting Read only in the File menu, & the only effect it had was to change the icon next to the option. I feel like it should have forced a Save as…
I know it’s a weak suggestion, but maybe in the meantime if you try to save as before making any changes?
What I do is, I create a measurement file according to the system that I am working with, add all the needed codes and save it as a Master Measurements file.
I normally create an Excell file with the codes, names, etc. that I can use when measuring people.
I order both in the same order that I would use to measure a person and I keep both in the same folder.
When I have a person’s measurements, I open the Master measurements file and save it under a different name, enter the persons measurements and load it into my pattern.
All of the measurement areas are in my master file for every type of garment that I could possibly want to make. If I need a new measurement code added, I add it to my master and the Excell first and then to the persons private measurement file with a value.
I also save the persons Excell sheet named the same as the measurement file, along with the date that the measurements were taken on, because people change over the years, so this is a really handy record, but I change that persons measurement file to the new measurements.
You are correct. Not sure why the original dev put that in and not fully implement it? To me it’s like the proverbial “Under Construction” page on a website… that never gets constructed.
Simply create an empty measurement file and save as a template in your template file path… which you can set in the Application Prefs. When you load a template make sure to “Save As” a new measurement file. At some point in the future after more pressing issues are addressed, I will figure out a way that a loaded (empty) template defaults to Save As to tge lessen the chance of over writing the template… as well as reconstructing an updated Backup file feature that I lost in a hard drive crash. It allowed for multiple and versioned backups which pretty much prevented the loss of any val’s or vit’s. If you accidentally “Saved”, when you wanted to Save As, there would be a history of backup files you could restore from.
