Grid Designer

 

http://www.freese-works.com/griddesigner-legacy

8/21/2024 – Legacy.23

 

 

 


 

 

Grid Designer. 6

Introduction.. 6

Default Project 11

Supported Browsers. 11

Working on a phone or tablet 12

Project Menu.. 12

New Project 14

Project Type. 14

Enter Rows and Columns. 15

Select Palette. 16

Changing the Palette. 17

Example. 21

Create Project from Image. 23

Tips for Working with Images. 34

Saving your Project 36

Save As. 37

Sharing your Project 38

Opening a Project 41

Closing a Project 42

Download your project 42

Print your project image. 47

Example. 49

View Project Information. 51

Example. 52

Export and Import 54

Backup and Restore Projects. 55

Create and Use Project Libraries. 57

Editing.. 61

Mode Buttons. 61

Drawing Tools. 62

Pencil and Eraser. 63

Example. 63

Fill Tools. 67

Example. 68

Outline Area Tool 77

Line Tool 79

Shape Tool 81

Text Tool 85

Line Size. 87

Add/Delete Rows or Columns Tool 87

Selection. 89

Selection Tool 89

Selection Operations. 92

Cut 92

Copy. 93

Substitute colors in selection. 93

Clear and Crop Options. 93

Paste. 94

Paste Tools. 95

Toggle Background. 96

Make Larger. 97

Make Smaller. 97

Rotate. 97

Custom Change. 98

Flip Vertical/Horizontal 98

Invert Colors. 99

Fill Entire Grid. 99

Fill Area. 100

Stamp. 100

Example. 100

Reload Paste Item.. 107

Apply. 108

Clear All 108

Loading a pattern from the library. 108

Undo/Redo. 116

Working with Colors. 116

Edit Palette. 116

Palette Groups. 124

Substitute Colors. 127

Color Dropper. 129

Display Menu.. 130

Show Floating Palette. 131

Show/Hide Grid Lines. 132

Show/Hide Mouse Position. 132

Show/Hide Numbering. 134

Crosshairs….. 134

More Options….. 136

Numbering Options. 137

Cell Appearance. 138

Changing Cell Size/Type. 139

Changing Grid Size. 140

Rule Lines. 144

Rotate Project Grid. 145

Refresh Display. 146

Move Options. 146

Zoom... 146

Zoom In/Out 146

Zoom to Show All 146

Example. 147

Keyboard Shortcuts. 151

Moving Grid and Paste Item.. 151

Zooming. 151

Project Menu. 151

Display Menu. 152

Top Toolbar Options. 152

Bottom Toolbar Options. 152

Miscellaneous. 152

Help Menu.. 152

Documentation (HTML) 152

Documentation (PDF) 153

How To Articles. 153

YouTube Video Tutorials. 153

Facebook Page. 153

Blog Home. 153

Yarn Calculator. 153

Ratio Calculator. 154

Enable Hints. 154

Reload. 154

About 154

 


 

Grid Designer

Introduction

The Grid Designer can be used to create and edit any colored grid-based craft design.  Some of its uses include:

·         Multi-color knitting

·         Multi-color crochet

·         Corner-to-corner (C2C) crochet

·         Granny Square Crochet

·         Latch Hook rug-making

·         Diamond Painting

·         Square or rectangular patch quilting

·         Cross-stitch embroidery

 

There are two different Grid Designer programs and they are both free to use :

·         Grid Designer Cloud – This program runs in your browser for free, but you must create a login with a valid email. In the Cloud version your projects/designs are stored in the cloud and you can log in from any device and work on your saved designs. 

·         Grid Designer Legacy – This program runs in your browser for free and requires no login, but your designs are saved in your local browser storage, on the device and in the browser you are using.

The following table shows the main differences between these two programs:

Feature

Cloud

Legacy

Storage

approximately 60MB of project data (6 x legacy)

Limited to browser local storage size, usually 5MB - 10MB

Login

Email required for login

No login

Editing access

Access your design from any browser on any device

Access your designs from the same device and same browser

Backup of designs

Export facility

Export facility

Basic Editing Features

Same in both cloud and legacy

Same in both cloud and legacy

New Features

New features will be added as time goes on

No new features will be added

URL

https://www.freese-works.com/griddesigner-cloud

https://www.freese-works.com/griddesigner-legacy

 

More information can be found on my blog at:   https://www.freese-works.com .  YouTube videos are also available on my YouTube channel at:  Grid Designer on YouTube .

The remainder of this document describes the features of the Legacy Grid Designer located at: https://www.freese-works.com/griddesigner-legacy . 

You may create a grid of up to 500 x 500 cells for each design.  The cells of the grid can be either square or rectangular to correspond to whatever craft you are interested in.  Multiple display options, such as numbering and mouse position, aid in working with your grid.  Zoom in and zoom out are available as well as a zoom-full-picture that will size the grid to just-fit the editing window so that the complete design is visible.

The drawing tools include a pencil and eraser, for free-hand drawing, as well as a line tool, shape tool, fill tools, outline area tool and text tool.  Line size can be modified from 1 to 10 cells in width, to make drawing on larger grids easier.  Undo/Redo is unlimited for all drawing tools.

Figure 1 : Drawing Tools

The shape tool allows the creation of simple shapes such as rectangles, circles, triangles, hexagons, diamonds, etc.  These shapes can be created as solid shapes of a single color, outlined shapes where only the outline is drawn, or filled shapes with an outline of one color and fill of another color.

Drawing tools use the selected foreground and background colors which are shown on the top toolbar.  Foreground color is usually the color used to draw, while the background color is used to fill the grid initially and to erase with.

Figure 2 : Color Selection

You may also open a Floating Palette from the Display > Show Floating Palette option.  This places a moveable window containing the foreground and background color selections.  You may select foreground and background colors from the Floating Palette instead of using the foreground and background dropdowns on the top toolbar.

Select colors from many pre-defined palettes or add your own colors to any palette.  Pre-defined palettes include many commonly used yarns, rug yarn, embroidery floss, etc.  One custom palette is also provided where you can add any colors you would like to work with. 

Figure 3 : Palette Feature

Complete support for selection , cut, copy, paste within the tool is provided.  In addition, the paste contents can be modified with a series of tools that allow you to flip vertically and horizontally, invert colors, and rotate. 

A library of small patterns that can be copied into your larger design is also available.

Color substitution is available, to aid in converting a design from one palette to another or just to switch one color for another in your open project.

Figure 4 : Ready to substitute

Figure 5 : Substitute white for blue

 

Projects can be created from scratch, by selecting either the Project à New Project option or the Project à Create from Image option. 

The Project à Create from Image option has a full digitizer to convert any image/photo to a digitized pattern.