Short Communications. Use of MS paint for jacquard graph designing and printing

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1 Indian Journal of.fibre & Textile Research Vol. 38, June 2013, pp Short Communications Use of MS paint for jacquard graph designing and printing R G Panneerselvam a Department of Weaving, Weavers Service Centre, Kancheepuram , India Received 18 May 2012; revised received and accepted 12 July 2012 The possibility of using MS paint, the drawing accessory of MS window, as a simple jacquard graph designing software to prepare graph design with required weave marks and to take the graph print in required graph count from the given jacquard design has been explored. The steps involved in preparing jacquard design, applying weave marks and converting the jacquard design of raster pixel form into graph paper form have been evolved. Usefulness of different menus and tools for preparing the required weave marks, graph count, different marks, blanks, and its overlapping have been studied. It is observed that without making any additional programming, the paint tool is directly useful not only to edit the scanned vector design in raster pixel form but also to apply weave marks to prepare weave design for electronic jacquard weaving or electronic card punching. The analysis also describes how to convert the weave design into graphical form and take the graph prints of the design for mechanical card punching machine. Keywords: Card punching machine, Graph print, Jacquard design, MS paint, Printing, Weave design In textile industry, many jacquard graph designing software are being used. Tex Graphics 1, Textronics 2, CadVantage Win Jacquard 3, Auto Tex 4, are the few examples. The software is commonly used to perform the following major five functions 5 : (i) Scanning the jacquard motif of vector image to convert it into raster image in required ends and picks. Otherwise draw the jacquard design directly on the monitor in raster form 1-4. (ii) Editing the scanned / drawn image to get the proper shape. Colour the different figure parts as per the required weave in different figure parts 1-4. (iii) Applying different weave marks in different figure parts to get the weave design 1-4. (iv) Converting the weave design suitable to use it for electronic jacquard 4. Otherwise, convert the a rgpanneer61@gmail.com (v) weave design suitable to use it in electronic card punching machine. Converting the weave design into graphical form of definite graph count and the weave marks in required symbols for printing 1. In general, to perform the above five functions, the different options and tools available in all the jacquard designing software 1-4 can be grouped into two categories. The first set is the basic drawing, editing and colouring tools with menu options to complete the first two functions. The second set is the special options, tools and menus useful for performing the other three functions. In this study, an analysis has been made how to use different tools and options of MS paint not only to perform the drawing and editing functions but also other functions like applying weaves and preparing graph for printing. MS paint is a default accessory provided in Microsoft Windows operating system to draw simple drawings in pixel form. Most of the basic editing tools, drawing tools and options available in MS paint are more or less similar to the tools available in all the jacquard designing software. That is why, in some of the textile jacquard graph designing software 3, MS paint is linked for the first two functions (drawing and editing) like cut, copy, paste, reverse, rotate, stretch, skew, etc. and software tools are used only for the next three works (applying weave marks and make it ready for electronic weaving or card punching or graph printing). In MS paint, the size of jacquard motif seen on the monitor depends upon the monitor resolution. The design of 240 pixels in width and 240 pixels in height is seen in 3 3 inch size in the first zoom level, if the monitor resolution is 80 (240 /80 = 3 inch). When the completed design is printed, the size of the motif printed depends upon the printer resolution. Say, if the printer resolution is 100, the design is printed in inch size (240 /100 = 2.4 inch) which is jacquard motif colour print out. When the design is zoomed to 8 th zoom level with grid on option, the dotted graph lines appear between the enlarged pixels. But when it is printed, the design gets printed only in inch size as motif without any graph lines.

2 SHORT COMMUNICATIONS 187 Hence, the analysis has been made to know how to apply different weave marks in different figure parts to get the weave design and how to get the print of the weave design in graphical form with graph lines in definite graph count. A methodology has been derived which shows that MS Paint, in addition to its usefulness in editing, is perfectly useful for the jacquard designers to apply weave marks, create the graph in required count with symbols and take the print of the graph. It is found that MS paint is a simple, economical and complete jacquard graph designing software for the beginners / learners of jacquard graph designing. Different Steps Used By taking 240 pixels in width and 240 pixels in height ( pixels), the preparation of jacquard design in 240 ends and 240 picks size (240E 240P), having sateen weave in the ground part, satin weave in the major figure parts and plain weave in few figure parts, is used for the study. It is also taken to print the graph of jacquard design in inch size in graph count (per square inch) with weave marks in dot symbol. Following are the steps of the new methodology derived from the analysis to apply different weave marks and to convert the pixel jacquard weave design into graph paper print out: (i) Drawing and editing the scanned jacquard design of 240E 240P, in pixel form and checking the proper repeat joining. (ii) Applying different colours in different parts of the design as per the weave marks to be incorporated. (iii) Preparing the weave designs in 240E 240P, for all the weaves which are required for applying in different parts of the jacquard design. (iv) Overlapping the particular weave mark design with the particular colour part of the jacquard design to convert the jacquard design to weave design, by following the new procedure. (v) Stretching the weave design 10 times to resize the 240E 240P size design into pixels. (vi) Preparing the blank graph paper design in pixels with grid lines in the required graph count, say 10 by 10 and another graph paper in pixels with grid lines in the same graph count along with the required symbol of the weave marks, say dots. (vii) Overlapping the weave design with the blank graph paper design and also symbol graph paper design, by following the new procedure, to get the jacquard weave design in required graph count with weave marks in required symbols. (viii) Taking the graph paper print in the available size of sheet of paper and paste it sequentially to make full graph sheet for punching. Out of these steps, the first and second step (drawing, editing and colouring) are briefed. The remaining six steps which are the outcome of the research are explained with the flow charts and practically worked design illustrations in MS paint. All the figures show the part of appearance of the design as seen in the paint window in the 8 th zoom level with grid on option, excepting the two figures, which are in 1 st zoom level. Drawing and Editing (First Step) A new file is opened by taking pixels which represents the jacquard design size of 240 ends 240 picks. The design is drawn directly. Otherwise the design is scanned in 240E 240P and edited. The design parts are made in black colour over the white background. The design is saved as design.bmp file [Fig. 1(a)]. Four repeats of the design are pasted to check the continuity of the design without any break and saved as four repeat design.bmp [Fig. 1(b)]. Figure 1(b) is seen in 1 st zoom level. Application of Colours (Second Step) The design parts are filled with different colours as per the different weave marks required in different parts of the design. This is because, for each different colour, one weave mark can be applied. As it has been considered to give 3 different weave marks, 3 different colours are applied in respective figure parts as described below: Ground area: 1 (complete) is filled with colour 1 (blue) to apply weave 1 (5 thread sateen). Figure part: 2 (outer circle area) is filled with colour 2 (brown) to apply weave 2 (plain). Figure part: 3 (inner circle area) is filled with colour 3 (orange) to apply weave 3 (5 thread satin). Similarly, for other designs, it runs to as many colours as number of different weave marks required. Figure part: n (last area) is filled with colour n to apply weave n.

3 188 INDIAN J. FIBRE TEXT. RES., JUNE 2013 Fig. 1 (a) Completely edited design in black and white, (b) Proper joining is checked by four repeats (1 st zoom level), and (c) 3 Colours are applied as per weave requirement Fig. 2 (a) Weave 1(sateen) is prepared, (b) Weave 2 (plain) is prepared, and (c) Weave 3 (satin) is prepared The design is saved as colour design.bmp file [Fig. 1(c)]. The colours used to apply in the design parts must be other than black and white. This is because, the weave marks to be overlapped in these colour area will be prepared in black with white back ground. After completion of these two steps, the next work is to apply different weave marks in different parts of the jacquard design. Systematic analysis has been conducted to apply weave marks over colour, by using various tools and options of MS paint. The following two steps (third and fourth steps) are the outcome of analysis for the application of weave marks. Preparation of Weave Mark Designs (Third Step) A new file is opened in 240E 240P. One repeat of the 5 - thread sateen weave is drawn in 5 by 5 with black colour in the white background. Using copy and paste option, the complete ends and picks are filled with 5 - thread sateen weave. The sateen weave mark design is saved as weave 1.bmp file [Fig. 2(a)]. Similarly, the second weave mark design is prepared in 240E 240P for plain weave and saved as weave 2.bmp file [Fig. 2(b)]. Satin weave is shown in Fig. 2(c). As many number of different weave mark designs as required for applying are prepared and saved in relevant file names. Converting Colour Design into Weave Design (Fourth Step) For each colour in the colour design file, the corresponding weave mark, as decided, is applied by following the new procedure given in the flow chart 1 (Fig. 3). When colour 1 is replaced by weave 1, the design is saved as weave 1 design.bmp file [Fig. 4(a)]. This file is filled with weave 1(sateen), in the ground area and left with two colours of different figure parts. Figures 4(b) and (c) are the design files saved after replacing of colour 2 with weave 2 and colour 3 with weave 3 respectively. After completion of application of all the weaves, the final design is saved as

4 SHORT COMMUNICATIONS 189 Fig. 3 Flow chart 1 showing the steps to convert the colour design into weave design Fig. 4 (a) Colour 1 is replaced by weave 1, (b) Colour 2 is replaced by weave 2, and (c) Full weave design (weave simulation) full weave design.bmp file [Fig. 4(c)]. This full weave design is completely in black and white. Black indicates end up and white indicates end down. If the full weave design file is printed, it gets printed in inch (printer resolution 100) which is weave simulation print. This file can be directly used for electronic card punching machine or for electronic jacquard without taking any graph print. After completion of these four steps, the next work is to take the print out of the jacquard design in graphical form of required graph count with weave marks in required symbols. The following three steps (fifth, sixth and seventh steps) are the outcome of the analysis for taking the graph print. Stretching the Full Weave Design into 10 Times (Fifth Step) This step is to stretch the weave design into 10 times; that is from 240E 240P to pixels (240 10). The purpose of stretching is to take the print of 240E 240P jacquard weave design in inch size with graph count (per square inch) along with weave marks in required symbol (dots), after overlapping the blank and symbol graph paper design which will also be prepared in pixels in the following steps.

5 190 INDIAN J. FIBRE TEXT. RES., JUNE 2013 The weave design is stretched 10 times using stretch option. As the stretch option is restricted to maximum of 4 times (400%), it is necessary to stretch first into 4 times, followed by 2.5 times. This results in total of 10 times stretching (4 2.5 = 10). By this, the design gets stretched to pixels, with each pixel of 240E 240P design getting stretched into size. The design is saved as full weave design stretched.bmp file [Fig. 5(a)]. As this file is only in black and white, the design is saved in monochrome bit map type, to minimize the memory size of the file. Preparation of Blank Graph Paper and Symbol Graph Paper (Sixth Step) In this step, the blank graph paper without any symbol and also another graph paper with required symbols are prepared. The new file is opened in pixels (240 10). Keeping the file in 8 th zoom level with grid on, using black colour, one vertical and one horizontal line is drawn for every 10 pixels over the white back ground. That is, 240 vertical and 240 horizontal lines are drawn on 10 th, 20 th, 30 th , 2390, 2400 pixels by using copy and paste options. After completing these lines, 24 vertical and 24 horizontal lines are drawn again on 1 st, 101 st, 201 st, st, 2301 st pixels which makes every 10 th line as dark line. By this, a complete graph sheet is obtained in pixels which is equal to graph sheet of inches size in graph count, when printed. The file is saved as blank graph.bmp file [Fig. 5(b)]. As this file is only in black and white, the design is saved in monochrome bit map type, to minimize the memory size of the file. Again the blank graph.bmp file is opened. In the middle of every pixels block, the required symbol of weave mark (dot) is drawn at the centre of the block in 5 5 size using black colour over the white ground. Using copy and paste option, the graph is completely filled with the dot symbols in all the blocks. The file is saved as symbol graph.bmp file [Fig. 5(c)]. As this file is only in black and white, the design is saved in monochrome bit map type, to minimize the memory size of the file. Converting Weave Design into Graph Design for Printing (Seventh Step) The seventh step is to overlap all the three files into one file. That is, the full weave design stretched file prepared in the fifth step, the blank graph file and symbol graph file prepared in the sixth step are overlapped with each other by following the new procedure given in the flow chart 2 (Fig. 6). By this, the weave design file is converted into graph design file for printing. After overlapping the stretched file and blank graph file, the graph lines appear in all parts of the design with weave marks in solid squares touching the graph lines. The design is saved as solid graph design.bmp file [Fig. 7(a)]. After overlapping the solid graph file and symbol graph file, the solid squares are completely replaced by the dot symbol. The design is saved as complete graph design.bmp file [Fig. 7(b)]. As this file is only in black and white, the design is saved in monochrome bit map type, to minimize the memory size of the file. This complete graph design file is in pixels, with graph count in and weave marks in dots symbol. This file is ready for printing. Fig. 5 (a) Full weave design is stretched 10 times, (b) count blank graph is prepared, and (c) count graph with dot symbol is prepared

6 SHORT COMMUNICATIONS 191 Fig. 6 Flow chart 2 showing the steps to convert weave design into graph design for printing Printing Graph Design (Eighth Step) The complete graph design.bmp file, in pixels, is taken for printing. If the printer resolution is 100 pixels per inch, the total size of the graph print will be in inches. If A4 size printer is used, the total printing would be completed in 12 pages (4 3) of A4 size paper. The 12 pages are sequentially pasted to get the full graph size of inches, with proper alignment of graph lines and dots. This graph print is then taken for manual or mechanical card punching. A part of the graph, as shown in the print preview window is shown in Fig. 7(c). Figure 7(c) is seen in 1 st zoom level. Out of the eight steps, the fourth step of converting the colour design into weave design and the seventh step of converting weave design into graph design are the two main steps of the analysis. The procedures followed in these two steps are also given in the flow charts for easy understanding. The selection of corresponding background colour with the selection of transparent back ground option is the most important point to follow while overlapping colour file with weave file; weave design file with blank graph file and symbol graph file, which are clearly shown in the flow charts. The weave files, blank graph file, symbol file created for the first application, can be very well used for other design, if the size of the graph is same. When the size of the graph is different, the sizes of these files are also altered accordingly by extending or reducing. Different basic weaves and all its derivatives are created and stored. By varying the spacing of graph lines and thick lines, different graph counts like 8 8 and are created and stored. In between the pixel block, different types of symbols, viz. circle, forward slash, backward slash Fig. 7 (a) Graph with weave marks in solid squares, (b) Graph with weave marks in dot symbol, and (c) Graph is ready for printing (print preview)

7 192 INDIAN J. FIBRE TEXT. RES., JUNE 2013 and X symbol are drawn, as per the requirement and saved. The required files are retrieved to get different graph print outs with various weaves, graph counts and weave mark symbols as per the requirement of punching. The analysis is a new method derived to prove, how effectively the existing MS paint tool can be used as simple jacquard graph designing software by the textile designers, to develop the jacquard designs with weave marks and take graph prints. This method is very much useful for the designers who are the beginners in designing, to convert the jacquard design into weave design to use it for electronic jacquard and also for electronic card punching machine. This method is also useful for the designers to convert the weave design into graph print for mechanical card punching machines. Hence, the jacquard graph designers, before going for any jacquard designing software, can thoroughly practice to use MS paint by following the simple steps, for editing the design, printing the edited motif, applying the weaves, printing the weave simulation and printing the graph. References 1 Tex graphics, User s Manual of Jacquard Fabrics Designing System (Continental Automation Systems Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi), Textronics, User s Manual of Design Jacquard (Textronics Design Systems (I) Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai), CadVantage Win Jacquard, User s Manual (Teckmen Systems Pvt. Ltd., Pune), Auto Tex 2000, User s Manual (PLC Consulting Company, New Delhi), Ashis Mitra, CAD/CAM support for jacquard based textile industry, Indian Text J, 122(2011) 53.