In a hurry? Here's a Summary, if you like.
In a hurry? Here's a Summary, if you like.
The Bead Pattern Design Program (BPDP) is a unique, new tool developed especially for anyone who enjoys the art of Beadworking. BPDP has been designed around a concept Beaders are all familiar with, graph paper. The graph paper comes in a variety of types. Graph paper for designing square patterns comes with symmetrical columns and rows. Graph paper for Peyote and Brick comes with staggered columns for Peyote and staggered rows for Brick. The design process consists of coloring the squares, circles or ovals on the graph paper to produce the desired design. Should you make a mistake, well, it depends on what you used to color with.
Building on this simple concept of graph paper, the primary and most important feature of the program is its ability to produce instant graph paper for each new design. We call the graph paper representation the program produces, a BEAD MATRIX. A new term for a new tool.
To help the designer produce a custom Bead Matrix, a pop-up screen has been
provided. The screen is called the DESIGN PARAMETERS screen
and on it, all characteristics of the Bead Matrix can be defined. The designer can
specify:
1. Pattern Type, either Loom, Peyote, Brick or Two Drop Peyote,
2. How finished size is determined; inches, millimeters or bead count,
3. What type of bead to use and the bead size.
The X and Y dimensions for the finished size can be entered in the space provided using the key board or by using typical Windows type Spin Buttons. The designer can also define the shape of the beads as being either a short, fat ovals or a tall, skinny one by adjusting what is called the Aspect Ratio of the circle. Since the range that this number can change is small, only Windows type Spin Buttons are provided to make the adjustment.
Micro-computers, unless they are very expensive commercial ones, have trouble with representing small circles. The circles are actually represented by a collection of straight lines, or segments, connected together to give the appearance of a circle. If the circle is large, many, many very small segments can be used giving the circle a smooth appearance. When the circle is small, it takes only a few segments to complete and the smooth appearance cannot be achieved. I'm sure you are familiar with the jagged edges on small, computer drawn, circles. This is especially evident in ICONS used for the Graphical User Interface made popular by Windows. In a large matrix, the jagged appearance may prove annoying to some, so there is a design parameter called Scale that allows the user to "Blow UP" the pattern for viewing while retaining the actual dimensions of the beads as Design Parameters.
The Design Parameters screen also allows the designer to define the Font and the Font Size they prefer for use in a printed schematic of the pattern.
Here also, are four check boxes that can be used to tell the program if a color printer is available, if fringe is going to be added to the pattern, if a schematic is to be printed and if a preview of the schematic is to be drawn on the design screen.
One only has to visit a bead shop to be awed by the infinite array of colors that are available to the Beadwork Artist. Until now, there was no way to more than approximate the variety of colors available. Now, with the powerful Custom Color Designer built into BPDP the pattern Designer can fine tune each color to achieve the exact hue they are searching for. Perhaps now the tables are turned and the capacity to conceive patterns in color goes beyond what is available in beads. Only your computer equipment will limit your ability to accurately define a palette of up to 48 colors in up to 64 million hues and, there is no limit to the number of individual palettes you can save for future use except the available space on your hard drive. There is no limit to the number of palettes you can use in a given design. Each bead, once it has been colored and "OK'D", will retain the color even if you change palettes.
Practically speaking, color design will be limited to within the capabilities of an individuals computer system. The program will provide very usable and satisfying results if your color monitor is limited to 16 colors. Most Video Graphics Adapters (VGA) produced within the last few years, however, can produce at least 256 colors. Super VGA and beyond can accurately produces the 64 million hues mentioned above.
The two design aids described above remove all the restrictions of graph paper and colored pencils or markers yet maintains the old, familia, look and feel of graph paper. Once you have defined your Bead Matrix and your color palette, the fun begins.
On the right hand side of the Design Screen itself is a powerful Tool Box. At the very top of the Tool Box, is a button labeled "Set Up." By clicking on this button with your mouse pointer, a Bead Matrix will be drawn on the screen and you can begin coloring the beads. Up to two colors at a time can be selected for use. One color may be assigned to the left mouse button by clicking while the mouse pointer is pointing at the desired color and another can be assigned to the right mouse button in the same way. Then, all there is to it, is to point and click away at the beads using the mouse. Also, by pointing at a bead, then clicking and holding a mouse button down, the selected color fills in every bead the mouse pointer is dragged across. Or, once a basic shape completely encloses a set of beads, the enclosed beads can be colored by simply clicking on the button labeled "Fill", also found in the Tool Box. But that isn't the end of it yet. Should you like to substitute one color for another, just to see what it would look like, you simply click on the Tool Box button labeled "OK". This establishes an UnDo point in the design. Now select the color you want to change from, for the left mouse button. Select the color you want to change to for the right mouse button. Click on the Tool Box button labeled "Swap" and the program will substitute the right mouse button color in every bead it finds that is of the left mouse button color. To restore the pattern to its previous color, simply click on the Tool Box Button labeled "UnDo" and the color will be swapped back to the original.
The "UnDo" button will always restore the pattern, no matter how the beads were colored, back to the condition set by the last "OK" button depression. The "OK" button allows you to freeze a design any time you achieve some result you are trying for. Perhaps you were designing a small, pattern segment that will be repeated over and over through out the Bead Matrix. The Tool Box contains a set of buttons that help you copy the pattern segment anywhere in the design. Once you have a pleasing pattern segment, first press "OK" just in case you make a mistake with the next few steps. Then, press the Tool Box Button labeled "Mark". This puts the program in a special mode that allows you to mark a rectangular area of the pattern for copying. By clicking and holding the left mouse button while the mouse pointer is just outside the bead in any of the pattern segments corners, you can drag a rectangle to just outside the bead in the opposite corner. The beads are marked by temporarily drawing a box around them complimenting their colors. When you release the mouse button, you then press the Tool Box Button labeled "Copy" This puts the program in a special mode that allows you to click on a bead and, by so doing, designate it to be the upper left corner of the copied design segment. The pattern segment that was marked returns to its original colors, but the program remembers the pattern segment until you press the Tool Box Button labeled "Reset". You can copy the segment any where you want, as many times as you want. But that's not all. In the process, you can choose to "Flip" a pattern segment left to right or top to bottom while copying it. You can also choose to "Rotate" a pattern segment clockwise or counter clockwise 90 degrees while copying it. You will never again have to color in a repeating pattern, even if you want to reorient it.
We humans often make mistakes. I guess it is part of being human. So, there are may safe guards against silly mistakes built into the program to protect against them. One of the more important of these safeguards protects against the possibility of defining a Bead Matrix that is too large or too small. If this should happen, you simply redefine the matrix size and the program will change the Bead Matrix to its new size and then fill the pattern back in, automatically.
All the design capability in the world is worthless, however, if you cannot make a copy of your work. In BPDP, you can save your work in two ways, as a pattern design or as a graphic. Pattern designs can be brought back into the program and changed, graphics can be viewed using the program, but they cannot be changed. Saving your pattern as a graphic allows you to use it for many things, displaying your designs on a Internet Web Site for instance or for illustrating that book you are going to write about beading.
There are many ways you can print your patterns. If you have a monochrome graphics printer, you can print your pattern in what is called "Gray Scale." The result is like a black and white photograph. If you have a color printer, you can print your colors as they appear on the screen, but more accurately to scale. When it comes time to work up the pattern, you can print out what is called a "Schematic" of the design. A schematic can be any size you like, scale wise, but has a unique feature. A symbol is printed on each bead that clearly identifies the color. This is an absolute necessity if you can print only monochrome but has proven to be a valuable feature even in color.
Last, but not least, the program has built in help that is just a click away. Not the laborious Windows variety of help that requires following what seems like endless trails of mouse clicks only to find the subject isn't covered. BPDP help is "Action Sensitive." If you want help with the Tool Box "Mark" button, simply click on the "On Line Manual" and then click on the "Mark" Button. A paragraph describing what the button does, and how to use it, appears instantly on the screen.
The Bead Pattern Design Program is designed to run under Windows 3.1 or higher on a PC compatible computer with at least a 386SX processor. For best results, a Super VGA monitor set to 640 X 480 and 256 colors should be used. To install the program, you will need a minimum of 2 Megabytes of Hard Disk Space.
As is common with all Windows Programs that display Graphic, the more RAM your computer has, up to about 8 Megabytes, the faster the Bead Pattern Design Program will run.
Should you have questions about any of the features briefly described here, please feel free to send them to us via E-Mail. A button for that purpose is provided below. We will respond to you directly, just as soon as possible.
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