How to Use the Outline Digitize Tool in eXPerience 8

The Outline Digitize Tool is a versatile feature in eXPerience 8 that allows you to create custom shapes from scratch. You can draw anything from simple lines to complex objects with both outlines and fills. This guide will walk you through the entire process, from basic drawing to advanced techniques.

Activating the Outline Digitize Tool

1. Locate the Tools bar on the side of your screen.
2. Click on the Outline Digitize Tool icon to activate it.
3. Useful Tip: If you don’t see the icon, it might be grouped with other digitizing tools. Click and hold the currently visible digitize tool icon, and a menu will fly out. Select the Outline Digitize tool from this menu.

Creating a Basic Shape

With the tool active, left-click on the design area to place points (also called nodes). By default, the software automatically connects these points with a smooth, natural curve.

Creating Open and Closed Shapes

You can create two main types of shapes: open and closed.

Open Shapes (For Outlines) Open shapes are lines that do not connect back to the starting point. They are ideal for outline stitch types.

1. Place your points by left-clicking.
2. When you are finished drawing the line, right-click once. This finalizes the shape as an open path, perfect for stitch types like Running or Satin Serial.

Closed Shapes (For Outlines or Fills) Closed shapes form a complete loop. They can be used for outlines or filled with stitches.

1. Place your points by left-clicking.
2. To close the shape, move your cursor over the very first point you created and left-click on it.
3. Closed shapes can be assigned either an outline stitch type or a fill stitch type like Step.
4. Useful Tip: If you have a fill type selected (like Step) and you right-click to end the shape instead of clicking the first node, the software will automatically close the shape for you by connecting the last point to the first.

Creating Multi-Section Objects

You can create a single object composed of several separate parts that will be embroidered together. This ensures they are treated as one item with connecting stitches between them.

1. Draw your first shape section by left-clicking to place nodes.
2. To finish the first section but keep creating parts for the same object, right-click once (or press Enter/Esc once).
3. The tool will remain active. Start drawing your next shape section.
4. Repeat for as many sections as you need.
5. When you have drawn the final section and are ready to finalize the entire object, right-click twice (or press Enter/Esc twice).

All sections will now belong to the same object. Any new shape you draw will be a new, separate object.

Advanced Drawing & Editing Techniques

Creating Corners and Straight Lines While drawing, hold down the Shift key before you left-click. The point you create will be a sharp corner (represented by a square node) instead of a curve point (a round node). This is perfect for combining straight and curved segments.

Deleting the Last Point If you make a mistake, simply press the Backspace key on your keyboard to delete the last point you placed.

Adding to an Open Shape As long as an object has not been finalized (finalized by a double right-click), you can add to it.

1. Move your cursor over one of its endpoints until the cursor icon changes.
2. Left-click and continue drawing to append to the shape.

Adjusting Curves While Drawing When you left-click to place a point, you can also click and drag the mouse before releasing the button to manually adjust the shape of the curve segment you just created.

Using Grid Snapping For precise placement, you can enable grid snapping.

• Useful Tip: You can temporarily override the current snapping behavior by holding down the Alt key.
  • If snapping is ON, holding Alt will temporarily turn it OFF.
  • If snapping is OFF, holding Alt will temporarily turn it ON.

How to Create Holes

Creating a hole inside a shape is simple and uses the multi-section object logic.

1. First, create a closed shape. This will be the main object.
2. Right-click once to finalize the section but keep the object active.
3. Draw another, smaller closed shape completely inside the first one.
4. Finalize the entire object by right-clicking twice. The inner shape will automatically be converted into a hole.

Releasing the Tool

After an object is fully finalized (by right-clicking twice), the tool remains active for creating a new object. To release the tool completely, do one of the following:

• Right-click one more time.
• Press Enter or Esc.
• Click the Rectangle Selection tool icon in the top toolbar.