Electric Quilt 4 Frequently Asked Questions
Scanning Fabric
- How do I use my own fabrics in EQ4? I tried following the instructions on page 100 of the manual, but it still doesn't work.
- I'm trying to import scanned fabrics, but get only a message about 256 colors, or a gray square. What's up?
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How do I use my own fabrics in EQ4? I tried following the instructions on page 100 of the manual, but it still doesn't work.
Follow these directions for the best results:
15 Easy steps to scanning fabrics into EQ4:
Step 1
Scan a piece of fabric that you want to use in EQ4. There are too many scanning programs out there for us to be able to give you more specific steps. Please refer to your scanner/image editing program documentation.
Your image must be scanned at 72 dots per inch (72 dpi or 72 pixels per inch), or they will appear too large (or too small) on your monitor.
Your image must contain a MAXIMUM of 256 colors. Selecting fewer than 256 colors is OK.
Step 2
Save the fabric image you just scanned as a windows bitmap file (.bmp). Please refer to your scanner/image editing program documentation.
Step 3
Open the file you just created using MS Paint (it comes with Windows 95/98 and is located in the Accessories program group).
Optional Step
If you think the fabric pattern looks too large on the screen, select Image > Stretch/Skew Type 50% for both the horizontal and vertical stretch. This will make the fabric scan appear smaller. All of the fabrics in the Designer Fabrics library were resized 50%, so the fabrics would look better proportioned on your monitor.
Step 4
Select Image > Attributes...
Your image height and width must be a MAXIMUM of 200 each. It can be smaller than 200 by 200.
"Units" must be pixels (may be written "Pels").
Select "Colors".
Step 5
Select File > Save As and go to your EQ4 folder (the default location is c:\EQ4, but yours may be different) and click the "create new folder" icon.
Step 6
Name the folder you just created "fabrics" (without the quotes)
Step 7
Open the folder you just created.
Step 8
Give your fabric a name. Make sure that the name ends with ".bmp" (without the quotes).
Step 9
Make sure that your file type reads "256 Color
Bitmap (*.bmp; *.dib)"
Step 10
Click the Save button. You can now exit MS Paint, if you wish.
Step 11
Start EQ4 and create a new project. We're only going to use this project for importing fabrics, so name it "Fabrics" or something else that you'll remember.
Step 12
Open the EQ4 Sketchbook to the Fabrics tab and click the clear button to remove all of the fabrics currently in the sketchbook.
Step 13
Select Libraries > Fabric Library
Step 14
See steps 1-5 on page 100 of the EQ4 Design Cookbook to put your new fabric scan in the Sketchbook.
Step 15
See steps 1-8 on page 54 of the EQ4 Design Cookbook to save your new fabric scan in a fabric library.
Now, whenever you want to use the fabrics you scanned, you'll be able to get them from the library and they'll be available to all of your projects.
You can now use this project ("Fabrics") to import other scanned fabrics.
More Successful Scanning Tips:
You DO NOT have to change your monitor settings to import scanned fabrics into EQ4.
EQ4 will not successfully import bitmaps that are saved with Run Length Encoding (RLE). If your image editing program allows for RLE, make sure that you have chosen NOT to use it.
If you use Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro to save your images click here.
Delete fabrics from the sketchbook that you do not want to use in your current project.
The largest image size you can use is 200 by 200 pixels. This refers to your image size only and NOT your monitor resolution.
I'm trying to import scanned fabrics, but get only a message about 256 colors, or a gray square. What's up?
The size of your fabric scan may be too big, you may have too many colors, or the resolution of your scan (this has nothing to do with your monitor resolution) may be too high. Make sure your bitmaps are:
- No larger than 200 x 200 pixels in size.
- No more than 256 colors.
- No more than 72 dpi (dots per inch) in resolution.