Working with object nodes will save you time in the end.  If you make a mistake digitizing, you don’t have to start all over again – simply edit the nodes!!

Nodes are those little points that you place down every time you click the mouse when you are making an object.  Left click makes a straight node, and a right click makes a curved node.  What happens if you make a mistake, or want to change something in your object?  That is when the nodes come in handy.   Let’s go over a few things with nodes that will make object editing easier and faster than ever.

Once you have completed your object, and you want to make changes, the first thing you need to do is select the object (by clicking on it) and then click on the Reshape Icon  at the top left of your screen (this works for Wilcom E4 and Wilcom Hatch, but your sofware will be similar – look for editing nodes, nodes, edit button.   Once you click on that, the nodes will appear!  Now you can start working with the nodes to change or fix your embroidery object.

There are two different kinds of nodes:  straight nodes and curved nodes.    The small yellow square indicates a straight node that forms a straight line or a cusp.  The light blue circle indicates a curved line.  Pretty easy to remember, right?  Square for straight, and circle for curves.

To work with a specific node, you need to select that node first.  You can also select a bunch of nodes by left-clicking and dragging a bounding box around a group of nodes.  Once you click on a node, the node should turn dark blue – that is the darker blue color that lets you know that the node is now selected .  The other nodes will appear yellow.  These colors apply for Wilcom Hatch and Wilcom E4 – your software may have a different color scheme, but once you play around in “node mode” you will figure out the difference between selected nodes and non selected nodes.

Once you have selected that node, you can click and hold down your left mouse button and drag that node around and change your object.  If you were not precise enough in your node placement, you can quickly hop into reshaping (select your object first) and align your nodes,  and zoom right in and place them where they need to be placed!

Another thing you can do with nodes is change their type!  Yes you can – you do not need to delete and start your object all over again, you can do some fixing.  You can change your node from a curve to straight (circle to square) and vice versa – from a straight to a curve!  All you have to do is select the node (make sure it is dark blue) and hit the spacebar, and the node will change for you!  Of course, that will make big changes to your object, so if you don’t like it, hit spacebar again and it will go back to where you started – either back to a straight node, or a curved node.

There are a few more things you can try.  What happens if you add too many nodes or have nodes that you don’t need?  Select the node and hit the delete key.  It is that simple – select and delete and your node is gone!  What if you want to add more nodes to finesse your embroidery object even more?  When you are in reshape, just left click on the place where you want the node, and it will be inserted.  If you want the opposite node that was inserted, then select and hit spacebar to change it.

So instead of starting all over again on an object that isn’t quite right, try fixing your object using nodes – it is fast and easy and once you get the basics down, you will find its very easy to make adjustments and make better embroidery.

Happy Digitizing!

Now you know more about nodes!

SueB