Using the Flatten Tool in Stitch Artist Level 3

Even if you have been using Stitch Artist for awhile, its always good to go back to the videos that Brian created on the Controls for Stitch Artist Level 3.  I spent the morning doing just that and wanted to write a post so that I wouldn't forget this technique.

I use Stitch Artist by Embrilliance for digitizing embroidery. Its one of the most user friendly programs and there are many many Stitch Artist Videos to help you get started.  The online PDF manual is full of great instruction.

When I started using Stitch Artist, I just wanted to make something. So I decided to make a basic bear using the circles shapes for the object library:

The problem is (as you can see from the picture of the object pane) there is all these fill stitches under the ears.....How to eliminate the without redrawing my objects.  That's where the tool "Flatten the Object, remove the overlaps" button comes in handy.

I selected both ears and the head in the object pane and then clicked the Flatten the Object, removing the overlaps button.  The result is 3 objects....the head object has cutouts where the ears overlapped. 

You will noticed that the fill is gone on the head object.  Just click the fill button on the stitch property menu and the fill will reappear.  Now you can go back and adjust your stitch, inclination, and compensation properties so that there is no gaps in between your fills. You don't want all your fills to have the same inclination.

This tool also comes in handy if you have overlapping vector shapes and you want to remove the stitches under the overlapping parts.  Select all and click Flatten the Objects, removing the overlaps.

Again, just click the fill button on the stitch property menu for the fill to reappear on the other objects.  

This such a cool feature.  Happy Digitizing!