Another year, another blockbuster!
2012 is our 20th Anniversary year. We can hardly believe it ourselves!
In 2011 we added every new feature we had been asked for. Well, for 2012, we’ve done it again.
...And we’ve made improvements to the things we added last year too.
Want to upgrade? There’s a link at the bottom of the page.
New for 2012:
Framed View
Quickly see what your finished piece would look like in a variety of frames and borders.
Export that to the clipboard or a picture file.
And you can add your own frames!
Launch page. Now you could create a chart from a photo in less than 10 seconds!
New: Radically improved image import
2012 edition (left) vs 2011 edition (right), using ‘photo’ option
Insert your logo into a design
PDF Compression
PDF files in 2011 could easily reach many megabytes in size. Now we have compression in the PDFs, and the file size is much smaller, making them easier to email or download.
Savings of up to 90% in file size!
Tent Stitch View
Motif Browser
Just one click to add a motif to your design. And now you can categorise motifs into folders and sub folders.
Alphabet Browser and Alphabet Designer
Just click a letter and place it on the grid.
New Thread Definitions
The 2012 editions ship with 30 manufacturers threads, adding such names as
Cosmo, Crescent,Dimensions, Belle Soie, Danish Flower Threads, HDF, Mayflower, Rosace
and with revised versions of the standard DMC, Anchor etc
Rotate through 45 Degrees
to 
BackStitch Lines totally flexible, (not limited to 9 points on square), IF you press SHIFT
And more, including:
Added thin and thick line settings to Export to PDF to allow for lower res printers
Added choice of dotted or solid lines for the thin lines in PDF
Added option to have overlaps in PDF
Added bounding and crop areas to PDF to improve compatibility with Adobe
New: automatically archives every chart you save into a ZIP file in the application data folder. If you lose a file, or overwrite one at a later date, this means that you can usually recover it in an emergency.
Larger symbols and letters on printed key
Help files come from the web instead of being installed which speeds up the download and allows more languages to be provided. But can be printed or turned into a PDF file with ease.
Threads can be sorted in the thread chooser
Bold and Italic on text option
Hold CTRL when choosing flip or rotate actions and the selected area will be deleted instead of left alone.
New Features in 2011 editions..
Where to begin?
We’re really excited about the new version!!
The 2010 release finally saw the introduction of features that customers have been requesting for some time, and the 2011 release adds a few extras...
In fact, during the last year we believe we have added every new feature request we received in 2009/10!!
Are your favourites here?
To upgrade, use the links on the left.
Lasso Selection Tool (Version 6.6 onwards)
Now you can select any shape area and copy/paste just the part you want.
Import and Export to other Chart Types (Windows only, sorry)
From 2010 r6.5, Winstitch can make use of the pattern converter plug-in from MyriaCross.
This inexpensive add-on (approx 17 UK pounds) allows you to open charts created by many of our contemporaries,
such as PatternMaker pro, PCStitch, Cross Stitch Professional, Jane Greenhoff, ILSoft and more.
You can also save your work in PAT or XSD format, to share with, or sell to people who have other programs.
You can import and export to a number of machine embroidery types too!
Import any of these file types:
Cross Stitch Patterns: JGG;ACX;BPT;CRX;MCX;PAT;PT6;PT7;SCC;SPF;UXS;XSD;XSM;XSP
Embroidery: 10o;DST;DXF;EXP;KSM;PCS;PCD;PCM;PCQ;PES;PLT;JEF;JEF+;SEW;STX;THR;VP3;XXX;KRZ
Export as any of these file types:
Cross Stitch Patterns: PAT;;XSD;CHART;MOTIF;PDF
Embroidery: 10o;DST;DXF;EXP;KSM;PCS;PCD
Place a mini-key right where you want it
Non-square grid (for knitting)
We've had a feature to allow you to change a cross stitch pattern into knitting for a while, but all the knitters out there kept asking for knitting shaped grids.
So, here it is at last, together with a new view mode that represents stocking stitch.
Cross Stitch vs Stocking Stitch (extra rows added)
Icons showing a preview of the chart (Mac only)
You can optionally choose between a preview of the whole chart, or just the part you were looking at when you saved the chart.
Continuous Erasing with the Right Mouse Button (Windows AND Mac)
For a long time, to erase things, you had to choose the cloth color before drawing, or hold down CTRL while drawing.
That’s how it is when your mouse has one button.
Well, we’ve made it so that ‘left mouse button draws, right mouse button rubs out’.
Just as it should be on Windows, and it works on the Mac too, if you have a 2 button mouse!
Sorry it took so long...
New thick brush styles
For when you need to cover a big area in a hurry..
Improved print quality and image export
We have improved the quality of the printouts (3 quality settings to choose from), and switched from Export to JPG to use PNG files instead.
The boring image below (sorry!) shows a close-up comparing the 2009 version on the left (using JPEG) , with 2 of the new settings (using PNG) shown on the right.
Editable PDF export for professional printing
The previous export to PDF option still exists in the program (which simply inserts the page images into a PDF document), but this new menu item provides a fully configurable PDF export facility, at even higher quality, and in a form that lets you insert into other documents, print with margins, and so much more.
Right Click or CTRL-Click(Mac) on the image below, and save the sample PDF to disc to view it.
(Opening it in your browser window may cause the PDF to display in lower quality)
ZIP up the PDF output (Version 6.6 onwards)
The high quality PDF files can reach a few Mb in size. We’ve added a new .PDF.ZIP output in July so that as well as creating the PDF file, the program can also zip it up. That gets the file size down from 3Mb to 150Kb in some cases!
New stitch types!
Quarter Stitches / Petit Point (i.e 4 colors in one square)
Horizontal and Vertical halfstitches
Full stitches placed off centre..
And improved stitched view, allowing stitch over one , or over 2...
Text Boxes!
As many one-line text boxes as you like, plus the ability to show the comments you have applied to the chart.
(oh yes.. and note the varying thickness of backstitch)
Improved conversion of fonts to stitches!
Preview, centering, and right alignment.
View and Edit as Balloons
Which speaks for itself...
Quick access to area options after you select an area
You select an area... so it seems obvious that you want to do something with it.
Therefore the most common options now appear immediately as a popup menu.
Image Editor built into the Import Screen
New editing options for image import, including
Free rotation/ flip /mirror/ sharpen/smooth / SEPIA tone/ RGB sliders
New to R6.7 (the 2011 release)
New: Crop to area
New: export to Word in WinStitch
New: Added Contrast button to import screen
New: Added 'remember last palette width'
New: Added 'remember last view mode'
New: Added new 'add copyright here' option for chart text boxes
New: Added Italian ,Spanish and Catalan manuals
New: Can now show centre lines in the Export to PDF option
New: If an onion skin image is present when saved, the program will attempt to reload it when the chart is re-opened.
Fix: 'help' in Mac version was reporting a PDF error
Fix: half stitch icons were reversed in meaning
Fix: Image import defaults to last used hpi setting
Fix: WinStitch sometimes showing MacStitch logo
Fix: Rotate 180 was losing part if not square shape
Fix: Borders again show thumbnail views in the list.
Fix: recent files menu now shows previews of saved borders
Fix: removed 'install myriacross' issue.. (was repeatedly asking to install)
Fix: Toolbar buttons now correctly show previously selected drawing mode after fill or eyedropper operation
Change: main grid background to a more neutral grey color
Change: blue marker lines now show as full pink row/columns to better highlight position
Change: revised color matching in image import
Change: centre weighting now has only 3 settings: centre weighted, no weighting, weighted towards edges
Change: Image import preview now pops up a preview window, as the 'live' preview caused problems on some machines by firing over and over.
Change: File selector shows external drives on Mac
Change: Add Border leaves original chart open to allow for experimentation
Change: Program remembers settings on the PDF export screen for next time
Change: PDF output now uses smaller previews (Adobe having trouble displaying although other viewers OK) and produces smaller files.
Change: Increased range of possible HPI settings for petit point use
And numerous smaller details...
Go on.. upgrade now. You know you want to! (Link below)