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Fiberworks questions?
Whatcha want to know how to do in Fiberworks?
I can’t promise to answer or demo everything (or to KNOW everything, for that matter) but it’ll all go into the percolator (i.e. MAH BRAIN ????) for future toolboxes and courses. And I will answer or demo what I can, either here or in blog posts or similar. :)
First step is to find out what people want to learn, so lay it on me!
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37 Replies
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What is the purpose of the link/unlink function. What is the best way to delete threads? What is transparent mode used for?
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Unlinking is so that you can insert or delete shaft/treadle, color, or size without affecting all three. Threads are normally linked together, so that deleting a red thread on shaft 2 of size 4 sucks all of that away, or inserting a space after it adds space for a new thread, color, and size. If threads are unlinked and you delete a thread that thread on shaft 2, its red color and size stay behind and apply to the thread that’s now in its spot.
Unlinking is very useful when you want to change a threading/treadling without affecting the color order or vice versa. Particularly handy for log cabin and shadow weaves!
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Transparent mode is so that you can paste a treadling or liftplan (usually) into another one so that they combine them rather than having the new one replace the old entirely. Especially useful with liftplans. With treadlings, you need to allow multiple treadles at once. Good for network drafting!
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Best way to delete depends on how many threads you’re deleting, why you’re deleting them, etc. I just use the delete or backspace key on my keyboard most of the time, but that’s not the best way for some situations.
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That thing where you use the keyboard instead of the mouse to enter your threading, etc.
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So simple and SO USEFUL! I always use keyboard shortcuts aka keystrokes instead of the mouse when possible.
To enter threads into the threading grid, just type the numbers on your keyboard. 1-0 for Shafts 1-10, and then the letters below and slightly to the right (qwerty etc) for Shafts 11-20, and then the letters on the row below that for 21-30, and the last row for 31-40. Beyond that, you’re on your own, I guess?
Same thing in treadling. Same thing in tie-up. Same thing in the size bars, too!
In the color bar, use the characters to the left and right of the color palette instead, since colors don’t have a numeric value.
Arrow keys will move the insertion point left, right, up and down. Page Up will take you to the top of the treadling and Page Down takes you to the bottom. Home takes you to the start of the threading (next to the tie-up) and End takes you to the (wait for it) end.
Tab cycles you through Treadling grid -> Treadling colors -> Treadling size -> Drawdown -> Threading grid -> Threading colors -> Threading size -> Tie-up. Except that sometimes it decides to go the other way and I cannot figure out why! If anyone knows, please share, ’cause it’s a tiny thing but it drives me nuts. ;)
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Oh, and one more: + (plus) in the threading, treadling/liftplan, or tie-up turns the square under the insertion point “on”, as if you’d single clicked with the mouse. – (minus) in the same places turns that square “off”, as if you’d double clicked. (It doesn’t delete the end/treadle/pick, it just blanks it out.)
In the color bar, + and – insert colors like usual; in all the default palettes + is black and – is white (but that often gets screwed up when you open a .wif, which is why your previously white warp threads turn funny colors).
+ and – both also advance to the next logical place. In the threading, it advances to the next warp end to the left. In the tie-up, it advances to shaft above or, if you’ve run out of shafts, to Shaft 1 of the treadle to the right. In a treadling without multipedal treadling turned on, it advances to the next pick down. In a liftplan or treadling with multipedal treadling turned on, it advances across the row to the right, i.e. to the next shaft (liftplan) or treadle (treadling w/ MPT allowed).
That means you can, for instance, put the insertion point in the tie-up and then type e.g. +++-+— to fill it in. Very handy!
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One of my biggest problem with Fiberworks is that the keys or mouse don’t operate as I expect and I don’t use it often enough (or the same types of functions often enough) to remember stuff like + and – do not add or subtract threads or to use the letters of the colors and not click them to select them.
I always seem to have difficulty using the color palette esp. how not to accidentally change it. I try to select a color and end up changing it to the color I just had. One time I ended up with an entire pallet of 3 colors!
The most recent problem I had (and never did figure out) was in using the gradient function. I had 6 colors to transition from white to black. The menu asks how many colors I want, but no matter what number I put in that field, it only gave me the option of 2 colors. So I would select some warp and transition from A to B. Then select some warp and do B to C. etc. The problem was that the 2 outer most bands of color are only have as wide as all the other areas. I tried to do this many times trying different approaches, but always ended up with the same end result. Eventually I just did it on paper doing the math myself. I think there was another question about “adding it to the end of the warp” which might have been helpful, but I never figured out how.
Moving a .wif file back and forth from Handweavng.net to Fiber Works let to some crazy stuff with the colors. So, I now feel like I need to learn how to use Handweaving.net draft editor and find out what I can do there. Do I even need FiberWorks? If so, when to use each?
A workbook with a bunch of exercises all on the same topic (not just one example) would help me learn the various functions better so I don’t have to keep re-discovering how to do it each time I use the software. (I did finally start my own set of notes!)
I am using a MacBook and there are known issues with the most recent operating system (Ventura) including a failure to “save as” and an issue with choosing colors in the color menu. Solutions are on the web site for Fiberworks, but I find it de-motivating.
Thanks, Janet, for asking and for all your help!
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Several of these sound like Mac specific issues/questions, so I’ll have to dig out my Macbook and play around to learn the answers before I can share them! Gradients in particular are only in Mac, and all of the color functions are different in Mac vs. Windows.
As for the + and -, try to think of them as “on” and “off” rather than “add” and “subtract”. That might help? It won’t hurt, anyway. ;)
Re: Fiberworks vs. the Draft Editor on HWN… I still use Fiberworks for designing since it has many features that the Draft Editor doesn’t… yet! But I’ve recently given Kris a very l o n g wish list and he’s adding stuff As We Speak, so the gap is narrowing! Even now, the Draft Editor has color features that FW for Windows doesn’t, so I tend to switch back and forth.
If you design your own drafts thread by thread and fiddle with threading, tie-up, or treadling a lot, then I suspect FW will still be a requirement for you. If your designs tend to be more about repeats and colors you might not need anything more than the Draft Editor before long. :)
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I recently asked in the Peer Review session about a new problem I am having saving wif files in Fiberworks. If I open a wif, I can save as one, but if I start with a new FW file, or with a FW doc (dox file), I can’t save it as a wif. Thought I would post what I heard back from Bob (at FW) here, in case anyone else runs into the same problem. It is a glitch in the Ventura OS on Mac. Hopefully it will be solved when we upgrade to Sonoma! Bob said:
“For unknown reasons, macOS Ventura does not allow you to change format, and by default, new items are dtx.
The remedy is to start with an empty wif template, and to paste the contents of a dtx file into the template. See our website http://www.fiberworks-pcw.com/<wbr>new.htm where you can find a link for an empty wif template, instructions for how to use the template, as well as some other workarounds for Ventura-related glitches.”
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I too have Mac Ventura issues with Fiberworks. Thanks so much for the URL!
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There is a FB group for Fiberworks. Margaret Coe is one of the Admins and she is very knowledgeable about this issue. I am not sure but I think she came up with a workaround. I have a Windows computer so I am not dealing with it. I have seen some of the posts thou. Not that Janet can’t answer the questions, but Margaret has a couple of books on FW.
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Update on this for Mac users. Unfortunately, updating the OS to Sonoma (14.2.1) doesn’t solve the problem. Still can’t save a dtx as a wif unless you use the workaround.
I forgot all about this, and was reminded the hard way after much work on a file that defaulted to dtx then couldn’t be uploaded into color editor. Sigh. IF anyone knows a way to reset the default in FW so that a newly opened file will be a wif rather than a dtx, I am all ears! Or, eyes, in this case.
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I don’t know of a way to set the default file format to .wif in either version. I’d like it too, but I don’t think it exists.
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I also have Ventura and find using Fiberworks frustrating because of the glitches. I often download a wif from handweaving.net first, rename the draft in Finder, then open it in Fiberworks and begin to make changes. This avoids the need to use the save as button. I also do most of my color work in the color editor rather than Fiberworks because of the glitches with the color menu.
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Yeah, I still love FW, but when Mac updated their OSs recently, it resulted in a number of glitches. Like not being able to scroll around by sliding my finger on the mouse. It slows me way down to have to go grab the button and move it. Oh well, maybe these will all get fixed someday!
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Happy new year, and let me kick it off with what ought to be a really dumb question: How can I change the ppi in an existing wif? (or even epi, but definitely independently).
This seems a better question to ask than “why is my 8/2 cotton 3/1 twill sett at 24epi actually turning out at 19ppi despite my best efforts” because the observable reality is that it is, and now I need to have that discussion with Fiberworks :^)
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W00t! A bit of exercise, and I came back to google and found my answer. In case anyone else had the same question: View/Rulers menu, change the epi or ppi to your heart’s content.
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Fiberworks doesn’t really have such a thing as “EPI” or “PPI” – just relative thickness of threads. I’m not familiar with the View/Rulers thing you mention so it must be in the Mac version(??) and I didn’t bring my Mac with me to the wet coast.
In Windows, you can set the thread thickness from the Warp or Treadling menus; I assume the same is true in Mac as well. You can also move the insertion point/cursor to the thickness bar just above (in the threading) or to the right (in the treadling) of the color bar and then type your desired thickness. The default is 4; if you want a thread twice as big, type an 8. If you want it half the size, type a 2. You can adjust each thread individually that way.
Finally, you can adjust the thread thickness with the mouse, too — at least in Windows! A single click in the thickness bar will double the current thread size. A double click will reduce it to half the current size. And if you single click-hold-and-drag (or double click-hold-and-drag) across a section of the thickness bars, it’ll apply those size changes across the whole “selection.”
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Thanks, and I sorta get why Fiberworks doesn’t prioritize epi/ppi.
But, when you’re trying to lay out the bands of patterning on a dishtowel, for instance, it’s helpful 1/ to have rulers and 2/ to have rulers that reflect the reality of the picks per inch (without fudging thickness).
Which is why I was so glad to find how to change the ppi in the rulers. Changing from the intended 24ppi to the experienced 19epi showed the towel would be 10″ too long, confirming my observations at the loom. So, I deleted the necessary number of picks in the plainer part to return to a reasonable length. And, I now have a picture of what the layout of the pattern is going to look like on the towel (kind of squonky, TBH). I’ll attach, for fun — the pink weft version on the left is the original intended towel layout; the blue weft on the right is the updated one.
(Yes, Mac, sorry for not mentioning; and — am I weird for plotting out the whole picture of a project?).
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Leslie, I love your towel pattern! Can you tell me a bit more about the structure?
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Dawn — thanks!
It is 8 shaft — playing around with two blocks of 3/1 twill. Or, as I’m treadling it: 3/1 and 1/3, so I can “flip the weft/warp dominance” and make windows. Handweaving.net has some fun examples — e.g., # 68030 .
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Wow, I wish I had seen this sooner. I have a couple of books others have written for Fiberworks, I am sure you can do what I have not figured out. Flip, reverse, and invert, your work I think I found it once by accident and now that I want to do it I can not and can not figure it out. I found it in Tempo Weave. great program try it. $1 it is still being tested.
Maybe the flip reverse etc is in some of the postings. But so far I use two programs or 3 to do all the things the other one can’t.
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Reverse, invert, etc. are all part of Transform, which is on the Edit menu. In Windows, you can also right click to pop up a context menu that includes transform.
Note that you need to select the thing you want to transform — some or all of the threading, some or all of the treadling, or some or all of the tie-up — first and THEN choose transform from one menu or another. The kinds of transformations possible depend on what you’ve selected.
Reverse and Mirror are also options on the Warp and Treadling menus in Windows. If they’re not in the same place in Mac they’re somewhere just as sensible!
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@janet Thank you! I knew it had to be there but I had not been able to find it. I had not found it in my books either.
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Will those with books on FW please share the titles and authors? Thanks for the FB information; my subscription is pending. I love this lengthy post; I learned a lot.
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I have had FW for many years (windows). I have never gotten very good at it and haven’t been weaving much lately. I too would be interested in a good book about it.
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I LOVE the idea of a workbook with practice sessions!!!!!
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Me too, Mary Ann. I fear that Janet is spending lots of time writing out how to do specific things on this thread, which most of us will forget unless we actually practice them (and have to search to find them again).
I would love online ‘draft along’ sessions, perhaps where Janet shows us how to do something, and we do it on our own computers at the same time. We could gradually build a draft of our choosing over the course of these practice sessions and become familiar with what we can do in FW at the same time. Like the laboratory section of a course :)
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I’d also love the idea of some practice sessions with FW. There is so much in it and the book I downloaded has a lot to go through. Help would be appreciated.
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These are all great ideas! Maybe a series of Zoom meetings/webinars or something. Will noodle on it!
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I love the words “noodle over it”. Zoom mmeetings and webinars sound great.
I love how much you have taught me!
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For those interested in a workbook with exercises, Bonnie Inouye has a pdf which she was selling a few years ago for $8. I learned about it on the Fiberworks facebook group. If you use facebook, I find this group to be very helpful. Also I recently learned that Robyn Spady has a user manual available on her website or if you belong to a weaving guild it is available to download for free from your guild. Her manual does not have exercises just directions. Also, I find the manual that comes with Fiberworks is extremely well written and full of great explanations.
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Janet, would, of course, be better!!!!! However, in the meantime, I have not been able to track down either of these sources. Can you help?
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Robyn Spady has a website and the manual is under publications. spadystudios.com
I tried to find Bonnie Inouye’s website but I think she doesn’t use it. As I mentioned she posted about her pdf on the Fiberworks Facebook group and for those interested she sent us her email address. I don’t feel comfortable giving out her email address, but maybe The HA team can tell me if that is okay or can provide another method of contact. And since I purchased the pdf I wouldn’t want to infringe on copyright to give it out either. If that doesn’t work, maybe I could pose the question on the FB group.
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Thanks. I did track her down and she sent me her email address and I have ordered the pdf from her.
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Great! I did the exercises and learned a lot, but like most things, I really need to use FW more regularly to get comfortable with it.
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