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Style & settings

:::note Platform differences The styles and settings on this page work the same on macOS 1.4.1 and Windows 1.1.3. Older versions may offer fewer of them — the release notes in your store list what your version includes. :::

Render style​

The Style section sets how the stitches are drawn. There are two looks:

  • Lines (free) — thin colored strokes with a soft drop shadow. Clean, schematic and quick to render.
  • Relief (Pro) — a realistic, raised stitch-out where each stitch is a rounded thread with shading and fabric texture, close to a real machine preview. Much richer — but slower to render, which is why videos in the Relief style are limited to 20 seconds (the Lines style goes up to 3 minutes).

Settings​

Below the style picker are a few controls that fine-tune the look.

Thread density (both styles)​

Widens or thins the rendered thread, so fills read more solid or more open. The default is 1.0, and you can go from 0.5 (sparser) to 2.0 (denser). A reset button next to the slider returns it to the default.

Shadow (Relief)​

Turns the drop shadow under the design on or off — it's on by default. (The Lines style already has its own built-in soft shadow.)

Light direction (Relief)​

When the shadow is on, a small compass appears. Drag the dot around the circle to set where the light comes from — this moves both the drop shadow and the shading on the stitches. Upper-left gives a classic look, straight down a flatter one.

Gloss (Relief)​

Sets how shiny the threads look, from matte to glossy. As the gloss rises, the angle of each stitch becomes more visible and catches the light. It has a reset button too.

Show needle points (both styles)​

Marks every needle penetration with a small dot. This is what makes carved and embossed fills visible: their pattern is stored purely in where the needle goes down, so with the dots hidden a carved area looks like an ordinary fill. Switch the toggle on and the motif appears.

It works with any design, whatever software it was digitized in, because the pattern lives in the stitch positions themselves and not in some extra data. It is free and available in both render styles.

The toggle is off by default: on a design without carving you simply see an even field of stitch points, which is usually just visual noise.