Brother Pacesetter BES Lettering User manual

Pacesetter
BES Lettering
Instruction Manual

ii Pacesetter BES Lettering
Instruction Manual
Copyright
© Copyright 2009 Pulse Microsystems Ltd. All rights reserved.
This instruction manual and software are copyrighted by the
developer of the software, Pulse Microsystems Ltd. All rights
reserved. US Patent Nos. 5 270 939; 5 343 401; 5 430 658; 5
506 784; 5 510 994; 5 541 847; 5 668 730; 5 771 173; 5 809
921; 6 196 146; 6 216 618; 6 390 005; 6 968 255. European
Patent Nos. 0545773. Other patents pending.
Information in this document is subject to change without
notice.
The software described in this document is furnished under a
license agreement and/or nondisclosure agreement. The
software may be used or copied only in accordance with the
terms of those agreements. No part of this publication and the
software may be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated,
or reduced to any electronic medium or machine-readable form
without the manufacturer’s written permission.
Commercial or industrial use of trademark and copyrighted
works (For example, books, paintings, drawings, photos,
fanciful characters, and so forth) owned by other companies or
persons, for creation of embroidery patterns without permission
is illegal and may result in either criminal or civil liability.
Microsoft and Windows® XP/Vista and Word are registered
trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. All other product names
are copyrighted and registered trademarks or trademarks of
their respective holders. All computer and software names
identified by TM or tm are trademarks of their respective
manufacturers.

1
Table of Contents
Learning about the Workspace...........................................5
Parts of the Workspace ...................................................................6
Title Bar....................................................................................6
Quick Access Toolbar...............................................................6
Toolbar and Ribbon Buttons ..........................................................12
Pacesetter Menu Tools...........................................................12
Extra Tools..............................................................................13
Ribbon Tools...........................................................................13
Tools on the Arrange Tab .......................................................15
The View Tab..........................................................................16
Simulator ................................................................................17
Status Line..............................................................................19
Color Palette...........................................................................19
Using Scrollbars.............................................................................20
Correcting Mistakes.......................................................................20
Setting up your Workspace Environment ......................................21
Changing Machine Format Properties...........................................22
Adjusting the View of your Workspace..........................................23
Magnifying and Reducing the View........................................23
Hiding the Sequence and Properties Panels
Automatically..........................................................................24
Viewing Different Parts of the Workspace
(Panning)................................................................................25
Taking Measurements....................................................................26
Displaying a Hoop While Designing...............................................26
Viewing and Hiding the Embroidery Hoop..............................27
Selecting a Hoop....................................................................27
Creating a Custom Hoop........................................................28
Help ...............................................................................................29
Opening the Help ...................................................................29
Using the Contents.................................................................29
Using the Index ......................................................................30
Using Search..........................................................................30
Saving Favorite Help Topics...................................................31
Printing Help topics ................................................................31

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Instruction Manual
Creating Lettering...............................................................33
Creating Lettering..........................................................................34
Normal Text Tool.....................................................................34
Path Text Tool.........................................................................35
Custom Shapes for Text on a Path.........................................37
Vertical Text Frame.................................................................39
Circle Text Frame ...................................................................40
Creating Monograms..............................................................41
Text Frames - an Overview............................................................42
Adjusting Size of a Text Segment...........................................42
Adjusting the Width of Text.....................................................43
Adjusting the Corners of Text Segments................................43
Using the Envelope Handles..................................................44
Rotating Text...........................................................................44
Adjusting the Slant of Text......................................................45
Adjusting the Size of Text in the Circle Frame........................46
Adjusting Text Width in the Circle Frame................................46
Changing the Diameter of the Circle Frame...........................47
Working with Individual Letters......................................................48
Adjusting the Space between Letters (Kerning) .....................48
Moving Individual Letters........................................................49
Resizing Individual Letters......................................................49
Rotating Individual Letters......................................................50
Working with Color.........................................................................51
Changing the Color of a Text Segment...................................51
Creating Multi-color Text Segments .......................................51
Changing Colors in a Two-color Font.....................................53
Text Properties ...................................................................55
The Properties Panel.....................................................................56
Adjusting Text Properties...............................................................56
Changing the Text ..................................................................57
Changing the Font of Existing Text Segment .........................58
Displaying a Font’s Available Characters...............................59
Spell Checker.........................................................................60
Changing the Height of Lettering............................................61
Changing Font Spacing..........................................................62
Width Percentage...................................................................62
Changing the Slant Setting.....................................................63
Applying an Envelope.............................................................64

3
Properties Specific to Particular Text Frames.........................64
Changing Properties with the Context Menu
(Right-click).............................................................................66
Text Styles Option..........................................................................68
Run Style Text ........................................................................68
Steil Style Text ........................................................................69
Appliqué Style Text.................................................................69
Adjusting Satin Settings for Appliqué Style Text.....................70
Adjusting Blanket settings for Appliqué Style Text..................71
Adjusting Motif settings for an Appliqué Border......................71
Fabric Backgrounds in Appliqué Style Text ............................72
Adjusting Fill Settings ....................................................................74
Fill Density Setting..................................................................75
Carved Fill Properties.............................................................76
Underlay Properties.......................................................................77
Selecting the Underlay Type ..................................................78
Specifying the Underlay Density.............................................78
Specifying the Underlay Stitch Length....................................79
Changing the Inset Distance ..................................................79
Pull Compensation Settings...........................................................80
Displaying Special Characters................................................81
Editing Designs ..................................................................85
Creating New Designs...................................................................86
Opening and Closing Designs.......................................................87
Choosing the Default Recipe..................................................88
Saving a Design ............................................................................89
Selecting and Moving Parts of a Design........................................90
The Select Tool.......................................................................90
Copying, Cutting, and Pasting Design
Components...........................................................................93
Aligning Items in the Design Horizontally
and Vertically..........................................................................95
Moving Parts of a Design Manually........................................96
Nudging Design Components.................................................96
Deleting Design Components.................................................97
Rotating Design Components.................................................97
Working with the Color Palette ......................................................99
Selecting a Thread Chart .......................................................99
Searching for a Specific Color................................................99
Changing a Thread Color.....................................................100

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Instruction Manual
Special Design Tools ...................................................................101
Merging Design Files............................................................101
Add Designs Feature............................................................103
Distorting Segments.............................................................105
Sequencing Outline Segments....................................................109
Sequencing Segments .........................................................109
Inserting Segments Earlier in the Segment
Sequence ............................................................................. 110
Moving a Segment Forward or Backward ............................ 110
Moving a Segment to the Start or End of the Design ........... 112
Moving a Segment to the nearest Matching
Color Group.......................................................................... 113
Printing Designs .......................................................................... 116
Previewing a Design before Printing .................................... 116
Printing Design Worksheets ................................................. 117
Changing the Print Settings.................................................. 118
Glossary ...........................................................................121
Index..................................................................................127

Before you start using the software, we recommend that you
understand the Pacesetter BES Lettering design workspace and
learn a few of the basic components outlined in this section.
Topics covered in this chapter:
• Learn the basics of how to set up the design workspace
environment.
• Learn how to show a hoop in the workspace, and create your
own customized hoop.
• Find out how to access the Pacesetter BES Lettering help.
CHAPTER 1:
Learning about the
Workspace

6Pacesetter BES Lettering
Instruction Manual
Parts of the Workspace
The Pacesetter BES Lettering workspace contains a number of
different areas which have distinct functions. The sections that
follow give an overview of what each of these areas does, and
the kinds of information about the design that they contain.
Title Bar
The Title Bar appears at the top of the Pacesetter BES Lettering
design window. The Title bar displays information about the
design that is open in the workspace: its name, the number of
stitches and colors in the design, and the overall width and
height.
Quick Access Toolbar
The Quick Access Toolbar is located right along the top of your
workspace, to the left of the Title Bar. This toolbar contains tool
buttons that you will commonly use, such as Open, Save, and

Learning about the Workspace 7
print; but it is fully customizable, meaning that you can add the
tools you personally use most often, for easy access. See
“Customizing the Quick Access toolbar”.
To start out, the following default tools are included on the Quick
Access toolbar: New, Open, Save, Direct Print, Undo, and
Redo.
Customizing the Quick Access Toolbar
One important advantage of the Quick Access toolbar is that it
is fully customizable. This means that you are able to select
tools from any of the Pacesetter BES Lettering toolbars and add
them to the Quick Access toolbar. You do this by way of the
Customize function, which is accessed by clicking the small
down arrow to the right of the Quick Access toolbar.
To customize the Quick Access toolbar:
1Click the down arrow at the right end of the Quick Access
toolbar.
You see a menu.
2Click on More Commands...
You see the Customize dialog.

8Pacesetter BES Lettering
Instruction Manual
3From the “Choose Commands from:” list, select the toolbar
containing the command you want.
The list of tools on that toolbar now appears in the
“Commands” box.
4Select the desired tool from within the “Commands” box, and
click Add>>.
The selected tool appears in the list of Quick Access toolbar
tools.
5Repeat steps 3-4 until you have added all the tools you want
to the Quick Access toolbar.
6If there is a tool on the Quick Access toolbar that you do not
want to have on there, select it in the right-hand box and
click on the Remove button in the dialog.
7When you have added and/or removed all the buttons you
want, click OK.
The dialog will close; the Quick Access toolbar will be
changed accordingly.

Learning about the Workspace 9
Adding Separators in the Quick Access
Toolbar
You have the option of also adding separators in the Quick
Access Toolbar. These are small vertical marks which appear
on the Quick Access Toolbar, and divide the commands into
groups for ease of use. A separator is added just the same way
as you add commands; select <separator> in the “Choose
commands” list and then click the Add >> button.
Here is an example of how the separators work. If you create an
arrangement of separators and commands in the Customize
dialog that looks like this,
The Quick access toolbar will be organized to look like this:
For more details, see the procedure outlined above,
“Customizing the Quick Access Toolbar.
You can change the position of a separator, or any command in
the Quick Access Toolbar. Select it in the box to the right in the
Customize dialog, and click the up and down arrows on the
right. This will move the command or separator relative to the
other commands in the Quick Access Toolbar.

10 Pacesetter BES Lettering
Instruction Manual
Customizing Keyboard Shortcuts
Another useful feature of the More Commands menu item (on
the Quick Access Toolbar) is that it gives you the option of
assigning your own custom keyboard shortcuts. Keyboard
shortcuts can be very useful for those tools that you use most
often.
To assign keyboard shortcuts:
1Click the down arrow at the right end of the Quick Access
toolbar.
You see a menu.
2Click on More Commands...
You see the Customize dialog.
3Click the Customize button.
You see the Customize Keyboard dialog.

Learning about the Workspace 11
4From the “Categories” list, select the category containing the
command you want.
The corresponding list of commands appears in the
“Commands” box.
5Select a command to which you would like to assign a
shortcut.
6Click in the “Press new shortcut key” field.
7On your keyboard, press the sequence of keys that you want
to use; these keystrokes will appear in the field.
8Click the Assign button to create the custom shortcut.
The shortcut sequence will be moved into the Current Keys
field.
9Repeat steps 3 - 7 until you have created all the desired
keyboard shortcuts.
10 Click close.
If there are two or more keys used in the shortcut, a plus sign
(+) will be inserted between them, to indicate that they are to
be used in combination. The (+) on your keyboard is not part of
the shortcut sequence.

12 Pacesetter BES Lettering
Instruction Manual
Toolbar and Ribbon Buttons
You can access the tools available in Pacesetter BES
Lettering through the various tool bars. The tables below
show the buttons, grouped by location (i.e. whether they are
on the Quick Access Bar, or on one of the tabs on the ribbon).
A brief description of what the button does is also included.
Note that within each tab, some buttons are grouped together
by function.
Pacesetter Menu Tools
Tool What it means
New: Creates a new untitled design.
New/Recipe: Opens a new page and allows you to choose a
new recipe and machine format.
Open: Opens an existing design file.
Merge: Opens the Merge Design dialog, which you can use to
import existing stitch or outline files into the current design
Save: Saves the current design.
Save As: Opens the Save As dialog, allowing you to choose
the destination and file type to save it as.
Print: Opens the printer dialog on your computer, allowing you
to choose your printer and adjust the printer’s properties.
Direct Print: Prints a copy of the design worksheet, bypassing
the printer dialog.
Print Preview: Opens the print preview window, which in turn
will let you print the current design.
Print Setup: Opens the print preview window, which in turn
will let you print the current design.
Close: Closes the file that you are currently working on (the
active file) leaving any other files open.

Learning about the Workspace 13
Extra Tools
Ribbon Tools
The Ribbon appears below the Title Bar. The Ribbon has three
tabs, the Home tab, the Arrange tab, and the View tab. Clicking
on the tabs displays all the buttons for the functions that are
under that tab.
Tools on the Home Tab
Close All: Closes all files that are open on your computer.
Exit: Closes all open files and shuts down Pacesetter BES
Lettering; you will be prompted to save any open files.
Tool What it means
Undo: Reverses your last action.
Redo: Reverses the action of the Undo command.
Tool What it means
Select: Selects objects in the design window.
Select All: Accessed via the drop-down menu from the
Select tool.Selects all items in the design workspace.
Cut : Cuts the selection and copies it to the clipboard.
Copy: Copies the selection to the clipboard.
Paste: Pastes the clipboard contents into the design, at
the end of the design sequence.
Insert: Pastes a copy of the clipboard selection into the
sewing sequence immediately following the selected
segment.
Tool What it means

14 Pacesetter BES Lettering
Instruction Manual
Delete: Removes the selected segment.
Text: Creates lettering placed along a straight baseline.
Text on Path: Creates text segment along a path. The
path may be chosen from a pre-defined list of shapes, or
you may create your own shape.
Vertical Frame: Creates vertical lettering.
Circle Frame: Creates lettering based on a circular
baseline.
Monogram Frame: Creates three-letter monogram text.
Add Designs: Adds decorative features to your design -
accents, appliqués, borders, and frames.
3D: Realistically renders your design onscreen.
Grid: Displays a background grid, which helps with
alignment. This grid can be used for the alignment of
items on the display.
Hoop: Displays the hoop as it fits relative to the
embroidery. Clicking this button a second time will turn
the view of the hoop off.
Select Hoop: Accessed via the drop-down menu from
the Hoop tool. Opens up the Select Hoop window, in
which you can choose a new hoop.
/fit Hoop: Accessed via the drop-down menu from the
Hoop tool. Scales the design up to the maximum size of
the selected hoop on the design window.
Background: Two options are available from this
button, Select Color or Select Fabric. Depending on
which one you choose, a dialog box will open in which
you select either the color, or the fabric pattern, that
appears in the background of the active design window.
Ruler: Measures the distance between any two points in
a design.
Tool What it means

Learning about the Workspace 15
Tools on the Arrange Tab
Zoom: Magnifies the design to fit a rectangle drawn by
the user with the mouse pointer.
Zoom in: Magnifies the view of the design by a fixed
amount.
Zoom out: Shrinks the view of the design by a fixed
amount.
Fit to Window: Displays the entire design and loaded
images in the window.
Back to 1:1: Returns design to original size.
Slider: Drag the slider to choose a specific level of
magnification; displays percentage of original size.
Pan: Allows you to move the design around in the
workspace window by clicking and dragging.
Tool What it means
Select: Selects objects in the design window.
Select All: Accessed via the drop-down menu from the Select
tool.Selects all items in the design workspace.
Distort: Displays the Distortion dialog, which you can use to
add interesting effects to the selected design.
Align Left: Aligns all selected objects with the left-most item
selected.
Align Right: Aligns all selected objects with the right-most
item selected.
Align Top: Aligns all selected objects with the top-most item
selected.
Align Bottom: Aligns all selected objects with the bottom-
most item selected.
Horizontal Center: Takes all selected objects and centers
them in the selection box. The objects are moved so that they
are centered left-to-right with each other, but they are not
moved up or down.
Tool What it means

16 Pacesetter BES Lettering
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The View Tab
The controls on the View tab allow you to change what appears
on your workspace; which panels are displayed, whether or not
commands and stitch points are shown in the design, and so on.
There are three areas found on this tab, Windows, Show/Hide,
and Program Preferences.
Windows
In the windows area, check the box to show the corresponding
window or panel, and uncheck it to hide that window or panel.
• Sequence. Shows/hides the Sequence view.
• Palette. Shows/hides the thread palette.
• Properties. Shows/hides the properties panel.
• Simulator. Shows/hides the sewing simulator.
• Status. Shows/hides the status bar.
Vertical Center: Takes all selected objects and centers them
in the selection box. The objects are moved so that they are
centered top-to-bottom with each other, but they are not
moved left or right.
Center: Centers one or more selected objects proportionally
within the current hoop.
Flip Horizontal: Flips one or more selected objects
horizontally.
Flip Vertical: Flips one or more selected objects vertically.
Rotate Left: Rotates one or more selected objects to the left
by 90 degree increments.
Rotate Right: Rotates one or more selected objects to the
right by 90 degree increments.
Tool What it means

Learning about the Workspace 17
Show/Hide
Check the boxes to show the corresponding symbols in the
Design Workspace.
• Entry/Exit. Shows the position of the first and last points
in the sewing of a segment.
• Commands. Displays icons in the workspace that show
where the color changes and trims are.
• Stitch points. Shows the penetration points of the
stitches.
Program Preferences
Click on the Program Preferences button to open a dialog
in which you can set the default machine settings, change the
units of measure, and choose settings for the workspace grid.
For more information on this dialog, see “Setting up your
Workspace Environment”
Simulator
The Simulator makes it easy to see on-screen how your design
will sew out. You can use the Simulator to eliminate potential
sewing problems.
When you select Simulator from the View tab of the Ribbon, the
Simulator (scrollbar slider and the sewing simulator) will appear
at the bottom of the design space. The Simulator controls which
parts of the design are drawn in the design window.
Scrollbar Slider
You can also open and close the Simulator by pressing Ctrl + R.

18 Pacesetter BES Lettering
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The length of the scrollbar slider represents all of the stitches in
the opened design. You can move the scrollbar slider by
dragging it to see a design as it will look sewn to a particular
point. The color display within the scrollbar indicates the thread
color that will be sewn when the scrollbar slider is positioned
over it. Clicking on the arrows at the ends of the scrollbar will
advance or retrace the design position by one stitch.
Sewing Simulator
The sewing simulator allows you to watch your design draw on
a stitch-by-stitch basis, simulating the sewing action of your
machine. The Simulator controls include pause, stop, sew
forward and sew backwards. You can push various control
buttons and slide the speed control to vary the rate of sewing.
Using the Simulator
The following table explains how to use the Simulator in more
detail:
Tools What is does
Previous Stitch: Move backward in the design by
one stitch.
Scrollbar slider: Drag the scrollbar slider to
advance the design to a specific position. When the
scrollbar slider is positioned over a color, you will see
the specified thread color being sewn in the design.
The entire length of the scrollbar slider represents
the entire design.
Next Stitch: Move forward in the design by one
stitch.
Simulate Sewing (backward): Move backward
through the design.
Pause/Stop: Pause or stop the design while
drawing. When you play or resume sewing your
design, stitching will continue from the location of the
last stitch.