Singer FUTURA User manual

User’s Manual

User’s Manual

FUTURA
Trademarks
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FUTURA
License Agreement
Futura - Engl ish 1-01
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Trademarks
COMPUCON has made all possible efforts to supply trademark information about
company names, products and services mentioned in this manual.
Trademarks indicated below were derived from various sources:
COMPUCON is a registered trademark of COMPUCON Computer Applications S.A.
is a registered Trademark of The Singer Company Limited
MS-Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
Windows, Windows 95, Windows NT are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
MS-DOS is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
PC is a trademark of International Business Machines Corporation.
ZSK is a trademark of ZSK Stickmaschinen Gesellschaft mbH.
Tajima is a trademark of Tajima Industries Ltd.
Barudan is a trademark of Barudan Co. Ltd.
FMC is a trademark of Barudan Co. Ltd.
FDR is a trademark of Barudan Co. Ltd.
Pfaff is a trademark of its respective owner.
Melco is a trademark of Melco Industries Inc..
Marco is a trademark of its respective owner.
Happy is a trademark of its respective owner.
Brother is a trademark of Brother Industries Ltd.
Toyota is a trademark of its respective owner.
All other accompanying logos, brands and product names are trademarks of their
respective companies.

FUTURA
Trademarks
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FUTURA
License Agreement
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To the user:
This is a license agreement between you and Compucon S.A.,
established in 14th Klm Thessaloniki / Moudania Road, P.O.
Box: 445, P.C.: 57001 THERMI, THESSALONIKI, GREECE, which
grants you the right to use this software, sold under registered
trademark “Compucon”.
Buying this software package, you irrevocably accept the terms
described underneath.
1. COMPUCON S.A. grants you the non exclusive, non transfer-
able right to use one copy of the COMPUCON Software
product (“Software”), acquired with this License, on a single
computer only. In case that you wish to install the Software
on a network server you should either acquire a number of
Software Licenses equal to the number of computers on
which the Software will be distributed and used, or a group
license. In this case the number of persons using (simulta-
neously) the Software should not exceed the number of
Licenses you have been granted. The software is in use on a
computer when it is resident in memory (RAM) installed on
a hard disk or other storage device. Software installed on a
server for the only and exclusive purpose to be transferred
to the workstations or terminals is not considered “in use”
according to this license.
2. The Software is owned by COMPUCON S.A. and is protected
by International Copyright Laws, International Treaties and
Greek Law on Copyright (Law 2121/1994). You acknowledge
the copyright ability of the software.
3. You are not allowed to copy or in any way reproduce the
Product’s manual or other written materials supporting the
software.
4. Your right of use the program allows you only loading and
running of the program according to its intended purpose.
You are not allowed to adapt, translate or otherwise alter the
program, to distribute it by any means or electronically, or
rent, lease or licence it. No other rights are assigned to you
than the herein explicitly mentioned.
5. You are not allowed to bypass, circumvent or remove any
copy protection mean.
6. You may not reverse engineer or decompile the software,
since it contains secret, valuable know how of the right
holder. This does not affect your rights under any legislation
implementing the EEC Directive on the Legal Protection of
Computer programs.
7. The violation of articles 1,2 and 4 entitles the licensor with-
out any further notice to terminate this agreement as well
as any accessory maintenance agreement with the licensee
concerning the maintenance of this software. In case of
termination the licensee has to erase or destroy the original
diskettes or return them to the licensor, return the protec-
tion key to the licensor, erase any other copy of the program
and return the whole documentation of software.
8. The user of the program cannot reproduce or distribute the
program or part of it for private or commercial purposes.
The licensee is not entitled to remove or alter any propri-
etary rights of the program like the copyright notice or the
logo of COMPUCON.
9. Under no circumstances will COMPUCON be liable for direct,
indirect or consequential or any other damage or loss of
data arising out of the use or inability to use the Software or
the user documentation, even if advised of the possibility of
such damages.
To the extend that national applicable law does not allow the
exclusion of liability for any kind of damages, COMPUCON’s
liability in no case shall exceed the amount paid by you for
the Software license upon the condition that the user returns
all the original diskettes, hardware equipment and devices,
including the protection key, returns all documents provided
by COMPUCON and erases all existing copies of the program in
every possible storage mean.
COMPUCON warrants that the software will perform substan-
tially in accordance with the accompanying User’s manual.
Any COMPUCON’s supplied hardware and electronic devises
accompaning the Software will be free of defects in materials
under normal use and service.
COMPUCON however makes no other warranty of any kind
either express or implied that the program product is free of
errors. No COMPUCON dealer, distributor, agent or employee is
authorized to make any modification or alteration to the war-
ranty or liability provisions.
License Agreement

FUTURA
Table of Contents
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FUTURA
Table of Contents
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Installation 1
Manual structure 2
System Requirements 2
Installation of the software 3
Get more at FUTURA Support Site 9
Using FUTURA User’s Manual 10
In-built Help features 11
Index Help 11
“How to” Tutorial 12
“Machine set-up” Tutorial 12
General informationon working with
your PCand software 13
General Windows Tasks 14
Mouse Basics 16
Double-click (with left button) 16
Click 16
Right-click 16
Scroll button 16
Files and Folders 16
How your computer is organized 16
Make New Folder 17
Copy files 17
Open folder 18
Paste files 18
Rename files 18
Delete files 19
Restore files 19
Open files 19
Save/Save As files 20
Screens 20
Blank 20
Open 21
Minimize 21
Maximize 21
Close 21
Dialogue Boxes 22
Move box 22
Box Options 22
Table of contents

FUTURA
Table of Contents
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FUTURA
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Using FUTURA Software 23
Inside Welcome Box 25
Welcome to FUTURA 25
First time machine user / sending a
sample design 25
Open Design 25
Start a new Design 25
Set to work with Inches or MM 25
Open FUTURA software 26
Open FUTURA 26
How to Open FUTURA 26
Inside Open Design 27
Open Design 28
Inside Close Design 29
Close Design 29
How to Close Design 29
Inside Save Design 30
Use Save Design As 31
Use Save Design 32
Design Formats 33
Inside Machine Navigator 34
Inside Open Machine Disk 38
Machine Disk options 39
Use Open Machine Disk 39
Use Delete (from Machine Disk) 40
Use Identify (Machine Disk) 40
Use Copy (files from Machine Disk) 41
Inside Design Browser 42
Design Browser Dialogue Box 42
Inside Embroidery Anthology 44
Embroidery Anthology Dialogue Box 44
Inside Print Design 46
Print Design 46
How to Print on-screen design 46
Inside Exit FUTURA 47
Exit FUTURA 47
How to Exit FUTURA 47
Inside Undo/Redo 48
Undo/Redo 48
How to Use Undo 48
How to Use Redo 48
Inside Realistic View 49
Realistic View 49
How to Use Realistic View 49
Inside Redraw Design 50
Redraw Design 50
How to Redraw Design 50
Inside Zoom 51
Zoom In 51
Zoom Out 52
Zoom Full Screen 52
Zoom 1:1 52
Zoom Fit-to-screen 53
Zoom (set) % 53
Inside Stitch Points 54
Stitch Points 54
How to Use Stitch Points 54
Inside Hoop 55
Change Hoop 55
View Hoop 56
Inside Grid 57
Grid 57
How to turn on Grid 57
How to Set Grid Size 57
Inside Screen Color 58
Screen Color 58
How to Change Screen Color 58

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Inside Design Library 59
Design Library 59
How to Use Design Library 59
Inside Change Size 61
How to Change Size 61
Rotate a Design 62
Inside Center Design 63
Center Design 63
How to Center Design 63
Inside Stitch Colors 64
Stitch Colors 64
Change Stitch Colors 64
Inside Ruler 66
Ruler 66
How to Use Ruler 66
Color Block List 67
Select 68
Select Design to Move 68
Select blocks 68
To Move 69
To Re-size 70
To Rotate 71
To Delete 72
Change Color 72
Inside Lettering 73
Step-by-Step Lettering 73
Text Box 74
Font Style 74
Font Height 74
Spacing 74
Italics 74
Justification 74
Frames 75
Rectangle Frame 75
Circle Frames 76
Bridge Frames 76
Reset 76
Stitch Letters 76
Changing color for Lettering 77
Inside System Parameters 78
System Parameters 78
How to Use System Parameters 78
Other System Parameters 79
Show Welcome Dialogue 79
Show User Hints 79
Inside Help 80
Index Help 80
“How to” Tutorial 81
“Machine set-up” Tutorial 81
Tip-of-the-Day 81
Keyboard Map 82
Register 82
This option will take you to a page on
the Internet at which you will be able to
register your software. 82
Get more at FUTURA support site 83
About FUTURA 83

Installation:
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Installation
Thank you for purchasing FUTURA software, a software de-
signed especially for your FUTURA sewing machine.
FUTURA has been especially designed as a powerful combina-
tion of the FUTURA sewing machine and the FUTURA software.
The FUTURA software is the “front-end” of your sewing ma-
chine allowing you to easily transfer any kind of embroidery
design to the FUTURA machine.
What is more, FUTURA software includes numerous editing
capabilities allowing you to edit and manipulate your design
before transferring it to the machine to be embroidered.
In the pages of this manual you will learn how to get the best out of
your FUTURA software & machine , for excellent sewing results.
We hope you enjoy using FUTURA !

Installation:
Introduction - Installing the software
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Installation:
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Manual structure
In order to help you easily learn how to use the software, the FU-
TURA software comes with this manual , divided into the following
sections:
1. “Getting Started/Installing the Software...” section
, which will help you install the software and understand the
general concept of the product before using it.
2. “Inside...” section,
designed to provide information and explanation on the com-
plete (detailed) functionality of FUTURA.
System Requirements
The following is a list of specifications for your PC (personal
computer).
You can install and use the software on a PC which fulfills at
least this specification list.
> PC with PENTIUM II or faster processor
> Windows OS: Windows 98 / NT / 2000 / ME / XP
> 64MB of RAM (128MB or more recommended)
> CD-ROM drive
> 500 MB (or more recommended) of available hard-disk space for
installation
> Color standard (640X480 pixels, 16colors) VGA adapter connected
with a color VGA monitor (1024x768 pixel; 65,000 colors recom-
mended)
> Microsoft compatible mouse

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Installation:
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Installation of the software
In order to start using the software on your PC you would have
to first install the contents of the CD to your PC. This procedure is
refered to as “installation procedure”. Please follow the below
listed instructions in order to successfully install FUTURA on
your personal computer.
The FUTURA software comes on a CD-ROM disc.
In most personal computers the default drive setting for a CD-ROM
drive is “D:”
Please insert the FUTURA CD-ROM into the CD-ROM disc receiver in
your PC.
After some seconds, the Installation procedure of the software will
start automatically.
In case this will not occur after a short while, you can run the instal-
lation procedure manually by going to the “Start” option of Win-
dows, select “Run”, type “D:\setup.exe” and click on OK.

Installation:
Introduction - Installing the software
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Installation:
Introduction - Installing the software
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After some seconds the step by step installation of the software
begins with the Welcome window. You can always abort the instal-
lation procedure by clicking on the “Cancel” button.
Click on “Next” to move on the next screen.

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Installation:
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After reading and agreeing with terms given in the License
Agreement, please click on “Yes”. Now define your User Name
and Company Name (in case there is no information available for
“Company Name”, insert any character).
and again click on Next, and then select the directory where the
software should be installed. It would be recommended to use
the default selected directory.
Simply click on “Next” to continue.

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Introduction - Installing the software
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Installation:
Introduction - Installing the software
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Now you are prompted to select the Program Folder where the
shortcut for the software will be stored.
Simply click on “Next” to continue.
Now you are prompted to select the language in which the Tutorials
and Help files of the software will be installed. English language is
installed by default.

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Installation:
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A progress bar will indicate the stage at which the installation pro-
cedure is. I t will finish when it has reached to 100%.
The installation procedure is finalizing all required actions and will
automatically close after finish. Please wait for a short while until
this happens.
If the installation utility identifies a lack of available space on your
hard disk, an error message will prompt you to free some hard
disk space before proceeding with the installation.
You can always abort the installation procedure by clicking on
“Cancel”.
Tip!
Tip : If for any reason you would like to uninstall the software,
select from “Start” -> “Settings” -> “Control Panel” -> “Add/Remove Programs” icon.
From the appearing window scroll down until you find the FUTURA option
and click on the “Add/Remove” button.
Finally you are requested to confirm all the selections made during
the installation set-up.
Pressing the “Next” button will finally start the copy and instal-
lation of the FUTURA software files to the given directory on the
hard disk.
After finish of installation and when turn-
ing on the machine, Microsoft Windows
will automatically prompt you to finalize
the installation by installing the special
USB driver for connection to the machine.
Follow the simple steps of the Microsoft
“Add New Hardware” wizard in order to
instal the driver. When being asked where
to look fo the driver, simply select to look
in the CD-ROM drive.

Installation:
Introduction - Installing the software
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Installation:
Upgrade/Add more options
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Handling CD-ROMS
CD-ROMs are an excellent media for holding information.
A typical CD can hold up to 650 MB of storage space and access time is relatively fast.
In the uncommon event that you experience any difficulty installing the program from
your CD, please make sure that the CD Drive itself is in proper working order.
In addition, please check that the backside of the CD
(where the data is stored and no information is printed on)
is perfectly clean and free from dirt, dust and greasy marks, including fingerprints.
Important Note :
In order to run and use the FUTURA software,
the FUTURA machine has to be set up for embroidery
and also has to be connected to the PC via the serial
cable that is included in the product package.
The FUTURA software wil not run if machine is set up for
sewing and/or is not connected to the PC.
After finish of the installation procedure, the software
will prompt if you would like to view the “Machine set-
up” Tutorial, with step-by-step instructions on how to
correctly setup your machine for embroidery.
Select “Yes” if you would like to view the tutorial or
“No” to skip.

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Introduction - Installing the software
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Installation:
Upgrade/Add more options
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Get more at FUTURA Support Site
The www.futura-support.com is an online support website
designed to provide support to the users of the exciting FUTURA
product.
To see for yourself, from inside the FUTURA software simply click
on “Help” -> “Connect to Support site”. Log onto www.futura-
support.com and register to benefit from all the services offered.

Installation:
Using FUTURA User’s Manual
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Installation:
In-built Help features
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Using FUTURA User’s Manual
In the following pages you will receive detailed explanations on the
functionality and use of all the incredible functions and features
included in the FUTURA software.
Please study the manual carefully in order to learn how to use and
get the best out of this software product.

Installation:
Using FUTURA User’s Manual
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Installation:
In-built Help features
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In-built Help features
FUTURA comes with built-in help features to help and support
you while working with the software. You can access all Help fea-
tures from the Help Menu in the software.
Index Help
FUTURA comes with an on-line Help feature to provide valuable
information on the features and functions of FUTURA.
>Press the F1 button on the keyboard after selecting any feature
you might need some help with, and the program will immedi-
ately display the related Help topic.
>For general help, choose Help>Contents. Clicking on the Con-
tents option prompts the program to activate the Help feature,
and displays a menu window with the available help topics.
>Select Help>Search and type a specific subject name. The avail-
able subjects are displayed in a table.

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In-built Help features
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Installation:
General information on working with your PC and software
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“How to” Tutorial
The “How to” Tutorial is an additional Help feature that will quickly
guide you on how to use the software correctly to achieve amazing
results. Whereas the standard Help section focuses more on what
each feature and function of the software is, the “How to” Tutori-
als has the purpose to show you “how to do” things while working
with the software.
From the Tutorials Page, simply select the topic you would like to
study and go through the comprehensive step-by-step instructions
on how to use a function or feature of the FUTURA software.
“Machine set-up” Tutorial
In order to start working with FUTURA for embroidery, you will have
to first set up the FUTURA machine to work for embroidery.
This tutorial presents in a step-by-step procedure how to correctly
set up the machine for embroidery.