Quite a few stitch guide writers use Macs and many of them have been using Canvas X as their graphics program--you know, the nifty program that draws diagrams of stitches. However, ACD Systems is no longer updating their Canvas X system for Macs, only for PCs. You can't even buy a copy of Canvas X any more. (I know, I've been trying for over a year!) To compound the problem, now that Apple has introduced the new Lion software, Canvas X won't work for an updated or new system. This means that stitch guide writers who use Macs and Canvas X are up the creek without a paddle.
Some folks are sticking with the out-of-date Snow Leopard operating system so they can continue to use Canvas X. Some folks have used specialty software to run PC programs on their Macs so that they can use some of the many graphing programs written for PCs. Some folks are thinking of partitioning their hard drives and running Snow Leopard and Canvas X on one part of their system while running Lion on another part. Some are even considering investing time and money in Adobe's Illustrator or maybe buying a cheap PC to run PC graphics software on. All of these are less than desirable solutions.
But Barbara Bergsten has come to the rescue with a way to use Pages (the Macintosh word processing program) to graph stitches. Here's what Barbara and her Apple tutor worked out--
http://createneedlepoint.typepad.com/create_needlepoint/2012/07/steps-to-make-a-needlepoint-stitch-diagram-in-pages.html
This is very good news indeed for people with Macs who can no longer use Canvas X. Thanks, Barbara!
UPDATE: Here are two examples of a PC stitch diagram and a Mac stitch diagram so you can see the difference and help Jan decide if the one done in Pages is up to snuff.
http://threadmedley.wordpress.com/2012/07/20/which-would-you-prefer/
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2 comments:
Thank you for post this Jane, Hope it helps. It's a really simple way to get the job done!!
While there are some programs that would work with Snow Leopard, many did not, so many of us have been searching for a solution for over a year. Canvas announced that they were dropping Mac support last year at some point. PCStitch can run on a Mac with PC emulation but I was told by the company that they have no one who can support this option.
Like most others who work on a Mac, and there are many designers and stitch guide writers who do, I have worked out a solution that, while not ideal, does work.
I'm excited to try Barbara's suggestion because I am very unhappy with my current kludgey solution.
Keep Stitching,
Janet
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