MyThreadBox - Help System - v9
MyThreadBox has been kept as simple and user-friendly as possible, but if you cannot find the answer here, we can always be reached for help. Email us or chat with support using the Yahoo! Instant Messenger Service - our user name on that service is 'fastrac_tech' and chat is available from 9 AM to 3 PM Pacific Standard Time. You can also check our UNCONVERTED WINHELP MACRO:! ExecFile("www.mythreadbox.com")website for palette updates, version updates and general information. There is also a UNCONVERTED WINHELP MACRO:! ExecFile("www.mythreadbox.com/board/index.php")support forum at the website for questions, announcements and suggestions.
If you are a registered user, you can always call us at 951.694.4926
Help Topics
Color Basics
What is a Palette?
What are Tolerances?
Running a Match
Batch Input
Custom Colors
Lookup Color
Visual Color Chip / Hold Color
Pick / Pull List
Saving Color Matches
Working With Your Stash
Controlling Palette Hits
Keep / Clear Settings
Printing Shopping List
Starting New List
Updating Your Palettes
Backup and Restore Stash
Working With 2 Computers
Embird Integration
Exporting to Palm Device
I Still Don't Understand!
Registering Your Software
Suggestions for New Updates
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Color Basics
Most solid colors can be broken down into 3 color components (Red,Green,Blue) - MyThreadBox uses those values to compare the thread you want to match with the available colors in many different palettes. Due to color balance issues, your eye does not see all 3 of those components with equal values - so MyThreadBox takes that into account when color matching.
We use a textile industry standard color match formula known as CIE L*ab which is the accepted high standard for accuracy. Always keep in mind that when dealing with thread, other things than color can affect how the sewout looks - the same color formula in a high sheen rayon will look different when used as a poly with less sheen. MyThreadBox attempts to give you the most accurate color match available, but in the end, it's still your choice.
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What is a Palette?
When you see the term 'Palette' used in MyThreadBox, what we are talking about is the thread color choices from a given manufacturer and/or thread type (rayon, poly, etc). Some manufacturer's colors are different in subtle ways depending on thread type - in those cases we show you all of the variations (poly, rayon, etc)
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What are Tolerances?
Tolerances, as used in MyThreadBox, refer to the distance that one point in 3-color space (RGB) differs from another - in practice the smaller the tolerance number, the closer the color match - 0 being an exact match, 10 begin very very close, and 15 being a good match at 2-3 feet. As a general rule, you will want the closest tolerance that you can acheive, but if you have no matches at that tolerance, go to a looser setting and try the match again.
You set the tolerances using the 'slider' control on the main comparison page.
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Running a Match
To perform a color match using the proversion, first select the color palette name of the thread you are trying to match (usually the thread that your design is calibrated to) - select this by using the drop-down list on the top-left control labeled 'Choose Color Palette'.
Once you have chosen the starting palette, enter the color number you wish to match in the field labeled 'Color Number'. Use the slider control to set the tolerance you wish.
After you have set your desired match tolerance, just click on the 'Match Color' button. As the match is being performed, MyThreadBox is also looking into your MyThread database and checking off the matches that you have in your own stash. These will be indicated with a mark in the 'Stash' column of the results list, as well as on the shopping list report.
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Batch Input
New in version 9 is the ability to input a group of colors and run matches on them one at a time. The basic concept is to enter all of the colors you will need at one time in one screen, start the match process, and then click ona button to do the next match. Each individual match triggered in this fashion follow all of the rules that a one-time match will (i.e. being able to double click on an item and view the comparison colors, put that color on hold, etc).
To start the process, click on 'batch input' from the top menu, and choose 'define input batch' - that will give you a screen for entering your list of threads - if there are threads in list from a previous session, you can click on 'new' to start a new batch entry list. Click on 'add' and you get a screen with the familiar drop-down palette selection and a field for color number.
After you have finished inputting the list, just click 'OK' to close the entry screen - go to the 'batch entry' menu on main screen, and choose 'process batch input' - the first color in your list will be matched just like you had entered it manually.
All you have do to move through the list is to click the 'next in batch' button and the software will move to the next item and match it (again just like you had manually entered it).
A warning will be shown when you get to the last item in the list
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Custom Colors
When you click on the button for 'Custom Colors' you will be presented with the standard Windows 'Color Picker' control - what this lets you do is pick a custom color and then have it converted into thread matching colors following the same rules (palettes and tolerance) that you have set for your normal matches. The 'match' operation will automatically be run after choosing your custom color.
Be aware that the windows color picker can generate many, many times the possible colors in a typical thread palette, so you may have no matches found if you define a very cool color and have narrow tolerance set. If you are really intent on that cool color, open up your tolerance setting a little until you get some matches, or go for a little more generic color.
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Lookup Color
If all you want to do is look up a specific color to see what the pattern is calling for, just click on the 'Lookup Color' button after entering Palette and color information. The color chip will be shown to the right of the color selection in the 'master color chip' window.
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Visual Color Chip / Hold Color
Once you have matches on screen, you can view the comparison in a visual fashion by simply double clicking on the line with the pair that you want to see.
There is an indicator on this screen (check box) to tell you that this color is or is not in your stash - in order to mark this color match as a 'hold' item for later use, just click on the 'Hold' check box.
Disclaimer - Due to variations in monitor and graphics card settings, the visual color chip you see on screen may not be 100% accurate regards to the thread color - use this feature for comparison only.
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Pick / Pull List
The pick / pull list is where the colors you will actually be using are shown - after you have ran a color match, select 1 of the match pairs to be used in your sewout - do this by clicking on the 'hold color' checkbox when the color chip disply is on screen.
Upon entering the next match color, the top portion (match list) of the screen will clear (to be made ready for the new match information) and the color you have marked as 'hold' will be moved into the pick / pull list below.
When you have reached the last color in your list, double-click insde the pick / pull area and a popup menu will be shown - choosing 'finish' will move your final color choice down to the pick list and you will be asked if you wish to save the colors. See Saving Color Matches for instructions
To print pick list, simply double-click inside in pick/pull area for popup menu and choose 'print' or choose 'print pick list' from the 'pick list' menu at top of screen.
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Saving Color Matches
Once you have the pick/pull list populated with your match choices, you can save that information for later use (future or repeat sewouts) - this choice will appear automatically after finishing the pick list, or you can trigger it at any time by double-clicking in pick list area and choosing 'save' from popup menu.
Enter the design information in the fields provided (the design name is used for future retreival) - after the information has been entered, click on the button for 'import pick list' and your color choices will be tied to the design name for future lookup.
To find a saved design color set, click on the 'add/edit/print saved charts' from saved charts menu. Click on the button for 'find keyword' and enter the design name (full or partial) - if there are more than 1 design that has that name or partial name, skip to the next one(s) by clicking on 'skip - next keyword.
After you have found the design color set you were looking for, click 'view color detail' button or double-click on line of choice - you can then print out list by selecting 'print'.
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Working With Your Stash
MyStash is one of the most powerful features of MyThreadBox - it contains your thread collections and is used during match operations.
Adding to your stash
Adding to stash is available as a menu choice form the mystash menu, as a button on the main color match screen, and as a button on the 'edit stash' screen - all 3 functions do the same thing.
There are 2 ways available to add thread to your stash - from database and manual - let's go over both
From Database is used when you wish to add more than one spool of thread from a palette that exists in the master database of MyThreadBox. After choosing the palette you wish to work with from the drop down list, the colors from that palette will be listed on screen - to mark a color for adding to your stash, just click on the 'check box' for that color in the 'Add?' column - you may have to click twice, depending on your setup. Move down through the list and check ALL of the color sthat you wish to add from that palette (you can type in color number into the 'Jump to Color' control to speed things up in desired). After you have checked all the colors you wish to add, just click on the 'Add Marked' button and the colors you chose will be added to your stash. You can then choose another palette and repeat the operation, if desired, or just hit OK to close the window and get back to your stash.
Manual is used for adding only one color from a palette, or adding a color that is NOT in the master thread database. **NOTE** if you add a color that is not in the master database, the program will tell you that it cannot be used in matching operations - if that color is added in future palette updates, it will AUTOMATICALLY be usable in match operations. To add a number from a palette that is not listed in the drop down box, simple type over the name in the control and add the color.
Finding a thread
There are several ways available to jump to a thread in your stash - by palette / number and by partial name match.
Palette / Number is used when you know the color number you wish to look at - just select the palette from the drop-down control, then type in the color number in the 'Jump to Color' control.
Partial Name Match is used when you wish to look through your colors for example, and see all of the colors with 'Green' in the name - click on the 'Find KeyWord' button - enter the text you wish to look for and hit OK - that will take you to the first choice matching what you entered. Click 'Skip Next KeyWord' to move through the listing stopping at each one that matches your keyword. Click 'Clear Keyword' to reset the search.
Color Chip on Screen - Double click on line with thread you wish to look at, and a visual color chip will be shown on screen.
Editing color name - the color name and type fields in the 'grid' listing are now editable
Displaying thread count - clicking on the 'count' button will show you the number of thread colors in your stash - to see a count of just one palette, select that palette from the drop down list.
Managing thread on hand
The 'Quantity On Hnad Filter' setting allow to to specify how to look at your stash - by all thread numbers regardless of onhand, by positive qty, and by zero qty. Just click on the desired shoice when setting up your view by thread line, and that will be applied as well as your thread choice. To give a quick example - say you want to look at all of your Sulky numbers that you usually keep in your collection - you would set thread line to sulky and qty filter to 'show all qty' - if instead, all you wanted to see was those threads that you actually had in your box, set sulky and 'show non-zero' - if you wanted to see all of the thread you usually keep but are out of, set 'show all' for thread and 'show zero for qty filter.
Printing Stash reports
You can always print a report of your stash to screen or printer - the important thing to remember is that the printed report will follow ALL settings that are active in your stash screen at the time of printing - any filters for thread lines or qty selections will apply to report. For example, once you have selected all thread lines and zero on hand (for a listing of what you need in order to replenish stash), the report then could be used as a shopping list.
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Controlling Palette Hits
With the Pro version of MythreadBox, you have the choice of controlling which of the available palettes is hit against during lookups. With this in mind, you will want to only check the palettes you want to compare, as this will shorten your shopping list by not showing unneeded thread palettes.
No matter what you have selected as palettes to hit AGAINST, the software will lookup FROM all palettes regardless of setting - so that you do not have to select a palette for lookup to insure that you can match FROM that palette.
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Keep / Clear Setting
When running a list with more than one color match, oftern you will wish to clear the unwanted match pairs off the screen to make it easier to see the ones that you do want to keep. We give you several choices for this on the keep / clear settings box. This setting applies to both the manual clear ('Clear List' button) and the 'auto-clear screen' setting (auto-clear clears screen between match colors so that you do not have to manually clear unwanted colors between match operations).
The settings work this way:
Clear All - Clears ALL matches on screen, regardless of status
Keep Stash - Clears all EXCEPT those matches in your stash
Keep Hold - Clears all EXCEPT those you have put on hold
Keep Both - Clears all EXCEPT those on hold OR in stash
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Printing Shopping List
To print the shopping list, just click on the 'Print' choice under pick list menu or double click for popup from pick list area. You will be given the option to print the complete list, or just the items in your stash.
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Starting New List
To clear the existing results list, you have 2 choices - to clear the ENTIRE list, including and held colors, click on 'NewList'. To clear the unwanted colors off the list (using the clear / keep settings), just click on the 'Clear List' button.
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Updating Your Palettes
MyThreadBox will be releasing palette updates as they become available from the various manufacturers - we are planning to release at least 1, possible 2 updates a year (depending on new colors) - we normally have a 60 day lead time between the manufacturer releasing the palette and our color calculations being ready for those changes.
If you have registered your copy of MyThreadBox (either version) your update are FREE for a limited time frame - this is still under revision, so check the 'announcemetns' section of our UNCONVERTED WINHELP MACRO:! ExecFile("www.mythreadbox.com/board/index.php")user help forum at website.
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Backup and Restore Stash
Your stash file is something to be watched out for - backing up your stash whenever there are major changes and additions will save you from having to re-enter all that thread. Just click on the utilities menu, then choose 'Backup Stash' and you will be given a standard Windows 'file save' box so that yopu can choose location to save file onto. **Note** Always save your stash onto a removable media (CDROM or floppy) and not to your hard drive - if the computer crashes, most of the time, the WHOLE machine (including where you put your backups on the same main disk) will crash.
To restore files, just click on uitlities, then 'Restore Stash' and tell the system where your stash backup file is located.
** Note ** Restoring a stash file will OVERWRITE the existing file with the file coming in from backup.
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Working With 2 Computers
Your user license for MyThreadbox allows for use on 2 computers, as long as both are owned by the person who owns the software - we did this because so many of you keep a laptop for class usage, vacations, etc and it just made sense to be able to use both of them.
You can set up your laptop with the same disk or download file that you used to set up your main machine, then backup your stash to floppy (from main machine) and restore (on laptop) - you will then have full funtionality on both.
Keep in mind the fact that if you make changes on one machine to your stash, it should then be backed up and restored onto your other machine in order to keep everything in sync.
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Embird Integration
MyThreadBox now allows you to generate color palette catalog files for use in any recent version of Embird - there are 3 types of files generated - full line palettes, stash palettes and design-specific files. Full line palettes contain all of the colors in a particular line (or portion of that line), as in Marathon All or just Marathon Poly.
To Generate Full Line Palette File:
Click on utilities, then 'Embird Palette Export' - you will be given a small screen with 2 drop-down controls for Palette and Type - after you have made your selection, click the button for 'Build Embird File' - you will be given a 'file save' dialog with the default location for Embird chart files pre-assigned (C:\EMBIRD32\CHARTS) - If you have installed your Embird in a different location, be sure to indicate that and then select the CHARTS folder under the install directory - In other words, if you have installed Embird on an external drive in a non-standard folder called Z:\EMBROIDERY_SOFTWARE\EMBIRD (as an example), you would put the Palette file into Z:\EMBROIDERY_SOFTWARE\EMBIRD\CHARTS - this HAS TO BE DONE for Embird to find the file you just created.
To Generate Stash Palette File:
To export a text (.TXT) file of your stash for use as an Embird Palette, just click on utilities and select 'Stash TXT file export' - you will be given a 'file save' dialog (see comments above regarding save locations) and click 'save' - when you get the popup menu asking about RGB colors, choose 'Include_RGB' - MyThreadBox will produce an Embird Palette file that will show up in your Color Catalog as 'MyStash' with all of your stash by color, number, line and name.
To Generate Design-Specific Files:
** Note ** From what we can tell, this only works with 2003 builds.
A design-specific file is a text file containing all of the color information for all color changes of a design - Embird can use this file to re-color a design on screen (very helpful with DST files and others with color stop info only) - to make this work you need a text file that Embird can read - we can produce that for you.
To export a design-specific file containing the color changes for a particular design, you need to go through a few steps - after you have matched your colors and built a picklist, you then need to click on the 'Export' button at the bottom of Picklist screen.
You will be asked for how many color changes are in the design - it is VITAL that you tell it the number of color CHANGES, not the amount of COLORS.
Once you have entered the amount of color changes, you will be given a screen with your picklist (colors) at the top, and a list of empty color change slots at the bottom of screen. The object here is to assign all of the color change slots a color from the picklist so that a file can be generated - this does not work unless all of the slots are filled with the color you will be using to sew out the design.
Once the file has been output, you can use it to color your Embird design (assuming the design is already loaded) Click on 'Color Palette' from top menu, then 'Load'. At the bottom of the 'load' window, click the drop down on file type and choose text (txt) - select the file named Myt_export and then 'open'. This is the SAME file name used each time you run the design-specific file - DO NOT try to run more than one of these, as the only one you will be left with is the last one you produced. If you have built the file correctly, Embird will apply your color changes to the design in proper order.
** IMPORTANT **
The Color Catalogs are loaded into Embird as the software starts up, therefore you MUST shut down Embird while making these Palette Files or Embird will not see them until the next time it is started.
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Exporting to Palm Device
To export a text (.TXT) file of your stash for use ona palm-type device, just click on utilities and select 'Stash TXT file export' - you will be given a 'file save' dialog (save the file somewhere you can remember the location of) and click 'save' - when you get the popup menu asking about RGB colors, choose 'Cancel' if all you are going is making a 'stash list' for export to palm - MyThreadBox will produce a text file with thread line, color number and name that can then be moved to your palm-type device using the sync software that came with the device. ** Note ** Use of the sync software and support of same is outside of the knowledge and responsibility of MyThreadBox
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I Still Don't Understand!
If you still have questions on this software that we did not address in this help file, first thing to do is ask your dealer - most of the dealers who are handling this are very sharp when it comes to software. If they cannot give you a good answer, or if you bought direct from us on the web or at a show, please send us email to support@mythreadbox.com or page us on the Yahoo Instant Messenger - our user name is 'fastrac_tech' - we will likely work in your question for the next release of help file.
Voice Tech Support is available for REGISTERED users at 360.379.3700
24hr FAX Line is 360.385.2118
Any tech calls to the tollfree number will NOT be returned
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Registering Your Software
We have attempted with this software to provide a quality tool for the home and/or commercial thread user. We have also attempted to keep the price at a very reasonable level, considering the amount of work that went into this software.
Having said that we will ask PLEASE DO NOT COPY THIS SOFTWARE.
Selling software is what puts food on the table, fabric in the closet, and thread in the stash for us.
If you purchased a download copy, we registered you when we emailed the software to you....
To register your physical copy, please send us an email containing the following tidbits:
1) Your FULL name
2) Serial number of the disk
3) Date of purchase
4) Dealer name
When we receive the email, we generate a 'Keycode' needed to register the software and email it back to you. You can also call our tech support line at 951.694.4926 8am-3pm M-F PST and we will generate the keycode and register you.
If you register your purchase with us at register@mythreadbox.com you are eligible for several things -mainly phone based tech support - you will get a deep sense of fulfillment knowing you are helping support small biz folks - you will also get a healthy boost in karma points and the undying gratitude of our our cats and dog (keeps their food dishes full....)
Thanks for being a MyThreadBox Customer
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Suggestions for New Updates
We are always on the lookout for suggestions for updates from our users - we will however, accept suggestions ONLY from REGISTERED users. If you are a registered user with ideas on how to improve MyThreadBox, join our UNCONVERTED WINHELP MACRO:! ExecFile("www.mythreadbox.com/board/index.php")user support forum and post into the suggestions section, or just email us at suggest@mythreadbox.com
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