Tartan Designer?

[Woodsheal]

What's the best on-line tartan design site? Best range of colors, ease of use, etc.?

Thanks!

[Sherry]

Hmm, I don't think anyone has ever made a study of it...sooo...TAG! You're It!

Try http://www.weddslist.com/cgi-bin/tar...ce=misc#result
http://houseoftartan.co.uk/interacti...ver/index.html

Alternatively, you can buy a cd-rom based generator here:
http://www.tartangenerator.com/

[Barb T]

Just remember that what a tartan looks like on a computer monitor on a web site is quite a bit different from what it will look like "in hand". If you want to see the difference, just grab a piece of tartan, key in the sett, and compare the tartan to the screen.

Barb

[MacSimoin]

Hmm, I don't think anyone has ever made a study of it...sooo...TAG! You're It!

Try http://www.weddslist.com/cgi-bin/tar...ce=misc#result
http://houseoftartan.co.uk/interacti...ver/index.html

Alternatively, you can buy a cd-rom based generator here:
http://www.tartangenerator.com/

Just a quick review of the sites shown above...

The first link: Nice to see some neutral colors available here. However, there seems to be several quirks to this 'generator': Don't use capital letters when assigning colors (the program it isn't coded to ignore them); you'll need to enter the first thread color in the first (small) box and the last thread color in the last (small) box. Entering the weft appears unnecessary (I clicked "Draw" and it repeated properly, probably because the default setting for "repeat" is "1"). Other nice features are the "mute" and "darken" settings for your colors, but don't go above a valure of "1" or it will produce too dramatic a change in your design. The "rotate" feature seems pointless to me (why isn't it the design output shown upright?) but you'll need to use it (using a factor of "1") to straighten out your design. The resulting (image) size of the tartan is a serious drawback. Lastly, I had to set the "weave" to "s5" to get the design to near-actual size. Altogether, I think it's useful but too complicated for the average user/websurfer to bother with.

Second link: House of Tartan's online generator is much easier to use though it lacks the tertiary colors available above. Select your colors, set their order (you may need to click the same color more than once if your design calls for it) and then choose your thread counts (trial and error comes into play here). Once you're finished, click the "Draw Tartan" button and you'll see a small sample of your design. Click the "Continue" button and you'll be taken to a divided (framed) page with a larger image. From here, you can select a larger image size (640x480, 800x600, 1024x768) to save to your pc, or if you're unhappy with the results you can start over or change the colors, order or thread numbers. Thread order and numbers are probably the trickiest parts here but with minimal practice you'll get the hang of it easily enough. I think the biggest drawback here is the available colors; however, that's easily remedied if you have decent graphics software (where you can replace colors, etc).

Third link: The new version of this software is expected in "ealy 2006". Well, it is early 2006 and still it's a no show (yes, I'm one of those waiting for the new vesrion). I'd suggest emailing the site owners if you're seriously interested in their product. I have used Viking Technology's Tartan Generator in the past; it's fairly easy to use but ergonomically I think it's a bit messy (window graphics, layout of settings, etc).

A final link: The best overall software out there in my opinion is ITI Professional, available from the Scottish Tartans Authority. This software is a revamped version of Textile32, a tartan generator that's been around for a long time. ITI Pro combines the International Tartan Index with the Textile32 software to offer the most comprehensive package around. I found the software a bit difficult to use at first (again, trial and error) and it does have one serious drawback to the average man on the street: the 2-disc set is nearly $1500 (US). But, if you're a designer and this is what you truly need, then go for it. FYI, a demo of Textile32 is available here.