The embroidery software can see the distinct areas of colors and allows you to define these shapes as stitch areas.

The upside of vector-based images is that they convert more easily into embroidery files. Therefore, vector-based graphics tend to be cartoonish looking instead of photo realistic. The downside of vector-based images is that they are comprised of flat shapes of color. No matter the scale, the edges look crisp and clear. You can see that when you zoom in, the edges look pixelated and blurry. This is why you can scale up a vector-based image and it looks crisp and clean at any size. The computer generates the images based on the data. Vector-based images, on the other hand, are stored on the computer as points and direction lines (vectors). The nature of pixel-based images allow them to produce photo realistic graphics. A pixel-based image is stored on the computer pixel by pixel – which is A LOT of information. Vector-based images differ completely from pixel-based images. Why would you want fewer colors? Fewer thread color changes once you convert the image into an embroidery file. Saving an image as a GIF may be a smart first step in reducing an image to fewer colors. GIFs differ from PNG files in that GIFs only support 256 colors. (More details re: removing the background of an image below). Therefore, if you want to remove the background of an image prior to converting it to an embroidery file, you will ultimately need to save it as either a GIF or a PNG file.

JPGs do not support transparent backgrounds. GIFS and PNG files can both have transparent backgrounds. However, they have some differing properties from JPGs. These, too, can be converted into to embroidery files. Other common pixel-based images include GIFs and PNGs. Another reason why they are so common is because they can be seen within a web browser. So, the quality of them is quite high for the file size compared to their uncompressed counterparts. One of the reason why JPGs are so common is because they incorporate compression. If you transfer an image from your phone to your computer, it will more than likely be in JPG format. JPGs (or JPEGs) are the most common pixel-based image file format. Most monitors will support over 24 million different colors so these pixels can be comprised of A LOT of different possible colors! Because pixels can be so many different possible colors, and there are so many of them in an image, pixel-based images do a great job of capturing photo realism.

One image can be comprised of millions of different colored pixels. On the right a small section of balooon blown up where you can see the individual pixels. On the left, you can see the picture of a balloon.

Pes embroidery dog designs