I stayed quiet when Ronna's email arrived, because I felt that anything I said on this subject would appear to be biased. However, now that others have spoken out, I will say this:
Jean is right - Knipling isn't so easy for most people to master. EasyLace works in much the same way as Lace 2000 - however, it *is* an adaptation of a cross stitch programme, and the programmer hasn't had the assistance of a lacemaker to simplify the "language" used - so a lot of the functions such as adding pattern items (such as spiders, fans) to the motif library and reusing them is not as intuitive as Lace 2000. It doesn't "sit" so well on the screen, either. Some of the displays are very hard to see, and there isn't the option (which you do get in Lace 2000) to change background colours to make the display easier to see - although with the last upgrade, they have finally made it possible to change some of the drawing colours. I'm very familiar with Easy Lace - because I was approached last year to write a book for it in the same style as "Click and Drag ... Snap to Grid" (which is available in America through Lacy Susan). So I spent some weeks turning Easy lace inside out and upside down to find out what it did and how it worked. I also finally managed to acquire a copy of Knipling earlier this year, although I haven't had a lot of time to spend on it yet. I'm reasonably good with computers, and I'd have to say, out of the three, I still keep going back to Lace 2000. Ronna - think of the display screen as your graph paper - all those dots are the intersections of graph paper lines, ready set up for drawing Torchon. To put dots on the page, click on the "dot" button - now anywhere you click on the page, a dot will appear...its the same for most of the other drawing buttons. Fans are drawn as a line first, then converted to dots. I won't take up any more "time" on the list by going into details here, but if you need help, email me. I have nothing to gain whether Ronna (or anyone else for that matter) buys Lace 2000 or not - so please take my comments as personal opinion, rather than "sales-speak". Ruth Budge (Sydney, Australia) -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jean Nathan Sent: 06 July 2006 17:34 To: Lace Subject: [lace] Lace design software I've got both 'Lace 2000' and 'Knipling'. 'Lace 2000' is extremely easy to use, but I'd advise a tutorial - perhaps Ruth Budge in Australia could publish her intoductory lessons. She has published an excellent book "Click and drag .... snap to grid" which goes into everything in a much clearer way than the instructions which come with the program. There's support available in most areas except the UK, where we have to rely on the good nature of Ruth to answer questions. I haven't found 'Knipling' so easy. I think there's more maths and setting up involved than in 'Lace 2000'. As I haven't "fallen into it" as easily as I did 'Lace 2000', I haven't done much with it. I'm sure other will sing the praise of 'Knipling' over 'Lace 2000'. I think the other one you found was probably 'Easylace', and I don't know anything about that except trying the demo of modules for cross stitch and lace several years ago. As far as I remember it struck me as being a variation on cross-stitching rather than lacemaking. Jean in Poole, Dorset, UK - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
