Three workspaces, one drawing
Pick a workspace from the selector at the right of the menu bar (or Window › Workspace). Each
one opens the panels and bars for its job; the drawing stays the same file.
| Workspace | For | What opens |
|---|
| Design | Illustration, logos, print | The full vector editor: toolbox, property bar, Objects panel |
| Pattern Making | Garment patterns | Pattern piece tools, Properties, Grading and Nesting panels |
| Embroidery | Machine embroidery | Embroidery, Sewing Sequence and Hoop panels, the embroidery bar |
Every workspace bar moves like the other toolbars: dock it at the top or the bottom, or float it.
Embroidery
Turn vectors into stitches only where you choose, see exactly what the machine will sew, and
export it.
- Convert when you want. A vector stays a vector until you convert it: Convert to Satin
turns a closed shape into satin columns along its centre line, and a line into a satin along
itself; or pick a fill (Tatami, Contour, Circular, Gradient, Motif, Guided) or line stitch
(Single and Triple Run, Satin, E-Stitch, Rope) for any object. Drawings with thousands of
vectors stay fast.
- Three views. Vector, Stitches and Realistic (each stitch drawn as lit thread over the
fabric). The page is the hoop: a frame round the sewing field, and anything past it in red.
- Clean joins. Each object ends near where the next one starts, and moves between parts run
as hidden travel under fills and satins sewn later, instead of loose threads across the design.
Apply Nearest Join (
J) keeps those joins, and with the Shape tool you drag each object's
start (green square) and end (red cross) where you want them.
- Sewing Sequence. Every part in colour blocks: drag a row to reorder, click a swatch to
change the thread. Sort by Color in one click.
- Lettering in a built-in satin font, or in any of about a hundred digitized embroidery
fonts: Download Embroidery Fonts fetches the free font library from inside the app, and
the lettering stays editable (text, size, spacing, font).
- Check Design finds what would sew badly (too dense, too thin, too wide a satin, outside
the hoop) and fixes it; Remove Overlaps cuts the hidden parts of covered fills; a density
map and a stitch-by-stitch sew-out player show the result before it reaches the fabric.
- Hoops, fabrics and thread charts: brand hoops, eight fabric presets that set density,
pull compensation and underlay, and the Brother and Janome thread charts.
- Machine files: File › Export Machine File writes DST, PES, JEF, EXP, VP3, XXX, U01
and TAP; File › Open Machine File reads those and DSB, DSZ and HUS.
Details: docs/behavior/modela-embroidery.md.
Pattern making
- Pattern pieces with seam allowance, grain line and direction, kept in the drawing itself.
- Notches, Fold and Unfold tools for the details of a piece.
- Linked grading: size definitions saved with each piece.
- Nesting: arrange the selected pieces on the material's width, with spacing and optional
90° rotation, as short as it can be.
A look around
The vector editor ModelaDraw is built on, powered by TraceDraw.
Why ModelaDraw
- One program for the whole job. Design the art, cut the pattern, stitch the logo, without
moving files between three applications.
- Open. Free and open source under MIT or Apache-2.0. Drawings save as
.tdraw; it reads and
writes SVG, PDF, DXF and bitmaps, opens .cdr files, and writes the embroidery formats machines
read.
- Fast and native. Written in Rust; the stitch preview is worked out once per change and
only drawn each frame.
- Everywhere. The same program on Windows, macOS and Linux, and in the browser with nothing
to install.
- Speaks your language. The interface comes in 18 languages, Brazilian Portuguese and Spanish
among them.
Downloads
The latest release has every
build below; all releases has the
earlier ones and their notes. <version> in the names is the version number. Every push to
main also refreshes a Nightly build pre-release.
| System | File | Notes |
|---|
| Windows (x64) | modeladraw-<version>-windows-x86_64-setup.exe | Installer: Start menu, desktop icon, .tdraw files |
| modeladraw-<version>-windows-x86_64-portable.zip | Unzip and run; keeps its settings in its own folder |
| macOS (Apple silicon) | modeladraw-<version>-macos-arm64.dmg | Not notarized: the first time, right-click › Open |
| macOS (Intel) | modeladraw-<version>-macos-x86_64.dmg | Same |
| Linux (x86_64, ARM64) | modeladraw-<version>-linux-amd64.AppImage, -arm64.AppImage | Runs anywhere: chmod +x and start it |
| modeladraw_<version>_amd64.deb | Debian and Ubuntu |
| modeladraw-<version>-linux-<arch>.tar.gz | Unpack anywhere |
| Web | leonardosantost.github.io/ModelaDraw | No download; modeladraw-<version>-web.zip to host it yourself |
Windows may warn that the installer comes from an unknown publisher (it is not code-signed yet):
choose More info › Run anyway.
Build from source
You need Rust 1.97 or later.
git clone https://github.com/leonardosantost/ModelaDraw
cd ModelaDraw
cargo run --release -p tracedraw # the desktop app (the program is called modeladraw)
cargo test -p tracedraw # the app's tests
scripts/web/build.sh # the browser version, into ./site
On Linux, install the window system's libraries first:
sudo apt-get install pkg-config libxkbcommon-dev libwayland-dev libgl1-mesa-dev libx11-dev libxcursor-dev libxrandr-dev libxi-dev libgtk-3-dev.
Releases
The build workflow compiles and packages every system on GitHub's
machines. To publish a version:
- Put the version in
Cargo.toml (version = "x.y.z") and a ## x.y.z (date) section in
CHANGELOG.md for its notes.
- Push a tag
vx.y.z (git tag v0.20.0 && git push origin v0.20.0), or run Actions › build ›
Run workflow with the version.
- The workflow builds the installers and attaches them to the release, and publishes the browser
version on GitHub Pages.
License and credits
ModelaDraw is free software under the MIT or Apache-2.0
license, at your choice.
It is built on TraceDraw, the open-source vector
editor by Ighor Toth and the TraceDraw contributors, which supplies the editor, the file formats
and the rendering. The embroidery stitch generators, stitch plan and machine formats are adapted
from an MIT OR Apache-2.0 embroidery project. Every bundled font, icon and asset, and every
license notice, is listed in ATTRIBUTION.md.
ModelaDraw is an independent open-source project. Trademarks and product names belong to
their owners; file format names such as .cdr, .dst and .pes
are used only to describe the files ModelaDraw reads and writes. The software is provided "as
is", without warranty of any kind, as the licenses state.
