A Card Weaver's Studio

The card weaving design tool consists of three screens, each dedicated to a specific function:

Screen What you do
The Weaving Screen

You use the weaving screen to simulate weaving. You weave a row by turning the entire pack of cards forwards or backwards. You can use the woven example as the starting point or you can delete what's there and start over from row one.
You can also flip cards by clicking on the row of / and \ between the buttons and the woven piece.
The Warp Design Screen You use the design screen to change the warp pattern. You call up the design screen from the weaving screen. You need to start out with one of the given examples. You can change the colors of the original pattern, make a new color arrangemetn, change S to Z and Z to S, or enter a completely new design.
The Color Editor You use the color editor to change colors in warp or weft or you create your own color.

The Weaving Screen
The Woven Piece

Here you see the result of your work. You can grow the woven piece, you can shrink it, you can start over. You can color it in different ways, and you can redesign it entirely.

 
How to Make the Weft Visible

You can make the weft visible by clicking on the woven piece. Click on it again, and the weft disappears.
Combine this feature with invisible threads and you can model the "Missed Hole Technique".

 
Info Mode

You can make the reversal points, the turn direction, letters, and row numbers visible by clicking on the grey area left or right of the woven piece. Click here again, and you'll turn it off.
You need to be aware of the dynamics of card weaving. The letters A, B, C, and D do no longer correspond to the threading of your cards after you have flipped individual cards.

 
 
Threading of Cards

The row of / and \ represent cards and how they are threaded:

\ stands for S threading,
/ stands for Z threading.

Cards can be flipped by clicking on a / or \ in this row.

A small square on top shows the color of the top row and changes as you go along.

 
 
Buttons

Buttons are used for most user interaction. Their functions are explained next.

Buttons and their Functions

 Weaves one row by turning the entire pack of cards forward.
Weaves one row by turning the pack of cards backwards. The color green indicates that this button that was last used.
Unravels the top row. This may imply unflipping some cards.
Deletes everything and leaves just the top row as the first row.
This button is grayed out because it is not enabled.
Pressing the "Design" button brings up the warp design screen. The design screen is explained in detail in the next chapter.

The Warp Design Screen

The warp design screen lets you view and change the warp. It shows the S and Z threading direction for each card and the color of threads for each hole for each card and the weft. In addition there are some informational text fields. The fields in this screen from top to bottom are:

Title

You can change the title here. The change is displayed in the weaving screen when you click "Apply" and return to the weaving screen.

Warp

This matrix is the major portion of the design. The arrow on the left indicates the current top row. Rows are named A, B, C, and D and correspond to the info of the weaving screen.
The keywords "Painting", "Adding" or "Deleting" underneath the matrix show the current mode. In the case of "Painting", the word is painted in the current color.

Threading

No matter what mode you are in, clicking on a / or \ will change the orientation. Note however, the cards are not flipped which means the color sequence of the corresponding squares in the matrix does not change. This is different (but not so visible) in the weaving screen.

Palette

To choose a color for painting you can either select a color from the given palette or you can modify a color. There are several pieces of information for each color:

- color icon
This is the colored rectangle.

- a framing rectangle
Exactly one color has a black frame. The frame identifies this color as the current selection.

- red vs black numbers
Colors that are used in the design are identified by a red number. The weft has a color just like the warp and as such has a red number. Most examples have a light grey weft.

- a number under the color icon
The number under the icon is the width of the yarn which is typically the number 1.

You can change the width if you perform the following two steps:

Step 1: click on a color icon to select it.

Step 2: click again on the same color icon.

If you clicked in the upper half of the color icon you increased the width of the yarn. The number underneath the color icon reflects that change.
If you clicked in the lower half of the color icon you decreased the width.

For the current card weaving program only two cases are of interest: 1 and 0.

The value 1 is the normal case. For the value 0 you get an invisible thread which lets you model the "Missed Hole Technique".

Number of Holes, Number of Cards

This version of the tool supports cards with 3 or more holes. These fields will be editable in the future.

Buttons

Clicking a button puts you into certain modes or trigger actions. Their functions are explained next.

Buttons and their Functions

 Puts you in "Painting" mode. If you now click on a square in the design matrix you will paint it using the current color.
Puts you in "Adding" mode. If you click on a square in the matrix you are going to duplicate the card that contains the square.
The opposite of adding, clicking deletes a card.
Pops up the color editor.
Applies the new warp design to weaving. It takes down the design screen, and updates the weaving screen. If you have added or deleted cards the weaving will not immediately reflect those changes. For this case it is recommended to click on "Start Over" and then develop a pattern with the new design.
Cancels the warp modifications and takes you back to the weaving screen.

The Color Editor

The color editor lets you change any color on the palette. The selected color shows up in the field labeled "Old".

The new color can be created by sliding each one of the sliders, or by entering numbers in the fields on the right hand side of the sliders. The numbers need to be between 0 and 255. They represent the red, green, or blue component of the new color.