Introduction
This is a program to design and display Scottish tartan (also known as plaid in the USA).
When the program starts up it displays a Macleod tartan as an example. You can modify this, or select "Clear" from the Actions menu and start from scratch, or load a design you saved earlier.
To modify the design, edit the Threadcount, Palette and/or Zoom fields, then press Enter to update the displayed pattern.
Other options can be found in the Actions menu.
Threadcount
To define a pattern you enter a "threadcount". This is a standard notation for the sequence of coloured threads which run horizontally and vertically, interleaving to form the pattern. A simple example would be
B2 R4 Y10
This means 2 threads of blue colour, then 4 of red, then 10 of yellow. Usually the pattern then reflects, following the same colour sequence in reverse back to the starting point. So the pattern above becomes
B2 R4 Y10 R4 B2, and so on.
Having the threadcount start and/or finish with "..." indicates that it does not reflect. So "B2 R4 Y10..." will create the pattern
B2 R4 Y10 B2 R4 Y10, and so on.
For more information about threadcounts, see https://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/threadcount.
As you type in the Threadcount area, each letter/number field will be highlighted in its colour. If the colour code has not been defined it will show as grey.
A field to the right shows the total number of threads being used. This total includes the reflection when this is in use, so it is the number of threads from the start until the pattern repeats.
Colours
A basic set of thread colour codes is predefined:
R
B
BL
G
O
Y
P
W
N
K
BK
T
The Palette field lets you define new codes for different colour shades (or override the predefined codes). The notation used follows the Scottish Register of Tartans. Colour shades are specified by a six-digit hexadecimal number, using two digits each for the Red, Green and Blue components of the shade. E.g.
PK=FF80FF
makes PK a bright pink (Red and Blue are FF so full brightness, Green is 80 so half brightness). Since these values are tricky to enter by hand, you can press Tab to pop up a colour selection dialog. You can then select a shade visually and its hex code will be inserted in the Palette field. If your cursor was in an existing hex colour code, the colour you select will change that entry. Otherwise you will enter a new hex colour code.
Editing
While typing in the Threadcount or Palette fields, you can undo previous changes to that field by typing control-z. You can redo changes (undo the undoing) by typing control-y on Windows, control-Z on other platforms.
In the Actions menu there is an option to Clear the Threadcount and Palette fields so you can start from scratch.
The Zoom field sets the width of each thread on the screen in pixels. The minimum zoom is 1, maximum 30. This takes effect the next time you press Enter or select "Render" from the menu.
Actions
From the Actions menu you can do the following:
Help - you're looking at what this does.
Render - this will update the displayed tartan image to match the current Threadcount, Palette and Zoom settings. This can also be done by just pressing Enter in any of these input fields.
Texturise - this menu option will cause the individual threads in the pattern to be shaded towards their edges to create a 3-D effect. Selecting "Texturise" again will turn this off. Texturing is off by default because it slows down the rendering process. Texture can only be displayed when Zoom is 4 or more.
Warp =/= Weft - selecting this in the menu allows designing a pattern which has different threadcounts for the horizontal and vertical threads. This is uncommon in tartan design, but can be used if needed. The Threadcount field then expands to two lines, the first for the horizontal pattern and the second for the vertical pattern.
Save Design - this will save the Threadcount, Palette and Zoom settings to a file with a .tartan extension.
Load Design - this will load and display these settings from a previously saved .tartan file.
Save Image - this menu option will save the currently-displayed pattern as an image in the standard PNG format, at a size of 6000x4000 pixels. This image file can then be printed or loaded into other software for further processing. Note that the image file cannot be reloaded into the Tartaniser program.
Clear - this blanks the Threadcount and Palette fields and the tartan image. Note that if you do this by mistake you can type control-z in each of the Threadcount and Palette fields to undo the clearing.
Exit - this leaves the program.
Resources
The Scottish Register of Tartans is an official register of tartan designs at https://www.tartanregister.gov.uk which you can search. If you create an account there, you can request the threadcount and palette for an existing design to be emailed to you. You can then copy and paste these into this program and render the design. Note that rather strangely they call the colour specification "pallet" rather than "palette".
They also have a page listing Scottish designers & weavers which may be useful if you design a tartan you like and want to get it woven.
The Scottish Tartans Authority - http://www.tartansauthority.com/ is another site where you can search for tartan designs, but they only provide threadcount data to paid-up members.
Wikipedia has a list of tartans at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tartans - note that if you click on a tartan image, most of them will show you their threadcount.
About
Program concept by Alasdair Macleod, design and implementation by Colin Macleod. Please send any comments, compliments or complaints to colin_g_macleod@yahoo.com.
Feel free to experiment and play around with this program. If you end up using it for serious work, please make an appropriate donation to the charity Resources for Autism - https://resourcesforautism.org.uk/about-us/
This software uses the ISC LICENSE:
Copyright (c) 2021 Colin G. Macleod
Permission to use, copy, modify, and/or distribute this software for any purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.