Has anyone used the digitizing program Stitch Era Universal? It is listed as free although I can't seem to get it to download from a couple of dealer's sites that offers it.

Well, I thought I'd bring this one back up so the issue can rest.

Truthfully, I'm not impressed. It seems that the program takes over a lot of things that I'd rather it didn't. For example: It changes all formats of embroidery designs' icons into a generic form and I couldn't isolate the different formats just by looking at them. I did try to re-digitize one of my own designs in the program, but I couldn't figure out how to save it in a format that my Futura would recognize.

Yep, I'm a gonna uninstall it, too.

1 comment

by jofrog2000 14 Jan 2012

I'll add that when I first got SewIconz from Sandscomputing and was having a problem and the creator and I were on the phone to fix it, he asked if I had SEU installed, as that took over things in the registry, also and he didn't like that.

I had tried it a while back and uninstalled it. If I remember correctly that every time I tried using it it insisted on having a internet connection. That made me nervous. I may be paranoid and I decided to do without it.

Is it free?

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by starlizard 11 Jan 2012

Its supposed to be free, Shirlene, but the authorized dealers in the U.S. can charge for burning it to a CD. Its all there... the where-to's, what-for's, and so forth. I read as much as my brain would allow me to at 4 o'clock in the morning.

I had d/l this program a few months ago and really had a hard time with it. Could have been my state of mind. My husband also d/l it and spent over 2 hours on the phone with Bernadette from their support group. She was very helpful and patient. He kept it way longer than I did but he still could never get the hang of it. It just didn't work for us. Hugs..Carol

I hope my graphic will post.
The free download is for everybody that does not live in the United States.

Follow the graphic and then decide. Everything you need to look at, I surrounded with the bright fushia boxes.

First thing you have to do, is 'Find an Authorized Local Dealer'

It seems this program is available all over the globe. Pick your area and country and then click on the 'Find Dealer' button.

Pretty soon, if there are no local authorized dealers near you, the tab that says 'No Available Dealers' will highlight and give you the option of downloading the program. IF, you chose United States at the top, a list of dealers in the U.S. will appear.

IF you chose to go ahead with the download, enter the Security Code given to you on the page that you bring up. DO NOT use the code that you see in my graphic.

I know its a pain, but I strongly suggest that you read the terms and conditions and anything else that looks like it might be important enough to read. Oddly enough, there's not a whole lot of it. Somewhere, in the process, it is explained why U.S. residents have to locate a local dealer. Now that's not a hard and fast rule, however... under some circumstances, if I read the info correctly, you CAN get the download version.

PAY ATTENTION to what you're doing. In order to get the program to download, you must have a special numerical/alpha code that will be provided. You'll be sent an email with a link to get to that code.

If all of this is intimidating the least bit, perhaps its not the road for you to take.

It took a considerable amount of time to download and install this program.... and we pay extra for high bandwidth usage so we can do what we do faster... and it seemed to drag on and on.

I'd like to thank 'jdhbraz' for posting the link. Since I've already got the program on my computer, I may as well devote some time to it.

This time, my 5 cents worth.
Liz

1 images:[1]

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by mi30kaja 11 Jan 2012

Liz, Thank You for all of your information. This is something I would like to try but just not in the right frame of mind at the moment to tackle something so involved.

Thank you!

I could not find the free download. Is it on a different link for USA? Thanks!

1 comment

by starlizard 11 Jan 2012

Its a whole different ball game if you live in the U.S., drro. I'm going to post a graphic.

In the midst of the chaos that is my life in general, I did manage to play with the program a bit. Its a for sure and certain that viewing the tutorials for the program is going to be a must do for at least a time or two. I did get far enough into the program to find out that the hoop size for the Futura CE350 is accommodated for; which was a pleasant surprise. To use this program, you have to be comfortable looking at dialog boxes that ask for specifications. Yep, this goes way beyond the 'large hoop'-'small hoop' concept. The pre-sets are mind boggling but interesting. The one thing that irritates me right off the bat is the fact that every time I open the program, I have to agree to the terms and conditions of the program... that and the program seems to be slow in getting started. I have a relatively new computer with nearly a terabyte of combined hard drive space and a fairly high end processor. If its dragging on my computer, somebody with an older machine might find this program exasperating.

My 2 cents worth.
Liz

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by jdhbraz 11 Jan 2012

This intimidates me a bit :)I really don't think my computer can handle the pressure. Maybe I should just stick with my Generations program. Thank you. Hugs

Well, didn't I find this post and went to investigate. I've downloaded the program and now installing it. What else am I going to do while I'm wide awake at 4 o'clock in the morning? LOL! I did go and check out the YouTube video before doing so. It looks really interesting and I'm looking forward to giving it a try.

7 comments

by starlizard 11 Jan 2012

Its a pretty big program, too. The installation on this is going to run close to an hour and I have a fast running computer.

by ansalu 11 Jan 2012

Good for me that I waited for the afternoon to dl. Curious how long it will need on my slow cable ;o)
Greetings, Bettina

by ansalu 11 Jan 2012

Is there anything in the description about the conditions you need on your PC? I have an iMac and Apple is often a problem with embroiderysoftware :o(

by starlizard 11 Jan 2012

It took about an hour to download the program to my PC... and then there was the registration part. I've had a chance to sort of play with it a little bit and so far, I've come to the conclusion that I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and go through the tutorials for it.

by starlizard 11 Jan 2012

... through the tutorials for it. I'm just going to have to keep telling myself that its just another graphics program and that eventually, I get to where I'm comfortable using it.

by starlizard 11 Jan 2012

Oh, I almost forgot... at no time did I see it mention specifics about whether it was just for PC users only. So you're sort of on your own figuring that one out. Sorry about that. Good luck!

by ansalu 11 Jan 2012

In worst case I have tor try and push it in parallels ;o) Regularly I don't use it to dl something (most viruses are made for windows!). Thank you for your fast answer :o)
Greetings, Bettina

From what I remember, some dealers only "give" you the program if you buy something from them. Did you try putting in your country & state? Because I'm in Australia I was taken to the Express Sierra download site (no available dealers here) but didn't download it.

If you type "Introduction to Stitch Era u tube" on a Google or other search engine you can watch one of several videos on the software. Giving a direct link to U-tube don't seem to work. You can determine if it is something that could work for you.

1 comment

by jdhbraz 11 Jan 2012

I hadn't thought of doing that. Thanks :)