Projects/Liberty/File Formats/Viking Pfaff
Viking/Husqvarna Pfaff/Singer 3 VP3
The VP3 file format appears to be series of nested tagged sections. The files seen so far, start with a header of signature bytes and "Produced by..." string; followed by a tagged embroidery-summary packet. Like Russian dolls, the embroidery-summary packet contains a tagged hoop-centred packet after some information about stitched area, stitching time, etc. The hoop-centred packet expresses a centred stitch extent and contains several tagged thread packets. Each thread packet has colour and weight information, also containing one stitch-rum packet.
The file format could logically contain several embroideries, and each embroidery contain more than one hoop, but this has not been seen. Perhaps to contain a library of patterns, or to split a large design over several hoops.
The tags seen, so far, are,
- 0 2 0 - Embroidery-summary packet
- 0 3 0 - Hoop-centred packet
- 0 5 0 - Thread packet
- 0 1 0 - Stitch-run packet
In the style of Backus–Naur Form,
File = File-header Embroidery-summary
Embroidery-summary = Summary-details {Hoop-centred}
Hoop-centred = Hoop-details {Thread}
Thread = Thread-details Stitch-run
File-header
| Offset | Length | Type | Description |
| 0 | 6 | ASCIIZ | Signature = "%vsm%" |
| 6 | N1 | N-WStr | Producer-string 16 bit big-endian length in bytes followed by 16 bit characters |
| 6+N1 |
Embroidery Summary-details
| Offset | Length | Type | Description |
| 0 | 3 | Tag | embroidery-tag 0 2 0 three bytes |
| 3 | 4 | Length | embroidery-len remaining bytes in this packet |
| 7 | N2 | N-WStr | settings-string human readable debugging notes |
| 7+N2 | 4 | MicroM | extent-right right edge of stitching in um starting from 0,0 |
| 11+N2 | 4 | MicroM | extent-top |
| 15+N2 | 4 | MicroM | extent-left |
| 19+N2 | 4 | MicroM | extent-bottom |
| 23+N2 | 4 | Count | stitch-time-count time estimate in stitches |
| 27+N2 | 2 | Count | thread-change-count |
| 29+N2 | 1 | Byte | unknown = 12 |
| 30+N2 | 2 | Count | unknown = 1 may be hoop-count |
Hoop-details
| Offset | Length | Type | Description |
| 0 | 3 | Tag | hoop-tag = 0 3 0 |
| 3 | 4 | Length | hoop-len |
| 7 | 4 | MicroM | centre-x of summary extent above |
| 11 | 4 | MicroM | centre-Y |
| 15 | 3 | Bytes | unknown = 00 00 00 may include empty string |
| 18 | 4 | MicroM | hoop-left |
| 22 | 4 | MicroM | hoop-right |
| 26 | 4 | MicroM | hoop-bottom |
| 30 | 4 | MicroM | hoop-top |
| 34 | 4 | MicroM | hoop-width |
| 38 | 4 | MicroM | hoop-height |
| 42 | N3 | N-WStr | settings-2 second copy of settings-string |
| 42+N3 | 1 | Byte | unknown = 100 |
| 43+N3 | 1 | Byte | unknown = 100 |
| 44+N3 | 4 | int | unknown = 4096 |
| 48+N3 | 4 | int | unknown = 0 |
| 52+N3 | 4 | int | unknown = 0 |
| 56+N3 | 4 | int | unknown = 4096 |
| 60+N3 | 1 | Byte | unknown = 120 or 'x' |
| 61+N3 | 1 | Byte | unknown = 120 or 'x' |
| 62+N3 | 1 | Byte | unknown = 80 or 'P' |
| 63+N3 | 1 | Byte | unknown = 80 or 'P' |
| 64+N3 | 1 | Byte | unknown = 1 |
| 65+N3 | 1 | Byte | unknown = 0 |
| 66+N3 | N4 | N-WStr | producer-2 second copy of producer-string |
| 66+N3+N4 | 2 | Count | thread-count |
Thread-details
| Offset | Length | Type | Description |
| 0 | 3 | Tag | thread-tag = 0 5 0 |
| 3 | 4 | Length | thread-len bytes to next thread |
| 7 | 4 | MicroM | start-x move needle |
| 11 | 4 | MicroM | start-y |
| 15 | 1 | Count | colours-per-thread |
| 16 | N5 | Table | colour-table = {colour-detail} |
| 16+N5 | 1 | Byte | unknown = 0 or 10 for multicoloured |
| 17+N5 | 1 | Code | thread-type-tension (5 rayon, 1 metallic) |
| 18+N5 | 1 | Byte | thread-weight (km/kg) |
| 19+N5 | N6 | Record | thread-description human readable thread description |
| 19+N5+N6 | 4 | MicroM | total-displacement-x sum of stitches and jump stitches |
| 23+N5+N6 | 4 | MicroM | total-displacement-y |
| 27+N5+N6 | N7 | Record | stitche-run |
| 27+N5+N6+N7 | 1 | Byte | unknown = 0 |
Colour-detail
| Offset | Length | Type | Description |
| 0 | 1 | Byte | unknown = 0 or 20 for multicoloured |
| 1 | 3 | RRGGBB | colour-RGB |
| 4 | 1 | Byte | unknown = 0 or 10 for multicoloured |
| 5 | 1 | Byte | unknown = 0 |
Thread Tension Code
| Code | Description |
| 5 | Rayon |
| 1 | Metallic |
Thread Description
| Offset | Length | Type | Description |
| 0 | N6a | N-Str | Thread-code 16 bit length followed by ASCII characters part-number |
| 0+N6a | N6b | N-Str | Thread-name human readable name of thread |
| 0+N6a+N6b | N6c | N-Str | Thread-manu maker, material and weight |
Stitch-run
| Offset | Length | Type | Description |
| 0 | 3 | Tag | stitch-tag = 00 01 00 |
| 3 | 4 | Length | stitches-len |
| 7 | 1 | Byte | scale-x = 10 |
| 8 | 1 | Byte | scale-y = -10 the y displacement is negative |
| 9 | 1 | Byte | unknown = 0 |
| 10 | N8 | Table | stitch-table |
stitch-table = { Escaped-command | Displacement | disp-x | disp-y }
Escaped-command
| Offset | Length | Type | Description |
| 0 | 1 | Byte | Escape = -128 or 0x80 |
| 1 | 1 | Byte | Command-code |
| Command-code | Description |
| 0 | Deleted or null stitch |
| 1 | Move followed by 16 bit displacement-x and 16 bit displacement-y |
| 2 | End-move preceded by 16 bit displacement-y and 16 bit displacement-x for reverse stitching |
| 3 | Deleted or null stitch |
Displacement
| Offset | Length | Type | Description |
| 0 | 1 | Byte | displacement-x -127 to 127 in 0.1 mm |
| 1 | 1 | Byte | displacement-y -127 to 127 in -0.1 mm |
Other References
The VP3 File Format external page contains an overview of this format.