Tajima Ternary DST

This is based on an old paper tape format, thread colour is not usually stored in the file. At each thread change stop, the thread colour has to be found in an external source; the embroidery machine usually gives needle number or stitch count at each stop.

The file is in two parts: a textual header part of 512 bytes and a binary stitches part. Each stitch has attributes indicating: normal stitch, jump stitch, colour change stop, and end of pattern stop.

The textual part is said not to be very accurate and is more user information. It does have data to link to a previous tape or file which is rarely used.

Appliqué is used extensively in commercial embroidery (probably to save time), I think the colour change stop is also used for cutting the pieces (or placing precut pieces) before embroidering their edges. In home appliqué a baste stitch is often used to the pieces in place.

In the style of Backus-Naur Form,

file = header {stitch}

Header

The header is 512 ASCII characters containing fields, although the fields could be variable length, they appear to be fixed width and fixed offset. A field is labelled by a two letter code and a colon, then the value and terminated by an ASCII carriage-return CR (0/13). The fields are terminated by ASCII Control-Z (1/10) and sometimes the space following is used for colour information, otherwise it is padded with ASCII space (2/0).

Offset	Size	Type	Description
0	20	ASCII	= "LA:" (label) Name padded with spaces 0x20, sometimes terminated with nul 0x00
20	11	ASCII	= "ST:" (stitch count) decimal number padded with zero or space
31	7	ASCII	= "CO:" (colour count) decimal number
38	9	ASCII	= "+X:" (maximum X extent) decimal number in tenths of a millimetre
47	9	ASCII	= "-X:" (minimum X extent) decimal number in tenths of a millimetre
56	9	ASCII	= "+Y:" (maximum Y extent) decimal number in tenths of a millimetre
65	9	ASCII	= "-Y:" (minimum Y extent) decimal number in tenths of a millimetre
74	10	ASCII	= "AX:" (needle end point X) "+" or "-" decimal number in tenths of a millimetre
84	10	ASCII	= "AY:" (needle end point Y) "+" or "-" decimal number in tenths of a millimetre
94	10	ASCII	= "MX:" (previous file needle end point X) "+" or "-" decimal number in tenths of a millimetre
104	10	ASCII	= "MY:" (previous file needle end point Y) "+" or "-" decimal number in tenths of a millimetre
114	10	ASCII	= "PD:" (previous file) "******" if single file
124	4	ASCII	= 0x1a 0x20 0x20 0x20 or 0x1a 0x00 0x00 0x00 end of header data
128	384	ASCII	= spaces 0x20 or sometimes contains colour information

Offset	Size	Type	Description
0	3	ASCII	= "LA:" label label
3	16	ASCII	Name padded with spaces 0x20, sometimes terminated with nul 0x00
19	1	ASCII	= carriage-return 0x0D terminator
20	3	ASCII	= "ST:" stitch count label
23	7	ASCII	decimal number padded with zero or space
30	1	ASCII	= carriage-return 0x0D terminator
31	3	ASCII	= "CO:" colour count label
34	3	ASCII	decimal number padded with zero or space
37	1	ASCII	= carriage-return 0x0D terminator
38	3	ASCII	= "+X:" maximum X extent label in tenths of a millimetre
41	5	ASCII	decimal number padded with zero or space
46	1	ASCII	= carriage-return 0x0D terminator
47	3	ASCII	= "-X:" minimum X extent label in tenths of a millimetre
50	5	ASCII	decimal number padded with zero or space
55	1	ASCII	= carriage-return 0x0D terminator
56	3	ASCII	= "+Y:" maximum Y extent label in tenths of a millimetre
59	5	ASCII	decimal number padded with zero or space
64	1	ASCII	= carriage-return 0x0D terminator
65	3	ASCII	= "-Y:" minimum Y extent label in tenths of a millimetre
68	5	ASCII	decimal number padded with zero or space
73	1	ASCII	= carriage-return 0x0D terminator
74	3	ASCII	= "AX:" needle end point X label in tenths of a millimetre
77	1	ASCII	plus "+" or minus "-" sign of following number
78	5	ASCII	decimal number padded with zero or space
83	1	ASCII	= carriage-return 0x0D terminator
84	3	ASCII	= "AY:" needle end point Y label in tenths of a millimetre
87	1	ASCII	plus "+" or minus "-" sign of following number
88	5	ASCII	decimal number padded with zero or space
93	1	ASCII	= carriage-return 0x0D terminator
94	3	ASCII	= "MX:" previous file needle end point X label in tenths of a millimetre
97	1	ASCII	plus "+" or minus "-" sign of following number
98	5	ASCII	decimal number padded with zero or space
103	1	ASCII	= carriage-return 0x0D terminator
104	3	ASCII	= "MY:" previous file needle end point Y label in tenths of a millimetre
107	1	ASCII	plus "+" or minus "-" sign of following number
108	5	ASCII	decimal number padded with zero or space
113	1	ASCII	= carriage-return 0x0D terminator
114	3	ASCII	= "PD:" previous file label
117	6	ASCII	= "******" if single file
123	1	ASCII	= carriage-return 0x0D terminator
124	4	ASCII	= 0x1a 0x20 0x20 0x20 or 0x1a 0x00 0x00 0x00 end of header data
128	384	ASCII	= spaces 0x20 or sometimes contains colour information

The multiple file or tape fields: AX, AY, MX, MY, and PD are seldom used.

Stitch

Each stitch is 3 bytes.

Offset	Size	Type	Description
0	3	Code	24 bit big-endian bit set

Stitch Code Bits

The end of pattern has the code value 0x0000F3, otherwise see table below.

Bit	Description
23	Y += 1 add 0.1 mm to needle's Y current coordinate
22	Y -= 1 subtract 0.1 mm from the needle's current Y position
21	Y += 9
20	Y -= 9
19	X -= 9
18	X += 9
17	X -= 1
16	X += 1
15	Y += 3
14	Y -= 3
13	Y += 27
12	Y -= 27
11	X -= 27
10	X += 27
9	X -= 3
8	X += 3
7	Jump stitch (not a normal stitch)
6	Stop for colour change or end of pattern
5	Y += 81
4	Y -= 81, the end-of-pattern code sets both Y += 81 and Y -= 81 which cancel each other
3	X -= 81
2	X += 81
1	= 1 synchronization bit
0	= 1 synchronization bit, two LSB only set in byte 3

Several jump stitches may be run together to span distances greater than 12.1 mm, the following normal stitch is the start of the next run of stitches (don't draw a line from the last move stitch to the following normal stitch).