Frequently Asked Questions
...and answers to questions that may not have been asked, but are good to know about anyway
I don't have a TC2, Can I use AdaCAD?
Yes, while there are many features that take advantage of the complex patterning capabilities of the TC2 jacquard loom, we also support design for dobby and treadle-style looms. Check out our guides for dobby and floor looms.
Start with Generate Files for a CompuDobby to export .WIF files for your loom, or Generating Threading Sequences to build threading, treadling, and tie-up patterns from unit blocks. There is also a recording of our Drafting for Harness Looms workshop.
I like making drafts, but I don't know how to weave, where might I learn to weave?
AdaCAD is really a bitmap pixel editor that knows something about the requirements and methods weavers commonly use in drafting. You can interpret the drafts however you like. That said, if you are interested in learning to weave, prepare to invest some time and energy! We recommend taking a course or finding local resources where you can access looms near you. In the meantime, you can weave with paper or download your drafts as coloring pages
Not sure where to start looking? Ask in the AdaCAD Discord community — weavers there can often point you toward classes, guilds, and looms near you.
Can I use AdaCAD with other tools?
Yes, we have learned that weavers have a complex suite of tools and preferences for those tools. AdaCAD is designed to be interoperable with other systems. For example, we support importing and exploring .WIF files created by any software. Additionally, we have designed the system with the knowledge that many people will likely work across AdaCAD and an image editing tool like Photoshop. We think it can be helpful to design your structures in AdaCAD before exporting them as bitmaps, which you can import as patterns in Photoshop. If you have an existing library of structures, you can also import them into a workspace using a Bitmap import feature.
To import .WIF or bitmap files, you can click the Home icon on the topbar, select "import draft(s)", then "...import as .WIF" or "import as .BMP". You can upload one, or several drafts using that option. Each upload will appear as a seed draft in your workspace.
You can also export .WIF or bitmap files from the library. In the drafts section, there are also links to import and export your drafts as bitmaps.
I've heard AdaCAD is buggy and unreliable
Yeah, sorry about that. We are not a company, we are a small team with one dedicated developer (Laura) and help from students and the community. We also have other responsibilities and commitments. We have made significant effort to improve the quality and reliability of the software. If it's been 6 months since you last tried it, try again. You can help us by reporting bugs that you encounter via Github or Discord. We are also an open-source project, so if you have the capacity to chip in, there are pathways for you to provide additional resources, code, and or help other community members.