PDF to PES

A PDF is usually where a design's exact colours are kept: it is the file a designer sends when the colour matters. A PES file — the format Brother and Babylock machines read — does not keep them exactly. It stores a thread for every block it sews, and that thread is the nearest one in the palette the machine shows on its screen. Going from one to the other, colours change their names.

Three measured colours, and the thread each became

The free check measured these three colours in our own mark sent as a PDF, at 90 mm on rule set 1.3. Each was then written into a PES the way our engine writes every PES, with pyembroidery 1.5.1.

The orange is the one to look at. It went to the nearest orange in the machine's palette, which is redder and more saturated than the one that was drawn. Nothing about the stitching changes — the same blocks sew in the same order — but a person loading spools from what the screen says will reach for that redder one.

Two creams, one name

The crest sample has a cream too, and it is not the mark's cream. Written into a PES, the two become the same thread:

For most designs that is harmless. For a brand whose cream is part of the identity it is worth knowing before the first run: the file will not tell the embroiderer which cream you meant. The thread list that comes with every order will, because it keeps the colour we digitized rather than the palette's name for it.

What to send, and what to hand on

What else a PES file carries, and why a Brother shows a palette at all, is on PNG to PES. Delivery takes 1–3 business days, most orders the same day.

Questions

My PDF uses Pantone colours. Will the PES keep them?

No format keeps a Pantone name as a thread. Our reader draws the page and measures the colours as they are drawn, and a PES then stores, for each block, the nearest thread in the palette Brother machines use — the table on this page shows three real colours making that trip. If a colour has to match a brand book, choose the thread you will sew it with and give the thread list to whoever loads the spools.

Why does my Brother call two different colours by the same name?

Because its palette is shorter than your artwork's. The cream in our own mark (#f1eadc) and the cream in the crest sample (#fdf7e2) are different colours, and both are written into a PES as “White”. The stitches do not change; only the name on the screen does. The thread list that ships with every order still says which cream was meant.

Is an online PDF to PES converter the same as this?

No. A converter traces the shapes on the page and fills them with stitches in whatever direction the program picks. We digitize: the shapes are redrawn for thread, the sewing order and underlay are chosen, and a person checks the file before it reaches you. Why a picture cannot simply be traced into a machine file is on the PNG to DST page.

Does the PES come out the size of my PDF page?

It comes out the width you type into the order, in millimetres. The page size of the PDF plays no part, which is why a logo in the corner of an A4 page is best cropped before it is sent — the PDF to DST page goes through what our reader does with the page. Check your machine's largest embroidery area in its manual before you choose the width.

Do I need to say PES when I order?

No. Every package carries PES and DST together (Basic, Standard, Premium, Enterprise), so a Brother or Baby Lock owner and a shop running a commercial machine get what they need from the same order.

Check your PDF freePrices and terms

Measured colours come from web/tools/format_checks.py (the same checker the site runs) and web/src/samples.json; the thread each became comes from web/tools/pes_snap.py, which asks pyembroidery 1.5.1 for the nearest colour in the PEC palette. No colour on this page was typed by hand.