This is a fabric simulation feature which creates a three dimensional looking woven effect. It can be used with Dobby and Jacquard designs and can also simulate the use of fancy yarns within your designs

A Yarns folder is automatically installed at the following location when you install AVA: Home user > Library > Application Support > AVA > Yarns. Inside the Yarns folder, you will notice several named folders and sub folders, each containing different yarn effects. 

Creating a fabric simulation

1. Open an existing dobby design, or create a new one.
2. Choose Weave Simulation from the Weave Menu and a window similar to that below will open;
   
   Alternatively you can add the Weave Simulation icon to your toolbar to make accessing this option even easier!
   
   
3. Click on the Set button at the top of the window to choose the yarn(s) to be used for the simulation. Select one of the folders inside the Single yarns folder from the location noted above. This yarn will automatically be remembered next time you enter the Weave Simulation window, but can be changed for a different yarn if required.
4. Enter the desired Thread overlap depending on the type of yarn you have selected. The higher the percentage, the more overlap there will be between the individual threads. Select from 0 – 50%. This setting will calculate the selected percentage of the chosen yarn as the amount of overlap to be used in the simulation. For example with 25% selected, 25% of the width of the chosen yarn will be overlapped with its neighbouring threads. 
   
   For irregular yarns such as slubs, boucles and so on, it is advisable to use quite a high overlap, unless you wish to create a very open looking fabric simulation. For straight, regular yarns such as chenilles, it is best not to set any overlap.
   
   
5. Tick Set Output Size to control the number of ends and picks per inch/cm, thus creating your desired fabric Sett. If you have already set the correct quality / Sett for your design earlier in the design process (as recommended), simply enter the same ends and picks per inch/cm in here and your simulation will be created at the same size and scale as your actual design.
   
   If you wish to see your design simulated at a different quality, just enter that Sett in this section of the window and the simulation will be created at the chosen scale. As a general rule, the lower the numbers in here, the less threads per inch and therefore the chunkier the simulation will look.

6. Enter the resolution you wish to use to create the simulation file. This setting controls the resolution of the weave simulation image and should be set based on the end use of this file. For example, if you intend to print the simulation, we would recommend entering the resolution of your printer to avoid any incompatibility or corruption in printing.
7. Click OK and a new design window will be created displaying the fabric simulation for your chosen design and yarn at the specified overlap, sett and resolution settings.
8. Go to File Menu > Save As, if you wish to keep a copy of the weave simulation.

Simulation types

You will notice that the Yarns folder has two sub folders: Single yarns and Multiple yarns. Each of these sub folders contains examples of the different simulation types available in the software. The following methods will explain the differences between the types and detail how to set up your own yarns.

Single yarns

The sample yarns included in the Single yarns folder all relate to individual types of yarns such as slubs, chenilles, boucles and filaments, etc. When used with Weave Simulation, the chosen yarn is simulated across the whole fabric in both the warp and weft, using the colours you previously selected in the weave colour palette of your design. 

This example shows a simple check design simulated using a gimp yarn with 10% overlap.

Multiple yarns

Unlike single yarn simulations, multiple yarn simulations actually ignore the colours you have previously chosen in your weave colour palette. This is because the colours used in the simulations come directly from the yarns themselves. 

This example shows the same check design, made up of blues and yellows. The simulation shows the same structure and colour sequence, but this time using purples, orange and green with a mixture of boucle, slub and chenille yarns. The variation of fancy yarns is the focal point of this simulation.

The combinations of yarn styles used in one folder is entirely up to you. It could be as varied as the example above, including many different types of yarn; or as simple as two or three different thicknesses of the same type of yarn. 

Mixed yarn styles

The sample yarns included in the Multiple yarns folder fall into two categories:

• Yarns of different styles which will be used in the same design, such as a combination of fancy and plain yarns, for example.
• Yarns of the same style but made up of different colours, again, to be used in the same design, such as a range of marl effect yarns.

Despite creating different results when applied to weave designs, you will notice that the contents of both sample folders are named in the same way. Each yarn file is named from ‘a’ onwards in alphabetical order (we have used a – f for the sample files). This is because each yarn in the chosen folder will be transferred to its corresponding letter in the selected weave file’s warp and weft colour orders. The following examples will explain this in more detail. 

Mixed colour yarns

Mixed colour yarns also ignore the colours in your weave colour palette and use the same method as above to simulate the yarns in your design. Yarn a is applied throughout the weave simulation, wherever colour a has been selected in the warp and weft colour sequences; the same is true for yarns b, c and so on. 

This example shows a close up of the same design simulated with the multi marl yarns, in horizontal and vertical stripes of colour. Each yarn in the simulation is made up of three colours (a core, an outer effect and a binder).