Designing carpets is a different than making edited designs for seamless textile pattern. It needs some more calculation to decide the pixels according to the tufts and knots. As we know that there are different kinds of carpets and everyone has different construction methods. In this blog, I am going to share some calculation method which I have been following to decide the pixels before I start editing the design. If you want to about what is carpet with little more detail you can check out this link
Always remember the its better to set the right pixels before you start editing the design, because if you change the pixel later, you might have to re-edit the entire design.
There are two categories for the calculation which I follow.
- How to calculate pixels for hand knotted carpets.
- How to calculate pixels for tufted carpets/area rugs.
How to calculate pixels for hand knotted/handmade carpets.
The term we use for knots count is called KPSI (knots per square inch). Once you have KPSI then you can easily calculate the no of pixels for editing. To find KPSI we need to know number of knots horizontally in an inch and number of knots vertically in an inch. When we multiply both the value (no of knots vertically x no of knots horizontally) then we get a number which is KPSI.
KPSI = no of knots vertically in an inch x no of knots horizontally in an inch
Sometimes no of knots horizontally and vertically are available to us, in that case it becomes easier for us to get the pixels but sometimes we only know the quality of the carpet for example 9/25, 9/16, 10/10. In such cases we first need to understand what are these numbers. These are not the numbers of knots in an inch so do not get confused, and do not assume that 9/25 quality means 9x25=225 KPSI! NO.
Now we will try to understand the quality value and how to calculate the KPSI or no of pixels to put in Adobe Photoshop for editing. This is Indian way of determining the quality value, most of the hand knotted carpets which are made in India, follow this rule.
We will take A/B as terms to understand, where A is no of knots horizontally in 9/10th =0.9 part of an inch. So when we divide A/0.9 we will get knots/pixels per inch horizontally. Let’s make it easier.
This way we can find the no of knots/pixels count horizontally.
Now we will find out the no of knots/pixel vertically in an inch for which we will use B value. B is no of knots in 4 ½ (4.5) inches vertically. So, when we divide value of B by 4.5 we get the no. of knots in an inch vertically. Let’s make it easier as well.
Now we will try to take some quality as example to do the calculation, let’s take the quality 9/20.
Here 9 (A) is no of knots in 0.9 one inch.
So, we can simply follow the yellow box and divide 9/0.9= 10 knots/pixel per inch horizontally.
Here 20 (B) is no of knots in 4.5 inches.
So, we can simply follow the blue box and divide 20/4.5=4 knots/pixel per inch vertically.
So now we have 10 knots/pixels per inch horizontally and 4 knots/pixels per inch vertically. When we multiply both we get the KPSI=10X4=40 knots in an inch.
now let’s suppose we have to edit a carpet of 5 x 8 feet in 9/20 quality. We will convert 5x8 feet into inches which is 5 feet (5x12) =60 inches/8 feet (8x12) =96 inches.
For width, horizontally we will multiply 60 x 10 =600 pixels/knots
For length, vertically we will multiply 96 x 4 = 384 pixels/knots
The design will be edited in 600 x 384 pixels.
The drawback to edit the knotted carpet design in Photoshop pixel is that sometimes the size may not look proportionately right even when the pixels are right for example as above the size is 5 x 8 feet but as per the quality the pixels are 600 x 384 pixels (in texcelle there is an option to view the carpet in right proportion). However, for editing you can use the pixel in Photoshop keep in mind the proportion, side by side.
How to calculate pixels for tufted carpets-
Here I will share the calculation method which I have been following for calculating the pixels for designing tufted carpets. Tufted carpets are done either by hand tufting gun or machine tufting gun the difference is primarily tufting speed.
The minimum tufting area for one line is usually 0.5 cm, and 0.5 cm is considered 2pixels. Remember that tufting designs are never edited in one pixel. The thickness required for a line or a dot would be 2 pixels minimum, because you cannot tuft in less than 0.5cm.
So now we understood that 0.5cms = 2 pixels, that means 1 cms = 4 pixels. If you are following my calculation than its better that you make this marked somewhere that 1cms=4pixels always.
Now suppose we a carpet of 5 x 8 feet to edit in Photoshop for tufting. We will convert the unit into cms and then multiply both by 4.
5 x 8 feet (multiply both with 12 to convert into inches)
60 x 96 inches (multiply both with 2.54 to convert into cms)
152 x 244 cms (multiply both with 4 to get the editing pixels)
608 x 976 pixels – ready to apply in Photoshop.
Therefore 5 x 8 feet will be edited in 608 x 976 pixels.
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