v0.8.1

Fixes
• A design window could keep redrawing without stopping, using a full processor core, at some window sizes and zooms. It now redraws only when something changes.

Also
• Needle Works has a project page at https://ryanlovett.github.io/needleworks/, with screenshots of three sample designs made for it. The designs are in the repository's Designs folder.

Installing
Needle Works is free software and isn't notarized by Apple, so the first time you open it macOS will say it can't verify the developer. To open it:

1. Unzip the download and drag Needle Works to your Applications folder.
2. Double-click Needle Works. macOS will say it can't be opened; click Done (or OK).
3. Open System Settings > Privacy & Security, scroll down to the message about Needle Works, and click Open Anyway. Confirm with your password if asked.
   On macOS 14 (Sonoma) or earlier, you can instead right-click (or Control-click) Needle Works, choose Open, and click Open in the dialog.
   You only need to do this once. After that, Needle Works opens normally.

v0.8.0

Fabrics
• New woven fabrics: Heather Gray is spun from light and dark fibers, Denim is a real denim twill, and the new Chambray is the soft blue of a work shirt
• The fabric menu shows a swatch of each fabric's weave
• The fabric texture no longer shows a faint edge around the design when zoomed far out

Remembering designs
• The fabric, stitch style, line width and jump stitches you choose for a design are remembered, and it opens the same way next time, even if the file is moved or renamed
• Needle Works never changes your design files; it keeps these choices in its own preferences

Faster
• The Shaded stitch style is now drawn on the GPU, 10 to 30 times faster, so large designs redraw at once after zooming

Under the hood
• Needle Works, including its Quick Look previews and thumbnails, is now written entirely in Swift

Installing
Needle Works is free software and isn't notarized by Apple, so the first time you open it macOS will say it can't verify the developer. To open it:

1. Unzip the download and drag Needle Works to your Applications folder.
2. Double-click Needle Works. macOS will say it can't be opened; click Done (or OK).
3. Open System Settings > Privacy & Security, scroll down to the message about Needle Works, and click Open Anyway. Confirm with your password if asked.
   On macOS 14 (Sonoma) or earlier, you can instead right-click (or Control-click) Needle Works, choose Open, and click Open in the dialog.
   You only need to do this once. After that, Needle Works opens normally.

v0.7.0

Stitch styles
• Choose how stitches look: Plain (lines, as before), Shaded (round thread with light and shadow), or Realistic (twisted thread with fiber sheen, drawn on the GPU)
• Pick a style for new windows in Settings (⌘,), and change any window's style from View > Stitch Style or the toolbar
• Designs stay sharp after zooming, and redrawing large designs no longer holds up the window

Fabric
• Stitches are drawn on a woven fabric texture at its real size; View > Show Fabric Texture turns it off
• Choose the fabric color from common fabrics (White, Natural, Khaki, Heather Gray, Red, Forest Green, Denim, Navy, Black) or any color, in the toolbar for one window or in Settings for new windows

View and printing
• The width of Plain lines is now set in the toolbar, and the print dialog has its own line width for printouts
• View > Show Jump Stitches replaces the checkbox in Design Information, and also works in Shaded and Realistic, where the threads between sewn areas are drawn as loose strands
• Design Information now shows only facts about the design file

Icon
• Needle Works has an icon at last: an embroidered N in a wooden hoop

If you've customized the toolbar before, add the new Line Width and Fabric items with View > Customize Toolbar.

Installing
Needle Works is free software and isn't notarized by Apple, so the first time you open it macOS will say it can't verify the developer. To open it:

1. Unzip the download and drag Needle Works to your Applications folder.
2. Double-click Needle Works. macOS will say it can't be opened; click Done (or OK).
3. Open System Settings > Privacy & Security, scroll down to the message about Needle Works, and click Open Anyway. Confirm with your password if asked.
   On macOS 14 (Sonoma) or earlier, you can instead right-click (or Control-click) Needle Works, choose Open, and click Open in the dialog.
   You only need to do this once. After that, Needle Works opens normally.

v0.6.0

Viewing
• Zoom with View menu commands (Actual Size ⌘0, Zoom to Fit ⌘9, Zoom In ⌘+, Zoom Out ⌘−), trackpad pinch, or the new toolbar
• Actual Size now shows designs at their true physical size on your display, and designs open at that size
• Small designs are centered in the window on the fabric color, and windows have a sensible minimum size
• Blank designs open in a normal window with a "This design has no stitches" message
• Thread colors come from a single Brother PEC thread table, so the printed legend matches the screen and the appliqué threads are named

Printing
• Actual Size prints at true size (it was about 0.35% small)
• Choose Actual Size or Fit to Page in the print dialog, with a live preview; this replaces the Preferences window
• The print dialog warns when a design won't fit on the page at actual size
• A check line (50 mm or 2 inches, following your Mac's measurement system) lets you confirm the printer didn't scale the page
• Fixed a crash when printing on current macOS, and printing is disabled for blank designs

Quick Look
• Finder thumbnails and Space-bar previews now work for .pes files (fixes the known issue in 0.5.0)
• If Finder still shows blank icons after installing, relaunch Finder (Option-right-click its Dock icon and choose Relaunch)

Reliability
• The PES parser handles blank, truncated and malformed files without crashing, and reads jump and trim stitches correctly, so satin areas are no longer drawn with gaps
• Stitch counts now cover the whole design, not just the last color

Installing
Needle Works is free software and isn't notarized by Apple, so the first time you open it macOS will say it can't verify the developer. To open it:

1. Unzip the download and drag Needle Works to your Applications folder.
2. Double-click Needle Works. macOS will say it can't be opened; click Done (or OK).
3. Open System Settings > Privacy & Security, scroll down to the message about Needle Works, and click Open Anyway. Confirm with your password if asked.
   On macOS 14 (Sonoma) or earlier, you can instead right-click (or Control-click) Needle Works, choose Open, and click Open in the dialog.
   You only need to do this once. After that, Needle Works opens normally.

v0.5.0

macOS compatibility
• Builds and runs on current macOS/Xcode
• Fixed several deprecated AppKit API calls flagged by the current SDK

Internal restructuring
• Extracted the .pes file parser and stitch-rendering logic out of the app into a shared NeedleWorksKit framework, so the app and QuickLook extensions use one implementation instead of hand-maintained duplicates
• Replaced the 32-bit, non-sandboxed QuickLook generator plugin with QLPreviewProvider/QLThumbnailProvider app extensions (NeedleWorksPreview, NeedleWorksThumbnail)

Known issue
• QuickLook preview/thumbnail generation for .pes files is not currently confirmed working in Finder on this build. The extensions are correctly signed, sandboxed, and registered.

Installation note
This build is signed with a free Apple ID (no paid Developer ID), so it isn't notarized. On first launch, macOS will say it can't verify the developer. To run it, right-click (or Control-click) the app and choose Open, then confirm.