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WIF files
History
WIF is an acronym for 'Weaving Information File'. WIF files are plain text files with information about the weaving (threads, colors, shafts, treadles, etc...)
The idea behind WIF was to create a public file format to allow users of different weaving programs to share their weaving projects.
WIF Specification 1.0, released March 3, 1996, was created by Ravi Nielsen (Patternland Weave Simulator), Bob Keates (Fiberworks PCW) and Rob Sinkler (Swiftweave).
WIF Specification 1.1, released April 20, 1997, received additional collaboration: Sally Breckenridge (WeaveIt), Dana Cartwright (WeaveMaker), Jane Eisenstein (QD-WIF), Mark Kloosterman (Proweave) and Bjorn Myhre (WeavePoint).
If you want to know more about the WIF file format, Ravi Nielsen kindly maintains a copy of the specification at his Patternland site: http://www.mhsoft.com/
BW and WIF
BW reads and writes WIF files. Actually, BW saves its projects as WIF files, so you will be able to share your projects with other people.
When reading WIFs created by other weaving programs, please note that:
1) BW will limit the number of colors to 64.
If, for example, the WIF file contains a palette of 80 colors, BW will create a palette with the first 64 colors and will map each of the remaining 16 colors to the nearest color already in the palette.
2) BW uses fixed size threads. So any information related to thread size (thickness) will be discarded.
3) BW reads only the author's name and email (no address, telephone, fax, etc...), but weaving notes are read entirely.
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