Exporting

Export SVG

A direct vector download of your pattern at true scale — the right choice to archive, hand to a print shop, or open in another vector tool. Show Measurements (View menu) controls whether measurement annotations are baked into this file, so turn it off first if you want a clean export with just the pattern itself.

Export PNG

File → Export PNG… saves a picture of your pattern, for sharing it, putting it in instructions, or using it in a program that can't open SVG. Choose a resolution (96, 150 or 300 dpi), the whole pattern or just the selection, and a transparent or white background; the dialog shows how many pixels the image will have. The file remembers its resolution, so a print or graphics program opens it at true size. A very large pattern at a high resolution can be more than the browser can draw at once: then pick a lower resolution or export part of it. Like the SVG export, hidden objects are left out and Show Measurements decides whether measurements are included.

Export PDF

File → Export PDF… saves the whole pattern, or only the selected shapes (Selection only, chosen for you when something is selected), as a single PDF page at true scale, with every line kept as a vector: the format most print shops and plotter services ask for. Texts are turned into outlines, so the file looks the same on any computer without the fonts. Like the SVG export, hidden objects are left out and Show Measurements decides whether measurements are included. A page longer than 5 m (200 in) opens in browsers and Inkscape but not in Adobe Acrobat. The Title (your project's name to start with) is stored in the PDF, where viewers show it in the window title and document properties. To print the pattern yourself on A4 or Letter sheets, use Print via Poster Maker… instead.

Export DXF

A laser-cutter/CNC-oriented export (file format R12). Cut, fold, and score lines, notches, bevel marks, grainlines, arrowheads, and piece labels each get their own DXF layer. Circular arcs export as true arcs — a perfect circle drawn with the Ellipse tool exports as a single DXF circle, and a circular arc anywhere else in a path exports as a true arc too; every other curve flattens to fine straight segments — there's no NURBS spline support on the receiving end to rely on.

Text for cutting machines

Cutting machines (Cricut, Silhouette, laser cutters) usually can't use fonts. Select your text or pattern labels and choose Path → Convert to Path before exporting: each letter becomes an ordinary shape (letters with a hole, like o, keep it), grouped per text, and a label's grain arrow becomes three plain lines. After that the text can't be edited as text any more — keep a copy if you might need to change it. A text on a path becomes its letters where they sit along the path; the path stays as it is.

Print via Poster Maker

Opens your pattern in Poster Maker, which splits it across however many sheets of paper it needs for printing, complete with crop marks and registration marks to help you line the pages back up after cutting.

Importing

Pattern Editor can read its own exports back in, plus a few other formats, so you're not boxed in once something leaves the app:

• Images (PNG/JPEG/GIF/WebP) insert as a reference you can trace over
• SVG import converts shapes, text, and embedded images into fully editable objects. Curves, circles and arcs stay real curves with editable handles, and a shape with cut-outs (like a letter o or a ring) comes in as one piece with holes. Text keeps its line breaks, line and letter spacing and alignment, and text that runs along a path (from Inkscape, Illustrator or an SVG exported here) comes in as text on that path. Sizes are kept exactly when the file states them (e.g. width="100mm"). Gradients/patterns aren't imported
• DXF import converts lines, polylines (including arc segments), circles, arcs, and single-line text into editable objects. Fold/score/glue-tab line types are restored correctly on a file this app exported itself; splines, multi-line text, blocks, and hatches aren't imported from any source

Backups

Download a backup saves a .cospattern file with the whole project — every shape, layer, and setting — which Open a backup file… can load straight back in. Since a guest project only exists in this browser (see Overview), this is the only way to move one to another device or recover it after clearing browser data.