A Tajima stitch file: needle points, jumps and colour changes, read by most commercial embroidery machines. It is not a picture: it is made from a logo with digitizing software such as Motifab.

How do I convert a JPG or PNG logo to DST?

Open the JPG or PNG in Motifab, choose the size, the garment and the thread colours, and let the Auto Digitizer make the stitches. Quality checks them against the logo; Export writes the DST and reads it back. Clean artwork gives the best result; lettering under about 4 mm still needs a digitizer’s eye.

Why does my DST lose its colours?

DST has no place for thread colours: the machine sees a colour change, and the operator threads the needles. Motifab’s production worksheet lists the needles in stitch order, with the thread chart’s numbers.

Why doesn’t my machine cut the trims in a DST?

DST has no trim code: the machine cuts where it reads a set number of jump codes in a row. Set that number on the machine (Jump Convert on a Tajima) and the same under Trim in Motifab, and every trim cuts.

Machine format · DST

DST embroidery files for Tajima, Ricoma, SWF and Happy machines.

DST is the Tajima format most commercial embroidery machines read. Turn a JPG, PNG or SVG logo into a DST with Motifab, checked before it is saved.

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What is a DST file?

DST is Tajima’s stitch format, and the file most commercial multi-needle machines read: Tajima, Ricoma, SWF, Happy and many more. It holds every needle point as a move from the last, with jumps and colour changes. It keeps no thread colours and has no trim code: a trim is written as jumps in a row.

Set the trim once. On a Tajima, Jump Convert takes NO or 1 to 9 jump codes; on a Brother, 1 to 8, with 3 when it is bought. Set the same number under Trim in Motifab (3 until you change it), and the export says what to set.
If the two numbers differ, the machine skips trims or cuts where it shouldn’t.
More colours than needles? Motifab writes rethread stops and says so.

Macro photo illustration of the Bridge Bakery sample’s stitches, made from Motifab’s file — 540 needle points from Motifab’s file of the Bridge Bakery sample, in 23 mm. A DST keeps each one, in the order the machine stitches them. Photo illustration made from Motifab’s file.

How to make a DST file from a logo

Open the logo
PNG, JPEG, WebP, SVG, PDF or AI. Motifab grades the file first: Good file, OK file or Poor file, with the reason.
Pick the machine
Choose Tajima in the machine chip, and Motifab uses its needles and hoops. DST is the machine’s own file there, or one click away under Export.
Set the size, garment and colours
Left chest, cap front, sleeve, full back or your own size in millimetres; ten garments, each with its own underlay, density and pull compensation.
Digitize and check
The Auto Digitizer makes the stitches. Quality scores them against the artwork out of 100, and Fix all corrects what is safe to correct.
Export DST
Motifab writes the file, reads it back and compares every needle point with the screen. A file that doesn’t match is never saved, and the old one stays.

Convert PES to DST

Open the PES file, or one in any of the 40 formats Motifab opens: it opens stitched as the file has it, to recolour, move or add a name to. Export writes the DST and checks it like any other file. A machine file has no shapes to stitch again, so resizing it by more than 10 % changes its density: for a new size, digitize from the logo.

What Motifab compares before a DST is saved

Every needle point, each within 0.06 mm of the screen
Every thread change and needle
Every trim and stop
The header the machine reads: stitch count, colours, extents and label
The thread names, where the format keeps them

Machines Motifab writes DST for

Also read by

The models named read DST, as their makers’ own pages say; the maker pages list more, with sources.

Questions

What is a DST file?: A Tajima stitch file: needle points, jumps and colour changes, read by most commercial embroidery machines. It is not a picture: it is made from a logo with digitizing software such as Motifab.
How do I convert a JPG or PNG logo to DST?: Open the JPG or PNG in Motifab, choose the size, the garment and the thread colours, and let the Auto Digitizer make the stitches. Quality checks them against the logo; Export writes the DST and reads it back. Clean artwork gives the best result; lettering under about 4 mm still needs a digitizer’s eye.
Why does my DST lose its colours?: DST has no place for thread colours: the machine sees a colour change, and the operator threads the needles. Motifab’s production worksheet lists the needles in stitch order, with the thread chart’s numbers.
Why doesn’t my machine cut the trims in a DST?: DST has no trim code: the machine cuts where it reads a set number of jump codes in a row. Set that number on the machine (Jump Convert on a Tajima) and the same under Trim in Motifab, and every trim cuts.

The other formats Motifab writes

How to digitize a logo, step by step

Your next DST file, made and checked in Motifab.

Open a customer’s logo, export the DST for your Tajima and embroider it within the 15 free days, with export included and no card. Every file is read back before it is saved, and every file you make is yours.

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