Projects/Liberty/File Formats/Viking Pfaff

Viking/Husqvarna Pfaff/Singer 3 VP3

The VP3 file format appears to be series of nested tagged sections. The files seen so far, start with a header of signature bytes and "Produced by..." string; followed by a tagged embroidery-summary packet. Like Russian dolls, the embroidery-summary packet contains a tagged hoop-centred packet after some information about stitched area, stitching time, etc. The hoop-centred packet expresses a centred stitch extent and contains several tagged thread packets. Each thread packet has colour and weight information, also containing one stitch-run packet.

The file format could logically contain several embroideries, and each embroidery contain more than one hoop, but this has not been seen. If these facilities were used, perhaps to contain a library of patterns, or to split a large design over several hoops.

The tags seen, so far, are,

• 0 2 0 - Embroidery-summary packet
• 0 3 0 - Hoop-centred packet
• 0 5 0 - Thread packet
• 0 1 0 - Stitch-run packet

In the style of Backus–Naur Form,

File = File-header {Embroidery-summary}

Embroidery-summary = Summary-details {Hoop-centred}

Hoop-centred = Hoop-details {Thread}

Thread = Thread-details Stitch-run

File-header

Offset	Length	Type	Description
0	6	ASCIIZ	Signature = "%vsm%"
6	N1	N-WStr	Producer-string 16 bit big-endian length in bytes followed by 16 bit characters
6+N1

Embroidery Summary-details

Offset	Length	Type	Description
0	3	Tag	embroidery-tag 0 2 0 three bytes
3	4	Length	embroidery-len remaining bytes in this packet
7	N2	N-WStr	settings-string human readable debugging notes
7+N2	4	MicroM	extent-right right edge of stitching in um starting from 0,0
11+N2	4	MicroM	extent-top
15+N2	4	MicroM	extent-left
19+N2	4	MicroM	extent-bottom
23+N2	4	Count	stitch-time-count time estimate in stitches
27+N2	2	Count	thread-change-count
29+N2	1	Byte	unknown = 12
30+N2	2	Count	unknown = 1 may be hoop-count

Hoop-details

The position of this hoop (of multiple hoop pattern) in relation to the whole design appears to be given in centre-x and centre-y, but what about the angle of this hoop to the whole design, it would probably only need a code for 0°, 90°, 180° and 270°.

Offset	Length	Type	Description
0	3	Tag	hoop-tag = 0 3 0
3	4	Length	hoop-len
7	4	MicroM	centre-x of summary extent above
11	4	MicroM	centre-Y
15	3	Bytes	unknown = 00 00 00 may include empty string
18	4	MicroM	hoop-left
22	4	MicroM	hoop-right
26	4	MicroM	hoop-bottom
30	4	MicroM	hoop-top
34	4	MicroM	hoop-width
38	4	MicroM	hoop-height
42	N3	N-WStr	settings-2 second copy of settings-string
42+N3	1	Byte	unknown = 100
43+N3	1	Byte	unknown = 100
44+N3	4	int	unknown = 4096
48+N3	4	int	unknown = 0
52+N3	4	int	unknown = 0
56+N3	4	int	unknown = 4096
60+N3	1	Byte	unknown = 120 or 'x'
61+N3	1	Byte	unknown = 120 or 'x'
62+N3	1	Byte	unknown = 80 or 'P'
63+N3	1	Byte	unknown = 80 or 'P'
64+N3	1	Byte	unknown = 1
65+N3	1	Byte	unknown = 0
66+N3	N4	N-WStr	producer-2 second copy of producer-string
66+N3+N4	2	Count	thread-count

Thread-details

Offset	Length	Type	Description
0	3	Tag	thread-tag = 0 5 0
3	4	Length	thread-len bytes to next thread
7	4	MicroM	start-x move needle
11	4	MicroM	start-y
15	1	Count	colours-per-thread
16	N5	Table	colour-table = {colour-detail}
16+N5	1	Byte	unknown = 0 or 10 for multicoloured
17+N5	1	Code	thread-type-tension (5 rayon, 1 metallic)
18+N5	1	Byte	thread-weight (km/kg)
19+N5	N6	Record	thread-description human readable thread description
19+N5+N6	4	MicroM	total-displacement-x sum of stitches and jump stitches
23+N5+N6	4	MicroM	total-displacement-y
27+N5+N6	N7	Record	stitch-run
27+N5+N6+N7	1	Byte	unknown = 0

Colour-detail

Offset	Length	Type	Description
0	1	Byte	unknown = 0 or 20 for multicoloured
1	3	RRGGBB	colour-RGB
4	1	Byte	unknown = 0 or 10 for multicoloured
5	1	Byte	unknown = 0

The boundary of the colour table is uncertain, each colour entry has six bytes, but there is a spare byte either before or after the table. A sample thread of two different colour strands twisted together, starting from the count, has:

2
00 R1 G1 B1 10 00
20 R2 G2 B2 10 00
10

or

2
00
R1 G1 B1 10 00 20
R2 G2 B2 10 00 10

A single colour counterpart has:

1
00 R1 G1 B1 00 00
00

or

1
00
R1 G1 B1 00 00 00

This file-format seems to have the list/table immediate after the count, so until more is known about the unknown values, I will assume the list/table is followed by an unknown byte.

Thread Tension Code

Code	Description
5	Rayon
1	Metallic

Thread Description

Offset	Length	Type	Description
0	N6a	N-Str	Thread-code 16 bit length followed by ASCII characters part-number
0+N6a	N6b	N-Str	Thread-name human readable name of thread
0+N6a+N6b	N6c	N-Str	Thread-manu maker, material and weight

Stitch-run

Offset	Length	Type	Description
0	3	Tag	stitch-tag = 00 01 00
3	4	Length	stitches-len
7	1	Byte	scale-x = 10
8	1	Byte	scale-y = -10 the y displacement is negative
9	1	Byte	unknown = 0
10	N8	Table	stitch-table

stitch-table = { Escaped-command | Displacement | disp-x | disp-y }

Escaped-command

Offset	Length	Type	Description
0	1	Byte	Escape = -128 or 0x80
1	1	Byte	Command-code

Command-code	Description
0	Deleted or null stitch
1	Move followed by 16 bit displacement-x and 16 bit displacement-y
2	End-move preceded by 16 bit displacement-y and 16 bit displacement-x for reverse stitching
3	Deleted or null stitch

Displacement

Offset	Length	Type	Description
0	1	Byte	displacement-x -127 to 127 in 0.1 mm
1	1	Byte	displacement-y -127 to 127 in -0.1 mm

Move command's disp-x and disp-y are 16 bit displacements used in the move/jump stitch, they are unlikely to be in the range -32768 to -32513 in 0.1 mm or 0x8000 to 0x80FF, so unlikely confused with the escape-command.

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Other References

The VP3 File Format external page contains an overview of this format. The page PES2Card utility implies that VP3 files can contain both multiple designs and multiple hoops.