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. 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

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	stitche-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

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

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Other References

The VP3 File Format external page contains an overview of this format.