Projects/Liberty/File Formats/Viking Pfaff
Viking/Husqvarna Pfaff/Singer 3 VP3
The VP3 file format appears to be series of nested sections. Most sections contain tagged records.
In the style of Backus–Naur Form,
File = File-header Extent
Extent = Extent-header {Hoop}
Hoop = Hoop-header Canvas Threads
Threads = Threads-header {Thread}
Thread = Thread-header Colours Thread-text Thread-detail Stitches Thread-end
Colours = {Colour-detail}
Stitches = Stitches-header {Stitch}
Stitch = Escaped-command | Displacement
File-header
| Offset | Length | Type | Description |
| 0 | 6 | ASCIIZ | Signature = "%vsm%" |
| 6 | N1 | N-WStr | Producer 16 bit big-endian length in bytes followed by 16 bit characters |
| 6+N1 |
Extent-header
| Offset | Length | Type | Description |
| 0 | 3 | Tag | Extent-tag 00 02 00 three bytes |
| 3 | 4 | Length | Extent-len remaining bytes in file |
| 3 | N2 | N-WStr | Settings human readable debugging notes |
| 7+N2 | 4 | MicroM | Extent-top top edge of stitching in um |
| 11+N2 | 4 | MicroM | Extent-right |
| 15+N2 | 4 | MicroM | Extent-bottom |
| 19+N2 | 4 | MicroM | Extent-left |
| 23+N2 | 4 | Count | Total-stitch-count |
| 27+N2 | 2 | Count | Total-thread-count |
| 29+N2 | 1 | Byte | unknown = 12 |
| 30+N2 | 2 | Count | unknown = 1 may be hoop-count |
Hoop-header
| Offset | Length | Type | Description |
| 0 | 3 | Tag | Hoop-tag = 00 03 00 |
| 3 | 4 | Length | Hoop-len |
| 7 | 4 | MicroM | Centre-X |
| 11 | 4 | MicroM | Centre-Y |
| 15 | 3 | Tag | Canvas-tag = 00 00 00 (or unknown) |
| 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 |
| 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 |
Threads-header
| Offset | Length | Type | Description |
| 0 | 6 | Bytes | Threads-sig = 120 120 80 80 1 0 |
| 6 | N4 | N-WStr | Producer-2 copy of producer text |
| 6+N4 | 2 | Count | Thread-count |
Thread
| Offset | Length | Type | Description |
| 0 | 3 | Tag | Thread-tag = 00 05 00 |
| 3 | 4 | Length | Thread-len bytes to next thread |
| 7 | 4 | MicroM | Start-X |
| 11 | 4 | MicroM | Start-Y |
| 15 | 1 | Count | Colours-per-thread |
| 16 | 1 | Byte | unknown = 0 |
| 17 | N5 | Table | Colours |
| 17+N5 | 1 | Code | Thread-type-tension |
| 18+N5 | 1 | Byte | Thread-weight |
| 19+N5 | N6 | Record | Thread-text human readable thread description |
| 19+N5+N6 | 4 | MicroM | unknown-X |
| 23+N5+N6 | 4 | MicroM | unknown-Y |
| 27+N5+N6 | N7 | Record | Stitches |
| 27+N5+N6+N7 | 1 | Byte | unknown = 0 |
Colour-detail
| Offset | Length | Type | Description |
| 0 | 3 | RRGGBB | Colour-RGB |
| 3 | 1 | Byte | unknown = 0 or 10 |
| 4 | 1 | Byte | unknown = 0 |
| 5 | 1 | Byte | unknown = 0, 20, or 10 |
Thread-text
| 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 |
Stitches-header
| Offset | Length | Type | Description |
| 0 | 3 | Tag | Stitches-tag = 00 01 00 |
| 3 | 4 | Length | Stitches-len |
| 7 | 1 | Byte | Scale-X = 10 |
| 8 | 1 | Byte | Scale-Y = -10 |
| 9 | 1 | Byte | unknown = 0 |
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 |
| 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 |
Other References
The VP3 File Format external page contains an overview of this format.