EQ - Electric Quilt - Pros and Cons
05-30-2011, 06:51 AM
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romanojg asked a question on the EQ5 problem thread and rather than get that thread side-tracked, I thought I would start another. :)
I hope that some other users will answer this question with better insights than I have.
I LOVE EQ, but I'd be the first to tell you that it is NOT the most intuitive program to use and it's been hard for me to learn.
I started off in all DOS programs back in the 80's and since then, I have mastered a few programs like Corel Draw, Paint Shop Pro and Microsoft Publisher and I've gotten pretty good at others like Excel, Power Point and Word. EQ has been more difficult and frustrating for me than any of them. But it's more powerful than any of them, too, so it's a trade-off.
Unless you're working with it at least a few hours a week, you're going to have to open up the help files and "re-remember" how to do things the next time you go back to it.
That said, there's no other program on the market that has the number of standalone and supplemental design disks that work with it and I've bought a LOT of those.
Some fabric companies put their fabric lines online in Electric Quilt format or jpg's, so that you can import them into EQ. The number of pre-loaded layouts, blocks and border styles is astonishing and you can customize every single one of them. The number of combinations must be some astronomical, unfathomable number, like "superhexabazillion" or something. ;)
The EQ people listen to their users and add features and abilities to the program as they get requests for them. That's responsive!
And even though this is a very small market, the program only costs about the same as Paint Shop Pro - a very popular program with millions of users.
So, is it that bad? Well, it depends. (very helpful, right? ;) )
How patient are you? How quickly do you catch on to graphics type computer programs in general? How much time do you want to spend on the computer? How much money would be too much to spend for what you want to do with it?
It may boil down to a question of how much you want to actually design your own quilts. EQ contains a drawing program that allows you to draw your own pieced or applique blocks, borders, embroidery motifs and quilting designs. You can have millions of fabrics, blocks, borders and layouts in it. Any program with this kind of capacity is going to have a steeper learning curve than a simpler program would have.
If all you want is to audition fabrics or colors or figure out layouts, I found a much simpler program available at a much lower price. (1-2-3 Quilt - lots of great features, only $40 - http://www.quiltpro.com/go.php?id=12...t_feature_list )
Yes, some days, EQ really is "that bad!" :mrgreen: But so far, the benefits have been worth the time and expense for me - partly because it's become a hobby unto itself.
If I had it to do over, I'd probably have bought the 1-2-3 Quilt and I'd be making more real quilts instead of puzzling out how to make virtual ones. But honestly, making virtual quilts has become almost as much fun as making real ones. ;)
Good luck!
Elizabeth
I hope that some other users will answer this question with better insights than I have.
Originally Posted by romanojg
You say you hate yours so I'm going to ask you a question. Is it really that bad...?
I started off in all DOS programs back in the 80's and since then, I have mastered a few programs like Corel Draw, Paint Shop Pro and Microsoft Publisher and I've gotten pretty good at others like Excel, Power Point and Word. EQ has been more difficult and frustrating for me than any of them. But it's more powerful than any of them, too, so it's a trade-off.
Unless you're working with it at least a few hours a week, you're going to have to open up the help files and "re-remember" how to do things the next time you go back to it.
That said, there's no other program on the market that has the number of standalone and supplemental design disks that work with it and I've bought a LOT of those.
Some fabric companies put their fabric lines online in Electric Quilt format or jpg's, so that you can import them into EQ. The number of pre-loaded layouts, blocks and border styles is astonishing and you can customize every single one of them. The number of combinations must be some astronomical, unfathomable number, like "superhexabazillion" or something. ;)
The EQ people listen to their users and add features and abilities to the program as they get requests for them. That's responsive!
And even though this is a very small market, the program only costs about the same as Paint Shop Pro - a very popular program with millions of users.
So, is it that bad? Well, it depends. (very helpful, right? ;) )
How patient are you? How quickly do you catch on to graphics type computer programs in general? How much time do you want to spend on the computer? How much money would be too much to spend for what you want to do with it?
It may boil down to a question of how much you want to actually design your own quilts. EQ contains a drawing program that allows you to draw your own pieced or applique blocks, borders, embroidery motifs and quilting designs. You can have millions of fabrics, blocks, borders and layouts in it. Any program with this kind of capacity is going to have a steeper learning curve than a simpler program would have.
If all you want is to audition fabrics or colors or figure out layouts, I found a much simpler program available at a much lower price. (1-2-3 Quilt - lots of great features, only $40 - http://www.quiltpro.com/go.php?id=12...t_feature_list )
Yes, some days, EQ really is "that bad!" :mrgreen: But so far, the benefits have been worth the time and expense for me - partly because it's become a hobby unto itself.
If I had it to do over, I'd probably have bought the 1-2-3 Quilt and I'd be making more real quilts instead of puzzling out how to make virtual ones. But honestly, making virtual quilts has become almost as much fun as making real ones. ;)
Good luck!
Elizabeth
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