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Design with Bobby, the assistant

Use Bobby when you would rather say what you want than build it control by control. Tell it in plain words, like "Make a patch from my logo" or "Design a patch that shows a fox reading a book", and it builds it right in your open design, with the same tools you use. You can also ask it to check how a design will stitch and fix what it finds, to explain a control, or to show you how to do something. New in v1.4.0.

Bobby is Experimental

The chat says so in its header (Experimental) and in its greeting: "I'm experimental, so I can get things wrong: look over what I make before you stitch it." Check the result in the Stitch and Realistic views, or run a density analysis, before you send it to your machine.

You need to be signed in

Signed out, the chat reads "Sign in to use the assistant." A free account is enough to start. See Signing in and Credits and Top up.

Open the chat​

  • Ask Bobby, in the header, opens the chat from anywhere and puts the cursor in its message box. If you had closed the chat, it comes back.
  • The chat is a panel called Chat. By default it sits as a tab beside Properties, in the right-hand column. You can move it like any other panel; see The workspace.

A new conversation opens on Bobby's greeting, "Hey, I'm Bobby, how can I help you?", and four ways to start:

ButtonWhat it does
Make a patch from my logoAsks for your picture, then sends the request as soon as it is attached.
Design a patch that shows…Starts the sentence in the box for you to finish.
How do I…?Starts a question in the box for you to finish. See Show me.
What can you do?Sends at once. Bobby tells you what it can help with.

Or type your own request in the box ("Ask for a change to your design") and press Enter or Send. Shift+Enter starts a new line.

What you can ask​

Start from a picture​

Attach a picture with the paperclip (Attach a picture), drop it on the chat panel ("Drop a picture to attach it"), or paste it into the box. A message can carry up to two pictures, in PNG, JPEG, or WebP, up to 25 MB each. A picture dropped on the chat goes to Bobby, not into your design.

From your picture, Bobby can:

When Bobby stitches your own picture, the picture goes under the result as a translucent, locked reference image, named "Reference: …" in Layers, so the two can be compared while it works. It is never stitched, and it is hidden when Bobby finishes, so you see the stitches. Show it again from the Layers panel.

An SVG is not sent as a picture. The chat offers it as shapes instead: "This is a vector file. Import it as shapes to stitch its own lines and colors, then ask the assistant about them." Import as shapes opens the usual SVG import; Not now leaves it. Once it is in, the chat says how many shapes it made, and Bobby knows about them from your next message.

Start from words​

Describe the design and Bobby builds it from the shapes in the Add shape picker and from lettering, in your hoop. It can also have a reference picture drawn for your idea, which you approve before it is stitched (see The picture to draw), or make pixel art or a line drawing from a description.

Check, fix and explain​

  • Check: ask "Will this stitch well?" and Bobby checks how the design will sew, and looks at how the thread will look.
  • Fix: it can cut away fills hidden under other fills, change the sew order, cut down trims, change colors and sizes, and reduce the number of threads.
  • Save: it can offer to save the design to your cloud with a name you can edit. The card asks "Save this design to your cloud designs?"; only Save to cloud saves, and Not now leaves it.
  • Explain: ask where a control is, what a shortcut does, or what the plans include.
Example: a patch from a bakery logo

You have a two-color PNG of a bakery's logo and want a patch about 70 mm wide.

  1. Click Ask Bobby in the header.
  2. Click Make a patch from my logo, and pick the PNG in the file window. The request is sent with the picture.
  3. With the default ask level, a question card asks how to make it. Tap the choice that fits, or type "a 70 mm round patch with a satin border" in Your own answer and press Answer.
  4. Bobby works: a status line says what it is doing, and your design is locked until it is done. It ends with "Done in … s".
  5. Look over the result in the Stitch view. If the border is too thin, type "Make the border wider." If you don't like the whole reply, press Undo this turn.
  6. When it offers to save, edit the name and press Save to cloud.

Tracing your own logo costs no generation credits, so there is no price card (the chat itself uses your free chat, then your credits; see Credits and Top up). Exporting it needs Pro, as Auto-Trace does (see What needs Pro).

While Bobby works​

  • A status line under the conversation says what is happening, with a timer, for example "Thinking… 12 s". Each step shows as a line; a run of steps shows as one line, and a click on it lists them. A paid picture being made shows its own line, such as "Drawing your reference picture…", with its progress when there is one.
  • Your design is locked while Bobby edits it: "The assistant is editing your design. Press Stop to take it back." Bobby's face at the bottom left of the panel shows when it is thinking.
  • Stop (where Send was) hands the design back at once: "Stopped. Changes made before Stop stay." Stopping never cancels a picture you already paid for; see Place it.
  • A long request can pause with "This turn has used … credits, so the assistant stopped here." Press Continue to let it carry on.

If you see The assistant is not available yet, chat is switched off for the moment. Everything else in Boldbobbin works as usual, and your message is kept for when you try again.

Question cards​

When Bobby needs to know something (how to make it, what size, which threads), it asks with a card in the chat.

  • Tap a choice to answer. Some cards take several ("Pick one or more."), then Answer sends them.
  • Your own answer: type it in the field ("Type your own answer") and press Answer, when none of the choices fits.
  • You decide leaves it to Bobby. The card then reads "Left to the assistant".

How much Bobby asks​

Choose it in the chat settings (the gear in the chat's header), under How much it asks. The choice is kept on this device.

SettingWhat Bobby does
Ask me everythingAsks before each decision: size, colors, stitch types, placement, and how to fix what the check finds.
Ask the essentials (the default)Asks how to make it at the start, then decides the rest and tells you what it chose.
Just do itDecides for you and tells you what it chose, so you can ask for changes.

"In every mode, it asks before spending credits."

Paying for a generation​

Some results are made on Boldbobbin's servers and cost credits, like Advanced auto-digitize: pixel art, a line drawing, a restyled picture, or a reference picture drawn from your words. Nothing is paid without your click. Before any of them, in every mode, Bobby shows a price card and waits.

The card shows the picture it starts from and one quiet line: what will be made, then how many credits you will have left, for example "Pixel art · 940 credits left after this". With an organization's pool as well as your own, the line also says which one pays.

  • Generate · 30 credits (the button carries the price, here for pixel art) confirms and starts it: "Confirmed. The generation has started."
  • Not now declines: "Not now. Nothing was spent."
  • If the price is no longer current, the card says so and offers Refresh price. A card left until its price expires reads "This price expired before you confirmed. Nothing was spent."

A generation that fails or is declined by the image service is refunded, and the chat says so. Everything you paid for is kept in Previous digitizations.

The picture to draw​

Before a reference picture is drawn from your words, a card titled The picture to draw shows the description that will be used. Edit it as you like, then press Use this prompt, or Cancel. "Nothing is charged until you confirm a price." After the picture is drawn, Bobby shows it to you on a question card before stitching it.

If Bobby stops before placing it​

If a turn ends (you pressed Stop, or it ran out of room) before the picture you paid for is in your design, a card says "Your generated picture is not placed yet", with the credits it cost. It is yours:

  • Place it puts it in your design.
  • Open it to place (for a line drawing) opens its review, so you choose its size first.
  • A picture still being made shows "Being made…", and can be placed here once it is ready.

You can also open it later from Previous digitizations.

Undo, rate, copy, start over​

  • Undo this turn takes back everything one reply did to your design, in a single step. Redo this turn puts it back. While the message box is empty, Ctrl/Cmd+Z in it undoes in your design, as it does on the canvas.
  • Rate a result with the thumbs up or down at the end of each reply. A comment field follows ("What worked, or what didn't? (optional)"), with Send comment.
  • Copy (the icon beside a reply) copies its text. You can also select text in the conversation and press Ctrl/Cmd+C.
  • New conversation, in the chat settings, asks "Start a new conversation?": the chat is cleared and Bobby starts afresh. Your design stays as it is. Start new confirms.

Credits and Top up​

The chat settings (the gear in the chat's header) also hold your credits:

  • Your balance, shown after your first message.
  • "Trying the chat is free, up to a limit." Once it is used up, the settings say "Your free chat is used up. Chat now uses your credits."
  • What this conversation has cost so far, split between the chat and the generations it started.
  • Top up opens the credits page on the website. See Buying credits.

A banner at the top of the chat speaks up only when it matters: when your credits run low ("About 50 credits left.", with Top up) or the free chat is almost used up. Dismiss hides it.

Show me​

Ask Bobby "How do I…?" and it can play a walkthrough on your own screen: a pointer moves over the real controls, with a caption beside each one, in the same player as the How-tos, player bar included.

  • Bobby either plays it at once, or offers it: a Walkthrough: … line with a Show me button, for when you are ready.
  • Afterwards the line reads Showed you: …, and Show again replays it any time.
  • Bobby picks one of the Tutorial menu's How-tos when one fits. Those act for real and then put your design back exactly as it was. Otherwise it points out the controls on your screen without changing anything.
  • Show me plays over the main editor. While the line-art or pixel editor is open, use that editor's own Tutorial button instead.
Example: "How do I add text?"
  1. In the chat, click How do I…?. The box reads "How do I ".
  2. Finish it: "How do I add text?", and press Enter.
  3. Bobby answers and offers Walkthrough: Add text. Click Show me. (It may also play the walkthrough at once.)
  4. The pointer opens Text in the tool rail ("Text opens the Add text dialog"), types "ABC" ("Type your words. The preview shows them as they will be sewn"), points at Add, and closes the dialog with Cancel.
  5. Nothing was added to your design. Click Show again to watch it once more, then add your own text. See Add text.

What needs Pro​

What Bobby makes follows the same rules as the tools themselves. See Plans and credits.

  • Stitched from your own picture: an Auto-Trace, a Photostitch, or cross stitch needs Pro to export, as those tools do. A layered pet or portrait design is gated like Photostitch.
  • Placed from a paid generation (pixel art, a line drawing, a restyled picture): exports on any plan. The credits were the payment, as in Advanced auto-digitize.
  • Built from shapes and lettering: the usual rules for stitch styles and fonts apply.
  • Stitched from a picture Bobby drew for you: it depends on how Bobby stitched it. Placed as a paid generation, it exports on any plan; stitched with a Pro tool such as Auto-Trace, it needs Pro, like the first case above.

The export prompt names whatever in the design needs Pro, so it is the place to check.

Example: a fox from a description

You ask for "a small fox head for a cap" and approve the picture Bobby draws.

  • If Bobby places it as a line drawing it generated, you paid for that with credits, and the design exports on the free plan.
  • If Bobby traces the picture with Auto-Trace instead, exporting needs Pro. The export prompt lists the traced part, so you know which one it is.

Languages​

For now, the chat panel is in English in every language: its buttons, cards and labels are not translated yet. You can still write to Bobby in your own language.