# Warp Spread

Warp Spread Dialog

| Original Shaft | Spreads To | | -------------- | --------------- | | Shaft 1 | Shafts 1, 5, 9 | | Shaft 2 | Shafts 2, 6, 10 | | Shaft 3 | Shafts 3, 7, 11 | | Shaft 4 | Shafts 4, 8, 12 | | Mode | What It Does | Target Shafts | | --------------------- | ----------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------- | | Automatic Even Spread | Spreads all shafts evenly by a multiplier | Must be a multiple of current count | | Manual Spread | Spreads one shaft across up to 8 chosen targets | Any shaft numbers you specify | ### What It Does Warp Spread takes the threads on one shaft and distributes them across multiple shafts. The tie-up is automatically updated so the cloth structure is preserved — the same threads still interlace the same way, but they're now controlled by different shafts. This gives you finer control over individual threads. Where before a single shaft raised (or lowered) all those threads together, now they're split across multiple shafts and can be controlled independently in future treadling changes. *** ### Opening Warp Spread * **Ribbon**: Tools tab > Optimize group > Warp Spread button *** ### The Warp Spread Dialog The dialog offers two modes, selected by radio button. Only one mode is active at a time — the inactive mode is grayed out. #### Automatic Even Spread (default) Spreads all shafts evenly by a multiplier. You choose how many total shafts you want, and TempoWeave distributes every shaft's threads across the expanded range. * **From**: Your current shaft count (shown for reference) * **To**: The target shaft count (must be a multiple of your current count) **How it distributes**: Each original shaft's threads alternate across its group of new shafts. For example, spreading 4 shafts to 12 (a 3× multiplier): | Original Shaft | Spreads To | | -------------- | --------------- | | Shaft 1 | Shafts 1, 5, 9 | | Shaft 2 | Shafts 2, 6, 10 | | Shaft 3 | Shafts 3, 7, 11 | | Shaft 4 | Shafts 4, 8, 12 | The first thread on shaft 1 stays on shaft 1, the second goes to shaft 5, the third to shaft 9, then back to shaft 1, and so on. #### Manual Spread Select the **Manual Spread** radio button to switch to this mode. Spreads a single shaft's threads across up to 8 target shafts of your choosing. * **From Shaft**: Which shaft to spread (pick any shaft in your draft) * **To Shafts**: Up to 8 target shafts — enter shaft numbers in any of the 8 fields (values greater than 0 are included). The threads will cycle through the specified shafts in order. **Example**: Spreading shaft 1 to shafts 1 and 5 means the first thread stays on shaft 1, the second moves to shaft 5, the third goes back to shaft 1, and so on — alternating between the two. *** ### How to Use It #### Automatic Even Spread 1. Open **Warp Spread** from the Tools tab > Optimize group 2. Make sure the **Automatic Even Spread** radio button is selected (this is the default) 3. Set the **To** field to your desired shaft count (a multiple of your current count) 4. Click **Apply** All shafts are spread evenly and the tie-up is updated. #### Manual Spread 1. Open **Warp Spread** from the Tools tab > Optimize group 2. Select the **Manual Spread** radio button 3. Select the **From Shaft** 4. Enter the target shaft numbers in the **To Shafts** fields 5. Click **Apply** The selected shaft's threads are distributed across your chosen targets. *** ### Step-by-Step Example: Doubling Shafts for More Control You have a 4-shaft twill and want to spread it to 8 shafts so you can create more complex variations: 1. Open **Warp Spread** from the Tools tab 2. With Automatic selected, set **To: 8 shafts** (From: 4 shafts is shown for reference) 3. Click **Apply** Now shaft 1's threads are split between shafts 1 and 5, shaft 2's between 2 and 6, and so on. The tie-up has been expanded so the cloth still looks the same, but you can now edit the tie-up to create patterns that weren't possible with just 4 shafts. ### Step-by-Step Example: Spreading One Shaft Manually You have a draft where shaft 3 controls too many threads and you want to split it for finer control: 1. Open **Warp Spread** from the Tools tab 2. Select the **Manual Spread** radio button 3. Set **From Shaft** to 3 4. Enter 3 in the first To Shaft field and 7 in the second (alternating the threads between these two shafts) 5. Click **Apply** Half of shaft 3's threads stay on shaft 3, and the other half move to shaft 7. The tie-up is updated so shaft 7 has the same connections as shaft 3 — the cloth looks identical, but you now have independent control over the two groups of threads. *** ### When to Use It * **Preparing for complex structures** — Spread a simple threading to more shafts so you can modify the tie-up for more intricate patterns * **Converting between structures** — Some weave structures require more shafts than others. Spreading gives you the extra shafts while preserving the basic threading order * **Lace and openwork** — Lace weaves often need threads from the same basic group to be on different shafts so they can be independently controlled for leno or doup effects * **Sampling** — Spread your warp across more shafts to experiment with different tie-ups on the same threading *** ### Tips * **Undo works** — Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z) reverts the spread in one step. * **The cloth doesn't change** — After spreading, the tie-up is set up so the cloth looks exactly the same as before. The benefit is that you now have more shafts to work with and can modify the tie-up for new patterns. * **Works with liftplan** — Warp Spread works in both tie-up and liftplan modes. The liftplan is automatically updated along with the threading. * **Check your loom** — Make sure your loom has enough shafts for the expanded draft. Spreading 8 shafts to 24 requires a 24-shaft loom (or a dobby/computer-controlled loom). * **Multiplier matters** — For automatic even spread, the target must be a multiple of your current shaft count. You can't spread 4 shafts to 7 — it would need to be 8, 12, 16, etc. *** ### Quick Reference | Mode | What It Does | Target Shafts | | --------------------- | ----------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------- | | Automatic Even Spread | Spreads all shafts evenly by a multiplier | Must be a multiple of current count | | Manual Spread | Spreads one shaft across up to 8 chosen targets | Any shaft numbers you specify |