> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.tempoweave.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.tempoweave.com/help-by-menu-tabs/tools-menu/weave-assistant.md).
# Weave Assistant
*Available on Desktop and Mobile. This guide covers the desktop Weave Assistant; the tablet and phone version has its own guide — Weave Assistant (Mobile) — because the touch interface is laid out differently. Weaving progress, treadle mappings, and settings travel inside the `.twa` file, so you can move between desktop and mobile mid-project.*
### What It Does
The Weave Assistant is your at-the-loom companion. It displays your draft pick by pick, showing which shafts to raise for each pick and a real-time cloth preview as you weave. With a **TempoTreadle** sensor on your loom, it advances hands-free — the box senses your actual treadling over Wi-Fi and confirms every shed. If you have a dobby loom (Louet or Leclerc), it can connect directly and send shaft commands automatically. And with neither, it still works as an on-screen guide — advance through your treadling with a foot pedal or keyboard and follow along visually.
With Weave Assistant and TempoTreadle, you can weave with confidence through life's distractions. Think of it as a scrolling teleprompter for weaving: it keeps your place, shows what's coming next, alerts you to treadling errors, color changes, and lets you focus on the weaving instead of a paper draft.
***
### Opening the Weave Assistant
* **Ribbon**: Tools tab > Dobby group > Weave Assistant button
The Weave Assistant opens as a separate window. Only one instance can be open at a time — if you click the button again, it brings the existing window to the front.
***
### The Weave Assistant Window
#### Toolbar (Top)
**Navigation Controls**
There are two buttons for moving through the draft, and a **Mode** that says what they do.
**Next** That pick is woven, move on. This is exactly what the foot pedal, the pedal key (Space), the TempoTreadle and a dobby do, so pressing Next with the mouse never does anything different from the loom. In Unweave mode it takes a pick out instead; while recording it records the shed as it stands; in Free Weave it counts a pick.
**Back** Take back the last one. Weaving forward, it steps back to the pick you just wove; in Unweave mode it puts the pick you just took out back; while recording it removes the last recorded pick; in Free Weave it uncounts one. Shift+Space does the same.
**Mode** One of five is always on, and the button for the active mode is colored:
* **Weaving** (blue) — follow the draft pick by pick. This is the normal state.
* **Free Weave** (amber) — count picks without moving the pattern. See below.
* **Pause** (gray) — nothing is judged, nothing moves and nothing counts. See below.
* **Record** (red) — every shed you close becomes a new pick in the treadling. The button appears only while a TempoTreadle is the selected device and connected; it is a TempoTreadle feature, not the mode for weaving with one. Weaving is the mode for that. See below.
* **Unweave** (red) — walk backward through the draft to take picks out. Switching modes never moves your place: the pick marker always means the next pick to weave. In Unweave, Next takes out the pick just below the marker, the last one woven, and the marker steps back one; Back puts it back. The treadle overlay, the loom and the status line show the pick being taken out ("Next takes out pick 94"). It is red so you can't miss it. If you would rather have the marker itself step to the pick being acted on when you switch modes, the way earlier versions did, turn on **Mode switch moves the pick marker** under ▾ Options; which suits you depends on your dobby and whether a TempoTreadle is in use.
**Pick Jump** Type a pick number and click **Go** (or press Enter) to jump directly to any pick. The display immediately centers on that pick.
**Section Filter** A dropdown that lets you limit the weaving range to a specific section of your draft. If your draft has Section Assembly markers (such as "Header," "Pattern," "Footer"), they appear here. Select a section and the Weave Assistant only cycles through picks in that range, automatically wrapping at the section boundaries.
When "All" is selected, you weave through the entire draft.
**View Controls**
**Zoom + / -** (top bar) Adjusts the size of the shaft grid and cloth preview cells. Zoom in for detail or out to see more picks at once.
**▾ Options** (menu) The display toggles, gathered in one place:
* **Show treadle overlay** (on by default) — the floating treadle guidance card. When a Louet, Leclerc, or AVL dobby connects, the overlay hides itself, since the loom is lifting the shafts; turn it back on here if you still want it, and it stays on.
* **Show large treadle overlay** — a preset that enlarges the card to fit your screen, with much larger text and boxes; glanceable from the bench, and the low-vision option. The card only covers what it needs, so the cloth stays visible around it.
* **Sizing the card yourself** — the **−** and **+** buttons in the card's corner make everything in it smaller or larger in steps, and **Ctrl + mouse wheel** (Cmd on a Mac) over the card does the same. Your size is remembered on this computer; ticking or unticking **Show large treadle overlay** returns to the automatic size. Drag the **grip on the card's right edge** to make it narrower, and the treadle boxes wrap into more rows; double-click the grip to let the width follow the content again. The card can be dragged anywhere in the work area, including over the treadling panel, if that is where it is least in the way.
* **Show Next and Prev treadle** (on) — the next-pick / last-pick preview lines inside the overlay.
* **Show Interlacement** (on) — shadow and highlight lines simulate the over/under texture of real cloth; off shows flat colored cells.
* **Face Up / Face Down** (Face Up) — which face of the cloth the preview shows. Face Down inverts the yarn on top of each cell, with nothing mirrored left to right, for cloth you are weaving with the show face underneath.
* **Show color names** (off) — displays the current pick's yarn line and color name, beside the color in the overlay and in the window, and hovering any pick in the treadling panel names its yarn. Takes the guesswork out of "which blue is this pick?" Hovering the overlay's color swatch always names the yarn, whether this is on or off.
* **Large weft color swatch** (on) — the overlay shows the weft color as a big square, larger than the treadle cells, so it reads from across the loom; off gives the small dot.
* **Color change alert** (on) — chime when the next pick uses a different weft.
* **Show treadling panel** (on) — the side panel; turn it off to give the cloth preview the full width.
**Settings** Shows or hides the settings panel on the right side of the window.
#### Info Bar
A full-width bar below the toolbar showing three pieces of information about the current pick:
* **Pick number** — Large, bold display (e.g., "Pick 42")
* **Active shafts** — Which shafts are raised for this pick (e.g., "Shafts: 1, 3, 5, 7")
* **Weft color** — A color swatch showing the weft color for this pick
This gives you all the essential information at a glance without looking at the grid.
The bar also carries the **woven length** (see *Woven Length* under Settings): the length at your calculated density once you have measured, otherwise the theoretical length marked ≈, and the **Length alert** note when you have reached the length you set.
#### The Treadles Overlay
The floating card is the heart of at-the-loom weaving. Drag it anywhere in the work area, including over the treadling panel.
* **Pick number + weft color dot** — the pick you're weaving now and the yarn to throw. While recording, click the dot to pick the color for the picks you record from then on.
* **Treadle boxes** — one box per treadle position:
* **Blue** — press this one (expected for the current pick).
* **Green** — pressed and correct (TempoTreadle connected).
* **Red** — pressed but wrong (TempoTreadle connected).
* **Gray** — not part of this pick.
* **Next ▸ / Last ◂ lines** — one-line previews of the picks ahead and behind, each with its weft color dot and treadle numbers (toggle *Show Next and Prev treadle* in the ▾ Options menu).
**Treadle Mapping and the overlay.** The boxes are laid out in physical position order and labeled with the treadle each position acts as under your Treadle Mapping:
* With no mapping (or the default 1:1 map), boxes are simply treadles 1…N — nothing changes.
* A position mapped **OFF** draws as an inert ✕ box with no number — or is hidden entirely with *Hide OFF treadles* in the mapping dialog (on by default).
* A remapped position shows its **mapped number** and lights up when that treadle is expected. So if your foot expects the tabby on the far right, the far-right box says so.
**Size and placement.** *Show large treadle overlay*, the − and + buttons in the card's corner, Ctrl + mouse wheel (Cmd on a Mac), and the grip on the right edge are described under *View Controls* above. When a Louet, Leclerc, or AVL dobby connects, the card hides itself, since the loom is lifting the shafts; turn it back on in ▾ Options if you still want it.
#### Shaft Grid (Left Panel)
The shaft grid shows the treadling or liftplan data in a grid format:
* **Header row** — Shaft numbers across the top (1, 2, 3, 4...)
* **Pick rows** — Each row represents one pick. The current pick is highlighted with a red border and its number shown in red with a ">" marker.
* **Filled cells** — Dark cells indicate which shafts are raised for that pick
* **Weft color dots** — Small color indicators on the right margin showing the weft color for each pick. If a yarn is variegated, the dot shows a striped pattern.
* **Section highlighting** — If you've selected a section, its range is shown with a colored background
**Free Weave** (the Mode button, amber while on) is for the picks that are not part of the design: waste picks between towels, a header, or a few throws to try treadles. While it is on, every shed you close still counts on the picks-woven odometer and the Pick Counter, but the pick marker stays where it is and no treadle is judged wrong, so there are no error beeps. Prev, Next and Set Pick still move the marker. Click Weaving to resume following the draft. It is off every time you open the Weave Assistant. On a table loom the levers are not judged in Free Weave; press Next or the pedal key to count each pick.
**Pause** (the Mode button, gray while on) is Free Weave without the counting. The loom is not judged, so no treadle is wrong and nothing beeps, and a closed shed, the pedal key, Next and Back move and count nothing: the pick marker, the picks-woven odometer, the Pick Counter, the Repeat Counter and the woven length all stay exactly where they are. Use it to fix a shed, try a treadle, or step away in the middle of a pick without the assistant keeping score. Click Weaving, or Pause again, to resume where you were. It is off every time you open the Weave Assistant.
**● Record** (the Mode button, red while on) turns Free Weave into a design tool: every shed you close on a TempoTreadle-equipped loom is added to the end of the treadling as a real pick. The pick marker follows, the shaft grid and cloth preview build each pick after you weave it, and the drawdown in the main window grows with you. Weave whatever you like at the loom and come away with a draft of what you actually wove.
* Record needs a connected TempoTreadle, because it reads the treadles or levers you press. A dobby loom re-sends the pick the software chose, and the pedal key alone carries no shed, so the Record button only shows while the box is connected. On mobile, the Record entry appears in the Mode list under the same condition.
* When you click Record it asks where the picks should go. **Add at the end** puts them after the last pick of the treadling. **Insert at pick N** puts them before the pick the marker is on; that pick and everything after it move down as you record. **New draft** opens a copy in a new tab with the same threading, tie-up, palette and weft colors and an empty treadling, and records into that.
* On a floor loom the closed shed is the pick: press, throw, beat, release. On a table loom set the levers and press Next or the pedal key for each pick.
* Two treadles down on a single-treadle draft switch the draft to multi-treadle, keeping the picks already there. A liftplan draft records the shafts directly.
* Each new pick takes the weft color and thickness of the pick before it. Click the weft color disk in the info bar while recording to pick a color from the palette; the picks you record from then on use it.
* Back, or the previous-pick pedal key, takes the last recorded pick out again if you unwove it. It never reaches into picks that were there before you started.
* Click Weaving, or Record again, to stop. The picks you recorded are marked as a weft section named Recording 1, then Recording 2 for the next session, so they show in the Section combo, the weft header and Section Assembly. The whole recording, section included, is one Undo step in the main window, and the draft is marked unsaved, so save when you are done.
The display is centered on the current pick, with upcoming picks above and completed picks below. As you advance, the grid scrolls to keep the current pick in view.
#### Cloth Preview (Right Panel)
The cloth preview shows what the fabric looks like as you weave:
* **Woven picks** (below the current pick) are shown at full brightness
* **Unwoven picks** (at and above the current pick) fade to 35% opacity, giving you a sense of what's coming without visual clutter
* **Interlacement** (when 3D View is enabled) shows shadow and highlight lines for a realistic thread-over-thread appearance
Both panels share the same vertical alignment, so the current pick row lines up across the shaft grid and cloth preview.
A **resizable splitter** between the two panels lets you adjust how much space each one gets.
#### Status Bar (Bottom)
Shows:
* **Connection status** — "No dobby connected" or the connected port name
* **Pick position** — "Pick 42 / 200" (or with section range: "Pick 42 / 200 \[Pattern: 21–180]")
***
### Advancing Through Your Draft
#### Using the Keyboard (No Dobby)
By default:
* **Space** — Advance to the next pick
* **Shift+Space** — Go to the previous pick
These keys are configurable in the Settings panel. You can map them to any key or key combination.
#### Using a Foot Pedal
If you have a USB foot pedal (commonly available online), configure it to send the Space key. Then you can advance picks hands-free while keeping both hands on the loom.
The key mapping in Settings lets you set up any key your foot pedal sends.
#### Using a TempoTreadle
With a TempoTreadle box connected (see *TempoTreadle Connection* under Settings):
1. Press the correct treadle and close the shed — an OK beep sounds and the assistant advances by itself
2. Press a wrong treadle — an error beep warns you before you throw the pick
The OK and Error beeps answer a treadle press the app checks: from a TempoTreadle, a foot pedal, or the keyboard. While a Louet, Leclerc, or AVL dobby is connected the loom lifts the shafts itself, so both beep settings are grayed out until you disconnect. 3. The keyboard and foot pedal keep working alongside the automatic advance
#### Using a Dobby Loom
When connected to a supported dobby loom:
1. Connect the loom via the serial port in Settings
2. Click **Start Cycle**
3. The Weave Assistant sends shaft commands to the loom for each pick
4. When the loom reports a cycle complete (the shed has been opened and closed), it automatically advances to the next pick
5. The keyboard/foot pedal still works for manual control alongside the automatic advance
On an AVL Compu-Dobby the lift for each pick is sent while the previous shed is open, so the first treadle stroke after Start Cycle arms pick 1 and the second weaves it (see *AVL Compu-Dobby options* below).
***
### Settings Panel (Right Side)
Click **Settings** in the toolbar to show or hide this panel.
#### Project
**Shed** (Rising / Sinking) sets which way the loom lifts for this draft.
**Reset Progress…** starts the next piece on the same draft: the pick returns to the start (of the piece, or of the active section), and the picks-woven odometer, the Pick Counter, the Repeat Counter and the measured length all go back to zero. It asks first. The Length Alert target, the counter's running state, the treadle mapping and every setting stay as they are, so the second towel is ready to weave the moment you confirm.
#### Device Connection
For weavers with a TempoTreadle sensor or a supported computer-controlled dobby loom. The status dot on the section header shows the link state at a glance.
**Device type** Select your device:
* **Manual (no device)** — the default on a fresh install. You advance with Next, the pedal key or a foot switch, the treadle overlay still shows the treadles for each pick, and no connection panel or Connect pill appears because there is nothing to connect.
* TempoTreadle (see *TempoTreadle Connection* below)
* Louet Megado
* Louet Octado
* Louet Magic
* Leclerc Weavebird
* AVL Compu-Dobby I
* AVL Compu-Dobby II/III
* AVL Compu-Dobby IV/4.5 (serial)
* AVL Compu-Dobby IV/4.5 (network)
**AVL Compu-Dobby options** Choosing an AVL type adds three settings:
* **Loom shafts** — how many shafts the loom has (4 to 40, in fours). A Compu-Dobby I, II, or III cannot tell TempoWeave this, so set it here. A Compu-Dobby IV or 4.5 reports it when you connect and that value is used instead.
* **Dobby** — *Positive* for most AVL looms (the solenoids select the shafts that rise). *Negative* for the Workshop Dobby Loom (the solenoids select the shafts that stay down). *Virtual positive* for a loom whose Compu-Dobby IV/4.5 introduces itself as a negative dobby but lifts the shafts it is told to: the Workshop Dobby Loom, and some 40-shaft A-series looms on early Compu-Dobby IV firmware. Choose it when every lift is the opposite of the draft, or when every solenoid is energized when you disconnect. A Compu-Dobby IV/4.5 reports its own polarity and overrides a mismatched Positive/Negative choice; the status line says so, and suggests Virtual positive when the box reports negative. The **Copy log** output shows the greeting, so you can see exactly what the box claimed.
* **Loom network address** — for the network type only: the Compu-Dobby IV/4.5 network name or IP address. The controller's default is 169.254.128.3.
**Copy log** (in the Dobby Connection section) copies the last few hundred lines of the conversation with the loom, everything sent and received with timestamps plus your device settings, to the clipboard. If a dobby connection misbehaves, click it after the problem happens and paste the result into an email to support.
The Compu-Dobby takes the lift for the *next* shed while the current shed is open, so after **Start Cycle** treadle once to arm pick 1 and again to weave it. From then on the assistant shows the pick in the open shed and advances when you close it. Jumping to another pick or reversing direction takes effect on the shed after the one already latched, and the display waits on that pick until its shed opens. There is no self-test on a Compu-Dobby, so the Test button is hidden.
**Serial Port** Select the port your loom is connected to. Click **Refresh** to scan for available ports. On macOS each loom appears once, under its "cu" name; the matching "tty" entry the system also publishes is hidden because it can hang on connect (tick **All ports** if you ever need it). On macOS and Linux the list shows only plugged-in USB serial interfaces — Bluetooth and other system ports are filtered out, so an empty list simply means no loom cable is connected. If your adapter is unusual and doesn't appear, check **All ports** to see everything.
**Connect / Disconnect** Opens or closes the connection to the loom.
**Test** Sends a self-test command to verify communication with the loom.
**Start Cycle / End Cycle** Starts or stops the automatic weaving cycle. When cycling, the loom and software work together: the loom reports when a pick is complete, and the software sends the next shaft configuration.
If you don't have a dobby loom or a TempoTreadle, you can ignore this entire section. The Weave Assistant works perfectly well as a visual guide with just the keyboard or foot pedal.
#### TempoTreadle Connection
TempoTreadle is our Wi-Fi sensor box that mounts under your loom's treadles and reports every press — so the Weave Assistant advances hands-free and confirms each shed as you weave. Choose **TempoTreadle** in the Dobby Type dropdown and the connection panel appears:
**Loom Type** Tunes the detection behavior to your loom: **Multiple (Floor Loom)**, **Single**, or **Table Loom** (levers must match the expected shafts exactly, then it advances — no closed shed needed). When two picks in a row use the same shed on a table loom, you do not clear every lever: lift any one lever and drop it again, and the box takes that as the next pick in the same shed. The loom type, the device choice, and the box address are remembered with the draft, so a draft you weave on the table loom opens set up for it while another stays on the floor loom; a draft that has never been woven uses whatever you used last.
**Address** The box's network address. You almost never type this by hand — use Setup.
**Setup…** The guided wizard: it finds a TempoTreadle on your network, or walks the box onto your home Wi-Fi the first time. See the TempoTreadle 3 connection quickstart for the full walkthrough, including what the box's screen shows at each step.
**Connect** Opens the connection. Once paired, the address is remembered — next session it's one click. The status dot on the Device Connection header turns green when you're linked.
**Tune** Verifies the box senses each treadle before your first session. The tune grid is labeled with your treadle numbers — using the **mapped** numbers if you've remapped, with a red X over positions mapped OFF — so what lights up matches what your feet do. Tap **Done** with a box connected and you drop straight into Weave mode, ready to treadle.
**Treadle Mapping…** The mapping table: 16 physical positions, each with Status (On/Off), Maps-to treadle, and a per-row Color Alert suppressor (turn it off on a tabby treadle so alternating weft colors don't chime every pick). Reset to 1:1 and Reverse presets included.
On a floor loom a closed shed is judged by the treadles: every treadle the pick calls for must be down, and a treadle this draft never uses gets the error beep whenever it is pressed, even when its shafts happen to be among the right treadle's. So untie the treadles a draft leaves unused, or set them to Off in Treadle Mapping. A treadle the draft does use that drops along with the one you press, because it is tied to some of the same shafts (treadle 4 tied to 2, 3, 4 takes treadle 2, tied to 2 and 3, down with it), is not an error and shows green; a treadle that lifts shafts the pick does not want is.
A mapping can live in two places. **Save as default for this device** keeps the table on this computer, and every draft that has no mapping of its own uses it, so a box wired the same way for every project is set up once. A draft gets its **own** mapping the moment you edit the table while it is open, and that copy saves in the draft and travels with it to MyCloud and other devices, overriding whatever device it lands on. **Use device default** drops the draft's own mapping and puts it back under the device's. The line above the buttons says which is in effect. Looking at the table without editing never gives a draft its own mapping.
**Battery and power** Battery-powered boxes show their charge here and as a chip in the top bar (amber at 20 percent, red at 10). **Auto power-off** deep-sleeps the box after a chosen stretch of inactivity on battery — tap any button on the box to wake it. Firmware updates, when available, are offered right in this panel.
**Weaving with it**: press the correct treadle and close the shed — an OK beep sounds and the assistant advances by itself. Press a wrong treadle and an error beep warns you before you throw the pick. The keyboard and foot pedal keep working alongside it, and your position, mapping, and progress save with the draft. Once paired, the assistant keeps looking for the box in the background and connects by itself when it appears, and it heartbeats the box continuously, so the connection stays up while you wind bobbins or step away.
**Box firmware updates.** When a newer TempoTreadle firmware is available, a banner appears in this panel while you're connected: *"Box firmware update available"* with the version and what's new. Make sure the box is charged or plugged in, stop your weave session, and click **Update** — the app sends the firmware over Wi-Fi, the box verifies and restarts itself, and the app reconnects automatically showing the new version. Your Wi-Fi settings and box name are kept, and an interrupted update never harms the box — it simply keeps its old firmware and you can try again.
#### Foot Pedal
**Next Pick Key** Shows the current key mapping for advancing to the next pick. Click **Set**, then press the key you want to use. Default: Space.
**Previous Pick Key** Shows the current key mapping for going back. Click **Set**, then press the key combination. Default: Shift+Space.
These settings are saved between sessions.
#### Sound
**Vibrate on taps and alerts** (phones and tablets) A pulse when a pick advances, a group is marked, or an alert sounds. It works alongside the chimes or instead of them: turn the volume down and keep this on for silent feedback at the loom. Shared with the Thread Assistant.
**Volume** A slider (0–100%) controlling the chime volume. Default: 70%.
**Color Change Chime** When enabled, a chime plays whenever the weft color changes from one pick to the next. This is especially helpful for patterns with frequent color changes — you can hear the change coming and reach for the next shuttle without looking at the screen.
* **Play button (▶)** — Test the current chime sound
* **Browse (...)** — Choose a custom WAV file for this chime
* **Clear (X)** — Remove the custom sound and return to the built-in default
**Warn of upcoming color change** Off by default. Two rising tones when you reach a pick whose *next* pick uses a different weft, one pick before the Color Change Chime would sound, so the other shuttle is in your hand before your foot moves to the next treadle. It follows the same Color change alert switch in ▾ Options and the same per-treadle Color Alert rows in Treadle Mapping as the Color Change Chime, judged on the pick that changes, and it only sounds while weaving forward. Its own switch and play button.
**Same Shed** Three short tones, a pause, three more: the pick you just reached is the first of a run that uses the same shed as the pick after it, whatever the treadle and whatever the color. A pattern pick followed by its tabby in the same shed, a doubled pick, basket weave. The overlay and the status line count the run, "Same shed 1 of 2", then "2 of 2", so a run of three is never thrown twice. Untick to turn the sound and the count off.
**End Wrap Chime** When enabled, a distinctive double-ding plays when you reach the end of the treadling sequence (or the end of the current section) and it wraps back to the beginning. This alerts you that you've completed one full repeat.
Same controls as the Color Change chime: play, browse, and clear.
**OK Beep and Error Beep** The two answers to a treadle press the app checks (TempoTreadle, foot pedal, or keyboard): a short bright beep for the right treadle, a lower one for a wrong treadle before you throw the pick. Each has its own switch and play button, and can be replaced with your own WAV file. Both are grayed out while a dobby loom is connected, because the loom lifts the shafts itself.
**Length alert** The four short tones that sound when the woven length reaches the Length alert you set in the Woven Length card. Its own switch and play button; there is no custom file for it.
Custom chime files must be WAV format. TempoWeave includes built-in default chimes that work without any setup.
#### Indicator Colors
The treadle overlay colors each position by its state: blue for a treadle the pick needs, green for a correct press, red for a wrong one. If those are hard for your eyes to tell apart, pick your own here. **Preset** offers the default set and a **Colorblind-safe** set (blue, orange and near-black, which stay distinct for the common red-green differences and in grayscale); the three swatches, **Needed**, **Correct** and **Wrong**, each have a **Change…** button that opens the color picker, and choosing your own switches the preset to Custom. **Reset** returns to the defaults. The choice is kept on this computer and applies to every draft. Color is never the only cue: a correct cell also shows a check mark and a wrong cell a cross, in the same size as the treadle number, so they grow and shrink with the overlay.
#### Woven Length
The **Woven Length** expander in the settings panel is your progress instrument cluster:
* **Project density** — the picks-per-inch (or per cm) from Project Info, shown read-only. Changing the density in Project Info updates it here immediately.
* **Calculated density** — your *actual* beat, from the last time you pressed Calculate in the Density Calculator below. It stays put until you calculate again or press Clear; a dash means you haven't measured yet.
* **Pick Counter 1** — the picks-woven odometer. It counts every pick you advance while weaving forward (Back Up doesn't touch it, so corrections don't inflate your count). It's editable: set it to 0 to restart, or type a number to match where the cloth actually is.
* **Theoretical length** — Pick Counter 1 divided by the project density: how much cloth the count says you've woven.
* **Length at calculated density** — the same count divided by your calculated density: how much cloth you have actually woven at the beat you measured.
* **Pick Counter 2** — a trip meter. It only counts while **Start** is pressed, and **Reset** zeroes it anytime — use it for "picks since the last color band" or any short-term count, independent of the odometer.
* **Repeat Counter** — how many times you've completed the cycle: it increments each time weaving wraps from the last pick back to the first (of the whole piece, or of the marked section you're weaving). Unweaving back across the start un-counts one, so it always reflects true completed repeats — it is never guessed from pick totals. Editable for corrections, with its own Reset; the current count also shows as "Repeats: N" beside the pick number.
* **Woven length in the info bar** — beside the weft color at the top of the window: the length at your calculated density once you have measured, otherwise the theoretical length, shown with ≈. Hover it to see which.
* **Density Calculator** — measure a length of actual cloth, enter it, choose which counter's picks it covers (Pick Counter 1 or 2), and press **Calculate**. That sets the calculated density and the length at it above. Nothing changes until you press the button, so opening the panel later never quietly recomputes from a stale measurement. **Clear** forgets the measurement: both lines go back to a dash until you calculate again.
* **Length alert** — under the Density Calculator, a length in the project unit. When the woven length reaches it, four short tones sound and "Length alert: 24 in reached" appears beside the woven length at the top of the window, until you change or clear the alert. It uses your calculated density once you have measured, otherwise the project density. The alert is saved with the draft. Silence the tones in the Sound card.
#### Your progress is saved automatically
The Weave Assistant saves your weaving position — current pick, odometer, and counters — into the draft file automatically: every ten picks in the background and again when you close the assistant. This works even on a **locked** draft (only the weaving-progress section of the file is touched; the draft itself stays untouched and locked). If the power fails mid-session, you resume from at most ten picks back.
***
### Working with Sections
If your draft has Section Assembly markers (defined in the Section Assembly editor), the **Section Filter** dropdown in the toolbar lets you limit weaving to one section at a time.
For example, if your draft has a Header (picks 1–12), Pattern (picks 13–180), and Footer (picks 181–200):
1. Select "Header" from the Section dropdown
2. The Weave Assistant only cycles through picks 1–12
3. When you reach pick 12, the next advance wraps back to pick 1 (and plays the End Wrap chime)
4. When the header is done, switch to "Pattern" and weave that section
5. Switch to "Footer" for the closing section
This is much easier than remembering pick numbers or manually stopping at section boundaries.
***
### How to Use It
#### Basic Workflow (No Dobby)
1. Open your draft
2. Click **Weave Assistant** in the Tools tab
3. The window shows your treadling starting at pick 1
4. Sit at your loom with the screen visible
5. Press **Space** (or your foot pedal) to advance to each pick
6. For each pick, look at the info bar to see which shafts to raise and what color to use
7. Weave the pick, then advance again
8. If you make a mistake, press **Shift+Space** to go back
#### Typical Workflow (With TempoTreadle)
1. Open your draft, then **Weave Assistant** in the Tools tab.
2. In Settings, choose **TempoTreadle** as the Dobby Type and click **Connect**. First time: **Setup…** walks the box onto your Wi-Fi.
3. (Optional) Open **Treadle Mapping…** and match the draft's treadles to where your feet want them; turn Color Alert off on tabby rows. Run **Tune** once to see the box sense every treadle.
4. Drag the Treadles overlay where you can see it from the bench, and turn on **Show large treadle overlay** (▾ Options) if you want it glanceable, then use its − / + to get the size just right.
5. Weave: press the blue treadle, throw the pick, beat — the assistant confirms with the OK beep and advances (or press the pedal key). Listen for the color-change chime and check the Next ▸ line for what's coming.
6. Check **Woven Length** in Settings as you go; measure a stretch of cloth and press **Calculate** for your real density, and set a **Length alert** for the point where you want to stop.
7. Done for the day? Just close — your pick position, mapping, and progress are saved with the draft. If the draft came from MyCloud, **Save** updates the cloud copy too.
#### Basic Workflow (With Dobby)
1. Open your draft
2. Click **Weave Assistant**
3. In Settings, select your **Dobby Type** and **Serial Port**
4. Click **Connect**, then **Start Cycle**
5. The loom raises the correct shafts for pick 1
6. Throw your shuttle and beat
7. The loom automatically advances to the next pick when the cycle completes
8. Continue weaving — the loom and software stay in sync
***
### Step-by-Step Example: Weaving with Color Change Alerts
You have a pattern with alternating color blocks and want audio cues for color changes:
1. Open your draft and click **Weave Assistant**
2. In Settings > Sound, make sure **Color Change Chime** is checked
3. Set the volume to a comfortable level and test it with the ▶ button
4. Start weaving with Space or your foot pedal
5. Each time the weft color changes, you hear a chime — time to switch shuttles
6. At the end of the repeat, a double-ding tells you it's wrapping back to the start
### Step-by-Step Example: Threading with Prepare Threading
You have a complex draft and want help threading the loom:
1. Use **Prepare Threading** (Tools tab > Dobby group) to create a threading WIF
2. Open the threading WIF file
3. Click **Weave Assistant**
4. Each pick now represents one warp thread
5. Step through with Space — for each pick, the info bar shows which shaft to thread that warp thread through
6. The weft color shows what color yarn should be at that position
7. Thread your warp one thread at a time, advancing after each one
***
### Tips
* **Keep the window visible** — Position the Weave Assistant window where you can see it from your loom. The large pick number and shaft list in the info bar are designed to be readable at a distance.
* **Use the foot pedal** — Hands-free advancing is a game-changer, especially for long treadling sequences. Any USB foot pedal that sends a keyboard key will work.
* **Zoom for comfort** — If the grid is too small to read from your weaving position, zoom in. If you want to see more picks at once (to plan ahead), zoom out.
* **Section filtering saves time** — Rather than counting picks to know when a section ends, let the Section Filter handle it. The End Wrap chime tells you when it's time to switch sections.
* **Color change chimes are addictive** — Once you get used to hearing the chime for color changes, you'll wonder how you ever wove without it. It's especially helpful for rep weave and color-and-weave patterns.
* **Escape to close** — Press Esc to close the Weave Assistant quickly.
* **Your position is saved** — When you close the Weave Assistant, your current pick number is saved. Next time you open it for the same draft, you'll pick up where you left off.
* **Progress travels with the file** — Pick position, treadle mapping, counters, and the Length alert round-trip through the `.twa` between desktop and mobile, so you can weave a draft on the tablet at the loom and open it on the computer afterward.
* **Automatic saves stay local** — the background saves every ten picks write only to the file on this computer; closing with **Save** is what updates a MyCloud copy. If MyCloud can't be reached at that moment, the draft is still saved here and an amber banner reminds you to **Update MyCloud** when you're back online. When the app already knows you are offline, it doesn't ask about the cloud at all; a quiet note says MyCloud is waiting, and the next Save with a connection updates it without asking.
* **Idle is fine** — with a TempoTreadle, the connection stays up while you step away; there is no reconnect dance when you sit back down.
* **Keyboard shortcuts** — Ctrl/Cmd + Plus/Minus also works for zooming, matching the standard zoom shortcuts.
***
### Supported Dobby Looms
| Loom | Manufacturer | Connection |
| ------------------- | ------------ | --------------------------------------------------- |
| Megado | Louet | Serial (USB adapter) |
| Octado | Louet | Serial (USB adapter) |
| Magic | Louet | Serial (USB adapter) |
| Weavebird | Leclerc | Serial (USB adapter) |
| Compu-Dobby I | AVL | Serial (USB adapter), 1200 baud 7E2 |
| Compu-Dobby II, III | AVL | Serial (USB adapter), 9600 8N1 |
| Compu-Dobby IV, 4.5 | AVL | Serial (USB adapter), 9600 8N1, or network (telnet) |
AVL Compu-Dobby support covers positive and negative dobbies and the Workshop Dobby Loom's virtual-positive behavior.
If you don't have one of these looms, the Weave Assistant still works fully as a visual guide — just skip the Dobby Connection section in Settings.
***
### Quick Reference
| Action | Default Key | Configurable? |
| ------------- | ---------------- | --------------------------- |
| Next pick | Space | Yes (Settings > Foot Pedal) |
| Previous pick | Shift+Space | Yes (Settings > Foot Pedal) |
| Zoom in | Ctrl/Cmd + Plus | No |
| Zoom out | Ctrl/Cmd + Minus | No |
| Close window | Escape | No |
| Setting | Default | Saved? |
| ------------------ | ------------ | ------------------------ |
| Next Pick Key | Space | Yes |
| Previous Pick Key | Shift+Space | Yes |
| Chime Volume | 70% | Yes |
| Color Change Chime | On | Yes |
| End Wrap Chime | On | Yes |
| Length alert tones | On | Yes |
| Dobby Type | Louet Megado | Yes |
| Zoom Level | 100% | No (resets each session) |
