Exporting

When the design is ready, click Export in the top bar (or press Cmd+E).

Ready to export — a tatami-filled rectangle with the Properties panel open

Formats

| Format | Brands | Notes | |---|---|---| | DST | Tajima, ZSK, Barudan, most commercial machines | The universal format. Use this if unsure. | | PES | Brother, Babylock, Bernina (some) | Includes thread color names. Some machines reject PES on exFAT USB sticks — format as FAT32. | | JEF | Janome, Elna | Janome's native format. | | VP3 | Husqvarna Viking, Pfaff | | | EXP | Melco, Bernina | |

Hoop size

Each format has its own hoop size table. Pick a hoop that fits your machine's largest hoop or smaller. bisect warns if the design overflows the chosen hoop.

Preflight

Before the export dialog opens, bisect runs a preflight pass and surfaces any issues in the right-side Preflight panel:

Hoop overflow — any element extending past the active hoop bounds.
Hidden objects — invisible elements that would still sew if not excluded.
Runaway stitch counts — individual elements whose density is far above normal.
Excessive thread changes — the Minimize button reorders same-color elements to sit together in the sew order without changing the visual result.
Stitchability (text only) — design font + size combinations that won't sew cleanly. Click the suggestion to apply a fix (larger size, swap font, reduce density).

You can ignore warnings and export anyway, but errors block export.

Stitch-count check

Before downloading, bisect runs a stitch-count check:

< 50,000 stitches — passes without comment.
50,000 – 250,000 — warns. Long sew time, but valid.
> 250,000 — refuses. Almost always indicates an error.

If you hit the abort, look for:

Shapes with very high density (spacing under 0.3 mm).
Tatami fills with zero offset, producing extra rows.
Duplicated objects stacked on top of each other (check the Layers panel for two of the same name).
Outline type set to satin on a long path that should have been running.

USB sticks

Embroidery machines are surprisingly picky:

Format the USB stick as FAT32, not exFAT. exFAT support is rare.
Put the file at the root of the stick, not inside a folder.
File names should be 8 characters or fewer, all ASCII, no spaces.

bisect names exports automatically (MYDESIGN.DST) but you can rename in the dialog.