Compucon bills its Embroidery Operating System 3 (EOS 3) as powerful and easy to use. It's designed as drawing-oriented software, which means operators can create objects on screen and fill them with stitches. EOS 3 can import vector files and preserve the original reference points as they were created. It also supports export of stitches, outlines, or the background image as a vector file and preserves original curves created in EOS. The software also supports the new unified embroidery format (.emf), which stores outline and stitch information, as well as the image file, in one file. EOS 3 can automatically connect blocks and input tie-ins or tie-offs according to user-defined parameters. Its Short Stitches feature is designed to improve stitch quality. Elastic Outlines facilitates outline transformation while digitizing, and Bezier Point Technology is designed to produce smooth results with the fewest possible reference points. The software also features PhotoStitch, which gives users a wizard to help them automatically digitize scanned photos. EOS 3 comes with hundreds of built-in stitch types, support for special effects, tools for converting Windows TrueType fonts into stitches, and more. Compucon USA, 620 Green Valley Rd., Ste. 103, Greensboro, NC 27408, 336-294-0604, fax: 336-854-2233, Web: www.compuconusa.com.