Do you already have some basic skills with Generations? Are you looking to learn a specific technique? Would you like to see how to use the power tools hidden under the auto-digitizing face of  Generations? Then Quick Projects are for you!

What are Quick Projects?

They’re smaller than the Learn to Digitize course units and targeted at demonstrating particular techniques by completing a specific design in a step-by-step process. All include fully illustrated, detailed step-by-step instructions designed to show you the power hidden under the hood of the Generations auto-digitizing embroidery program.

Full projects come with any necessary artwork (or a free resource for the art) and finished examples of the designs in .gen format. Some projects require no artwork at all but provide the steps for creating the objects using built-in tools.

Requirements

These projects are specific to the Generations auto-digitizing embroidery program and were written for version 1.6. Design files included with the projects can only be opened using this program.

In addition to Generations, you will also need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the  projects. Some projects may also require Apple QuickTime. The free version of either of these programs is completely adequate.

How to Use Quick Projects

The actual project used in the various Quick Project lessons is not the real goal. The ultimate goal of each project is to show you how to use the tools in Generations to create the designs you want to create. The project, therefore, is just a representative example of how to leverage the power of the program to accomplish tasks that are common to many different designs.

In other words, you may never digitize a golf logo or a St. Patrick’s day design. The destination is not the reward, the journey is. Once you’ve completed the steps the for the project design, you’ll be able to apply those skills to many projects of your own choosing.

Who the Quick Projects are For

Depending on your level of familiarity with Generations, you may find the various projects easy or difficult.

If you are brand new to Generations or still confused by the interface or have never created a single design, then a better place to start is with Unit 1: Getting Started with Generations in the Learn to Digitize Training Series. The goal of this first volume in the course is to teach basic auto-digitizing concepts and orient you in the program. Once you have those skills, most of the Quick Projects should be easily within your reach.

Sewing the Design

While you can still work through the projects even if they won’t fit your hoop just to learn the process in Generations, I highly recommend that you actually sew the design out. You don’t have to turn it into a finished product, but do use proper embroidery techniques and choose a reasonable fabric to test the design.

Pixels on the screen are not embroidery! A digital design doesn’t become embroidery until it is sewn out!

Be sure to watch the design sew. Watching designs sew is a great way to improve your digitizing skills. Is the design efficient? Does the design sew in a smooth manner working an area at a time? Does it hopscotch all over the place? Watch your design for sewing inefficiencies and then correct them.

You can also check your design by doing a “virtual sewout” using the Stitch Player. Although this is no substitution for test sewing, it can reveal some problems that you can correct before your first test sew.

Learning to Digitize is Process

Really learning to digitize is an on-going “continuing ed” kind of thing. You can’t expect to sit down and learn it in a few brief sessions. Instead, look at it as an adventure and each design represents and opportunity for new techniques.

Are The Projects Free?

These projects take a long time to produce. I can easily create a design collection or two (sometimes 3) in the time it takes to research, write, and produce one of these projects. Also, I don’t just demonstrate how to push the buttons in Generations to get the end result, I tell you why. Those whys come from my experience as a real-life digitizer and embroiderer, not an educator pushing software.

I do provide a lot of free embroidery information at my main site, Lindee G Embroidery and I offer one free sample project, Nearly Instant Redwork.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, June 20th, 2010 at 5:58 am and is filed under Quick Projects. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.