At long last, the “really good stuff.” According to some of my proofers, this unit is the best one yet!
You’ll notice a shift in this unit from previous ones. Except for photo stitch, we’ve covered pretty much everything you need to know about using the tools in Generations. You may not feel entirely fluent and that comes with practice. Also, there are more ways to use the tools than what we’ve covered. As you find a need to do something, you will figure out a tool or tools that can do it.
In this unit we’ll be taking a broader look at digitizing. After the photo stitch lesson, we’ll be looking more at how to control stitches for best results. Theoretically, you know where and how to do that. You know how to control stitch attributes through the Object Stitch Settings panel. You know how to create shapes with the satin, line, and area tools. You know how to edit object nodes via the edit mode (View Outline). Now it’s simply a matter of learning how to get the results you want through stitch placement and control.
Photo Stitch
Many of you have asked about photo stitch, and at long last we cover it here, right after our quick start tutorial. Photo stitch is highly dependent on the photo and I’ll show you a few tricks for better results. We’ll look at each of the 5 options for photo stitch in Generations and compare the results on two versions of the same photo. Then we’ll have some fun with photo random, my favorite style. Normally it makes a single color design but I’ll show you how to make a multi-color design with just a few clicks.
Now that we’ve covered the bulk of Generations, we’ll start applying that knowledge to creating fur, feathers, and foliage and photos. Everything you’ve learned in Anatomy of a Design and the first 6 units of the course will be pulled together in this unit.
This unit goes more into manual digitizing techniques. We’ll cover editing True Type letters and reasons for digitizing from scratch. Of course, to produce great looking letters, you have to be a master at compensation, pathng, and density. all previously covered topics. You also need to learn how to turn a corner and which type of corner to use depending on the angle and size of the corner.
Digitizing is the art of interpreting an image, not converting it. Auto-digitizing attempts to convert. We’ll discuss ways to interpret the design for interesting and production friendly embroidery designs. We’ll also discuss methods for evaluating designs. We’ll look at a number of professionally digitized designs to see what brings them to life. Finally, we’ll dissect a design that was digitized from a photograph to see how the digitizer created the illusion of detail.
This unit’s final project is more structured than previous units. We’ll take a photo, analyze it, and then digitize it step-by-step. Your challenge is ti reproduce it.
Although this unit is less Generations specific—only the photo stitch lesson is software dependent—this unit is not a stand-alone module. Many concepts were covered in previous units. The groundwork and theory for fonts was covered in unit 2. Unit 3 covered design concepts and art preparation. Could you learn something from this unit without having read the other ones if you have another brand of software? Absolutely!
Some Assumptions
This unit assumes that you know how to use Generations and that you have learned what was covered in previous units. This is much more advanced material and we’ll be pulling together concepts and skills covered earlier.
Please note that although this unit is less Generations specific than previous ones, certain core principles have been covered in those units that relate to digitizing theory. For example, pathing had a lesson in Unit 4 (lesson 11) and understanding those principles is vital to advancing the quality of your digitizing. Unit 2 covered typography and we’ll build on that as we edit and digitize letters. In other words, this unit is not intended as a stand-alone module.
Unit Objectives (Partial)
- Working with the 5 styles of Photo Stitch
- How to control and create corners for acute, obtuse, and right angles at different sizes
- Editing True Type fonts
- Manually digitizing letters
- Creating realism (fur, feathers, and foliage)
- Considerations for different thread types
- How to inspect embroidery
- Interpreting artwork for embroidery
- Manually digitizing from a photograph
This disc-based digital training product includes:
- 1 Illustrated, full color, e-book—180 total pages
- 3 external QuickTime video lessons (61 minutes total)
- 15 embedded QuickTime videos
- Custom graphics for exercises (26 total)
- Optional evaluation of your project
Requirements
- Same as unit 1:
- Generations embroidery software version 1.6 to perform the exercises
- Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the PDF files (free, installed on most computers)
- Apple Quicktime to view the supplementary training videos (free, download from apple.com)
- Successful completion of all previous units and Anatomy of a Design
- Purchase of Unit 1 if you wish to have your projects personally evaluated
Shipping Status:
This product is now shipping. Purchase through November 8, 2010 and save $10 off SRP.
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only $59.95$49.95 thru 11/08/2010Unit 7 |
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