Learn to Digitize - Unit 3

Unit 3: Graphics, Color & File Formats

Truly the heart of any embroidery design is the art. Don’t fret if you don’t have a degree in art, because Lindee does and she'll lead you through a short course on color and design, graphics formats, and how to select and enhance your images for digitizing. She will show you how to scan in some artwork and learn how to prepare it for better auto-digitizing results.

In this Unit you will also return to the View Preferences panel for a more thorough investigation including creating your own hoops. We’ll look at how color is handled in Generations, including working with thread libraries, how to add and delete threads, how to create a custom thread library, and when not to use a library at all.

Unit Objectives (Partial)

• Know the difference between the two main types of graphics formats, their advantages and disadvantages, and which to use in Generations and when.
• Understand the basics of copyrights as it applies to images and embroidery designs.
• How to identify elements in artwork that might cause problems during digitizing or embroidering.
• How to find suitable graphics on the internet.
• How to scan and adjust images in Generations.
• How to optimize a vector image for auto-digitizing before inserting into Generations.
• Obtain a basic understanding of design including color and composition.
• How to prepare an image for digitizing (resolution, colors, size, removing excess details, posterizing).
• How to create custom color palettes in Generations and how Generations applies color to designs.
• How to work with thread libraries including making custom catalogs and installing a new catalog.
• How to divide embroidery areas with a line and a curve.

Disc-based training product includes:

• 1 Illustrated, full color, e-book—210 total pages
• 9 QuickTime video lessons (1 hr 45 minutes total
• Original images in multiple formats (18 filest) plus fabric swatches (6 files)
• Customized thread library
• Option to have your work personally evaluated (requires Unit 1)

Requirements

• Successful completion of all previous units
• Generations Embroidery Software, version 1.6 to perform the exercises
• Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the PDF files (a free download is available from adobe.com however, this program is installed on most computers)
• Apple Quicktime to view the supplementary training videos (a free download is available from apple.com)
• Anatomy of a Design: How to Think Like a Digitizer & Become a Better Embroiderer (ebook by Lindee Goodall)