T1 How do you improve your digitizing?

I like to answer these questions from a middle ground perspective. I run an apparel and promo item business but I do digitizing in house/myself. I don't digitize nearly as much as a full time digitzer does, so artistically I am often challenged and can't always deliver fast artwork, cause I have to think about the artwork more where as experienced digitizers might just bust it out and move on. That said I continue to do it because I find the end results can be run faster/without thread breaks more consistently.

1.For me the best training has been self taught by doing/experimenting/pushing myself to digitize something challenging. I have an artist friend who I often will with his permission take his abstract/modern animal sketches and digitize them. Each time I do that artwork, or a cool logo/vehicle that i saw I attempt something new that i have never done, and pull from the creative side of how stitches work together.

2.Going back to square one in training videos/manuals anything i can find and rewatch/reread them. Often times you learn 5 things from a video/chapter. But you only retain and use 2-3 of those things. Going back to square one you sometimes learn those other 2-3 tricks that make your artwork 100% better. Like Robert Young just said READ THE MANUAL. Both for the software and your machine. I only just learned about a tool on my machine that reduces puckering by 20% and ive run the machine professionally for 3-4 years.

3. Anytime I see something embroidered, good/bad, on a toy, on a shirt, on a hat. I Look at it, study it, try to reverse engineer it in my mind in my own software. Look at the bobbin side see how their tensions were set or what backing they might have used as well. use a finger nail and see if i can pull a stitch aside and see underlay. Look for start and stop points/tieoffs they can give directional information.

4. And lastly read opinions and boards like this. I don't always agree with how one person does it vs another. But I bank what I learn in order to apply it later when I can.

There is another challenge of an outsource digitzers vs an in-house digitizers. I say this with an absurd amount of respect for outsource digitizers, your job is HARD.

In-house digitizers have the luxary of control and oversight and usually KNOW how the machine in house will run, they have more of a garuntee of what material is going to be used, and can give some more complex instructions to get a high end result.

Where as outsorce digitizers have a tougher time predicting all the variables or even guaranteeing that the client/customer will follow the instructions they gave you. As such many digitize in ways that make it a bit more "idiot proof". The best example I have ever seen is American flags, or checkered flags. Creating a white FILL stitch base and then creating red satin stripes, or black checkers on top, as an alternative to alternating fills or alternating satin stitches that might not register correctly on different materials, where as the satin on top of fill is reliable and is recognizable. where as a fill next to a fill looks cleaner/smoother but is incredibly hard to keep in register especially on different materials.

this could be fun! :)

a couple of months ago i started a "for fun" project. kinda. texmac asked me to digitizing something for them to run at shows. that's how it got started anyway. but i tried to use some of the fancy/different stitches in wilcom that my old software didn't have (i switched to wilcom in july).

my plan this year, is to actually sit and go through the bazillion page manual that comes with it and learn more of the features that it has. i've got the basics down, but i know that i'm not using nearly all the tools and toys. i'm sure it will definitely be a learning experience! i also plan on creating more fonts and redoing some of the things in the keyboard fonts that i'm not crazy about that i use a good bit.

forgot to respond to the other stuff...
i've been to trade shows, but never been to a digitizing class...tho i probably should have. it probably would have speeded up the learning curve. too late now tho i think.

no, never ordered a design from another digitizer...but i get enough of them that i have to fix/redo...so they're typically an excellent lesson on "what NOT to do". early on tho, i did have a couple of seasoned digitizers that would take a look at my awful work and give me pointers. thank you Tom at Strawberry Stitch, and Bonnie at Moonlight!

don't do designs different ways...pretty much knows what works and what doesnt, but i do subscribe here and to t-shirtforums.com

Proost, I looked for the other post you where you asked about a good formula for performance wear, but the one I found didn't have any responses with any suggested settings. I work with a ton of dri-wicking garments. Would love some info. from others who work with and/or digitize for this garment type. Did I miss it??

I've been trying to figure out this question every time I have a new item to digitize. I open digitized embroidery in my digitizing software and watch it stitch out to teach myself. I've been to my digitizing software class and found a few tutorials online but a lot of the time it seems that the lesson covers more on how digitizing software works and not the actual digitizing "rules". This is the best site I've found to "talk" with actual digitizers and read their input (thanks!) and not just embroiderers. I don't digitize for my "bread and butter" but it is truly a passion I enjoy. I would like to just talk about the digitizing processes. Is this the best place for that?

Here is what I am working on solving now. I am digitizing a very simple solid stylized letter. Shirt logo size. My problem is that I'm not getting a sharp stitched out edge. I digitized an outline around the letter to get sharp edges but I don't want that look. I tried three stitch directions in my tatami fill and that didn't solve my edge problem. I would like to have the design denser on the edge but I'm not sure how to do that. Any suggestions would be appreciated! I am using Wilcom e3.

Very interesting Robert. Would you please explain the meaning of the numbers to the left of the density numbers? It appears to reference the underlay, but I cannot make sense of them. Obviously we all use different digitizing programs and perhaps measurement units, so I assume that may be the reason ?? I need you as my instructor!! :)
Thanks for sharing your ideas!

Great Help!!!
And V interesting

Thanks
Matt Conner
Qualitycollection.com

My goal this year is NOT to bug digidana as much as last year! :) I'm getting there. I'm gearing up for a lot of performance wear embroidery so took a shirt, adjusted the settings and just built a stitch out grid to see what formulation worked best. See my other post though on whether anyone has a recipe that works best and created an auto fabric setting in Wilcom.

ha! i was wondering what happened to you. haven't heard from you in days and days. figured you had it all figured out by now. :D i really don't mind helping at all. i remember what it was like (20 years ago! jeeeez). i had a couple people i could turn to back then and it made all the difference in the learning curve. i'm really happy that you're learning, and not putting out ***** and calling it gold.

btw, i don't use any of the auto fabric settings. i don't trust em.