Twisted News, Tips & Tricks

TIP: Adobe Illustrator Live trace

2008-11-05T21:22:00.001-08:00

1. To use Live Trace, place a bitmap in Illustrator CS2 using the File / Place command. You can use bmp, jpg, gif, png, tif, or even psd files.
2. Choose Object / Live Trace / Tracing Options. This dialog will tell you how many paths, anchor points, colors, and areas the object contains-you can decide what you want to preview. Click the Trace button when you're finished.
3. You can see the difference in the image, but it still looks like it's one piece.
4. Choose Object / Live Trace / Expand, then click Trace. This converts the image into vector paths.
5. Choose Object / Live Trace / Tracing Options. Use these choices to get a blackand- white effect.
6. Get a stunning effect with more than one image. A new feature in Illustrator CS2, Live Trace allows you to trace logos, sketches, scans, and many other bitmap images, tasks that used to be time consuming and difficult.

What is Disharge Printing?

2008-10-14T01:14:00.000-07:00

No other process produces such soft, breathable, absorbent, bright prints on dark colored garments. Also, no other process has been as misunderstood and maligned as discharge printing.

What is Discharging?
Discharging is a chemical reaction that destroys the ability of selected dyes to reflect color. This reaction takes place at temperatures above 180 degrees Fahrenheit while water is present.

What Shirts Are Dischargeable?
Only selected dyes used on natural fibers are dischargeable. 100% cotton T shirts will discharge well. We rate black, navy, denim, burgundy and brick as being the most dischargeable and wedgewood, cadet blue, royal, purple and yellowjacket as the poorest. Other colors fall somewhere between.

We rate shirts on a 1-10 scale with ten being the most dischargeable. Colors rated as tens are: black, gold, navy, purple, english rose, primrose and powder blue. Colors rated at 7 and discharging ok are peacock, kelly, wine and true red. Colors rated as poorest dischargeable colors are royal, hunter and ash.

Did you learn anything from this post? If so please let us know. Did you know that
we are leading the industry in offering all over discharge printing in small quantities. Most factories require minimum quantities of 600+ pieces. Our minimum is 50+ pieces.

We also offer graphic design services. Yeah!...That's right! We can take your idea scratched out on a napkin and make the most incredible shirt you can imagine. One of our clients is selling his for more than $80.00 each. So if you are a clothing designer, artist, fashion queen; then this is your company. We have satisfied clients all over the country.

Need a Sponsor?

2008-09-23T21:59:00.000-07:00

We at twistedimage.net love to help out our little league teams in these tough financial times. We do this is by producing various items FREE OF CHARGE such as team jerseys, signs, banners, screen printing, Jersey names/numbers, posters, fliers, flags, bags, foam fingers, promotional items and more. Here's how it works.

Answer the following questions by commenting on this post.

1) What team are you nominating for a sponsorship package? (name)
2) Why?
3) Coaches Name
4) Coaches Phone number
5) City / State

Five teams are selected to receive a Sponsorship Package each month.
Each submission is reviewed within 48 hours of receipt.

Feel free to Contact Us with any questions you may have.

Photoshop: Tips & Tricks!

2008-09-05T00:05:00.000-07:00

1. Press Tab will hide tool bar and palette, Shift+Tab will hide only palette.

2. Hold Shift + click the top blue bar for toolbar and palette will move them to the nearest edge.

3. Double click the top blue bar, on any palette window, to minimize it.

4. Double click the gray background will bring up open file option, Hold Shift+double click will open up the browser.

5. Sick of the default gray background around your image? Select paint bucket, hold shift and click on the gray background, it will change to whatever color you have in your foreground color box.

6. In Photoshop, all "Cancel" buttons in a window can be changed to a "Reset" button by holding Alt.

7. Caps lock will switch your cursor for accuracy.

8. Press F button, it will switch between 3 different screen modes and give you more working area.

9. To draw a straight line, click then move to the end point and hold shift + click.

10. Hold Ctrl will temporary make any tool into move tool until you release Ctrl.

11. Ctrl + Alt and click drag the image, it will make a duplication of the current image over lay on top.

12. Hold Space bar, it will make any tool into "Hand Tool" until you release Space bar.

13. While in Zoom Tool, Ctrl+space = zoom in, alt+space = zoom out.

14. Hold Ctrl and press "+" or "-" it will change the % for image in navigator window.

15. When Using eyedropper tool to capture foreground color, hold Alt and click, it will instantly capture the color for background.

16. With Measure Tool, draw a line then hold Alt and draw another line from the end of the first line, it will measure the angle.

17. Ctrl+Alt+Z and Ctrl+Shift+Z will go back and forth in the history.

18. Alt+Backspace and Ctrl+Backspace will fill in the whole screen with foreground color or background color, Shift+backspace will bring up option window, Alt+Shift+Backspace and Ctrl+Shift+Backspace, will fill the image with foreground or background color but will leave the alpha transparent area alone.

19. When free transforming with Ctrl+T, hold Alt to keep the original image and then to transform a duplicated layer of it. Ctrl+Shift+T to repeat whatever you did in the last transform.

20. To make sure your Crop is on the edge of the image, hold Ctrl while cropping.

CALLING ALL AFFILIATES!

2008-08-28T00:48:00.001-07:00

Become an affiliate of TwistedImage.net Today! It's easy to sign-up!

The TwistedImage.net affiliate program will monetize your traffic simply by linking to TwistedImage.net. You can generate easy money from your website, blog, emails or even add your affiliate links to your signature in forums (check forum TOS for guidelines).

TwistedImage.net provides first-class printing, from signs & banners, stickers & decals, screen printing, heat transfers and our exciting ALL OVER printing. You earn a flat commission on every sale you refer to TwistedImage.net ranging from 3-12%. No sales tiers to confuse you. Plus, you receive commission for all sales generated from your affiliate links for up to 2 years! Receive FREE stuff, all the marketing tools you'll need to make your affiliate campaign a success. Plus, our active affiliates receive great discounts on our product offerings.

Becoming an affiliate is FREE and Easy:

Complete the online application
(Requires TwistedImage.net Approval)
Add our Banners, Text Links, Text Ads, Hover Ads, Email Ads & Articles to your website, blog, emails and forum signatures.

After you have completed the application and been approved you will be provided with a unique code and access to all of our affiliate resources, including reports and up to the minutes statistics of your campaigns, simply Login to http://www.twistedimage.net/affiliates.

What are you waiting for? Sign up today...It's quick & easy and FREE!

Tips and Tricks for T-Shirt Transfers

2008-08-13T17:22:00.001-07:00

What You Need To Know About Doing Iron-On Transfers

When the instructions say you need a HOT iron, they mean it. Here are tips and explanations based on my own experience with creating and applying iron-on transfers.

Print a Preview Always, always, always print a preview copy of your image before printing it on the (expensive) transfer paper. Do this to insure that colors print correctly, that your image doesn't fall into your printer's no-print zone along the margins, and to see what size your design will be (sometimes the on-screen view can be deceiving).

Flip Image Don't forget to flip or mirror your image. This is especially critical if you have text in your design. The text should be backwards on screen or on the print out. (Another good reason to print a preview copy first!) Some programs do this automatically.

Use the Right Side of the Paper Transfer paper has stripes on the non-printing side. Be sure to put the paper in your printer so that it prints on the clean white side.

White Does Not Print In designing your artwork remember that WHITE does not print. The fabric will show through any parts of the design that are white. For example, if you print a white ghost on plaid fabric - you'll get a plaid ghost! Plan your design accordingly. As with any desktop publishing project, consider the background color when selecting colors for your designs.

Test on Scrap Fabric Test your design on "scratch fabric" before applying it to your final t-shirt or other fabric. Some types of fabric may require more ironing (heat) than others or may not show off your design as well as you expected.

Use Lots of Heat Use your iron's hottest setting but no steam. It takes a lot of heat to transfer the image evenly and completely to the fabric. Peel off the paper while it is still hot.

Use a Hard Surface The reason transfer instructions specify a hard surface (such as formica) is because it holds the heat. Ironing boards tend to disperse the heat and the transfer paper needs to be very hot to work properly.

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

2008-07-31T21:39:00.000-07:00

So, What do you think about our website so far? We encourage your feedback.
What improvements can we make? We are working very hard to make every experience a pleasant one. Please feel free to comment on this post or call us toll free at 1.877.482.6901. Can't wait to hear from you!

ALL-OVER PRINTING @ twistedimage.net

2008-07-16T00:50:00.000-07:00

T-shirts with all-over printed designs are some of the most popular shirts out today. They are unique and stylish. Some are so intricate, they look like paintings. The artwork is all over the collar, the sleeves, the sides of the shirts, and even the very bottom of the tee. You can find these shirts at just about every clothing store, but at times they can be quite expensive. Many aspiring fashion designers are creating the all-over printed tees because they are in such popular demand. Both shoppers and designers are turning to twistedimage.net to achieve the look they want at an affordable price. Click here to learn more...

Discharge Printing is a technique in which specialty ink is used in screen printing. It results in very soft hand, it shows the shirt's natural fiber instead of laying a thick layer of ink on top of the shirt, and can be printed as pure discharge or with pigments added so that the result is a colored discharge print. By itself, discharge ink removes the dye from the cotton fiber when it hits a certain temperature. It works with a variety of different brands and styles of t-shirts or other garments, with some styles and colors having stronger results than others. We at twistedimage.net are committed to only high quality printed pieces that are unique to your style. We produce intricate artwork from little more than a mere scribble. Click Here to contact us for more information

TIP: Adobe Illustrator

2008-07-16T00:33:00.000-07:00

Over the years Adobe Illustrator has become the standard application when it comes to illustration design. Artists, illustrators and graphic designers use Illustrator to create vector-based graphics which- contrary to raster-based editors such as Adobe Photoshop-can be easily rescaled without the loss of quality. E.g., Illustrator is often used to quickly transform hand-drawn sketches on a sheet of paper into lively and colorful digital images.

Here's a cool little trick that you can try...just follow the steps below:

TIP: Set your stroke color to black, size 0.5 and fill your color to null (no fill)
Draw a star, while still holding down on the mouse button, hold down the ` key.
(on the same key as the ~) moving the mouse faster or slower determines the
space between the copies faster = further apart. HAVE FUN!

5000+ Business Cards - 10% OFF!

2008-07-15T17:32:00.000-07:00

For a limited time...you can buy 5000 or more UV coated, four color, double sided business cards and receive 10% OFF your cards. It's simple...All you have to do click here and order and use Discount Code: 10%OFFBCJUL08 at checkout. Offer expires July 31st, 2008!!

The New TwistedImage.net Blog

2008-07-14T16:54:00.000-07:00

We are pleased to announce the new TwistedImage.net blog, "News, Tips & Tricks". We will be sharing news, information and product specials about our website and shop. We will also be sharing Tips and Tricks our design team has learned throughout their years of experience with programs such as, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop & Fireworks and Corel Draw just to name a few.

Check back frequently and don't miss out on the time sensitive specials we will be offering on the website only.

Thanks,
The Twisted Image.net Team