Questions from a newbie

G

gcfarri

New Member
I am a beginner designing T-shirts and I would like to find out some of the better free T-shirt design software out there.

So far I come across the following free programs – Inkscape – Gimp – Vectr – Canva - Gravit – Paint.net - Paint 3d but the problem I have found is that most of them seem to be far too difficult for a beginner. What I would like is a program with a reasonable learning curve but at the same time have fairly good features. I obviously can’t expect the best , but I would like something that I can learn with but is fairly easy to grasp in the beginning.

I have also seen on YouTube videos as well as other places on the Internet that a Vector program is probably the better one to go with as the images stay the same when they are blown up. I don’t know how much this matters when designing t-shirts , I am hoping that you can tell me if this is necessary.

Here are a list of the main things that I can think of that I want to do in a program.

How to edit text
3D text
import photos
Wrap text around an object
change the background color
as well as any other tasks that you can suggest.

I have been accepted into Amazons Merch program and I would like a free program that will be compatible with them , but at the same time be as easy to use as possible. One of the stumbling blocks that I have come across so far is on the Merch website they only have three templates and only one of them is free – Gimp. I don’t know how necessary a template is but I would assume that it would be somewhat easier with it , but I could be wrong.

Thanks Craig
 
Lynda.com has a free months trial.

Unfortunately, learning professional software, there is no easy learning curve. It can take years to master.

But lynda.com is a good start.
 
As Hank says.

Any decent vector app's worth their salt are going to take some time to learn and just because they're free, doesn't make them easy.
When I moved to Adobe Illustrator I got a months subscription with lynda.com and backed this up with Googling and watching Youtube when I got stuck.
 
Maybe someone can answer the interesting question
is vector necessary for t shirt design?

I have also seen on YouTube videos as well as other places on the Internet that a Vector program is probably the better one to go with as the images stay the same when they are blown up. I don’t know how much this matters when designing t-shirts , I am hoping that you can tell me if this is necessary.
Click to expand...
 
Drifter said:
Maybe someone can answer the interesting question
is vector necessary for t shirt design?
Click to expand...

Anything you're designing that needs to be scaled up or down is best created as vectors to prevent pixelation and loss of detail. You don't need to use vector for t-shirts, you can use raster if you know the size you need or create the artwork large enough to be scaled down if needs be.
 
Print quality with vector will always be sharp - at 20cm size, or at 200cm size.

If you use raster, it might be fine at 20cm but it might not be at 200cm.
 
You definitely don't have to use vectors for t-shirt designs. I have a few online and they're all digital paintings done in Photoshop.
Vector artwork does have major advantages though - designs will print sharply at any size, and vectors lend themselves to a graphical look popular on t-shirts.
Vectors are also useful if you're doing work that has to be one, two or three colours specifically.
 
T-shirt companies usually have guidelines for raster images with minimum resolution and stuff but this is for digital (DTG) printing and not screen print.

If you create your design at around 300ppi at the size it's going to be printed then they should be fine.
 
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