Invest some time and learn how to use your software

[royster13]

My busy season has started.....Schedule magnets, school magnet & calendars magnets....
www.schedulemagnets.ca

It the next month or so I will have to put out art for 40+ schedule magnets....Many are very similar in the grids and somewhat time consuming....When I first started doing them, it might have taken me 5+ hours on each....Yesterday I did 4....The difference was investing some time in learning all the tools in Illustrator...however, the same would apply to Corel Draw or any other program you use.....These programs are powerful if you learn them.....Just yesterday I "re-learned" Alignment to Key Object" and I am sure it saved me 30 to 45 minutes on each file....

Just like investing in automatic equipment to make your life easier, investing some time in your software will also make your life easier....

[inkman996]

And I bet there is still many more short cuts and features actions etc. you are not aware of that can cut your time down by much more.

[royster13]

And I bet there is still many more short cuts and features actions etc. you are not aware of that can cut your time down by much more.

I am sure there are......Just reading up on Wacom Tablets.....I think that will be another thing on my list....

[Shanarchy]

I couldn't agree more. This is also something I really need to do myself.

Do they ever have screen printing specific illustrator classes anywhere (iss? online?)? I'm sure there is so many things I could learn that would make my life much better.

[tonypep]

We developed software to spit out magnet tickets with core information when work orders are printed. A little complicated to understand at first but it is a color coded dependant system. Its been tweaked for over 17 ys. and works very, very well. Can't use scheduling software in a can.

[royster13]

I couldn't agree more. This is also something I really need to do myself.

Do they ever have screen printing specific illustrator classes anywhere (iss? online?)? I'm sure there is so many things I could learn that would make my life much better.

Apparently Ryanet has a DVD, Illustrator for Screenprinters.....

[Shanarchy]

I couldn't agree more. This is also something I really need to do myself.

Do they ever have screen printing specific illustrator classes anywhere (iss? online?)? I'm sure there is so many things I could learn that would make my life much better.

Apparently Ryanet has a DVD, Illustrator for Screenprinters.....

I may have to check that out.

Thanks!

[Boldline]

I can totally relate to learning key options that save massive amounts of time and alleviates frustration! I spent more time than I care to admit spacing by hand numerous items in columns or rows (most commonly class name lists on shirts). Then one day frustration led me to think, "there HAS to be a better way to do this!" then I discovered the "align" panel and the option there to space items evenly across the entire workspace or in within the space between two outer items. HUGE improvement! Now I use it daily and its hard to imagine not using that tool! We are all learning and growing!

[inkman996]

I can totally relate to learning key options that save massive amounts of time and alleviates frustration! I spent more time than I care to admit spacing by hand numerous items in columns or rows (most commonly class name lists on shirts). Then one day frustration led me to think, "there HAS to be a better way to do this!" then I discovered the "align" panel and the option there to space items evenly across the entire workspace or in within the space between two outer items. HUGE improvement! Now I use it daily and its hard to imagine not using that tool! We are all learning and growing!

In Corel I have all the align options set to hot keys, as well as all the shaping tools and many many others. Hot keys alone saves immense amounts of time.

[Inkworks]

If you're not using one hand on the mouse and one on the keyboard then you aren't using the program. I constantly use about 30 different keyboard shortcuts in Corel. Nudge, Micro nudge and super-nudge are definitely some of the most under-used, useful tools I use all the time. Align keys are the bomb too, particularly combined with timely group/un-groups.

[royster13]

I gained so much in the last couple days in far as production efficiency.....Yesterday I was using align tool a lot and this morning I found if you broke out the align tool panel and positioned it closer to where you were working you can save even more time....

[sullyman]

I do have a Youtube channel that runs people through the fundamentals of Illustrator. Forgive me for the self-inflicted plug but that's the nature of these things. I'm also slowly building into more advanced techniques, tips and tricks along the way.

Sullymans's Youtube

[royster13]

I found the animated Lego movies but not yours.....I will keep looking....

[royster13]

Found them....
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP9ZksAAmqw5lxR0H3Zh1yA

[sullyman]

I forgot at times that when you're logged in the url's shift and point in the wrong direction XD. Thanks for being a sleuth