July 31st, 2008, 12:26 PM
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#4 (permalink)
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Junior Member
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Re: Need some info Please
I operate a year old in home embroidery business and am just getting into digitizing. I own, PEdesign, Husqvarna, Embird, Embroidery Magic Pantograms, and Generations.
Now this is just my opinion and experience so there may be others who disagree with me on this issue. Embroidery Magic is basically for creating words and lettering. It was not very expensive but I feel a waste of my money. It's not easy to kearn lettering (even them out so they look nice). The program is too time consuming.
PEdesign and Husqvarna aren't user friendly in my opinion. I've given up on them and have moved on.
The two I like best are Embird and Generations. Neither does exactly what I want so I tend to bounce back and forth between the two. Generations (around $2,000) does fast pretty accurate lettering on the spot and a pretty good job at resizing designs without having to fiddle with them much. It depends on how much you want to resize.
Embird Studio is an Editing Program that's easy to use and does a pretty nice job on resizing. You have to buy the digitizing program as an add on.
Pros and cons:
Generations is about $2,000 and requires a dongle so you're limited to which machine you can use it on but there are no add ons. The dongle is an issue for me because both my husband and I want to digitize. That means one of us has to wait for the other to finish their job so we can move the dongle to the computer we are using. Generations won't let you purchase an additional dongle so it's very inconvenient at times. However, you get everything in one shot meaning no add ons later.
The instruction book is not bad but I hate reading to learn something. I'm a watch the video and do it along with the lesson kinda gal. The instruction video that comes with the program could be good but the girl goes way to fast and sometimes forgets to tell you what buttons she's pushed and do a certain command. You find yourself saying....What?????, rewinding several times to listen to her again. I'm a pretty patient person but have actually found myself yelling at her on my laptop because I get so frustrated.
I was able to work a deal with Hemmingworth to get the new Design Creations (Learn by Doing) CD's by James Lyman thrown in for free with the purchase of my Generations Software. They were a pain to get up and running but I did two lessons yesterday and they were quick and easy to understand. I actually had fun and didn't yell at the computer once! Hahahahaha!
Just a quick note: I went to a Hemmingworth seminar and met James Lyman. He was the reason why I added Generations to my other software. He's been a digitizer for Disney, Charmed (TV show) and the Winter Olympics to name a few. He showed some of his designs for the entertainment industry and they were absolutely breathtaking. He was easy to understand, patient and loved answering questions. I wasn't prepared to spend the $2000 without talking to my partner (husband) so I actually contacted Hemmingworth and bought the software about a month later. They were really great to deal with.
Embird purchasing is different. You buy Embird Studio (editing program) first then add on. For me this is an annoyance and I feel I'm being nickled and dimed to death but for others they find it a great way to buy only what they want, need or can afford at the time. So you can actually buy a new add on each month at payday if you want.
You can download an Embird Tutorial for free (it takes tons of paper), hopefully find a class in your state to attend or buy cd's. So far I haven't found any CD's that show you so you can work alongside what they are doing. They've been read along. I'm still searching for the actual listen to the instructor and do what they just did lesson. I believe they're out there somewhere.
I bought my Embird from Kathy Jones at the flyingneedle.com and then went to Anaheim California to take her seminar. Personally it was a waste of money. She acted intoxicated, yelled at us like we were children (being 50 I really took offence to this) and didn't finish the lesson we paid for because she ran out of time.
I've contacted a really nice woman named Rosanne at editingwizardry.com and got a quick response to my questions. She also performs educational seminars. I'm hoping she'll come to California and do a couple of seminars. I'd highly suggest keeping her in business and buying from her. She's the only Embird seller I contacted that answered my email questions.
Also, if you go the Embird route, I recommend buying the CD (I think it's about $10 more but don't quote me on that) and don't rely on downloading on-line. I've always run into problems with the download and find having the CD on hand (in case of computer problems) eliminates a ton of frustration.
Okay, I think I've rambled on long enough. I hope this helps or at least answers some of your questions.
Patti
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Need some info Please
