Lining up vinyl on t-shirts

[Earl Smith]

Believe me, in a few months time and after many printed t-shirts, you will look back at this post and ask yourself "Why did I make it so difficult?".
You will quickly learn which Fonts to use or more importantly Not Use.
Good luck.

[Coops]

I'm looking forward too it. I really liked creating the t-shirts and how they looked too.

One more thing, what's the best way to photograph them?
I've read up on a few things on the forum however i don't have the photographic equipment like some have (mobile phone camera only). Ive tried laying then flat but you can see the creases and I've used a human mannequin (me) but they still don't look right.

[webtrekker]

Use a digital mockup rather than an actual photo. Plenty available on the net, or make your own in Photoshop (using the Displacement effect if you want a few lifelike wrinkles in your shot).

[Coops]

For initial designs I am happy to create "Mock Ups" however I want to advertise the shirts I have made so customers can get an idea of what a finished item looks like. I tried lying flat but it appeared very wrinkly even after ironing. I also hung it up but again it cast too many shadows and was unable to get the right colours. I wore the shirt and had my wife photograph me but it still wasn't that clear. I will keep trying until I find the best method.

[webtrekker]

All I can suggest, other than mockups, is to build yourself a lighting studio, where you can alter the strength, position and even the colour of the lights to combat poor lighting and unwanted shadows.

This could be as simple as a few white-painted, hinged boards and some decent lights on stands that you can drag out whenever you need product shots.

I should perhaps mention another way of making mockups rather than using Photoshop. If you make or obtain decent 3D models of t-shirts you could raytrace them in suitable rendering software where you can alter the lighting, shadows, colours, reflections, layout, etc to your heart's satisfaction. I use Keyshot 4 myself, but many other renderers are available, including some excellent free ones, such as Blender.

[Disky]

i ordered from the website above, arrived on friday, still to use it yet, but a nice tool to have