If your company has invested in industry specific design software, do you also need Adobe Photoshop™? Will Photoshop replace the more expensive industry specific design packages? These and many more issues were discussed in breakout sessions at the CITDA conference held in Charlotte, NC, March 2 and 3, 2000. The forum provided an opportunity for 125 designers, design managers and company executives to compare notes on how the industry is integrating commercial vs. off-the-shelf software.

After breaking into smaller discussion groups, each of which was posed with a specific issue, the group met to share their notes on how they are using their design software.

1. What are the pros & cons of off-the-shelf (including Photoshop, Illustrator, Freehand, etc)

Pros

Manipulation of color
Vector capabilities
Filter capabilities/effects
Fonts/graphics
Pre press capabilities
Can find affordable plug-ins
Can find experience in candidates
Multiple platforms/cross platforms
Less expensive

Cons

Plug-ins are essential
Doesn’t support production

2. Why shouldn’t a company use off-the-shelf software?

Unaware of the possibilities
Training resources
Production capabilities missing, especially for knits and wovens
It’s not pushing the textile machinery
Specific textile applications/uses are not there: repeats, colorways, separations

3. Compare the $500 v $30,000 software packages.

$500

File formats are more compatible (tiff, eps and jpg)
Technical packages are more limiting
Filters and additional tools are needed
Miles for the money
Recoloring not easy without plug-ins
More and more plug-ins are becoming available (see AGE Technologies , Monarch)

$30,000

Technical support
Easy training and tutoring — more specific
Technical and production needs supported— weaving, towels, yarn dyes

4. Where is Photoshop most effective?

Scanning & editing
Opening files of proprietary software (most of which support the TIFF format)
T-shirt graphics
Logos
Web production
Sales and marketing layouts