Issue Preview: Working With Wraps, AI in Photoshop, Embroidery Success, and GP+ Wide-Format Printing

In the March issue of GRAPHICS PRO, set to mail on Feb. 22 and hit a screen near you on Feb. 27, print and graphics professionals cover common wrap failures, new AI features in Photoshop, and succeeding with an embroidery business.

Plus, don’t miss GP+ Wide-Format Printing, which takes a deep dive into the wide-format printing market and where the future can take you.

Common Wrap Failures and How to Avoid Them

Tim Evans, Wrapper Mapper

• “There are few things in the wrap industry more frustrating (and expensive) than having your $5,000 project come back to the shop due to failures. You have spent massive amounts of time, energy, and resources creating the wrap only to have an unhappy customer complaining that the edges are curling up or the recesses are pulling out.”
• “Relying solely on digital vehicle templates can create unforeseen issues. Most modern vehicle templating is fairly accurate; however, slight changes to body styles, hardware add-ons, sports packages, etc. can dramatically affect your wrap design.”
• “Consider this … the vinyl wrap product has two primary layers: a vinyl film, and the underlying adhesive. If you stretch that film, you also stretch the adhesive layer. Stretching these layers causes them to thin out. A 50% thinner layer of adhesive means 50% less glue which lessens its ability to bond. When you combine physical stress on the film with less adhesive to hold it in place you create the perfect storm for a failure.”

The AI Chronicles: Part 1

Stephen Romaniello

• “Because of the novelty and convenience of AI, software companies are embracing it to stay on the cutting edge. I can predict that as it becomes more mainstream, AI features will evolve to dominate many aspects of the image editing process. That being said, let’s have a look at how these new features work in Photoshop.”
• “We really can’t talk about AI in Photoshop without mentioning Adobe Firefly. Adobe Firefly is a stand-alone web application that helps imagine and create images. It improves creative workflows by employing generative AI. In other words, simply enter a text prompt, click the generate button, and voilà! Your image appears exactly as you imagined it.”
• “Another clever AI feature new to Photoshop is the ability to expand the borders of your image and filling the new areas with seamless content. Generative Expand offers the ability to gather data from immense resources and automatically replicate and seamlessly expand the edges of an image into a larger format.”

How to Succeed With Your Own Embroidery Business

Jennifer Cox, National Network of Embroidery Professionals

• “One thing that I have discovered while working with thousands of successful embroidery business owners for the past 30-plus years is that the profitable ones have several things in common.”
• “Your goals can be set for a variety of benchmarks. Total sales, average order size, average hours worked per day, week, and/or month, average profit per job, sewing head, product, and/or hour, it is up to you. There are no wrong answers, other than no goals.”
• “Remember, you could be punching a clock for someone else instead of running your own business. Hooray for you! For me, the release from punching a clock for someone else was massive.”

Find these articles and much more in GRAPHICS PRO March.