Hey,
My team is interested in making t-shirts with the FIRST logo embroidered on the shirt. After looking into this we found it would cost upwards of $50 to get the logo “digitized”. Has any other team digitized the logo and if so, can you share it with us.
http://www.usfirst.org/community/resourcecenter.aspx?id=650
They’re available from FIRST at the above link.
Do note the extensive usage guidelines for the logo, however, and try to abide by them.
Seeing as your having them embroidered, I’m a little confused. Are you in search of the image file (.jpg) or of the G code (or whatever embroidery machines use) to actually embroider the logo?
Madison has the FIRST resources page which has it in .jpg and .eps.
If you want a big jpeg of the FIRST logo, Art Dutra made this one a while back.
http://www.team228.org/images/graphics/first_logo_1600.jpg
I’m looking for the “g” codes of embroidery. Usually what happens is an artist takes the jpeg and makes the g codes. I’d like to bypass that step, if others have already purchased the g codes.
If you want to do a professional looking job follow the style guide from FIRST.
I would suggest doing the following:
This website has the official graphics and style guides for logos.
http://www.usfirst.org/community/resourcecenter.aspx?id=650
We work with the eps files as a starting point using Adobe Illustrator to manage the images. From there we can create anything we want at maximum resolution except for embroidery files. We cannot create embroidery files but have to have them converted.
A service bureau, like a embroidery shop can then take a jpeg file and create the file for the embroidery machine. Make sure that the jpeg file has sufficient resolution to allow them to do an accurate job. If you are doing a small logo on a shirt or something then the electronic app jpeg on the FIRST site should be sufficient for the shop.
I would suggest paying the shop the $ 50 buck to do the file conversion to their embroidery machine. The program they use is fairly expensive but it converts to their specific embroidery machine, not some generic format and would give you the best result. If you provide a generic file but it doesn’t quite work then you will waste time and material trying to start up the project.
Yes, I know it is $ 50, but the alternatives are much worse. Better yet, try to bring them on as a sponsor, get them to donate the digitization and maybe give a 10% educational discount for the team.
Please read the usage documents on the FIRST site link above also. It is important that the community maintain the branding standards of FIRST so that we can maintain a top quality brand image.
Ed
Check with the company to see if they will give you the files after they convert them to their format so that you will not have to pay it again. Also, think about ordering more shirts. The more shirts you add the more the cost gets spread out. If you are getting just 10 shirts then its an added $5 to each, but you get 50 shirts it is only $1.
I’d suggest consulting the company to ask exactly what file format they need for their machines. Most shirt companies will need some sort of a vector image format (.eps or .ai). These can be created from scratch in Photoshop, Illustrator, Fireworks, etc, or if you just need the FIRST logo you can download the .zip file from FIRST’s website with all the different versions of their logo already in .eps format, using the link from Madison’s post.
The .eps and .ai files are industry standard for vector images (whether they use Mac OS X or Windows computers), and any equipment should either be able to directly read them, or be able to convert them to a format it understands.
It sounds like the $50 they want to charge would only be applicable if the image you supply to them was in JPEG (or other similar raster) format; because then they would have to trace a new vector image over the logo to recreate it and that can take a while.
From our website logs, a lot of people use that image. 
Which was the reason why I hosted it on our website: because no where else could people find a high-res copy of the FIRST logo. And if they were on a computer where MS Paint was the extent of their image editing software, trying to make use of the .eps files would be impossible.
I mostly created that to have a high resolution picture for Powerpoint presentations, posters, or just for printing out large FIRST logos from any computer. One of these days I’ll upload just the plain .eps and .ai FIRST logos to our Logos and Graphics page to compliment the JPEG images, so people don’t need to hunt through the .zip files from FIRST for the right version of their logo.
I think your mileage can very widely between embroidery shops. There are low cost packages that some storefront shops that cost only a hundred or two dollars. They are limited in capabilities and cannot necessarily handle vector formats.
Higher end shops and commercial production shops have software that is much more capable and can handle vector formats. I think their software cost many thousands of dollars.
Even then, using a jpeg is just a color to thread replacement.
Virtually any shop will charge a setup fee. And it is justified on their end.
Ed
“Digitized” does not equal “Vectorized”.
They are inquiring regarding a specific procedure to encode images to be embroided by a [CNC Sewing Machine]. 177 had one and looked into it, but could find no good software to do it.
Yes, that is true.
Bottom line is you are way better off to pay the $ 50 and let the company go through their setup processes. If there is a problem then it is their problem not yours.
You will find this to be true in a million engineering related manufacturing processes, not just embroidery. Especially if they are a ISO9000 shop.
Ed
<off topic> I just took a quick glance at that, and it doesn’t seem to have the registration mark. Also, if you save in a PNG or GIF format for logos it preserves the sharpness much better without increasing file size (sometimes even smaller). I have found this version immensely useful, as it is transparent… an oversight by FIRST as far as I’m concerned. If you try to remove the background, it is the same color as the circle so you end up deleting it as well. What you have to do is use the version for dark colored backgrounds, and then bring in the black text from the white background version.
