# Deco Network features?



## extremestitch (Jul 6, 2008)

I am an Embroidery only potential customer. Below are my questions I hope someone can answer. 
1) Can I upload my own garment templates? I custom manufacture only 5 items but with many different trim styles and options. 
2) Can my uploaded garment template be transparent gray scale and allow users to select and color several different areas of the garment. ie. sleeve color, cuff color, button/snaps ect? 
3) Can I upload my own private wilcom *.emb files and will they be user selectable and secure?
4) Can I upload my own custom multi color *.emt font files and will they be user selectable remain secure?
5) Can custom Multi-Color TTF fonts be used and allow the users to select and change colors. ie a two color font that has a fill area and an outline area. Can the customer choose a two color font and select the colors. 
6) Can I restrict the colors available to only ones that match my threads? 
7) Can customers upload their own artwork jpg and or vector, and color it via the design tools?
Thanks to anyone who can answer these questions.


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## extremestitch (Jul 6, 2008)

OK more questions. 


8) Where are the servers. Are their Deco Servers on the West Coast of the USA? Or coffee cans and string all the way to Australia?

9) Are 2 color embroidery fonts possible?

10) Why are so many of the websites Brendan refers potential customers to , down, gone, slow, or broken? Even recomended Deco demos stores are slow, crash, or broken. This is a HUGE concern to me!

11) In the dynamic product creation video it demonstrates creating a template with different color sleeves and body separated into 2 layers. Will it allow a product that has 20 color layers? Can the customer assign the colors for all 20 layers from a blank template?

12) Is there a maximum amount of layers a vector art file could have? Are customer uploads of vector files possible or only raster. 

13) Why are the stock embroidery (Dakota) designs not allowing color changes? 

14) can a single color black vector be transformed into a multi color design through the design studio?

The slow page times has me the most concerned.


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## brenden (Dec 11, 2008)

Hi Ty,

Thanks for your post! I'll try answer each question as best as I can.

1. A tricky one to answer without knowing what you want the user to be able to do. But you can make your own products and create product options like trim color with choices for to the user to select.

2. You can use indexed PNG files as your garment colors and expose those colors for your clients to change. Are you doing sublimation production?

3. Yes you can. They are limited only to your site. All your consumers will see is a PNG preview. They never get access to the .EMB file.

4. No it is not possible to upload .EMT font files at present.

5. Likewise we can't allow the ability to upload your own .TTF files at the moment however you can take any of our existing fonts and fill them with a separate fill and and outline color.

6. Absolutely. Super important for embroidery to ensure the consumer doesn't pick a thread color you don't have.

7. Yes they sure can. We match the colors in the image to your embroidery thread colors to again ensure they only can use your thread chart. It also reduces the colors to ensure it only has the maximum number of colors you allow. This typically matches the number of needles on your machine/

8.  Good question! All our servers are based in North America in server farms and have full redundancy and multiple levels of backup.

9. Not at present.

10. I really can't comment on that without knowing which sites your referring too. In terms of demo sites its always changing so there is a chance an old list or test I posted is not working. I usually make test for a particular post and chances are it could be gone in the future. If you want to see real customer site then i'd visit Showcase | DecoNetwork

11. That video shows the creation of a product for your back-end only. You define the color variations so this is really for 'ready made' garments. You'd use the method explained in item #2.

12. Not that I am aware of! We use CorelDRAW as our graphics engine in DecoNetwork so if it is possible in DRAW then it will be possible in DecoNetwork.

13. We currently use OESD stock design collection as standard in DecoNetwork but of course you can upload your own. As you pointed out the colors cannot be changed in current stock designs and are colored as per the stock design creator.

14. No this is not possible. The designer is really optimized to edit existing templates and by using CorelDRAW you can get some really need effects in templates.

Speed wise its difficult to comment on without knowing the site in question. I'll PM you my email (so its not listed here for spam!) and feel free to ping me direct or we can arrange a demo to show you in real-time each of the items you asked above.

Thanks again!

Brenden


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## extremestitch (Jul 6, 2008)

Thanks for the quick response. You have answered everything well. 
Of course I still have a few more questions that may help others considering. First, One of my fonts that is currently an .EMT wilcom font is my #1 seller. It is a 4 color font. It is a wild pattern that everyone loves. It has to be available to my users for Deco to would work for me. Can I create a vector of each character and allow the user to type it in an envelope fixed in a region of the garment? Example, a region on the top back of a jersey that was a fixed arc envelope that acted as a container. The user needs to be able to type their name and select which color on each of the 4 object layers. Is there any work around that you can think of? Same for multi colored fonts. My proprietary fonts are what makes me different than my competition, These have to somehow work. I desperately need a work around for this.
Second,
on number 3) If I upload my .EMB files that then displays a .PNG to the user, can the user change the colors of the transparent PNG? 

Every embroidery design I make available to the customer will require the design color shown on screen to best suit the color of the garment. I cant sell yellow artwork on an orange garment. 

I am an embroidery only shop. Vector artwork that the user selects and places on a garment does me no good unless they match my stock embroidery files. 

Again super thanks for all your help. I expect a call back from Deco USA any day. My last conversation with them was hm? no, um? no, um let me find out, um? no? Very frustrating. In all fairness I have not spoken with a lead person, only the phone staff. Your answers have helped significantly.


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## extremestitch (Jul 6, 2008)

The last and final hurdle for me to get over is product colors. It appears that you can only have one product color per item. It could be a single predefined multi-color swatch or a single color. Either way it is only swatch that may change multiple predefined areas. I would need the customer to be able to dynamically change multiple colors on the same product. For example: Body Color (select from this swatch) Sleeves color (select from this swatch) button color (select from this swatch). Having predefined color options does not work for my product. The user needs to be able to pick and choose what colors on the garment go where. I have seen a demo sites that has a design that acts as multicolor trim but it is a design on top of a single swatch product. This is confusing as you have to edit a design color verses a product color. Is that the only work around? Can deco do user selectable multi color products? If it can can I see an example site?


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## brenden (Dec 11, 2008)

Hi,

We don't have a full product panel configurator per se however you can use product images as per the example at TPF Teamwear Designer.

DecoNetwork does support multi-color products. They are very easy to make (see Creating Multi-color dynamic product view templates in DecoNetwork using Corel PHOTO-PAINT | DecoNetwork Blog) and you can see one in action at DecoNetwork Demo Store - Baby Rib 3/4 Sleeve Raglan

This is a two color product where the owner of DecoNetwork has defined body and sleeve color combinations. At present, unless using the method above in tpfteamwear.com.au there is no way for a consumer to modify the product panels.


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## extremestitch (Jul 6, 2008)

I have not given up DECO for my needs. Been busy during the holidays. I do expect to speak face to face at ISS next weekend with someone from DECO. My questions are technical in nature and I have created a list that I will take with me to Long Beach along with sample files to be used by your staff to explain directly how to achieve what I need. My main reason going to Long Beach is mainly to visit the Deco Networks booth. I am a veteran of this event I have even sat at your booth in the past. I have consistently run into the same brick wall and still believe you are the best solution for my unique product. Some questions that I am bringing to Long Beach are:
1) If I create a product template like this TPF Teamwear Designer the layer for product color are not scalable and are locked. But when the customer launches it in the designer, the layer being used to change garment colors is now editable, scalable and delete-able. Since this is a work around for customer selectable product colors It would be best if it acted as trim colors and not design colors. 
2) How are multiple retail stores treated? One account with multiple business hubs or multiple deco accounts linked together or ??
3) Pixi/Deco pricing structure has evolved to what we have now. Is there any locking into a price structure or can Deco Network next year charge my business whatever they wish at will? Basically does the user have any protection from the landlord raising the rent after the tenant it invested. This is my biggest fear. investing thousands of hours developing a fulfillment center only to have all my work waisted when/if Deco decided to raise the rent to outer space. 
4)Payment types. Will my current processing company work for you or do I need to use yours. Paypal is not a viable option for me. 
5)Where are USA servers at and what are the claimed uptime. 
6) during development are all features working while in offline-mode? 
7) One workaround for fonts will be for me to create custom two color Wilcom *.ESA fonts that match a couple of your vector system fonts. Probably a college and athletic script right off the bat. This will allow my customers to select a region that will allow a 2 color embroidery font. Will I be able to fix and lock the amount of outline available to my user?
8) On designs If I have an embroidery design that uses 20 color changes will a user be able to change each color individually? or will it group similar colors? I know this is uncommon for most embroidery files to be this way, none the less I need this ability. 

While I have more these are a sampling of what I will be presenting this weekend at ISS. 

Do you or anyone have any advise on how to present my needs in a way that will be understood so best practices are employed early during development. I have had experience going down one road for hundreds of hours only the throw it all away when I hit a brick wall in product design capabilities. 
I plan on bringing a list of questions. Multi colored product CDR's. Pictures of my products. 

Is there anything else that can help me. I am most worried about unforeseen questions during configuration hundreds of hours down the road.


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## brenden (Dec 11, 2008)

Hi Ty,

Thanks the ping and we look forward to seeing you at the show!

Shows are sometimes difficult of set aside a lengthy period of time purely to the volume of people who attend. Usually you get about 15 minutes per customer!

So on that note I suggest we kick off an email discussion and you may also want to join our Beta program so you can get early access to development and features. Our beta testers often shape the final product through their feedback.

I'll send you my direct email via PM so start engaging direct.

Thanks again for taking effort to build a list of what you'd like to see in DecoNetwork and see you at the show!


Brenden


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