Build your tech pack around the design decisions you’ve already made.
AI Tech Packs is introducing tech pack generation inside Adobe Illustrator. With the AI Tech Packs plugin, apparel designers can submit an existing Illustrator design, generate a tech pack using its artwork and design information, and open the result in Illustrator or continue editing in the AI Tech Packs web editor.
The starting point is the work you’ve already done: the artwork you created, the dimensions you specified, the colors you selected, and the placement decisions you made. AI Tech Packs uses that information to help structure and assemble the tech pack.
Watch the Illustrator tech pack generation demo.
Your Illustrator design becomes the starting point
By the time a design is ready for a tech pack, many of the important decisions are already in the file. A graphic has a particular size. A placement has been chosen. Front and back views communicate the garment’s shape and details.
Those decisions should inform the next stage of development.
The new workflow connects that Illustrator design to AI Tech Packs’ generation process. Designers can submit the file through the plugin and use the information it contains to build an editable tech pack for review.
For apparel design, technical-design, and product-development teams, this creates a direct path from an existing design into production documentation. Illustrator remains part of the workflow, with AI Tech Packs handling the initial assembly of the pack.
What information does AI Tech Packs use?
AI Tech Packs can use readable design information from an Illustrator source file to guide tech pack generation, including:
- Original artwork: the graphics and visual references included in the design.
- Specified dimensions: measurements and size information supplied in the file.
- Colors: visible colors and readable color references that describe the intended design.
- Placement information: the position of artwork in the design and any accompanying placement notes.
Providing these details gives the generation process more of your intent to work from. When you have already defined an element, that information can guide the resulting tech pack.
The purpose is to reduce how much the AI needs to infer or create from scratch.
From finished design to editable tech pack
The launch video follows one design through the workflow:
- Start with the finished design in Illustrator. The demonstration uses a purple jacket with front and back views and applied artwork.
- Submit the design through the AI Tech Packs plugin. Use the source artwork and design information as the basis for generation.
- Generate the tech pack. AI Tech Packs assembles a draft around that input.
- Open the result and continue editing. Work in Illustrator or open the tech pack in the AI Tech Packs web editor.
You can see the source design and submission at 0:28 in the demo, the generated pack in Illustrator at 0:37, and the web-editor option at 0:44.
Keep working in Illustrator or the web editor
After generation, you have two places to continue.
In Adobe Illustrator, open the generated tech pack and keep editing with the tools you already use for design work.
In AI Tech Packs, open the tech pack in the web editor to review and revise it within the wider AI Tech Packs workflow.
Prepare the source and review the result
Clear source information makes your intent easier to communicate. Label the dimensions that matter, identify the units and reference size, and include the artwork and placement notes the pack needs.
For a practical walkthrough, read How to Turn an Illustrator File into a Tech Pack. It explains how to prepare an actual-size design and provide a known measurement as a reference.
Before using the generated pack for sampling or production, review the measurements, materials, construction details, artwork placement, and color references. Supplied dimensions and generated estimates need different treatment: check that your specifications have carried through and validate any values the system has filled in.
Questions about Illustrator tech pack generation
Can I generate a tech pack from an existing Illustrator design?
Yes. The AI Tech Packs Illustrator workflow lets you submit an existing design through the plugin and generate a tech pack using its artwork and readable design information.
Can I edit the generated tech pack in Illustrator?
Yes. The demonstration shows the generated tech pack opened in Adobe Illustrator for further editing. You can also continue in the AI Tech Packs web editor.
Does the AI use the dimensions and colors I already specified?
AI Tech Packs can use readable dimensions and color references supplied in the source file to guide generation. Review the resulting specifications against your intended design before production.
Who is this workflow for?
It is designed for apparel designers, technical designers, and product-development teams that work in Illustrator and regularly create or maintain tech packs.
Bring your next design into AI Tech Packs
Start with a design you know well so you can compare the generated pack with your original intent.
Explore the AI Tech Packs Illustrator plugin, or open AI Tech Packs to begin working with your design.
Your artwork and specifications provide the starting point. You decide when the tech pack is ready for the next stage.