First Sale with Intergrated Framer

j Paul

PFG, Picture Framing God
Joined
Feb 23, 2004
Posts
7,299
Loc
Toledo,Ohio
First customer to bring in framing order since we got system up and running yesterday afternoon.

OK! Would have made the sale anyhow, as she was a returning customer. But very easy upgrade to triple mat over regular double mat she usually does. She loved the concept and says she is going to tell everyone about the new way of viewing your frame choices before you buy.

Ps. it was a $310. ticket. Not too many needed to pay for system in a short time. Shhhh! don't tell anyother framers about it unless they are a Grumbler and not in your trade area.
 
Right on, J Paul.. I had a similar experience when I got IF up and running in the shop I help out in on Saturdays.

A long time customer saw IF and said "I had no idea about trying other shapes besides rectangles!! I'll have to bring more things to frame this week!" And she did, three new orders using some of the templates from the 400 series and a "Brian Wolf Special" mixed opening. Cha-ching.

I did have some issues with lighting to clear up - one of our halogens washed out all the greens - but after installing some additional fluorescents its working great now.
 
Visualization software is wonderful. Congratuations on your successul set up, J Paul.

I think most professional frame shops will eventually have it -- it's just a matter of time.
 
Just had a customer in who said "I only have 10 minutes". She had a very nice pastel that was framed and desperately in need of help. I grabbed three corner samples and six mat samples. Showed how I liked it and a couple other combinations. She was picking the mat sample racks apart looking at every possible combination while I worked it up on IF. There is no way she would have made the decision today without IF.

22 X 28 framed size = $440
10 minute decision = No Problem
Making the sale today = Priceless
 
The only trouble is I've already outgrown my "New 19" Flat Screen Monitor- wall mount" I stopped and looked at a 27" widescreen on the way home. Found that Best Buy has one on clearance for $699.00 and the same model in an "open box" for $649.00. Thought I better run it buy the wife but may go back in the morning on the way to work. What the heck it is only money. And John Ranes said he was getting one after seeing the "WOW" factor of the 27"s in Vegas. Us John's gotta keep up! (JOHN PAUL) aka jPaul

[ 02-14-2006, 09:38 PM: Message edited by: j Paul ]
 
Paul, the only space that it needs other than that for a computer is the monitor for the customer to view it on. The camera mounts on the ceiling over your design counter. I purchased a 19" flat screen monitor and wall mounted it on the end of the design counter, so really no more room than a small framed picture. Monitor only protrudes from wall about 3-4". Of course I may be going with a 27" flat screen after I talk to my wife.
 
Yeah, a flat LCD is pretty much a must as a CRT would take up way too much room on the counter.

Some shops are using two monitors - one big one in front of the customer, and a smaller one for the framer next to the computer... my shop opted to get a second computer for IF instead of installing it on the POS computer so we didn;t really need a dual-monitor setup.
 
Something to consider:
As with most frame shops, all space is valuable. For us, our wall space is most valuable so we opted for the new Gateway auto-rotating CRT. This way the space consumed can be minimized.
 
Hi all, just thought I would show you guys a few photos of our setup.

19'' LCD mounted flat into our counter.
42'' Plazma mounted to our corner sample wall.
Canon camera mounted to wall next to plazma.

Lighting or reflection are not a problem at all, and we can work with art sizes from 4"x6" up to work 7ft x 7ft with the current setup.


I agree about space always being a premium, but we have found that the large plazma adds more value to our business than the value of space it takes away.

We know that the software and hardware paid for itself in the first week.


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chees
 
Now you'll just need to frame the flat screen monitor, so you can have a picture, within a picture, within....
 
Wow Ronny, that's a great idea. I never though of building the LCD into the actual counter. Its hard to tell from the photo - looks like you put a piece of plexi over it to protect the LCD, correct?

I wish you had posted that earlier.. we just made new counters a couple months ago and I might have done the same thing. Though I'm wondering if the viewing angle would suffer, as I think our counters are a bit taller. Great idea regardless though.
 
Hey Steve, thanks.
It's plain picture framing glass over the LCD. Plexi just attracts too much dust and scratches to easily for that enviroment.

Well picked that our benchtops are low, we like it low, makes working with customers' artwork and frame design a little easier.

The viewing angle on the LCD is no problem. Actually looking down on a screen from above works really well.
Obviously quite Different to sitting at an office desk. lol

The low bench however does give the back a little workout when using that computer.

Thanks again, keep up the good work Steve.
cheers
 
Question for Ronny Terbeek:

Your camera position next to the big screen seems unusual - can you explain how it works?

Do you tip the table up or correct for parallel distortion in the software or?
 
Hi Bandsaw,

LOL, we definitly do not tip the counter up, lol.
Very funny thought though.

We have the camera mounted to the wall instead of the ceiling because our ceilings are 14ft high, and way to high to mount a camera anyway.

Wall mounting took care of all the lighting issues we have if mounting camera above artwork/counter.

When the camera is above the artwork/counter, we get problems with ceiling lights being reflected in artwork, as well as off the counter surface itself.

The camera would also keep focusing on the reflections of our celing lights instead of the artwork.

Wall mounting the camera fixed everything.

Now distance, lighting, reflection, focusing etc are perfect.

The Visualisation software doesn't care where the camera is mounted, what angle it is on, or what way the artwork is facing.

Camera mounting does not have to be overhead and square, etc.

Instead, it can be wall mounted at any height, hand held, or sitting on top of a monitor like a webcam.

The software does the perspective projected depth of feild correction on the fly.

cheers.
 
Wow,

Placing the camera off center in an appropriate place to deal with lighting and reflection issues could be a lot simpler than relighting the design area.

Thanks,Ronny
 
Ronny:

That's really a great setup and very creatively done!

I never thought a wall mount would be practical or feasible, but obviously it is.

A couple of questions, if you don't mind:

- How difficult was the camera wall setup (setting up the exact focusing)?

- you mentioned "The software does the perspective projected depth of field correction on the fly."

I couldn't tell from the thread what software were you using. Is it PIF or IF??
 
More specifically:

Click on Ronny's website button

Click on FLO

Go to the bottom of the page to see amazing visualization images.

Ronny, tell us more about your software.
 
On 2/15/06 I wrote:
Something to consider:
As with most frame shops, all space is valuable. For us, our wall space is most valuable so we opted for the new Gateway auto-rotating CRT. This way the space consumed can be minimized.

On 2/20 I write:
Well.....it looked SO nice on the design table, but no matter what, the design was distorted; i.e., circles were always oval! My husband returned it to Circuit City and spoke to the same experts that sold it to him. They insisted that it could be adjusted but after my husband showed them an example, they could not fix it and came to realize that it could NOT be adjusted. It was a rectangular screen (about 22 x 14).

The image was always PERFECTLY BEAUTIFUL on our HP 12 x 15 screen (ID) thus we bought a second one for use on the design table. I LOVE it!! It sits right next to the customer so they don't have to move to see their result.

Since we have spent good money for a good product, I expect nothing less on the screen!

So......hope no one went out to buy a Gateway! And beware of the rectangular screens would be my advice. Some of you that are computer savvy may be able to work around this issue with your product, but like the Gateway, there is no intervention to fix it.
 
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