johnny hulgan
CGF, Certified Grumble Framer
Has it become a important part of your business? Do you use it like you thought you would? Does it set you apart from your competition?
Those of you that have a visualization system...
- Thread starter johnny hulgan
- Start date
kuluchicken
MGF, Master Grumble Framer
I use it all the time. I think it's a brilliant tool.
Many customers can't visualize well. The ability to show them different mouldings, the impact of the use or not of different techniques, sizing etc is a brilliant sales tool.
I'd hate to work without it.
Many customers can't visualize well. The ability to show them different mouldings, the impact of the use or not of different techniques, sizing etc is a brilliant sales tool.
I'd hate to work without it.
Puppyraiser
PFG, Picture Framing God
Some designers use it. Others don't. Personally, I find that it helps the sales process along most times, but occasionally it turns in to an afternoon's entertainment.
AC Moore has it, but don't know how often they use it. We occasionally have to turn our camera off and on again, and theirs is about 15 feet off the ground so they may not use it any more. No firm information on that...
AC Moore has it, but don't know how often they use it. We occasionally have to turn our camera off and on again, and theirs is about 15 feet off the ground so they may not use it any more. No firm information on that...
i-FRAMER
MGF, Master Grumble Framer
we have the wizard Intergrated framer but gave it up after several months. For us, i found it to time consuming, plus colours are never the same. That was probably the biggest problem. Customers would go " I like that" but even if the monitor was calibrated, you only need to be looking at a 5degree angle and the colour on the screen changes. Also depended on time of day and how much natural light etc. Then actual mats against the actual artwork that look similar don't work. back to the drawing board. if you were to use it, i would suggest your usual process and narrow it down to a couple of options then use it for sizing of mats etc
The only thing i found it good for was with customers who sent work to us from the islands, we would give them an idea of what it would look like only, Not exact. But by the time i stuffed around with laying out mats and samples, taking the slices etc., I found i could it just as quick in photoshop. A least for those customers.
I visit quite a few framers, and there are some that swear by it, and a lot others like me who gave it up. I would probably say about 50/50 from those i met. thse that like it mainly seem to use it as an upsell to show double mats and fillets, smaller borders vs larger etc.
I think there is a place for it, not sure it is up to my expectations yet though. Could be wrong, not looked at for a couple of years. I have an idea how i would want it to work and when it comes out like i envisage, i will look at it again.
The only thing i found it good for was with customers who sent work to us from the islands, we would give them an idea of what it would look like only, Not exact. But by the time i stuffed around with laying out mats and samples, taking the slices etc., I found i could it just as quick in photoshop. A least for those customers.
I visit quite a few framers, and there are some that swear by it, and a lot others like me who gave it up. I would probably say about 50/50 from those i met. thse that like it mainly seem to use it as an upsell to show double mats and fillets, smaller borders vs larger etc.
I think there is a place for it, not sure it is up to my expectations yet though. Could be wrong, not looked at for a couple of years. I have an idea how i would want it to work and when it comes out like i envisage, i will look at it again.
Our shop has been using visualization for just over 8 years, and we're a big fan of technology. I believe that we were the first shop to beta test the product back in March 2005, when it was being developed. (in the current form/feature set) At the time we used Picture It First, but a few years later we switched to FrameVue.
Here is a full comparison list of all known visualization products: http://www.getthepictureframing.com/gfaq/visualization.htm
As far as I know, our visualization system is exclusive to the area and no local competitors have it. (other than recently with big boxes) We sometimes mention it in advertising.
Do we use it with every sale? No we do not. Probably 50-60%, especially for the new customers or people who can't visualize something that we are upselling. (wider mat, fillet, french line, stacked mouldings, etc) If they're down to two designs, and can't decide, visualization makes it a choice between the final presented design options - rather than a yes or no decision. It does close nearly EVERY sale. Many shops DO use it for every sale, because it records an image of the work (with condition) and prints it on the paperwork/workorder. (and on POS record)
Only one of our front counter computers has visualization. It is connected to a Dell all-in-one touch screen PC, which also drives a secondary 25" LED backlit screen that faces the customer. Only the results are sent to the customer screen, as well as marketing slides when it isn't being used for visualization.
With the proper lighting and camera settings, the color representation will be fairly close. If you're using a picture you took of the samples (versus calling up the mats and mouldings from saved database images), any slight (lighting related) color variations in the samples will also be in the art. We always give a bit of a disclaimer that this is an approximation "digital representation" of how it might look framed, and no one has ever complained. They get it. It's sufficient, IMO, to show them what they want to see - and to make the sale. The samples are right there to see, also, and may look different under their own lighting when they get it home.
Our camera is ceiling mounted, using a couple USB Repeater wires and a power supply. It has never needed a reboot. The software controls the power, zoom, shutter, settings, etc. Most of the supported cameras these days lack electric zoom, so you would keep it fixed to a certain range.
AC Moore and Michaels have them installed, but i'm not sure about the other chains. I believe the big boxes did this in the past year, and you can bet they will soon be advertising it as an advantage. What I notice about the big boxes is that they are using economical webcams, rather than traditional cameras. There is a big difference in quality/result.
If you have any other specific questions, i'll be glad to answer them
Mike
Here is a full comparison list of all known visualization products: http://www.getthepictureframing.com/gfaq/visualization.htm
As far as I know, our visualization system is exclusive to the area and no local competitors have it. (other than recently with big boxes) We sometimes mention it in advertising.
Do we use it with every sale? No we do not. Probably 50-60%, especially for the new customers or people who can't visualize something that we are upselling. (wider mat, fillet, french line, stacked mouldings, etc) If they're down to two designs, and can't decide, visualization makes it a choice between the final presented design options - rather than a yes or no decision. It does close nearly EVERY sale. Many shops DO use it for every sale, because it records an image of the work (with condition) and prints it on the paperwork/workorder. (and on POS record)
Only one of our front counter computers has visualization. It is connected to a Dell all-in-one touch screen PC, which also drives a secondary 25" LED backlit screen that faces the customer. Only the results are sent to the customer screen, as well as marketing slides when it isn't being used for visualization.
With the proper lighting and camera settings, the color representation will be fairly close. If you're using a picture you took of the samples (versus calling up the mats and mouldings from saved database images), any slight (lighting related) color variations in the samples will also be in the art. We always give a bit of a disclaimer that this is an approximation "digital representation" of how it might look framed, and no one has ever complained. They get it. It's sufficient, IMO, to show them what they want to see - and to make the sale. The samples are right there to see, also, and may look different under their own lighting when they get it home.
Our camera is ceiling mounted, using a couple USB Repeater wires and a power supply. It has never needed a reboot. The software controls the power, zoom, shutter, settings, etc. Most of the supported cameras these days lack electric zoom, so you would keep it fixed to a certain range.
AC Moore and Michaels have them installed, but i'm not sure about the other chains. I believe the big boxes did this in the past year, and you can bet they will soon be advertising it as an advantage. What I notice about the big boxes is that they are using economical webcams, rather than traditional cameras. There is a big difference in quality/result.
If you have any other specific questions, i'll be glad to answer them
Mike
We've been using visualization for years. Our camera is off the ceiling for now, but I still use the software with photos imported from a hand-held camera. Helping customers visualize their finished framing at the design table is still the best benefit of viz software, but there are other purposes, too. For example, when one brings in the art and says another's approval of the design is required, we can send an email with the image attached, and perhaps get approval on-the-spot.
We often use it to make digital composite images for advertising, instead of actually framing a particular piece on speculation. One of our best-producing ads was a trio of digital-composite photos showing "good", "better", and "best" framing designs for the same art.
Back when we were still promoting art sales, we had a few wine-and-cheese evening events showcasing particular artists. The most successful feature was when we projected on the wall a PowerPoint presentation of full-size images of the artist's work in various frame designs, all prepared in the visualization program. The folks were standing around, munching cheese, sipping wine, and critiquing the frame designs. Great fun and a good way to promote better framing designs.
Also, visualization is a wonderful tool for bid jobs. Most of the bidders send proposals, but we include actual photos of the framing designs we propose, and that feature has won us several jobs.
We often use it to make digital composite images for advertising, instead of actually framing a particular piece on speculation. One of our best-producing ads was a trio of digital-composite photos showing "good", "better", and "best" framing designs for the same art.
Back when we were still promoting art sales, we had a few wine-and-cheese evening events showcasing particular artists. The most successful feature was when we projected on the wall a PowerPoint presentation of full-size images of the artist's work in various frame designs, all prepared in the visualization program. The folks were standing around, munching cheese, sipping wine, and critiquing the frame designs. Great fun and a good way to promote better framing designs.
Also, visualization is a wonderful tool for bid jobs. Most of the bidders send proposals, but we include actual photos of the framing designs we propose, and that feature has won us several jobs.
JWB9999999
SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
Yes. Mostly. Yes.
We've owned a visualization system for 5 years, but only got it up and running last October.
People comment on it every week, nearly every day. We use it nearly every day, sometimes many times during one day, but not for every order. It helps people understand what they are buying, and it helps a LOT on choosing appropriate mat widths and frames. In about 75% of cases, customers will increase their mat widths once they see how "small" their currently desired width is. This has led to happier customers and a better bottom line for us. The system paid for itself, the camera, and the 40" LED TV that I use within the first 3 months of use. For real numbers, the system added about $200 to the total value of the FIRST TWO sales that I used it on.
I use FrameVue from Lifesaver. Honestly, it is full of bugs and features that just plain don't work... and they don't have any solutions, which surprises me after how long it's been on the market. We thought we would be able to use the pre-loaded mats from Crescent, the pre-loaded frame corner samples from Larson, plus we would be able to pre-load all of our own images. Complete failure on that. You can load all you want, but that doesn't mean the software will use what is specified. We'll type in one frame corner sample number, and it'll show some other image belonging to another frame sample. Same is true for mats. It's amazing that seemingly "simple" issues about showing the right images can't be fixed. I can't really recommend this particular software because of that. But I would definitely recommend getting visualization software of some kind.
As for setting us apart from our competition... the majority of our customers have never seen anything like it before, and are quite impressed. I do not know of any other shop within hundreds of miles that has it, except for the bigbox retailers. Oh, some shops out there probably do have it and I just don't know about it. But for sure no one else within 90 miles has it. One thing that also sets us apart even from the bigboxes was my decision to "go big or go home". I put a 40" LED flat screen TV on my counter and use that. It's huge and impressive and shows their art to a nice size. Even the bigboxes that DO have visualization software only have small computer screens to display it.
And a nice bonus to all of this: I have a screensaver running on that TV when we are not visualizing customer art for an order. The screensaver runs in the background all of the time, so we just turn it on at the beginning of the day and forget about it. The screensaver shows dozens of photos of completed framing projects, meaning it effectively has more than doubled my wall space for framing examples.
A
Abacusframing
Guest
No, no, no (well it would if the previous answers were yes and yes!)
Like a previous respondent, the colours are not that good, the moulding images are a bit off, it's a real faff. I'm disappointed.
Like a previous respondent, the colours are not that good, the moulding images are a bit off, it's a real faff. I'm disappointed.
johnny hulgan
CGF, Certified Grumble Framer
Anyone have the Wizard software and camera combo?
Yes yes & yes
I run the Wizard RM POS, the Wizard IFVizualization, and a Wiard 9000 mat cutter.
It makes it all so easy because one interfaces with the other two. Enter info. once and it prints sales order with picture of art, mat & frame. It will print work order if you want one. Prints invoice also. Plus it sends info directly to the mat cutter no need to reenter info in to mat cutter. I found working with Wizard RM, IF, MD that actually interface is a huge time saver.. Not to mention if you have a problem you only have to deal with one Tech. Support.
.
If you are up ever headed this way, call stop in I will let you play with these wonderful tools.
Pm me if you want my phone # and want to chat.
I run the Wizard RM POS, the Wizard IFVizualization, and a Wiard 9000 mat cutter.
It makes it all so easy because one interfaces with the other two. Enter info. once and it prints sales order with picture of art, mat & frame. It will print work order if you want one. Prints invoice also. Plus it sends info directly to the mat cutter no need to reenter info in to mat cutter. I found working with Wizard RM, IF, MD that actually interface is a huge time saver.. Not to mention if you have a problem you only have to deal with one Tech. Support.
.
If you are up ever headed this way, call stop in I will let you play with these wonderful tools.
Pm me if you want my phone # and want to chat.
The Vicar
True Grumbler
Over in the UK we don't have Wizard RM, so it's IFV + the CMC only.
We don't get the library of mouldings as that's part of Rm, it's a question of capturing an image + moulding chevrons on a workbench - usually a matboard.
Results are so so to date, to the point where I am just going to try a close up of the moulding and load that as an additional image within a project and try and work from that. I haven't had the chance to experiment yet but I'm seeming to lose some detail in the group shot - my lighting is basic though and I'm still running through calibration.
Random grainy effect say antique golds are a beggar to lose the repeat line - anyone conquer this? when I reduce to the point of losing a line I lose the graininess and end up with a solid colour moulding.
Early days but my confidence still remains in the out of area market who will email me an image - no shop, located in the middle of nowhere.
We don't get the library of mouldings as that's part of Rm, it's a question of capturing an image + moulding chevrons on a workbench - usually a matboard.
Results are so so to date, to the point where I am just going to try a close up of the moulding and load that as an additional image within a project and try and work from that. I haven't had the chance to experiment yet but I'm seeming to lose some detail in the group shot - my lighting is basic though and I'm still running through calibration.
Random grainy effect say antique golds are a beggar to lose the repeat line - anyone conquer this? when I reduce to the point of losing a line I lose the graininess and end up with a solid colour moulding.
Early days but my confidence still remains in the out of area market who will email me an image - no shop, located in the middle of nowhere.