Virtual Framing

AnneL

SPFG, Supreme Picture Framing God
Joined
Jul 11, 2001
Posts
15,946
Loc
Wautoma, WI USA
Has anyone tried any of the programs that show how a piece will look framed on your computer monitor? I was reading about a frame shop that was considering scanning pictures of the clients home to show what the piece wuld look like framed on their walls. At a recent photography seminar I was at, we worked with a POS for photographers that can do just that. It comes preloaded with templates of frames from some of the big readymade suppliers in different sizes and also with pictures of "average" rooms. You can show Mrs. Client how her family picture will look in a particular frame over an average size couch. (The photographer demonstrating it loves to use it for those people who want a "big" 8 x 10 to hang over the couch, he moves it to the end table for them!) You can also put a photo of the customer's house in it to show how it would look there. my biggest concern with these is that when you get into showing matting on the screen, the color of the monitor can vary quite a bit unless you calibrate it to a particular mat board. :eek:
 
Anne,

Sorry I missed this topic when you posted it. I don't know how that happened. I read EVERYTHING.

I have Wizard's Virtual Framer and also Frameshop Pro. (I hope I got the names right. I'm home right now.) Wizard's product works with their print and poster database and is, at the very least, a lot of fun. How useful it would be depends in part on whether the mouldings and mats in the database are representative of what you actually use. Some of the lines included are L-J, Williamson and Nurre Caxton. There are no metals. As far as I can see, there is no way for a mere mortal to add additional mouldings or mats. You can play with mats and frames on any of the prints and view them in a variety of room settings, but I don't think you could could add your own room. This software is on a subscription system with updates sent quarterly. There is no attempt to incorporate pricing or order-writing capabilities. It is design software only. I've never used it with a customer in the store. I <U>have</U> used it to set up design bids to email to out-of-town clients.

When The Diva is at my shop, she will play with Virtual Framer for hours, experimenting with mat combinations and proportions and various frames on prints she likes. Then we talk about her design choices and she prints out her favorites. It is an outstanding learning tool and you wouldn't have to be 14 to learn from it. With this software and a copy of Nona Powers' book you could probably learn more about color and design than half the "framers" out there know.

The Frameshop Pro software has a much smaller database of mats and mouldings, but does have a procedure to add additional ones yourself. I haven't done that, but it appears it could be extremely time-consuming. This one is a one-time purchase and you are responsible for your own "updates." It does have a built-in pricing program which is a lot less sophisticated than the one I developed for MS Works (he says modestly.)

You are probably correct to be concerned about color accuracy, but I haven't found this to be a big problem. You don't use this software to make exact color decisions, but to get an idea of the finished frame and mat without having to actually build the *** thing.

You need a DVD reader to use the Wizard software, at least with the impressive database of prints and posters. FrameShop Pro runs off a CD or it could probably be installed on the hardrive.

That's about as much detail as I can muster without the software in front of me.

Ron
 
Yesterday I was at a talk by a well known photographer in Wisconsin and he was selling a plug in for photoshop that puts virtual mats around a photograph! They look quite realistic from a distance. The photo with the mat borders is sent to the lab as a digital file and everything is printed on the same piece of photographic paper. You can even change them to match the color of the mats to anything in the photo (or to their couch cushions if you scan them and sample the colors!). :eek:
He's even added a variety of texture screens you can put on the mats. One example he showed was a basketball texture and color mat on a picture of a kid with a basketball. A bit much for my taste, but mom liked it. :rolleyes:
 
As a digital printing outlet we see a lot of people printing out 5x7 inch photos with a "mat" onto a 10x8 print. The problem is for them though, it is cheaper to have us cut a mat than the difference between a 5x7 and 10x8 photo! (and it looks less tacky)
The software sounds great Ron, do you use it with customers on a normal sale or does your experience take control and you just throw down the samples?
My single biggest concern would be the additional labour involved with the "oooh, how about factor" it never seems to take long, until you time it.
 
Lance, I have seen some that look tacky, but these look very realistic, down to the shadowing and the look of a bevel. Until I looked at them up close, I couldn't tell. From even a few feet (or meters) away, they look like actual mats. I still prefer the real thing. Since the photographer is the one ordering the prints and charging a higher price to the customer for this service, it doesn't cost more than a mat would, it might even be less the way things are priced here. The program does cost over $200.00 to buy and Gary and I have the knowledge now to create our own version in photo shop if we want.

Note to Ron: if you want to hear more about this program, a certain mutual photographer friend of ours actually showed up at this meeting!
I'm sure he would be glad to give you the run down on it.
 
anne,

hi, there are a few software packages around that will do what you want,
over the years i have had a look at these and decided that that didn't really do what i wanted
we paid $ 1500 for a software package we saw at a trade show about 6 years ago.
but using this software in reall life was such a pain in the %$# that we never used it again.
the other packages iv'e seen since then havn't in my opinion really progressed much.
i wanted a software package that could be used to help visualize the finnished framing job.
the software that we had purchased was not really able to do that easilly..
so this brings us to where we are now...
6 years down the track. we are developing a revolutionary new system that is progressing nicely.
cant say too much about how it will works . waiting on patents.etc.
but i can say that our 2 new software packages for doing what you are after are awsome.
 
G'day Ronny,

Welcome to the grumble!
Your development sounds very interesting!

What was the name of the software you mentioned that you didn't find successful?

How's Melbourne?
 
Actually, I'm not looking for a piece of software that either puts a photo in a readymade frame (I have that one, but for other reasons.), or makes mats for the photo (if I want it I know were to get it, but I think I can set up photoshop to do it myself.) :D Actually, what do other framers think of digitally created mats printed right on the photo?

I was just wondering if anyone had tried any similar programs and if so what they thought of them. Also, if they had encountered any problems with color, etc. between what they saw and the actually framing. The more we get into digital photography, the more it seems that color management is the hardest part of doing anything on a computer. :eek:
 
I've used a program of this nature for about a year now. It has pros and cons. The cons would be inputting all our moulding samples as well as mats. We also had a fair amount of work to be done to colour correct the mats. I used photoshop to do all this work as well as learn the program itself - so the learning scale was steep to begin with.
I have to say - I LOVE this thing. For clients who have a difficult time visualing what the finished product will look like - it is pretty hard to beat. I have found that we sell larger wider mats and more upscale frames - it is just so easy to sell them when they see the difference.
We are still in the development stage in that we have not completely switched our design counter, but it will happen - our clients love it and those that processed orders through this system were even more impressed when they saw the real deal.
 
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