The Framers Forum

Does anyone know of a good software for use on a website where customers can view frame and mount choices, that change with the sizes an colours they input and also that they can upload their own images to get an idea of the finished article.
The sort of thing that is on this website;
http://www.eframe.co.uk/custom-frames/v ... A335&w=300

these guys do a system

http://www.framingengine.com/

Sounds like great idea, but the big snag is that colours display very differently on different monitors. And mb colours are very subtle sometimes. Also, moulding finishes are notoriously difficult to photograph. It can be quite hard even to visualise the shape on some.

So folks might not get exactly what they were expecting.

You might check the links out before me - but most of these packages are fine enough for plain mouldings but have limitations with the more intricate ones you actually want to sell,especially where the repeat along the running length is difficult to capture.
In such instances you tend to get a tiled frame effect around your image.
Propspero makes a good point about the possibility of not getting what was expected. If the customer is with you, visualisation + holding the chevron can really enhance the customers perception of the finished frame. As an internet tool for mouldings beyond the plain effect, a 2D image has its limitations. Colours, profile, sightlines and random patterns all throw up potential for disappointment. You soon get to know yourself if the proposal is a success or not - if your not happy with it your customer will struggle to understand it.

Thanks for the replies so far. I know what you mean about the difference between monitor displays, also agree about getting a good image isn't easy, I have tried.
But there are quite a few decent sites out there that appear to be doing good business, and as much as I would like to rely on shop trade I have two of my sons working in the shop and we all agree that the way forward has to be the internet to survive and grow.

My observations may not be an answer to your immediate needs and I make them, because you have 2 sons, working with you and continuing into a framing business of the future.

Since I retired from a business, which framed 3 dimensional displays, artwork and memorabilia for the commercial interior market, I had thought to pass on methods, techniques and 'know how' and in order to do this I learnt to build virtual 3D models in 'Sketchup'.

The obvious negative to this suggestion is the average on line client will not have virtual 3D modelling skills but I wonder how far in the future it will be before many school leavers will have these skills as a matter of course.

Although I have not used the Picture Framing visualization software, I have seen demonstrations at shows and must admit to being rather disappointed at its level of quality compared with the standard of virtual 3D modelling I have seen in other areas of amateur endeavor. In the early days of Sketchup, I think the motivation of making the software free was to harness the efforts of many to improve the software and create a high level excellence.

Had I had such software available, I am convinced that I would have available a library of self created mouldings and models that would have been part of my marketing package, in fact I feel that I would be at a disadvantage if I could not return online to my clients properly rendered examples of completed displays on receipt of their detailed inquiries.

Perhaps a step to far, I wonder, as I am now retired and do not wish to buy more expensive software etc.

I had a phone call from Ricky at Mainline mouldings this morning, he told me that they are in the process of producing the kind of software that we are looking for and it will be launched in the not too distant future. I think initially for their own mouldings and mountboard then hopefully it will at a future date be ready to list other mouldings as well.
Plus it will be free.

The visualiser is now running on our site.

We will soon be adding the ability to upload a picture of your own room where the framed picture will be hanging. Also multi aperture mounts, other suppliers mouldings and some other functions are in the pipeline.

http://mainlinemouldings.com/frame_visualiser.php

Looking good, Ricky.

No doubt its already in the pipeline, but some method for visually selecting mouldings and mounts would be a big improvement.

Excellent work!

Thanks for the feedback John.

At the moment it's just the mouldings that can be searched visually on the Visualiser by clicking the search logo. Both mouldings and mountboards can be selected on the individual product page by clicking on the V. We hope to add the mountboard search within a few weeks.

Please let me know if there are any other features you would find useful.

Licensing arrangements to embed a white label version of the visualizer into my website would be nice! same for MyFramebook!