Configura November 2011 Calendar

NOVEMBER 2011 M

T

W

T

F

S

S

7 14 21 28

1 8 15 22 29

2 9 16 23 30

3 10 17 24

4 11 18 25

5 12 19 26

6 13 20 27

Rendering created in CET Designer 2.6 with Photo Lab by Tess Olofson, Fluid Interiors.

Try CET Designer® for free at www.configura.com/cet.

We’ll get you started! Call us at 877-238-0808.

Free webinars for anyone, whether a Beginner or Advanced user. Please call 877-568-4106 and use code 671-407-662 and join by clicking on “Join Webinar Now” at www.configura.com/cet/training.

Special November Webinar:

Miss Us in Vegas?

Using Photo Lab in CET Designer – FREE

If you missed the 4th annual CET Designer User Conference Oct 26-27 in Las Vegas, we’ve got a slew of information from the event that will be available soon. Check out videos of the sessions, contest winners and photos on our website at www.configura.com/userconference/2011

Learn all the new features of Photo Lab in CET Designer to quickly and easily create photorealistic renderings!

Nov 21, 4-5 pm ET Nov 23, 11-12 Noon ET Nov 30, 11-12 Noon ET

Updated Video Tutorials Check out our updated Video Tutorials at http://www.configura.com/cet/support/ video. These short, easy-to-follow videos walk you through specific topics in CET Designer. The videos are a great way to brush up on best ways to use CET Designer and to learn new features of the solution!

Upcoming Events: CET Designer Academy, Grand Rapids, MI Classes* These two-day Beginner and Advanced classes in CET Designer are interactive and hands-on. The cost is $300 per two-day session and includes course materials.

Beginner: Dec 6-7 Advanced: Dec 8-9 Sign up at www.configura.com/cet/training. *CET Designer Beginner and Advanced classes are IDCEC approved courses. CEUs are accepted by ASID, IDC, and IIDA. See our complete list of free webinars – including free on-demand webinars – at www.configura.com/cet/training.

End-of-Year License Renewals: Most users’ CET Designer license subscriptions expire at the end of the calendar year, so be sure to look for your renewal notification soon to ensure uninterrupted service! When you receive the notice, you can renew immediately and will be invoiced for your 2012 subscription by the end of December 2011.

Remember, dealerships qualify for a tiered discount based on number of licenses, but the licenses need to be under one Buyer.

One Buyer should be designated at your dealership to handle all the licenses. If you have any questions about setting up a Buyer account, please contact CET Designer Support at 877-238-0808.

Also, the User Name on the account should be accurate. It is the name that is displayed when you go into CET Designer Message Center.

To change the User Name on your account, go into the Extension Manager, Choose Tools pull-down in upper right corner, and select Options. From the Options window, follow the prompts under Change Personal Information.

Meet Tess Olofson, Project Designer, Fluid Interiors Tess Olofson is a project designer at Fluid Interiors, a Haworth dealer in Minneapolis, one of the first dealerships to implement CET Designer in North America.

That was 2006. Since then, CET Designer has changed the way Fluid does business.

Says Tess: “CET Designer has sped up the entire process. We get real-time pricing much faster. We communicate better with our clients. CET Designer clarifies intent.”

Rather than looking at something in 2D, clients see a 3D photorealistic representations and fly-thru videos with finishes and lighting.

Tess likes the way CET Designer enables changes on-the-fly and the ability to walk clients through the design process as well as work with them to achieve their goals.

“Customer reactions have been amazing,” Tess said. “With CET Designer, it becomes a real partnership, and that’s transforming the way we do business.”

Tess was one of the featured designers in Configura’s recent CET Designer ad campaign. To see Tess’s ad and video, go here: www.configura.com/tess-olofson

Meet Patrik Rask, Help Desk, Configura Configura’s Help Desk includes a team of Americans and Swedes who provide real-person live-support – and if you’ve been working in the early hours of the morning and called the Swedish Help Line or Live Chat, you might have been greeted by Patrik Rask based at Configura’s headquarters in Linköping, Sweden. (Sweden is six to nine hours ahead of the United States, depending on where you live in the U.S.) Patrik joined Configura in 2008 and splits his time between providing support to North American and European CET Designer users, and performing Quality Assurance on the software.

“I love ending a call or chat with a happy customer,” Patrik said. “I love helping them to get the most out of CET Designer.”

Patrik grew up in Växjö, a town in southern Sweden. He began his career in training and support by working for a government program designed to help people re-enter the workforce. In this role, he trained others in how to use Microsoft software. He then worked for many years at WM-Data, providing support to end-users and handling internal support. He and his girlfriend moved to north of Linköping in 2008. Patrik started working at Configura later that year.

Patrik runs half-marathons and trains by running the trails in the forests around his home. He also loves to travel – earlier this year, he went to Peru where he walked the ancient Inca trail to Machu Picchu, a four-day journey in the Andes mountain range.

Simplify

in November by mastering the post-processing settings

in CET Designer®. Learn more by calling into one of our free November webinars!

November’s Featured Tips Tips for photorealistic renderings using Photo Lab in Advanced mode: 1. Fully enclose the space whether it is one workstation or an entire office. a. Add walls all the way around the space—no light leaking in is the key! b. Add a ceiling. Have you tried using the new “Lights” extension yet?

There is a great ceiling that has the lights built into it.

2. Add one floor-to-ceiling window so natural light can enter the space. a. Attach a “Window Light” to the window (new light found in the 3D Materials tab). b. Make sure that the arrow head snaps on the window to face into the space.

3. Open Photo Lab a. Click on “Open Photo Lab” icon on the 3D tool bar. b. Choose “Advanced” setting (if it displays “Simple” mode). c. To the right is a setting for Photograph Setup that works well for many scenes.

4. Post-processing a. Most images will not be perfect after rendering with just Photograph Set Up. Post-processing edits will be necessary, especially the Color settings (Exposure, Brightness, Contrast and Saturation). b. Below is an example the same rendered image “before” and “after” post-processing. It makes a big difference!