show your vision

3D presentation software VORTEK Spaces has been creating a bit of talk in the New Zealand design community lately. Easy to use and compatible with a wide range of popular CAD design software, Vortek Spaces enables designers to present their designs to clients in stunningly realistic videos and walk-throughs. We spoke to several early users who are finding the software particularly useful in allowing them to share their vision with clients and personalise their presentation.

For kitchen designer Sydney Young from Matamata Glass & Joinery, Vortek Spaces is a great selling tool. “It allows me to present a new design and make it look like the clients home. It gives me the ability to easily show what I am trying to do and really helps with colour and material selection which can speed up the process considerably”.

Sydney purchased Vortek in June last year and uses it alongside Cabinet Vision. “I found it very easy to pick up, some initial assistance from Joinery It and then an hour or so link up to Vortek in Canada gave me the basic operation and it was easy from there.”

“It is a very effective program, I simply import my design from Cabinet Vision and from there can change lighting or materials as I or the client wish. I would probably spend a couple of hours on finishing my kitchen design but it is definitely worth it. In fact once you start you really get hooked it gets into your blood.”

Cherie van der Poel, designer and director at Got It Made Kitchens in Te Awamutu has been using Vortek for the last 18 months and has found it a game changer for selling designs and concepts. She uses it with CabMaster software to produce 3D walk-throughs which are recorded and shown to clients.

“Customers love its visual nature and it gives them the confidence to go with a design, they can see it and imagine themselves in that space. Not everybody is good at reading plans and Vortek saves time in getting ideas across. It makes a big difference to us in closing sales quicker.

“It is not as difficult to learn as you might expect you can be up and running within a couple of days on basic designs and pretty specialised within a couple of months. The online assistance is very good although we haven’t needed to use it much as it’s pretty easy to work things out yourself.

“It’s great to have access to such technology in our industry - the future is the visual product it is huge for our industry and great that it is available to the joinery and kitchen industry without it being cost prohibitive for smaller users.

Michael Murray a designer with Kitchen Inspirations in Auckland has been using Vortek Spaces for four years in kitchen and cabinet design and appreciates its realism and its ability to easily makes changes on the fly.

“Colours and lightning are really good and it produces excellent high quality renders. I post renders on social media and get a lot of request from other designers as to what I am using. It works very well with Cabinet Vision, the transfer of files is very simple and any changes upload automatically, just like resaving a file.

“The software has undergone a lot of development recently with an expansive 3D warehouse/ store where you can not only find but also upload and develop components to achieve that personalised look for your client.

“The 3D walk-through video is very good. It really helps people to read the space, not everybody is necessarily very good at understanding floor plans and elevations whereas they instantly identify with the 3D visual.

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“I didn’t really have any tuition, a workmate showed me how to use it and off I went. It is pretty self explanatory but you do need an eye for lighting and angles.”

Alexandra Riddell from Niche Design Co Ltd in Tauranga has used the software for several years with both Cabinet Vision and 2020 Design software and finds it builds on the existing software.

“You really are able to bring your designs to life through the use of colour and realistic rendering. The walk-through is very impressive, it provides a real wow factor and instantly shows clients your vision. As a consequence we need to do less concept work, clients are sold quicker because they can see how it is.

“Very user friendly, a great asset for designers.

For Daniel Billings from Maple & Stone in Hamilton, who began using Vortek Spaces alongside Microvellum in the middle of this year, the software works well with the bespoke nature of their business providing ‘visualisation’ for clients.

“The realism is great and it is the easiest rendering software I have used. The direct communication channels with Canada are very useful when starting out and I like the way they are constantly updating their library to include NZ based products such as Laminex and Bestwood colours.

Craig Hooper from Cooper Webley in Nelson has used Vortek Spaces for three years and loves the programme. He works in Cabinet Vision then exports to Vortek for the final rendering and then client presentation. He enjoys the ability to make changes on the fly while talking and discussing options with clients.

“It is very useful tool for selling directly and efficiently. Clients very quickly get a good feel for what we are doing in an environment they recognise. It is very easy to use, largely click and point based with a very easy to follow drop down menu. I can do a full blown render in 15-20 minutes and the beauty is, it is a live render, any changes are automatically updated to the original file - superb.

You really are able to bring your design to life through the use of colour and realistic rendering. The walk-through is very impressive, it provides a real wow factor and instantly shows clients your vision.

“Vortek are very client interactive constantly updating and supporting with more facilities and functions and lighting and design features. It is a very dynamic and powerful tool - I think of it as a portable showroom.”

Joinery It are New Zealand re-sellers and service providers for Vortek Spaces for more contact Phil Smith on 021 201 4450