Woodworking design app automates your work

Woodworking design app – the Wizard speeds design of a table

I listened to a presentation by a woodworking design software salesperson.  Because the emphasis of his presentation was speed  he worked quickly sliding cabinets into the kitchen and locating them.  When someone asked where the cabinet came from he said there was “a choice of thousands” from which to pick.  Then the speaker moved on…

Two things.  First anytime I’m faced with a choice of more than three or four items – much less thousands — I’m lost!  Second no matter how many choices I have I’d still want to know the one I pick matches the way I make a cabinet.

The main benefits a woodworking design app delivers are speed and flexibility to make my design match my way of working.

Speed.  And there are different types of speed.

1. Learning – How long before you become proficient?
2. Design – How long does it take to create a design?
3. Modification – How quickly can you make a change?

After nearly ten years of teaching woodworking design software to users I learned one important thing.  Very few people want to spend time learning new things.  Some are impatient.   Others won’t make an investment.  A few feel they need to get the next proposal out and don’t have time.  They want learning to be faster – much faster.  I get that.   So we turned our attention to what we could do to make the software easier to learn.

Maybe sliding cabinets into a project from a library is a good thing.  After all SketchList 3D has a library.

But a library-like approach sacrifices flexibility for speed.   Again, after all the classes and webinars I’ve done for our woodworking design app, it seems that 95% of all wood projects are made the same way.  Still that that 5% is critical because it makes custom – well custom.  Above all you need to meet client demands needs and that requires you to tweak and innovate designs.

Although speed is king, flexibility should not be ignored.

How to fix that?

The Wizard add-on is our solution that addresses speed.  By offering radically shortened learning times  and very fast design, it meets the need for speed.

It also meets the need for flexibility.  The table model in the Wizard is modified by as many as 27 parameters. “A parameter-driven software program allows the user to specify specific information, allowing the outcome of the program to be customizable and what the user needs.”1  (That’s my underline in this quote.)  Customizable is what you need!

Most of these parameter, except for depth, height, and width, rarely change.  The default values represent the 95% of common building practices.  For example you always use plywood of a certain thickness and want to make that your default.  No problem just type it in and save it.

So when you need the flexibility to adjust to what maybe an unusual situation – you have it in the Wizard.

In the following video I show how our woodworking design software free demo app can turn a table into a bookcase.  Not that anyone would do this, but that you can!

More on the Wizard – click here.

To summarize – the Wizard woodworking design app gets you started quicker, creates designs faster, and provides the flexibility you need.

1. parameters.