Interview with Heritage Business Interiors’ designers

Dan Godin and Lisa Sholter were among the first to use Configura’s CET Designer with Haworth’s Canvas Extension.

Before that, AutoCAD was their main tool. Not any more.

“Anytime my team can use Canvas as opposed to AutoCAD, we use Canvas,” said Dan, who is the design manager at Heritage Business Interiors in Calgary, Canada, “We have found that we can specify faster using Canvas than other software programs.”

How fast? Dan figures he can spec a project 30 to 40 percent faster using Canvas instead of using AutoCAD.

“We’re doing more projects per week because of Canvas,” Dan said.

An informal “polling” of the team of five designers that he manages found the same results.

“Using CET Designer is ‘instant gratification’ – it is so fast to use and, working with both 2D and 3D simultaneously, it is very effective,” said Lisa, who is a designer at Heritage. She uses Canvas on both small and large projects and has found it especially useful for renderings and budget quotes.

In one of his projects, Dan used CET Designer Canvas extension to visualize a workstation with a client. The project was sold with only one minor change. For another project, Dan specified an entire floor of furniture, and it came in with no specification errors.

Integrating with other programs on the market

Dan’s team uses the Project Spec tool to import items into CET Designer Canvas extension when the symbols required are not available in Canvas:

“We have found this feature quite helpful since we can apply the same finishes that we have set up in Canvas schemes. We also export the Canvas drawings to AutoCAD and integrate with other Project Spec items,” he said. “We are also using the Project Spec extension to bring items into Canvas and apply finishes to show clients.”

Lisa said when the project has a floor plan, she imports it into CET Designer Canvas extension from AutoCAD as opposed to exporting the Canvas drawing.

“I will import specials that I have made in CAD into Canvas,” she noted.

CET Designer Academy

Dan and Lisa attended CET Academy earlier this fall at Configura’s Grand Rapids, Mich., location. Both were trained by Cate Sword, known as one of the industry’s best trainers on a range of design programs.

“Cate is not only very knowledgeable – she’s also very helpful. Also, being at the ‘factory,’ so to speak, it was great to be able to bounce ideas and suggestions off of Cate and the project manager. I also like the fact that our suggestions are taken seriously and, if warranted, become part of the program and appear in future updates,” Dan said.

Lisa said she returned to Calgary with knowledge and skill in how to use Canvas’s advanced tools. “With CET Designer Canvas extension being so new and unique, the training was especially helpful in understanding how to get the most from this product,” Lisa said.

Product suggestions

CET Designer and Extensions such as Canvas are designed to make work easier. For this reason, listening to customers’ suggestions for enhancement is paramount. Dan said he’d like to be able to provide drawings that installers find easy to read. Lisa said she’d like to see Canvas move faster with bigger projects. In spring 2008, CET Designer 2.0 will be released with new features including printing improvements and speed enhancements. Users are encouraged to provide feedback and feature requests either through our contact webpage or by contacting our Help Desk.