Signs Never Sleep

Our day at the Gerber Scientific Products Open House: Part 1

One of the biggest challenges working in the sign industry is keeping up with all the new information about equipment, materials, software and sign building techniques.  A sign-maker in this day in age is a "high-tech" craftsman in every sense of the word.

Christine and I recently (4-24-09) attended an Open House at Gerber Scientific Products to catch-up  on the latest trends, see their current product line-up and meet the people who work at Gerber and are very much "partners" with sign-makers the world over.

Gerber (GSP) is a great place to see what is happening with every aspect of the industry.  Out of all the manufacturers of either equipment or materials, Gerber is unique in being the only one that produces everything a sign-maker needs, and that is a tremendous benefit to the sign companies that call themselves "Gerber Shops".  If there is a problem with the production of a sign, it is terrific to be able to talk to the company who made the material you are using, and the machine that is cutting it, and the software used to control that machine.  It streamlines addressing problems and meeting the challenges that people in our industry face every day.

Our day included a seminar on the latest version of Gerber's sign design software  (OMEGA 3.0), and demonstrations on all of their latest equipment (the Gerber Solara Ion, the Gerber M3000 and the EDGE FX).

Recently, Gerber completed transforming one of the spaces in their building that had previously been used for software engineering into a fantastic demonstration room.  It was terrific to see all that Gerber had to offer all in one place.  Taking photos was a challenge, but I was able to sneak in during lunch and get a few shots that displays the space well.

~ contributed by J.D. Iles

Gerber Scientic Products is a sponsor of the Signs Never Sleep Blog

Open House at Gerber Scientific Products: See the Solara Ion and OMEGA 3.0 sign design software in action

Gerber Scientific Products (GSP) is having an open house at their headquarters in South Windsor, CT on April 24th and 25th, 2009.  This is a great opportunity for sign-makers to see the latest and greatest in sign-making technology, by the company that pioneered the concept of "digital sign-making".

Highlights of the day will certainly be seeing the latest release of Gerber's design software, OMEGA 3.0, and watching the direct-to-surface printing capabilities of Gerber's UV inkjet, the Solara Ion.

 It is suggested that sign-makers register as soon as possible, as space is limited, and you can also enter for a chance to have a job printed on the Solara Ion! 

Click this link for additional information

~contributed by J.D. Iles

NOTE:  GSP is a paid sponsor of the Signs Never Sleep Blog

Open House at Gerber Scientific Products: See the Solara Ion and OMEGA 3.0 sign design software in action

Gerber Scientific Products (GSP) is having an open house at their headquarters in South Windsor, CT on April 24th and 25th, 2009.  This is a great opportunity for sign-makers to see the latest and greatest in sign-making technology, by the company that pioneered the concept of "digital sign-making".

Highlights of the day will certainly be seeing the latest release of Gerber's design software, OMEGA 3.0, and watching the direct-to-surface printing capabilities of Gerber's UV inkjet, the Solara Ion.

 It is suggested that sign-makers register as soon as possible, as space is limited, and you can also enter for a chance to have a job printed on the Solara Ion! 

Click this link for additional information

~contributed by J.D. Iles

NOTE:  GSP is a paid sponsor of the Signs Never Sleep Blog

Gerber Road Show 2006: Go for a Gerber Scientific Factory Tour, see the Solara UV2, EDGE FX, OMEGA 2.5 and I hear there is even a free lunch!

Just got this postcard in the mail yesterday, and I really, really want to go to this event!  There is nothing I like better than visiting with the folks at Gerber, and even better, talking to other sign-makers that use and believe in their equipment.  And did I mention that lunch is free!

Unfortunately, I already have a trip to Gerber planned, but it is the day after the event, oh well!  I am sure there will be some sandwiches left in the fridge or some day-old donuts sitting around.

The above event is a really great example of why I think, recently,  Gerber is getting better and better at "doing things right".  Software and equipment are really major tools and drivers in the sign-making world right now, and the problem with that is, "there are so many things that tools and software can do, it is very, VERY difficult for a company like Gerber to decide the best direction to head or the right "things" to address with their new products".

That's why "conversations with the customer" are so important.  Yes, the event next week is about sign-makers going to CT to see what Gerber is offering with their new products (that's what a sign-maker will get out of it), but I am pretty certain the folks at Gerber are looking to have some good conversations with the people most likely to buy these new toys.

"What do you need?"
"What should we build next?"
"What is your #1 problem in your sign-shop?"
"If we could only do one thing, what would it be?"

Gerber is having more and more of these conversations with their customers every day.  And it is a very, very good thing.

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PREVIEW TO NEXT WEEK:

I am going to be doing one of my "Day in the Life" series of posts like the one I did back on December 21st, 2005 and I am going to be visiting Gerber for half-a-day.  Dana Goodale (Customer Relationship Manager for Gerber) has agreed to take me on a whirlwind tour of Gerber Scientific and let me take pictures so you can see as much "behind the scenes" stuff as you possibly can.

Stay tuned!

Gerber OMEGA 2.5: Working with Layers

It is terrific that now, in OMEGA 2.5, signmakers can work with their digital designs in "layers", which basically means that you can look at or work on only selected parts of a grapgic at a time, or look at everything all at once, it's up to you.

As you can imagine - alot of the time that the sign designs we do are very complex and have many elements.  It is nice now being able to just concentrate on one area of the sign (like the text for example) and not need to look at any of the other clutter.

Here is a link to the Spandex UK website that has a wide variety of videos showing how layering works.

Working with layers is like drawing on transparent sheets. You can put related objects on one transparent sheet and move it in front of or in back of other sheets, delete it, choose to view it or not view it, and more.

It’s a snap to do the following with layers in OMEGA 2.5:
♦ Put an image on one layer, all the logos on a second layer, and all the text on a third.
♦ Put all vehicle graphics one layer, and all window graphics on another.
♦ Put your design on one layer and dimensioning objects on another.
♦ Add notes to layers for future reference.
♦ Hide a layer so you can focus on a particular portion of a job.
♦ At output time, layers get merged into a single unified job as the default. You can also select which layers to output or you can choose to treat each layer as a separate job.

Features of Omega 2.5: Clipping Paths

eggheads, originally uploaded by SignsNeverSleep.

If you go to the supermarket, you should always check your eggs to make sure they are not cracked or bad.  If you open the carton and any of the eggs look like this, throw them away (or give them to Vicki and I, because apparently we like them).

OK, This is another post in a series I am doing about the new features in the design software we use.  Now, I know this is not a tremendous work of art, and I know that it might be possible to tell that those aren't actually eggs shaped like human heads in the carton (what?  you had me so fooled man!  What about the "bat-boy photos in the National Inquirer, or the photos of Clinton with Monica Lewinsky, are you going to tell me those are faked too!)

Anyway, so yes, not my most impressive work, but that is kind-of the point of this post.  These three images were combined in 6 minutes the FIRST TIME I EVER TRIED USING THE NEW CLIPPING PATH AND LAYERING TOOLS IN THE OMEGA 2.5 SOFTWARE.  It was very easy to do, and trust me, I am an idiot with software (OK, I'm actually not an idiot with software ((however, I play an idiot at home in my free time)) but it is still really easy to do.

Basically the way this works is you are able to draw a line around anything in an image, tell its a "clipping path" and everything else in the image (the stuff you don't want disappears).  Then using "Layers" in a design, you can change the order of the images so that Ben's head is on top of the image of the carton of eggs.

Now again, I could have made this very realistic and convincing in Adobe Photo-Shop or some other image editing program, but that's not really the point.  Gerber software users have never been able to combine images like this in their design software before, and it is going to allow us to solve some very basic problems very easily and free up alot of design time....

Don't believe me, watch the video

Oh, I also wanted to mention, as a little side note:  Gerber has really done a good job improving on import- export.  OK, what's my proof?  Well, when I imported the "egg carton photo" (which I brought in from an "objects collection" I have) the software asked me "do you want to import the clipping path information with the photo".  I thought the software was freaking out a bit, and said yes, but then remembered that "object photos" are usually photos with backgrounds knocked out.  Lo and behold, there were clipping paths on the egg carton image and even where the "holes" in the lid is.  So I could place the image on any color background and have that background visible through the holes!

Great job Gerber

Well, I'm hungry for eggs, see you next time

Features of OMEGA 2.5: Embedding images

For those of you that have been following along, I have been talking about the design software that we use to make our signs, Gerber OMEGA, and the fact that we have just recently upgraded to a new version.

One of the changes we have seen is the way in which the program works with images (which could be a photo or some other complex piece of artwork).  Before the upgrade, the way the software dealt with images is that the image was not really "in" the file you were working with, but instead, you saw a "thumbnail" version of the image in the file and there was an "invisible link" to the actual image file (like a .tif or .bmp)

This system worked great, until you decided you needed to move the sign file, and then the computer wouldn't know where the original image was, and you got to go on a wild goose-chase through your computers hard drive to find the original image!  Not fun!

So, the change Gerber made in the upgrade (which I originally thought was "no big deal") is really rather nice.  You now have the option to "EMBED" the image into the file, which makes the image a physical part of the file, and you'll never get the "Where is ???.bmp" message again...

Very simple change, but will really help us out productivity wise.

Here is the embed image video

===========================================
Back about 8 years ago, everyone was very hung up on sign design software companies  providing them great tools to make great signs simply and effectively.

I think there has now (in the last two years or so) been a great change in what sign-makers want from software.

I, at least, could care less about tools that allow me to design or create visual effects.  I can pretty much find a program out there to do just about anything I want.

What I am looking for now, is software and improvements that will SAVE ME TIME and STREAMLINE THE BUSINESS OF MAKING SIGNS. 

=============
Embed images is a simple thing that does just that.  On average, it will probably save me a minute a day I would otherwise spend looking for an image that has become "lost".  1 minute a day x 5 days a week x 52 weeks = that's a time-savings of 4.33 hrs a year.

4.33 hrs a year does not sound like alot, but that is only one feature of this upgrade.

Gerber, this is what I want....

improvements that will SAVE ME TIME and STREAMLINE THE BUSINESS OF MAKING SIGNS.

(and donuts, if the software could also give me donuts somehow, that would be great...)

Gerber OMEGA 2.5: Features: Dimensioning Tools

OK, so I have been using the upgrade for what? 3 days?

It is really going well...  In fact, it is going so well that if I committed myself to sit here and write and tell you about everything, I would not have time to do our scheduled install for today (Connecticut River Bank) because I would need to stay glued to my seat for the next four days.

That's how well its going...

I'll be honest with you, I really wasn't all that excited about this upgrade.  I saw the features that Gerber was adding to an already great piece of software as only moderately exciting and useful.  I really didn't think there was anything in there that I would use on a regular basis, and I didn't think there was anything in there that would " Transform" the way we do work here at Lincoln Sign Company.

I WAS WRONG...

I think the beauty of this upgrade, is that it is not major and it is not earth-shattering.  One of the nice things is that after I loaded it, most people in the shop weren't even aware that it had happened ("Oh, this is the new one?  Looks just the same") 

That is a big thing right there........ "looks just the same".  If you buy the upgrade and slap it in, trust me, you are not going to spend the next five days trying to get reoriented to were all the tools are. 

It is basically going to be "install it and then get on with your work"
Then slowly you will discover each new feature and you will find these new features are a major "tweaking" of the way we work.  The stuff they put in there allows us to be more efficient during the process of doing designs.  Rather than giving us tools that will allow us to do artistic things (for example: a bazooka that can shoot leaves and flowers into a design) they gave us tools that will allow us to design faster and more efficiently:

Like dimensioning tools

Watch this Dimensioning Tool Video

There is not a heck of alot I can do to sum the tool up better than the video does.  As easy as the video makes it look, IT REALLY IS.  The tools are very easy to use and very intuitive.  The best feature by far is the ability to select a shape, push a button (which instantly creates dimensions) and then drag the dimension bars to the correct positions for a sketch for a customer.  They also have a great tool to create a line to a comment or NOTE on a sketch to explain a detail to a customer.

So, Lee and I have an install to do over the next few days.  I also have a design that was just approved that I need to get a Dimensional Sketch done so the customer can get their sign permit.  You know what?  I'm glad I have the 2.5 upgrade this morning...

OK - We are fully upgraded and running on OMEGA 2.5

OK, so Saturday morning I spent 30 minutes or do upgrading the last two systems (FRONT and LEGACY) up to OMEGA 2.5 and it went very, very well...

The upgrade in the paint-shop (LEGACY) went without a hitch (again Gerber, great job in making this the easiest upgrade ever) but I had a nervous moment when upgrading my main design system (FRONT).  While upgrading, the system stopped, told me a file was "Read-Only" and suggested a turn off my virus protection and try again.  In my experience, happy little messages like that are usually a precursor to a nightmare, and as I disabled my virus protection program, I reached for a roll of Rolaids.  My stomach did a few flips as I restarted the install, and you know what?......

The Installer was right.  After I turned off McAfee the program installed slick as snot.  Ran flawlessly the first time, and I didn't even need to reboot the computer.

===================================================
TIPS BEFORE YOU UPGRADE
===================================================
#1. Pick your moment.

I did the last little bit of my install this weekend.  Why this weekend you ask?  Well, I don't have any EDGE printing or even vinyl plotting that needs to be done this weekend or first thing on Monday morning.  That means, if something evil did happen, I would be able to talk to Gerber Tech Support first thing on Monday, but I don't so I won't....

Now, if you are a dare-devil, go ahead and do the install right in the middle of producing a paying job for a customer.  In fact, tough guy, why don't you do the install right after you print something on the EDGE, and before you cut it out on the plotter.  Then if it doesn't work, you can really FREAK.

No, do the install when you have some quiet time and nothing essential needs to get done.  Pour yourself a cup of coffee (or get a beer) and spend some time and do it right.

===========

#2.  Before you upgrade, make yourself some back-ups!

When's the last time you backed anything up?  If your computer died right now, and I mean died hard, exactly how screwed would you be?

Back-up all of your job files (this is really overkill, because the software install doesn't even look at your files, but the upgrade is a great excuse to do it)

Back-up all of your fonts in c:/gsp/GSPfonts.  Just make a copy of them somewhere else on your computer or an a CD-ROM.  (Just don't call the folder you put them in "GSPfonts")  As often as you backup your jobs, you should back-up your fonts as well.  If you have been using Gerber software since the very beginning you probably have some fonts on your system that the "new-bees" don't have access to.  Unless you want to figure out how to load 5.5" floppy disks onto your shiny new computer BACK UP YOUR FONTS.

============================
#3.  Let the GSP Installer do the driving.

Don't get too clever....  Just let the installer do its job.  The program is mean to install over the old version of the software in the usual place (C:/GSP)
Don't do an uninstall of the old program before you install the new.....
Don't suddenly decide you would like to install the program on your f:/ drive just for kicks....

Let the program install where it wants to install and just make sure to click "Typical" when it asks you what kind of install you want to do.

=============================
#4.  Make sure the computer you are installing it onto meets the Minimum System Requirements

Here are the minimum system requirements for OMEGA 2.5

Don't try to put the program on a computer that is underpowered....  You'll only be pulling your own hair out later.

Remember, when they are checking you into heaven, one of the things Saint Peter checks is he makes sure that you always installed your OMEGA software within the Minimum System Requirements.  If you didn't, you will be gold-leafing molten lava for all of eternity...

 

Gerber Omega Video Training CD

So, I have been talking a great deal about the training "quick start" videos that Gerber has provided with the 2.5 upgrade and they are really terrific.  One of the frustrations of people who are thinking about maybe upgrading to a new version of the software, is that you have to get the upgrade to see the videos, and in my mind, these videos are probably the greatest selling tools for the upgrade!

Well, don't worry.  Spandex has come to our rescue...

Yes, Spandex...

No, not the purple stretchy stuff your Aunt Rita wore back in the 70's...

(Thanks, now I won't be able to get that mental image out of my head all day...

SPANDEX, Gerber's European cousin!
===============

Over on the other side of the Atlantic, Gerber product's are sold by a company called Spandex (which is a company that is actually owned by Gerber).  I first became aware of Spandex back in the heady days of 1998, and taking a look at their website back then was like opening the door to a secret room.  Many times they would launch products a year or so before they launched in the US, so you could just pop over to the Spandex Website to see what new plotters or printers Gerber would be selling next year.

Another thing I really liked about the Spandex UK website especially, is they had a very "hip" irreverent attitude towards themselves.  Their support docs tended to be funny as well as factual, they had a live web-cam in their support center, and who could forget "The Gerber Time-Tunnel?"........

........

I really, really miss the Gerber time-tunnel.
I really, really do....
(have just spent 15 minutes trying to "hack" a link for it, to no avail...  If anyone over at Spandex UK can provide me with one, I would really, really appreciate it!)

=====
So, what I'm saying here, is that anytime there is a new announcement or product from Gerber, I tend to run over to the Spandex website to see what's going on.

Well, they have not disappointed with OMEGA 2.5 either....
They have gone ahead and put almost all of the training "quick-start" videos on their website for all the world to see.....

This video of the dimensioning tools is probably the best one of the bunch...  Gives me goosebumps...

Here is where all of the training videos are

Here in a link to the Gerber Spandex UK website yes, it is still a very good website, but not as "hip" as it used to be.  I really miss the "hip"

Oh, and here is a link to the Gerber Spandex Worldwide website 
Spandex in Slovakia  -  Instant headache baby!

 

===========================
For the folks inside Lincoln Sign Company who are currently using OMEGA on a regular basis (Lee and Vicki) the above link will give you access to the videos I am talking about here and I would really suggest that you take a look at all of them, as they will really get you comfortable with all of the new tools quickly.

And, please do not start wearing spandex around the shop......
"Do it on your own time people!"

Progress with the sign software upgrade

I am mainly posting this to keep everyone who works at Lincoln Sign Company updated as of where we stand with the upgrade as of today.

The system upstairs in the house (KILREY) has been updated to 2.5
The system out in the WOODSHOP has been updated to 2.5

My plan is to get my design computer (FRONT) done in the next few days - and I will do the system in the paint ship (LEGACY) at the same time

NOTE:  Lee, if you are going to save a job from the Woodshop that you need to look at on another system, you will need to save it as an "OMEGA 2.1" job (I think)  I'm not going to get off my lazy butt to check right now, but I think that's accurate.

============================================
Now, to the folks at Gerber.  Fantastic job!  I have now done upgrades to two of our systems and I have had ZERO issues.

I loaded right over the old versions of the program (just let the installer find them automatically) and I did not need to do a thing.

All my job files (still there and can get into them no problem)
All my fonts (still there)
All of my device setups (plotter and EDGE LE) (still setup properly and I tested them and they work just fine both printing and cutting)

I am always very cautious when upgrading anything, especially with the programs that we really, really need to work flawlessly, and to be honest I ALWAYS expect bad, evil stuff to happen. 

But this time around, so far, so good.  I am very, very pleased at how easy the upgrading has been.

Looking forward to get the last two systems done.

Gerber OMEGA Software Video Tutorials

OK, so I am going to probably regret this (bandwidth wise), but the tutorial videos for the upgrade are so well done that I would love to give everyone just a taste on them.  The link below is just one of the shortest ones, but I think it gives you a good idea of the quality and genius of them.

The tutorial/demo videos are really good, and after watching them (took about 40 minutes to see all of them?) I feel familiar enough with the new features to start fooling around with some of them without really knowing what I am doing.  (and I think that is the greatest asset of the videos, they give you an "instant comfort level" that I never have had before with any software upgrade)

I would post them all, but it would probably blow all my bandwidth...

Download "Edit All Video"

Oh, when the first person downloads the link, just let me know it worked OK in "Comments"

thanks

Installing Gerber OMEGA 2.5

OK....
So it's 12:33pm on a Saturday....
The family is out skiing at Cannon Mountain...

And what am I doing?  Installing OMEGA 2.5 into one of my computers of course...

I decided to load it first on the system upstairs that Vicki uses for designing occasionally, and it is the lowest priority system, so no harm if I screw it up...

So, you remember all that advice I gave out the other day, about minimum system requirements?

Well, it looks like I don't bother following my own advice...  About halfway through the install I realized I am putting it on a computer with only 256 MB of RAM and only about 2GB free space on the hard drive.  Nice J.D.   ....Way to follow instructions...  I really don't recommend this for anyone else! 

Oh well, my plan is to get the computer loaded with it, and I will get to the computer store next week to get additional RAM and a bigger hard drive.  Right now I am going to just make sure that loading this new version does not rip a hole in the space-time continuum before I load it into all my other systems....

Alright..... Wish me luck, the upstairs system should have rebooted by now.  Going to make sure I haven't created a vortex that demons can travel through upstairs...

=========================
12:55pm
OK

I'm back and looks like everything is just fine upstairs.  The program came up no problem and a even dabbled around with "Layers" for awhile.  Very impressed with layers, much more intuitive than I though it was going to be (to qualify this, very intuitive if you are used to using layers in Photoshop for example.  If this was the first time I had ever seem layers, you better believe I would be hitting F1 for help.)

So, in a few minutes I am going to go upstairs to work with the program a bit more, try to send a job to my plotter and digital printer (EDGE LE) and just generally take the program out for a spin.  I am very impressed with how easy the install of the upgrade was (it even retained my installed devices!)

Gerber, excellent job on putting the "upgrade engine" together.  That couldn't have been easier.

==========================

Oh, I said last time I would do a whole "what do you get in the box" type a feature.  Basically you get  a "Getting Started Manual"  (printed on real paper 73 pages long.  It is an install step-by-step with no good "nuggets" of info)

4cd's
- the upgrade disk
- font and library CD
- Gerber Profile library CD
- and "OMEGA Upgrade Overviews" CD

Now, I "cheated" a bit and have already looked at the "Upgrade Overviews" CD (just a little).  Full of PowerPoint presentations on "What's New" and with videos (yeah, that's right, videos).  They are really, really good...  By far the best "instructional material" that Gerber has ever provided with an upgrade launch.

My plans for the afternoon are cracking open a beer, turning on the Bud Shootout
and going through all of the material and videos on the CD.

Yes sir, I know how to live...

Oh, guy who puts the stuff in the box at Gerber.  You should put candy in there, or something colorful and fun.  I like Sour Patch Kids...

Gerber Omega 2.5 System Requirements

So these 4 boxes are sitting on our customer service counter, which is directly behind my desk, and they have been here in the building since... Monday maybe?

I am waiting for the "right" moment to load them, as I don't want to interrupt the normal work-flow of the shop.  At any one time, we have 1-4 people working on one of the OMEGA computers at a time, and the usual average is about 2 people working at the same time.

My plan is, maaaaaaybe over the weekend I will load one system, take a quick check to just make sure everything looks OK, and then load the other three systems.  Having to do 4 systems will probably take 2-3 hours in total, maybe faster if I have had enough coffee....

(I also might not do it at all, depends how the weekend goes...)

So, for you "Gerber sign folks" out there, here are the OMEGA Minimum System Requirements for running the upgrade. 

If you are thinking about upgrading to the 2.5 version of OMEGA, keep the following in mind:

#1:  Will only run on XP or 2000.  (NOT on 98, ME, or NT)
- if your shop is not running on Windows XP, you should really think about making the switch.  XP is a terrific operating system.  If you are still back on Windows 95, I will pray for you tonight...

#2:  Get yourself  1 GIG of RAM.  Two would be better.  The minimum is 512 MB of RAM, but I recommend you get yourself a GIG.

#3:  I really recommend you give yourself 15-20 Gigs of free hard drive space as "headroom" for the program.  The actual program loaded on your system will probably take up no more than 500MB of disk space, but the more room you can give your program to run free on the hard drive the better.  As you are working on files, they tend to get REALLY BIG, and then they get small  again when you save them.

So my next post is going to be "What's Inside the Box", and "The Last Thing You Should Consider Doing Right Before You Load the Upgrade".

There have been some sign folks checking in with me as I started this upgrade process.

Hi

If you have any questions about OMEGA 2.5 (or anything else), feel free to leave a comment and I will try to answer it (and I know that a few folks at Gerber are keep an eye on this site as well).

Getting ready for the Gerber OMEGA 2.5 Upgrade: I wish I had it already

I am suffering from "pre-upgrade syndrome today".  "Pre-upgrade Syndrome" is defined as "the belief that a software user has the ability to use tools that are only available in a new version of their software after purchasing the software, but prior to its actual installation"...

In layman's terms, I need to have access to some of these tools ASAP because suddenly, I can't live without them anymore...

I have been reading the page on Gerber's Website that talks about all the new features, and there are a ton of these I can't wait to actually have access to.  One big one is going to be the ability to do "Clipping Paths"

 

Basically a "clipping path" allows you to "clip" around the outside of the image in our sign design software and "get rid" of the part of the picture that you don't want prior to printing it out on our digital printer.  Up to this point, Gerber software users have been needing to perform some pretty fancy "work-arounds" to get rid of parts of a photo they were not interested in having show up in the completed sign.  Most of the time this "work-around" involved taking the image into Adobe Photoshop, editing it, bringing it back into OMEGA, deciding it was not quite right, back into Photoshop, fooling with it, back to OMEGA, back to Photoshop, back to OMEGA...  ad nauseum...

Fun?  You betcha!

Now the idea that I can just "whack away" the part of the picture or graphic that I don't want is incredibly alluring, and I can't wait to be able to use it on a day-to-day basis.  To be really honest with everybody, I actually lost a vehicle-wrap job last year because I was taking waaaaaay too long laying out the design work in Photoshop and then getting it over to OMEGA to get a proof to the customer.  There were dozens and dozens of images that needed to be put together all as one digital print and it was just very difficult for either OMEGA or Photoshop to do it effectively.  Very glad I will soon be able to handle that type of job properly.

Clipping Path is probably a tool we will use here every day, from actually producing a sign graphic that we need to prepping a sketch for a customer for an approval on an upcoming job.  It is just one small tool in the upgrade package but I see this tool alone justifying the entire price of the upgrade.

What is the cost of an upgrade like this for a signshop?  The upgrade is $445.00 (the software package new would cost a signshop $3495.00 - yes, that is quite a bit for software, but remember, this isn't Microsoft Word, this is a software package that less than 40,000 people in the world use).  We have 4 copies of OMEGA so our cost to upgrade was $1780.00

We are gearing up for Gerber's OMEGA 2.5 here at Lincoln Sign Company

 

It's an odd thing, this sign business......

Now I realize that all businesses go through changes, and shoes are not made the same way they were made 50 years ago, and cars are designed in a totally new way now than the way they were built back in the 1930's, but I really don't care about shoes or cars....

I care about signs....

There was a day, not to many years ago, where signs lived within these cans.  Opening the tops of one of these could release just about anything, and the people that used them created magic, from NOTHING, on a daily basis.  There was a day not too long ago when a sign-painter could pick up their paint kit full of trusty 1-Shot paints and brushes made from the tales of squirrels and go out on location, walk up to Joe the Plumber's truck doors and ask Joe "What did you want it to say again?". 

Was there really a time when I could have left the house in the morning with nothing but paint and maybe some gold leaf, go to the new law office in town and get the name of the "new kid" in the office and just add his name to the door?  No pre-planning?  No design and proofs and color approvals?  Really?

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The sign world is a different place now, and it is not really for me to decide if it is better or worse, it is just different.  The sign business is now all mostly about computers and software, and that is really my game so I really don't mind all that much.  You could argue about it all day, but computerized sign-making was born on a certain day back in 1983 and the sign industry hasn't been the same since.  It is a fairly recent change, but in "computer time" it was forever ago.  My ride has been shorter than most, I have only been within this "sign world" for 14 short years, but the changes even I have seen. 

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As a sign company in 2006, we use software here to get most of our work done, and the program that everything we do revolves around is called OMEGA.  This program is our design platform.  We create designs for our customers, lay-out the type-styles, decide what shape the sign should be, and then choose the colors.  This design gets printed out and sent (by mail or email) to the customer for approval.  Once we have the approval we send info from OMEGA to one of our sign-making machines and they cut vinyl, or wood, or Everwood or maybe even a paint-mask.

OMEGA is a program that is the "oxygen" of our sign shop.  We use it every minute of every day, it always does what it is supposed to do, and we hardly ever think about it.  We have 4 computers that have OMEGA loaded into it (version 2.1.0.21).  I am just about to put in my order for the upgrade to OMEGA 2.5 to "stay current" and take advantage of some great new features that the folks at Gerber created for us.

My plan for the next month or two is to talk about (in addition to all the other stuff I talk about here) the transition from the version of the sign design software we currently use to the new version.  Getting a program upgrade is always exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time.  It is great to think that we might have some new tools in the software that will allow us to be more creative and maybe get some things done a little more efficiently, but there is always the worry that we will load the upgrade, and when OMEGA boots up for the first time,  we won't recognize a thing.........

 

An open letter to Gerber Scientific

I just wanted to take a moment out of my busy day and thank everyone who works at Gerber (or has ever worked at Gerber, for that matter).

Here at Lincoln Sign Company, we use your design software, OMEGA, every day and it works exactly as it should.  It does everything we tell it to do, without hesitation and flawlessly.  It also keeps all of our customers designs, material and color information safe and archived for the future.  The best compliment I can give you, is that we "never think about OMEGA", because it is always there and it performs brilliantly every day.

I would also like to thank you for all of your wonderful materials.  They always perform as promised, and are a vital part of our success.

Our Gerber EDGE LE is one of the best digital printers on the market STILL.  It prints an average of 2 hours per day for us and it always does it flawlessly.  Thanks

One last "thank you" to all the wonderful people in Gerber Support and Field Service.  You are always there to answer our questions and you are all at the top of your fields.

Thanks
I can't thank you all enough...

A Walk Through Gerber Scientific Advertising History: Part Four

600 ad, originally uploaded by SignsNeverSleep.

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This is one of the early routing solutions from Gerber from the days when Gerber was really the only company consistently producing terrific hardware and software for sign-makers.  Gerber has always been the "industry leader" and putting this type of material cutting solution into a sign-shop was an earth-shattering thing way back in 1991.

We are in an interesting part of the computerized sign-making revolution.  Currently, there are many, many, many companies producing terrific things for the sign industry at very affordable prices, which is great if you are on the sign-making side of the fence, but less great if you are an equipment manufacturer.  Just looking at routers, for example, there are way too many companies building more machines than this little industry can support, and you better believe that there is going to be a correction in this trend one day soon.  If there are, say 12 well known manufacturers making routers right now, only a handful will be successful (from a combination of great marketing, appealing to the sales-forces that sell them, and producing reliable equipment) and only a handful will survive to fight another day.  This type of correction is about to occur with routers, digital printers and plotters...

Guess who one of the companies that will still be left standing after the correction?

Gerber...

A Walk Through Gerber Scientific Advertising History: Part Three

gds3 ad, originally uploaded by SignsNeverSleep.

Looking back through these ads can really show how far digital sign making has come in just a few short years.  A quick explanation of what "digitization" is.  Before scanners were commonplace and cheap, one had to have a fairly easy way of getting a piece of art into a computer (never really thought of that, did you?  How do you get a drawing of something into a computer without a scanner, and no cheating, there really were no digital cameras at the time this ad was written).

The solution to this problem is pictured above.  What you would do is tape the drawing down to a "grid" that the software knew the size of.  The weird mouse you see in the picture is called a "puck" and it has a few buttons on it and a clear "window" with a cross-hairs that allows you to see the drawing while you work.  So what you would do is pick anyplace on the drawing (in the case, the edge of the penguin - and I would like to talk to this penguin, because I would love to buy a polar bar for only $0.75!) and you click to start a line.  Then, you move the puck to the first significant curve and click to "lock that curve in" and then move to the next significant curve change or right angle.  (No, I'm not kidding, that's really what you had to do)

Sound tedious?  You betcha!  Actually, it really wasn't all that bad and I knew some people that could actually digitize that penguin in about five minutes, but they were very, very good...

At the time this ad was placed, scanners would have been in the $4000 - $6000 range, so the digitizer was peanuts in comparison.

Now for the crazy spin to this entire story.  The digitizing "engine" is still built into the software I use today, and I actually use it every day.  If I need to freehand draw a leaf or tree or whatever, the digitization engine allows me to quickly draw whatever I want right on-screen with absolute control.

Sometimes old tools really are the best tools...

If you want to read part two in this series, click (HERE)

We love doing vehicle lettering

DSC02961, originally uploaded by SignsNeverSleep.

These graphics are going to be put on the side of a box truck sometime today.  It's raining right now (3:16am) but I am hopeful we will be able to get the vehicle completed in between the raindrops.

At this point the truck is about halfway done, Vicki and Kristin pitched in for the majority of the day on it and Michelle helped out towards the tail end of the day.  (Special thanks to Lee for rigging up the scoffolding that is helping us get the job done MUCH quicker - ROOKIES ya know) 

Doing vehicles is always something that I have enjoyed doing, and I think it tends to do some of the most satisfying work that we do...

Mentioned this a few times in passing as Vicki and Kristin were out in the hot sun dealing with difficult application issues and they did not share my enthusiasm and several times I am sure they wanted to throw things at happy, chipper "Mr. not actually out in the hot sun doing the job!"

Ah well,

oh, and we are using Gerber EZ Guard as a laminate with these graphics to protect them from the sun, and yes, I am one of those types who tends to talk obsessively about products that I use and like.  It really is great stuff...  Protects graphics and is fun to use...

Another sign maker asked me the other say if I get a commission from Gerber for talking about the product because I NEVER SHUT UP ABOUT IT!

Yes, I do...  I get $10,000.00 every time I use the words "Gerber EZ Guard".

Gerber EZ Guard
Gerber EZ Guard
Gerber EZ Guard
Gerber EZ Guard
Gerber EZ Guard

I'm gonna be rich

Gerber EZ Guard
Gerber EZ Guard
Gerber EZ Guard
Gerber EZ Guard
Gerber EZ Guard

Lincoln Sign Company can take care of all your short-run decal needs...

DSC02805, originally uploaded by SignsNeverSleep.

We have a printing machine in house, the Gerber EDGE, that allows us to print very small quantities of decals for our customers, and the job pictured here is an excellent example.

This decal is for a local family that wants to honor one of their own who is currently serving overseas.  They placed an order with me a few months ago, I printed up a bunch for them (maybe 45), and I got a call recently asking if they could have 10 more.  Now, anyone who has tried to get custom, high-quality, outdoor decals printed will know that small quantities are usually very difficult for most print-houses to do.

10 decals? No problem - are you sure you just don't want 5???

The above decals in a quantity of 10?  Less than $3.00 each for the customer.
They will last 3-5 years outdoors

I also like the fact that I can help a local family take pride in one of their own.  That's what I like about this business, at times it seems like it is all about signs, but there are occasions you get reminded it is really about people...

Inventory control at Lincoln Sign Company

DSC02803, originally uploaded by SignsNeverSleep.

The issue of inventory control for us is a pretty big one, and if you own any kind of business that takes a raw material and makes it into a product, you should be concerned about it as well.  For example, if you are a roofer, and you buy a large amount of plywood (say 500 sheets for $65.00 a sheet) that will cover you for the next couple of jobs, that will save you from having to worry "do I have enough plywood in stock to do that job?" but the problem is having that plywood in your shop is the same as having $35,500.00 in cash sitting in neat piles in your shop that you can't touch.  It's not in the bank, not earning interest, and you can't pay the phone bill with it anymore, it is untouchable, you have turned it into plywood.

We buy lots of stuff that we use to make into signs, we need to keep track of that stuff so we know what we have, and I need to be careful not to buy too much because then I am just tying up money I could do other things with.

What is the solution???  How do I buy as little as I can but still have enough materials on hand to quickly get the signs make?  Well, all I can say is I do the best I can right now, but I am hoping that one day I have a software solution that can track inventory specifically tailored to the sign industry.  But, until that solution arrives, all I can do is use little "tricks" that I discover along the way.

The picture above shows Gerber EDGE cartridges that we use for printing.  As you print with them, they have a meter (called GerberGauge - which is a great) that tells you how much you have left.  Since I never want to run out of a certain color, as soon as the Gauge shows 10 yards or less, I order another cartridge.  I know it sounds like a simple thing, but something like this keeps us from never running out of a color, and makes sure that I don't do something dumb like order 5 cartridges of the same color just to make sure I don't run out...

A Walk Through Gerber Scientific Advertising History: Part Two

GA ad, originally uploaded by SignsNeverSleep.

This is another ad from the March/April 1991 copy of SignCraft magazine, and I think the ad is for Graphix Advantage version 3.5.  Ver 3.5 was the origin of the signmaking software that I use today, and I can remember working on 3.5 in a signshop outside of Harrisburg, PA, so I guess you can say that I have been using Gerber software since the very beginning.

Now, I realize that the "system" in this picture is trying to look very tough and mysterious, a blend of Matrix and Terminator techno-cool, and in the day it must have gotten close to that, but it is tough knowing what we know today.

"Dude, check out the lights on the front of my GA 3500"
"Dude, what do they do?"
"Sometimes they blink, and sometimes they blink faster"
"Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuude"

Keep in mind, this baby probably had 16MB of RAM on-board.

A scanner back then cost $4000.00, but don't panic, it was a BLACK AND WHITE scanner.

And check out the big, honkin' wide slot to the right on the front of that thing.  I wonder what that was for?

All kidding aside, in it's day it was a terrific system, and we worshiped the ground it walked on.

To read Part One in this series click (HERE)

A Walk Through Gerber Scientific Advertising History: Part One

Gerber IVB monitor ad, originally uploaded by SignsNeverSleep.

If we could travel back through time, and flip through the pages of SignCraft Magazine (specifically the March/April 1991 issue) we would find a large number of ads Gerber Scientific Products placed to advertise the latest technology they were bringing to the table for the sign making world.  What I plan to do over the course of the next few weeks, is give you a quick "time-travelers" tour of some of these ads, and try to draw a picture of what "state of the art" meant back in "the old days" of computerized sign making.

The blue beauty you see in the ad above is really the machine that started it all, and by "all" I mean the whole of the computerized sign making revolution.  The SignMaker IVB was what was called a "console cutter" and was a self-contained machine that was used to cut letters of any size or type style.  When the SignMaker family made its debut in 1983, it could hold a whopping 8 type styles and a 12 character LED "screen" so you could program the job.  You used it similar to the way you would use a typewriter, telling the machine what you needed, line-by-line, and then it would cut the job for you (whether you gave it the right information or not!)

This ad is for one of the many options of the system, a monitor that shows you what you are about to cut (which helped reduce human errors, believe me)

I used one of these when I started working at Stoner Graphix back in 1993, and we did get a monitor option right after I started (we also had JobSave, by the way).  The SignMaker is still seen as the workhorse of the industry, and if you get a drink or two into your local sign guy, I am sure they will babble on endlessly about their first love, the Blue Gerber baby.

Lincoln Sign Company still has one of these up in the attic, and I'll never part with it for the sake of the pure history of the thing.  In a pinch, we could dust it off, plug it in and use it.  And, I am confident my grand-children's grandchildren could do the same thing, unless I ask to be buried with it (which, if you know me, is very possible)

Well, need to go revise my will...
If you have any fond memories of the IVB, please feel free to share...

Getting my ACT! together: Using ACT! to manage a small business

box_left_ACT05, originally uploaded by SignsNeverSleep.

Yes, I am one of those "productivity nuts" who always seems to be working on this or that project that will finally, once and for all, solve all of my scheduling / management / forecasting / job tacking needs.  It really is an endless cycle...

I have been using "database management" a la CRM tools like Goldmine and ACT! for years now, and have flirted with a few other things as well.

Up to this point, I have been managing everything using the Palm Desktop, but I am starting to rapidly outgrow that, so currently (over the last few months) I have been creating an ACT! database that has all of my customer information in at as well as job tracking and scheduling.  This new database is taking its first toddling steps this week and so far, so good...

The fun thing about running a sign shop, is that we have dozens and dozens of projects running at any one time, tasks are separated by long "wait periods (like waiting for paint to dry)", and different people in the shop do certain things.  It is rare that I or anyone else here can take a project and do the whole thing start to finish all in one go (but that would be the ideal), so it is sometimes frustrating trying to figure out "OK, what should I do next".

So, I will keep whacking away it this.  Now, I of course find this productivity stuff FASCINATING, but I would like to know if I should babble about it occasionally in the weblog, or just stick to the "pure sign" stuff?  feel free to let me know via comments

thanks