It is hard to believe that a software, which can improve system design, documentation, and accuracy of AV installations, is available free of charge. Since its introduction less than three month ago, the AVSnap software has become the most talked about software amongst AV professional.
“Our challenge was to integrate three projection systems serving different zones in the multipurpose space, a multi-zone audio system, including an additional large zone with 5.1 surround sound system for movie nights,” explains Jeremy Williams, founder of WAV Systems.
“The system was designed using the AVSnap design software, which made designing the system a snap (no pun intended). The AVSnap’s easy drag drop interface and existing libraries, specifically for AV system design, makes it really easy to use. It is incredible that this professional software package is free of charge. I only had to register and was able to start designing within minute,” continues Jeremy Williams, an avid AVSnap user in Seattle , WA .
AVSnap is professional AV System design software developed by ALTINEX, the leading manufacturer of professional AV signal management equipment and software.
ALTINEX's many years of experience in engineering, manufacturing, and selling professional AV solutions contributed to the design and development of AVSnap. From a simple sketching tool to an easy to use AV design system, AVSnap evolved into a powerful design tool for AV Systems used by professionals in the AV industry world wide.
The Beginnings
Sketching an AV system layout is the first step in designing a fully functional and integrated AV system. In the past this was don e with pencil and paper, later CAD/CAM systems became more popular. Typically, a sales engineer would sketch a system design on paper and then fax it to their customer for approval. The customer then would approve the design or make changes to the design and return it to the sales engineer. This cycle would be repeated until the customer finally signed-off the project. The AV industry clearly needed affordable AV design software that would support fast and easy communication and exchange of information between all people involved in the AV system design and installation process.
Over time, dedicated AV system design software started to replace pencil and paper. These software applications offered specialized functions for AV integrators and simplified AV System design by incorporating manufacturer’s libraries. The high cost of the dedicated software discouraged many AV integrators from incorporating computer based AV design system into their company’s operation. Many consultants, system installers and end users, needed a powerful, easy to use, easy to share and affordable AV Design solution.
The AVSnap became the answer. It was designed by AV professionals for AV professionals. Its powerful and intuitive user interface makes AV system design process extremely fast and easy. AVSnap is a powerful application that does not depend on Visio Ò or any other software packages to operate. The software is available to manufacturers, AV integrators, consultants, installers, and end-users and only requires a simple registration to download from www.avsnap.com.
AVSnap selected features:
- Create user defined symbol libraries in minutes
- Drag, Drop & Snap product symbols into place
- Design complete and detailed AV systems using included libraries
- Protect and share projects and libraries with passwords
- Print professional site plans, diagrams, and system layouts
- Print or export material and cable lists
- Import price list for products in libraries
- Present your project using PowerPoint® style Presentation mode
Build libraries
AVSnap comes with a comprehensive set of generic AV equipment libraries and a complete set of ALTINEX libraries. Equipment symbols are the core elements of the AV system design software. With AVSnap it is easy to build new symbols in minutes. A library for an entire product line may be built in a few hours. AVSnap libraries hold connection diagrams and pin definitions of products, as well as bitmap images, line drawings, text, customized icons, and other symbols.
Equipment manufacturers are invited to develop and submit product libraries by e-mailing them to solutions@avsnap.com. AVSnap software offers a great opportunity to manufacturers to reach thousands of AV professionals. Submitted libraries will be published on the AVSnap web site for general distribution, after being reviewed for compatibility and accuracy.
Create a Project
Creating an AV project in AVSnap is straightforward and simple. Some users may start designing an AV system by laying out a room and an equipment rack; others may start with a system diagram, designing the functionality of the system before worrying about the physical layout. Either way, AVSnap supports all styles of system design. Multiple pages and hyperlinks between pages and equipment allow anyone to plan a system to a level of detail that shows pin allocation on cables and equipment. Going into the other direction, nothing limits the scale of the system, allowing the user to draw maps of connected equipment rooms, offices, office floors, buildings, venues, cities, or locations across a country. AVSnap can accommodate designs on any size of paper and can easily switch between imperial or metric units of measure. Single projects can easily contain different page sizes to accommodate specific design requirements. The use of template pages provides a unified look for projects and allows easy modification to common items on each page.
Automatically create material and cable lists
During the design of a project, AVSnap logs all products and cables used in a material and cable list. These lists can be included on the drawing or forwarded to a customer or colleague when an AVSnap project file is shared. The list format is design to be easily exported into Excel® spread sheet.
Manufacturers' price lists may be imported into the AVSnap libraries, to allow easy price quotes for all materials, or materials used on a single page. AVSnap also allows including or excluding any product or cable from the materials list. Pricing information may be edited under each individual product symbol card or preset in the library.
Protect a Project
Once AV design is completed, the file can be protected from unintentional modifications or unauthorized access by assigning a password to the file. AVSnap also offers a lockout date after which the file can not be opened. This safety feature helps to prevent usage of obsolete drawings. In the Read Only mode, design files can still be opened, viewed and presented but can no longer be modified.
Contact name and a phone number can be entered with a password to let users know who to contact for a new updated design file.
Print a Project or Library
Files may be printed to virtually any size of paper and printer. AVSnap provides many print settings, which are saved with each project. Files can be printed to PDF, JPEG, PNG, GIF and other graphic file formats. These functions are available by installing PDF printer driver available on www.avsnap.com . In addition a special screen capture program is provided to aid in system design and preparing presentation. Any image that appears on your screen can be imported to AVSnap for further manipulation.
All AVSnap libraries can be printed in a booklet format for easy reference during design.
From Design to Presentation
Once the project has been completed, the AV design may be presented to the customer using PowerPoint® style presentation. Pages may be tagged to be omitted from the presentation and timing can be set for each page for automatic slide advance.
While in Read-Only mode, only pages, which are not tagged, will be visible in the AVSnap and be a part of the presentation. The AVSnap project pages are displayed full-screen, which may be advanced manually or automatically. The unique feature of AVSnap is to provide Zoom and Pan functions on all presentation pages. The presentation mode turns AVSnap into a great selling tool and eliminates the need to spend any extra time to prepare an additional presentation.
Who uses the AVSnap system design software?
AVSnap users range from system designers to consultants, from sales engineers to installers, from system integrators to customers. Installers use AVSnap to review system details while on site, and buyers use it to compile material lists to purchase system components. AVSnap is not limited to designing AV systems. From floor plans to mechanical design, from Rack layout to Garden Layout, from Flow charting to process design, AVSnap is up to the challenge. Any type of symbols can be created for any type of products or application. The use of AVSnap is only limited by your imagination.
AV systems designed with AVSnap.
AVSnap is a great design and communication tool, which allows professionals in the AV and other industries to provide AV project design details quickly and reliably. Hundreds of AV professionals already use AVSnap and more are using it each day. Read about AVSnap designed AV projects on www.avsanp.com . Submit your own project and share it with other users, or go to the AVSnap Forum to discuss AVSnap designs, tips and hints on-line.
|
Latest News 
