MultiCam project honored yet again!

Today I received a surprise package in the mail - all the way from South Korea! The MultiCam Western Canada project has been featured yet again in a magazine article. Apparently SignCraft from Florida shares articles from time to time with SIGN MUNWHA in South Korea. The folks there had seen the article in SignCraft last issue and asked permission to translate and run the article in Korea.  So far this project has been honored with three feature articles in Canada, two in the US, one in Germany, Ukraine, and now in South Korea. The project has also garnered a first place award in the International Sign Competition for Sign Systems.  There have also been numerous features on websites around the world. That kind of publicity is hard to come by!

-dan

Final photos of the boardroom

Yesterday I finally was able to take the last of the pictures of the MultiCam boardroom. It was tricky to photograph as I simply didn't have a wide enough angle lens. I ended up taking multiple shots and then using a very cool function in PhotoShop melded them together magically. The room appears a little larger than it actually is. It measures 16' x 24'. The photos were taken with my back pressed into the corner.

The room is best experienced in person as the photos simply can't do it justice. I you are ever in the area drop in for a look. I'll take the time to give you a tour and talk about how cool EnRoute Pro and the MultiCam routers really are and how we made all the pieces.

-dan

Final pieces installed at MultiCam

Yesterday the last of the signs for the MultiCam project were installed. The fact is, in reality there will undoubtably be more signs to come. Like our studio here, we will continue to add more eye candy as time goes on and we discover more things. But for now this will officially bring the project to a close.

We considered lots of options for the way finding system for the rooms - fancy, plain and in between. In the end we opted for a consistent and somewhat conservative  look and feel. It's concise and professional with the familiar MultiCam 'M' present on every sign.We also decided to paint the backgrounds blue to match the window inserts. The letters, symbols and borders were painted silver to match the features in the entry.

The room signs were located over each door to minimize confusion as somme offices were adjacent with little space between. The signs are business like and blend in to the surroundings perfectly.

For the board room I simply had to give a visual clue to the dramatic theme room that lurks behind the doors. A starfish has somehow slithered outside and onto the sign.  

The MultiCam project has proved to be one of the most challenging and fun projects for our company in recent years. It was a wonderful opportunity to explore new methods and mediums and combine it all like never before. Sean Lawlor, the owner allowed us complete freedom as we worked. The builder, Jonathan Zerke and the team at Sonbuilt Homes, worked with us to make it all better than we could have done alone. Thank you for accommodating our needs through the project.

On this amazing project one of my personal challenges was to see how many times I could inject branding into the decor of the project. The 'M' and the brand MultiCam appear more than 100 times through the project. They are everywhere! The 'M' appears on corner blocks on trim, doors,windows, and stanchions around the machines. Medallions in the wainscot trim, beams and on smaller items like gauges in the board room. Our mission was to show the wonderful things the CNC machines and software were capable of. The end result is a project I proudly hang my hat on.

I felt from the very start that this opportunity was a game changer for our company. Amazingly, with the final pictures yet to be taken, the project is already garnering world wide attention. Undoubtably it will win some awards and be featured in many publications. It has already brought us projects that will be even more spectacular and imaginative. In short, it is working as designed (beyond expectations) for both us and our client. Thank you Sean for trusting us!

-dan

A little closer

The board room is now finished save for the plexiglass insert in the table. The sheet of plexiglass sits by my router and waits for the final dimensions of the electrical inserts that have proved hard to source. But I think we now have a handle on things.

The LED's under the valance have now been activated, the last of the ceiling tiles repainted (some for the third time) and all the little dings and misses touched up. The room is looking pretty special. I love to watch people see it for the first time. It's certainly not what they expect when they come through the doors!

My friend Shawn Cherewick of Protowerx Design Inc. and I spent Wednesday afternoon on our backs on the floor under the board room table. We were fastening the strips of LED lights to the bottom. Shawn had worked hard to program the three colors of lights to fade in and out in a random pattern, simulating the look of being under the sea. We tested it and it looked very cool. Once the plexiglass is routed and in place I will do up a video and post it here showing the cool effect. Thanks Shawn!

On Wednesday we had the bankers tour the building. I was working in the room. In my experience they tend to be a much harder sell when it comes to visual things, but they were blown away and all smiles as they looked around. They simply couldn't believe almost the entire room had been done with a CNC router. They had trouble believing it wasn't rusty steel and copper. The many pieces, done separately over the last months now fit together perfectly, each complimenting and working with the other. The branding is continuous through the entire facility, some subtle, some in your face. While potential buyers of CNC machines may go through different sales offices, this will be the one that sticks in their mind. The things that the software and CNC machines are capable of are evident at every turn.

I had an absolute blast seeing just how many ways I could insert the 'M' brand into absolutely everything. It's everywhere!  This gauge is on top of the white board pen holder. It glows with a red LED inside (turned off for this photo).

As promised, here's one of the gauges on the top of the TV. The 'M' is embossed into the gauge cover and the label on the gauge also sports the MultiCam logo. It makes me laugh every time I see it.

I finally got in the white board and routed it to shape. We installed two pieces - one on the back of the door, and one inside for plenty of drawing area. It will be easy to visually explain how all those 'complex' files are created in EnRoute, how things are tool pathed and how things work in general. The pens are handy of course -under the bright red LED.

By next week we should have the table sorted out, leaving only a few more projects to do on this job. I love it when a plan comes together!

-dan

First pics of competed project...

It is always exciting to see a project come together. Today we installed a few more pieces of the MultiCam project.  The front reception area is now complete with the exception of a large display piece for the lobby wall. The desk is pushed back in it's permanent place and fits nicely. The millwork and countertops are in place and everything works together nicely.

The desk looks cool from every angle as we move towards the stairs. The secretary was all smiles today as she continued putting everything in it's permanent home. The finishing touch will be the Fat Albert light bulbs I must remember next trip to the office.

The end table in the corner looms over the reception chairs. The wainscot panelling and logo medallions fit in nicely, subtly there but not immediately obvious until you look closely.

On the stair the oversize gears continue the theme in a dramatic way. Look closely and you will notice my name is 'cast' into one of the small gears - my way of signing our work. I wonder how many will take note of this small detail?

Upstairs the gear theme continues. On the walls the chair rail has the same linear gear as well, but smaller and painted to match the rest of the dark trim.

There is plenty more to show of course, which we will display next week. In the Jurassic room work has begun in earnest. It's going top be pretty cool!  Stay tuned for more...

In the meantime I'm off to Denver for the EnRoute Workshop.

-dan