Overview

Working with Cabinet Solutions software is very easy to do because it follows the same basic steps that would be used if you did the work by hand. There are 5 stages you will go through to produce your work, moving from the more general information to the more specific details. Each stage is performed in a different screen. The screens proceed as follows:

The "Job Information" or "Start Up Window": Before doing any kind of work in your shop, you have had to decide how you are going to construct the cabinets and what kind of wood does the customer want. In this first window you will enter information about your shop and about the job you are doing. Then specify in your Standards how this job will be built before you proceed to the next screen. Standards are the specifications for the way cabinets are constructed to start with.

NOTE: If this is your first time using Cabinet Solutions, you should first read the section on Standards. Standards are fundamental to getting an accurate cut-list to work from and a thorough understanding of them is essential.
Click the OK button to close this window and begin to drawing your walls.

The Draw Walls Screen: The next step is to begin designing or laying out the cabinets for the job. The first step in that process is to define the walls that make up the room in which you will be placing your cabinets. In the "Draw Walls Screen" you will take the wall information you have gotten from your field measurements and put them in your computer. This screen lets you draw the walls of each room in your job and insert any windows, doors, or obstructions (i.e. wall switches, outlets, plumbing pipes, etc.) that you want displayed in your output. Cabinet Solutions allows you to draw as many rooms as each job requires and as many walls as you need for each room. Draw walls by moving your mouse cursor into the drawing window. Then while holding down the mouse button, move the mouse in the direction you want to layout your wall. Release the mouse button and a "Edit Wall" window will appear. Give the length, height and name of the wall you are drawing in this window. You can draw all your walls at this time. You can resize or delete an existing wall. You can place windows, doorways, and obstructions on a wall. To perform these functions, click on the Edit radio button, then click the mouse button when the wall you want to edit is highlighted. Click the "Start New Room" button in the tool box on the right to name and draw up the other rooms in your job.

Click the Place Cabinets button to proceed to the Place Cabinets Screen.

The Place Cabinets Screen: The function of this screen is to do your basic cabinet layout in each of the different rooms you have drawn. This screen will quickly begin to look familiar to you as you place cabinets because it will look like an architect's floor plan. To place a cabinet, click on the cabinet icon representing the cabinet or appliance you want to place. Each of these icons represents a type of cabinet that you can place in Cabinet Solutions. They are standard templates that you will learn to customize to make virtually any cabinet you want. A sizing window will appear in which you will give the overall size to each cabinet that you are placing. Please note: Once a cabinet height, width or depth is set, the program will not allow anything to be placed beyond those dimensions. When the size has been adjusted, click on the place cabinet button. Move the mouse until the cabinet is located in the proper position on the wall, then click to place the cabinet. On the left, in the tool box, the name of the current room is displayed. To place cabinets in a different room, click on the small Arrow to the right of the room name. Then in the drop down list, click on the name of the room you want displayed. You can change, move or delete an existing cabinet. To do this, move your mouse until the cabinet you wish to edit is highlighted and click the mouse button. In the window that appears click "Edit Cabinet" and another window will appear that will allow you to resize, delete or move a cabinet. Using the "Assign Standards" button you can also give any or all of the cabinets in the room a different set of standards. Remember, the Assign Standards feature will remove any customization that you made on any cabinet you selected and change the standards on. Use this feature with caution.

Click on the Edit Elevations button to proceed to the Edit Elevations Screen.

The Edit Elevations Screen: In this final work screen you can view your wall elevations and edit or customize any of the cabinets you have placed. Through this screen you can also view the cut-list for each cabinet on screen before you send it to print. To control the view of the wall, use the controls in the tool box at the right. The controls include arrows that move the view of the wall, a Flip button, Zoom In and Zoom Out buttons, and arrows that control the view of the wall.

To edit (customize) a cabinet, move the mouse until the cabinet you want to edit is highlighted, then click the mouse button. The Customize Cabinet Tool Box will appear. You can add or delete cabinet parts. You can edit the cabinet openings, or edit the number of shelves in an opening. You can modify the end panel of a cabinet to have an applied door panel (plant-on) as a finished end. You can change the standards for a particular cabinet and then save your changes into a custom cabinet file that you can use in future jobs. At the right, the name of the current room is displayed. To view a different room, click on the small Arrow to the right of the room name. Click on the name of the room you want displayed. Use the same method to select the wall you want displayed. The current wall is displayed right below the room name.

Once you have completed your work in these 4 steps you can View the Rooms in The Tour from any perspective. You can use the Job Costing tool to produce an estimate for your job. You can Print your work in many different reports including: cut lists, assembly sheets, wall elevations, the 3-D room views, etc. Cabinet Solutions will even print out a way to cut your sheet goods by Optimizing them.

Click on the 3-D Room View button to proceed to the 3-D Room View Screen.

The Tour: This view is a 3D view of the current room that is displayed in the job. Unlike the Elevations screen, this image can be rotated from almost any angle while inside The Tour program. The movement controls described in the this section of the help file are like moving around in a First Person video game. It can be disorienting at first but with a little practice, the room can be displayed in any number of angles and in different displays such as Simple 3D or with Environmental Colors which would give the image a little more realistic view, making the colors a bit darker.