Donald B. Cheke © June 2006
In the fall of 2005 I had the great fortune of connecting with a firm in the United States whose mission it is to help others promote and develop their business interests. One aspect of their business is to provide custom trade show kiosks geared towards their clients' needs. In an effort to help explore and cement business deals with their clients I have been asked to create visuals for them. I am supplied with structure details and the client's particulars. I then create the structure from a library of components that have been developed. I visit the client's website to look for color schemes and logos and, if applicable for the job, images that can be incorporated into the virtual kiosk. After the clients review the preliminary images and I make any needed adjustments I send a series of higher quality rendered images. I must say that the excited replies I have received from this firm have been a real boost for my self-esteem. There seems nothing greater than being able to elicit such a response from one's work.
For quite some time prior to this year I had been providing personal TurboCAD tutoring. In the last I year I decided to take the leap and make it public knowledge that I had this service to offer. Although advertising the tutoring service has not really increased the demand above what it was before, I have nevertheless continued to make some very exciting contacts through it. Most of the tutoring has occurred via email where I write specific lessons or just answer questions but I have also had the opportunity to provide on-line tutoring. Although I find the on-line tutoring quite invigorating and pleasantly personal it is much harder than tutoring via email since, as a tutor, I feel I must be able to think quickly. Using the written approach allows me time to ponder the varied approaches to a TurboCAD issue that is not there when on-line. There haven't been enough on-line tutoring requests to make it feasible and so I am not offering it at present but I would consider it again if prodded.
Much of my TurboCAD business success continues to be from the TurboCAD tutorials that I offer on my Textual Creations Shopping Page. I currently have thirteen tutorials for sale and am finding that they have and continue to be received well by my customers. Much of my business is from repeat customers and I take that as a positive sign that readers like what they get enough to come back for more. I can't say enough about how much I appreciate the support, through business, that these customers offer. Thank you seems so inadequate. I have several more ideas for new tutorials so keep an eye out for them.
Late last year Pete
Machin of Avanquest UK contacted me about using my
recently created Caboose drawing on the TurboCAD V12 Deluxe box that
was being developed. Not wishing to miss out on this opportunity I was
quick to say yes and I sent him a variety of works to choose from. In
the end he had his designers make a compilation from rendered and
hidden line works. The box was a long time in design this year but it
is finally available from Avanquest. I think that they did a great job
on the box and I await a copy for my archives.In January I was contacted by Avanquest in Spain. They were in the process of re-releasing TurboCAD Deluxe V11 and were looking at expanding the box design that was released the year before in the United Kingdom. They asked if I could supply several more Pro and non-Pro images for the package. Finding the prospect quite exciting I allowed them to pick several images and they were indeed used on the new release. It was quite exciting when I received packages for my personal archives. A closer look at the layout can be found here.
Earlier in the
year Avanquest in the United Kingdom hired Paul Tracey
as a Business Development Manager. Paul was hired to help promote
TurboCAD in and around the United Kingdom and to offer support to
fellow TurboCAD users. I had the great pleasure of meeting Paul when he
came for a visit earlier this year. It was very nice getting to know
him and to see the excitement that he had about TurboCAD and its
apparent excellent future. Paul presented a very welcoming and easy
going demeanour and I believe that Avanquest has made a good choice in
him. Paul is a top notch artist in his own right and I was very pleased
by the examples of his work that he shared with me. During Paul's visit
we discussed many ideas about how to promote TurboCAD and from this and
earlier email discussions it was decided that advertising in some of
the popular hobby magazines might be one avenue. Paul asked if I would
like to participate in this adventure by creating some images for the
advertisements and perhaps write some tutorials for the very images
that would be illustrated. I found the idea to be very exciting and so
we have proceeded full steam ahead. So far some of the work prepared
for this venture has been published and the balance is in the works, as
the saying goes. To date we have addressed the hobby world in the
genres of airplanes, trains and boats. In a similar fashion, but
without specific tutorials, we are addressing the woodworking and
mechanical fields.Recently, Avanquest UK reworked their TurboCAD web pages and I feel very honoured to have a special place among them in the area of Tutorials. Paul has always followed through with everything we have discussed and for this I am truly grateful. To have this special connection with Paul and Avanquest is simply fantastic and it really feels like another dream come true. I hope that Paul and I will have a very long and profitable relationship and that we will see TurboCAD become one of the main concerns in the world of CAD.
Back in February of
this year
I was fortunate to receive a preview
version of TurboCAD V12 Pro from IMSI, USA. I must say that this
brought with it a huge mix of emotions. For one, it made me feel like
someone 'in the know' and that by itself was pretty cool. It is not
very often that I have had this type of experience but I would welcome
something similar quite readily. There was a couple of emotions that I
experienced that I did not expect and one was a frustration of sorts,
not being able to shout from the highest mountain about the new
exciting things to come. For this reason I contacted IMSI and
asked if I could discuss the new release with one of the Beta testers
that I had an email relationship with or else I might burst at
the seams. I was told that I could and so I discussed the new version
with him as questions, thoughts and ideas entered my mind. Experiencing
the pre release of TurboCAD sure gave me a huge appreciation of the
Beta testers. As one can image there are many issues that need to be
addressed during the programming phase. The number of times the testers
need to install new builds as they are delivered is quite staggering.
From what I saw with my brief experience in this regard, being a Beta
tester obviously requires a huge investment of time and emotional
vulnerability. My hat is off to them. If truth be told, I think I would
have to think long and hard if I were asked to be a Beta tester before
I made a decision. There would be many aspects to consider.The new version of TurboCAD and its first patch are now available in the marketplace. I must say that IMSI has done a remarkable job yet again - always outdoing themselves with each release. There have been a few big changes in the program with this release and this means that there are a couple snags here and there but nothing that cannot be worked around or that will not be addressed by the programmers in due time. Overall TurboCAD V12 Pro is top notch and IMSI has yet again demonstrated that they listen to their user base and try to address what they can to please all of the varied users. Bravo IMSI on a job well done.
Just this month it was announced that TurboCAD was purchased by a new group called IMSI/Design. I believe that this purchase will have nothing but positive effects for TurboCAD as a whole and its recipient user base. Since TurboCAD will be the main focus of the new company it will not suffer the watered down effect that can be quite obvious in a multi-facetted corporation.
I look forward to my continuing relationship with TurboCAD and the opportunities it provides and I will continue to share my thoughts and my ambitions with you all.
Other Articles by Donald B. Cheke:
TurboCAD - Enhancing Creative Expression (February 2004)
TurboCAD - A Gateway to Opportunity (July 2004)
TurboCAD - The Journey Continues (June 2005)
TurboCAD - My Trusted Business Partner (October 2007)
TurboCAD Goes Green (June 2008)
Also See:
The Creative Review
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