Driveway visualiser - New toy from marshalls

[Tony McC]

I don't normally plug news items or product launches in The Brew Cabin, but this new piece of kit from Marshalls is something special. As I mention in this week's News article, this 'facility' is something that I'm asked about more or less every week and is something I've longed for since I got my first zx81 way back in the mists of time.

I think it's great, although there are one or two 'issues' that could be improved. However, I'd really like to know what everyone else thinks of it. If you're a DIYer, does it help or does it confuse? If you're a contractor, would you like an off-line version and would you use it with potential clients?

Have a look for yourselves...

Driveway Visualiser

[Ambrose]

i am a contractor, and have used it occasionally, however id rather it was available offline so i can show it my clients on my laptop - which currently does not have internet access.
It would be good if someone out there made a similar programme that you could import various other brands of flagging and paving - not just marshalls own products. This would be better for me as some clients may want a paving type which isnt listed on marshalls own website.

[Hintonwood]

Tony,

I agree that it is a good visual aid and simple to use.

I have just used it to pursuade my Wife that the grey paviours suit our drive and the house brickwork much more than the reds.

I am a bricklayer but will be doing my own 80m sq drive between jobs.

[Cashplant]

Have just had a quick go at this - v easy to do (at least with fairly straight lines!) and looks impressive. Like others have said it would be good to be able to use it independently or with other paving product but I think it still has some value. Use a lot of Marshalls for driveways anyway and I'll probably test drive it with an ikported photo next time it comes up. Could be quite a strong selling tool.

[mouldmaker]

With a bit of preparation it is dead easy to replicate this on your laptop for clients using cheap photo editing software. You have to photograph a selection of pavers/blocks whatever and use them as textures. I've done this on a number of projects where I've needed to show what a product looked like before it was made, and the results can be quite impressive. With a bit of practice it's almost as easy as using the Marshalls website. The bonus is that (a) you're not tied to Marshalls products, and (b) it makes you look dead clever!

[Ambrose]

ill give that a go then and see what happens. hopefully itll do the job.