By Mary Jo Morris

Imagine sitting with a prospective customer and being able to demonstrate to them, in full color, what their boat’s interior and upholstery would look like after you’ve revamped it—and do it without ever touching a swatch of fabric.

Tri Vantage’s Awning Composer is a digital tool available to the awning industry. Mark E. Stiver, Awning Composer project manager, is working with a team to develop a similar program for the marine industry.

“The goal is to take different fabric options and show what they would look like based on the setting,” Stiver says. “So when you look at curtains and cushions and pillows and draperies, you can get that model to match up color-wise with the boat’s interior or exterior.”

The Windows®-based software program runs on PCs and Macs. It does not require extensive computer experience. “We spend a lot of time focusing on usability and trying to make the software as easy as possible to use,” Stiver says.

Stiver is looking for marine fabricators to test the program. “We’re still in the initial stages of trying to figure out what the needs are for marine fabricators,” he says. “We’re looking to get this into their hands and use their feedback to put together a sales tool that can help them.”

Interested testers can go to www.awningcomposer.com, click on the “Buy/Try/Update” tab at the top of the page, then click on the “Download trial version” link. Once the program is downloaded, click on the “Add Object” tab, then on the “Marine” tab. The boat models will appear on the screen. Send feedback to mstiver@trivantage.com.

Mary Jo Morris is the former owner and operator of Berkeley Marine Canvas in Berkeley, Calif. She and her husband, Jim, live in Point Richmond, Calif., and sail on San Francisco Bay.