Drawing engines and renderings
Bundle a 2D drawing engine with a configurator so every run produces a labelled preview of the part.
Some configurators ship with a drawing engine, a 2D renderer that draws the configured part from its parameters. A run with a drawing engine produces preview images alongside the price, so the customer and the bench see the same geometry the formula priced.
Locked definitions
When a drawing engine is bundled, the parameters, rules and geometry settings are locked, because the drawing is generated from them and a mismatch would draw one part and price another. Pricing stays editable, so you tune your rates freely. Unlocking removes the drawing engine and returns the definition to full manual editing.
Where renderings appear
- On the run page, as selectable labelled views.
- On quote lines created from a configured run.
- On the quote PDF, where up to four configured lines carry their first rendering.
When a drawing engine cannot render a particular run, a schematic placeholder is shown and the run still prices. The rendering never gates the calculation.
Why the drawing comes from the same numbers
The failure this design exists to prevent is quiet and expensive: a drawing that shows one part while the price on the same page was calculated for another. It happens whenever the two are produced separately, because sooner or later somebody changes one and not the other.
Generating the drawing from the parameters that fed the formula makes that impossible rather than unlikely. It is also why bundling a drawing engine locks the parameters and rules: the drawing engine knows how to draw the shape those parameters describe, and letting somebody add a parameter it has never heard of would put the two back out of step.
What stays yours to change
Pricing. Rates, tiers, margins and lead times are all still editable with the drawing engine bundled, which is the part you actually need to tune, and the part that changes most often. Unlocking is available if you genuinely need to change the shape of the definition, and it removes the drawing engine rather than pretending to keep it working.
What the customer sees
The same image, in three places: on the run page while it is being configured, on the quote line it becomes, and on the quote PDF itself, where up to four configured lines carry their first rendering. A buyer approving a bespoke part is approving a picture of it rather than a paragraph describing it, which is usually the difference between an approval and a phone call.