IPVM has released its new Design Calculator, adding support for 9 device types, combining with network closets, auto cable distance calculation, and IPVM's long-standing best-in-class camera calculation.
Try this Design Calculator demo project to see it in action.
Watch the video below for an overview
Our goal is to help designers do complete system designs and this is our first step in that evolution, with more to come.
Now, you can pick from 10 device types, with 9 new ones beyond cameras:
All of those devices, including cameras, can be connected to network closets and cabling automatically calculated.
Upcoming Access Contol
Up next from IPVM is adding in access control, which will let you design systems including readers, controllers, and common peripherals (e.g. door contacts, request-to-exit buttons).
We omitted access control in this release because we are already designing and working on implementing advanced access control similar to how we do for cameras, that is picking various types, various manufacturers, and various models with detailed specifications.
Upcoming Advanced Features For Devices
Likewise, we plan to add advanced features for some of the 9 devices we added in this release, e.g., connecting cables to recorders, picking recorder models, etc.
Try It Now
Try this Design Calculator demo project to see it in action.
Sean, Seth, great work!
I also want to recognize Chris Johnson who just over a month ago suggested we add this after we announced the Cabling Calculator:
We're excited about adding even more new features later this year and would appreciate your input.
Appreciate it, John. Happy to provide input as I continue to use this great tool!
Would be awesome to put the CCTV and access layouts all together
Michael,
The architecture and connections are mostly in place for intrusion systems, so this is something we will likely address after access control. Thanks for the input!
Access control is coming. We considered including doors as generic markups in this release, but have already been planning a significantly higher detailed access control module that will offer specific door controllers, I/O connections, etc.
We will also be continuing to expand and add detail to the cabling and networking capabilities.
Very excited for the access control addition. Any timeline when that will be released?
Thanks for your first comment Steven. No strict timeline, but it is our primary development focus for the Design Calculator.
Really great additions to this already awesome tool.Wireless Links PtP or PtMP or PtMP could be an awesome addition aswell?
Network closet to radio to radio to closet...
These are coming in our next update to Cabling/Networking, but I do not have a timeline for this.
PtP and PtMP For Sure! This is a super wish list with distance between them. I know there are may from Ubiquiti and such that have their products only, but to combine with cameras it would be out of the park!
How accurate are the ppf calculations on the cameras?
I really like the idea of the calculator, especially with the additions that are being worked on.
The calculated PPF/PPM values are based on a simple equation of (Number of Pixels Wide) / (Width of Field of View in Feet or Meters) at a specified distance.
As a quick example; A 1080p camera has a resolution 1920x1080, at a scene width of 100 feet, has a PPF of 19.2. (1920)/(100) = 19.2
As it relates to the "Simulated Person" examples, we have hundreds of reference images for a wide range of PPF/PPMs, but actual camera streaming performance will vary based on the camera model, WDR, scene lighting, motion, etc
Easy to use once I figured out how to "remove turns".
I like how it provides the total footage for each run and total overall footage.
The new Design Calculator is great, and I look forward to access control being added. I have two main issues with CSV exports though.
1. Missing a sum of each model number. Adding up single sensors is easy, but calculating the total of 2, 3, 4-head multi-sensors after sifting through the multiple heads is a PITA. This would be fixed with a summary of model quantities.
2. Manufacturer should be listed in a separate column from the model. I often create a design in IPVM, and then use Excel price lists to create the first rough draft for quote pricing. It would be much easier to search the price list by copying a cell from IPVM's CSV output with just a model number. It sounds trivial but it adds up.
I agree and for the actual map export can we finally blank or hide the make and model? We do the work finding the correct item to have the customer sometimes Google the items and go elsewhere, or even try and do it themselves.
This request comes from time to time, and it is not that we are against offering a way to hide this detail, but it is a lower priority and would require a non-trivial amount of restructuring on our export UI.
As noted above, our roadmap includes a complete rework of the export formatting, which will include UI element updates that should offer a "blank" or hidden model number export option.
Thanks for the feedback, Brandon!
1. This is definitely something we look to improve as we are going to redo the exports to have a better "Bill of Materials" export. Per-model totals will be included.
2. This is a good suggestion and something I think we can do relatively easily; I will update the status on this.
Awesome to hear! The attention to detail and responsiveness to feedback is appreciated.
Brandon,
Just following up, you'll find that manufacturer and model are now separate fields in the CSV export. Thanks again for the suggestion/request.
What a turnaround time! This "small" adjustment will be a huge help.
Thank you, Sean!
I agree thanks Sean, you guys produce a very valuable tool, I use this almost exclusively for biding and with the new additions I can say my installers are happy when I send relative wire plans so they don't go running wire around the long way!
I really appreciate you guys adding a feature to block the brand or even all camera info, just as long as they see the day and night person and license. That feature alone beats the pants off the stick figures on other sites!
Thanks
Justin
Question, After exporting the report it PowerPoint or PDF for example. Is there a way to show each camera individually without the other cameras displaying?
There is not an option to only show a single camera, however, you can select in the Project Options panel, "Show views from: Selected Camera", which will then only display the FoV cone of the camera on that PPT/PDF export page:
Can you elaborate how the cable distance is calculated? How does it take vertical travel into account? If I have a camera mounted 12ft high on a warehouse column/wall that has 20 ft ceilings, is there a way to adjust for that? Would I just increase the service loop length setting with what I estimate is needed?
Yes, you would just increase the service loop setting, however, that is a per-closet setting for all cables connected.
For your example, I would need 8' at the camera from the ceiling to camera, and let's estimate an 5' service loop; that would be 13' at the camera. If I then needed 15' at the network closet, I would need 28' total.
That being said, because the service loop input is added to every connected cable to that closet, if only 1 camera out of 16 needs that extra length and the rest only need 20'-25', you may be overestimating your cable this way. We have discussed offering per-cable service loop settings, but feel like would be overcomplicating the process at this point.
Did I miss the announcement that access control is live on IPVM Designer?
You have a good eye! We just pushed it to production today as a soft launch, meaning no official announcement for now as we get initial feedback. So let us know what you think as we do some optimizations over the next few weeks and incorporate feedback.
Can you tell I use Designer often :)
First - this has been a highly anticipated feature and I'm very excited the day is here. Thanks to your team for continuing to improve this tool.
Second - initial impressions:
I really like the detail that goes into each door. Specifically noting the readers, locks, RTE, associated wiring, etc is a great level of detail.
As to be expected, controller selection is limited and I'm sure you will be including the ability to add expansion modules to increase the number of doors per controller as the model library deepens.
Finally, I hope assigning doors to a controller ultimately won't be as rigid as it currently operates. As is, I don't see an option to disconnect a door from its controller and reassign it to another. This limitation will not be fun to work around when we start using this tool heavily in our designs.
Looking forward to everything to come!
Thanks Brandon, that's solid early feedback.
Adding expansion modules is something we have been discussing since our first dev meeting on access control, as it is obviously a significant architecture choice. We did ultimately decide to initially keep the option more simple, for IP door access controllers, so that the design models/UI could be evolved over time.
Moving doors from different controllers is a much more tricky process, while not completely out of the question, it does fall outside of our design flow. What we have discussed is the option for "template" or "favorite" door designs, so that you could have saved "Front Door with Intercom and Door Operator" and it would automatically populate your readers, outputs, inputs, etc.
How often would you be switching the controller that a door is wired to, in your design process? Are you balancing large numbers of multi-door controllers, so they would be effectively wired to the same cabinet, just a different controller in that cabinet? Or something else?
Adding expansion modules is something we have been discussing since our first dev meeting on access control, as it is obviously a significant architecture choice. We did ultimately decide to initially keep the option more simple, for IP door access controllers, so that the design models/UI could be evolved over time.
That being the case, is it possible to add a manual door count override? If 16 doors are being cabled back to a single location, and the base controller is a 4-door model, the need for the additional 3 controllers all within the same physical space makes the map get cluttered quickly.
I suppose stacking the controllers precisely on top of each other is a way around this, but it makes them harder or impossible to access unless from the list view.
How often would you be switching the controller that a door is wired to, in your design process? Are you balancing large numbers of multi-door controllers, so they would be effectively wired to the same cabinet, just a different controller in that cabinet? Or something else?
In the first and only example I have of using the new access control features on Designer, I am planning a school. Very old building, oddly shaped and difficult to cable. There's a group of roughly 16 doors that we are considering the cost/benefit of running all to one closet vs utilizing a second IDF/distributed controller. After starting with the single closet option and assigning doors to controllers sequentially, I quickly realized that the doors/controller assignments could not be split out to multiple closets in a way that made sense on the physical layout without nuking the doors and starting over.
Ultimately, I reverted to the old way we've been using Designer for access control - cabling intercoms to closets and naming them "Door 1", "Door 2", etc. This way, we can quickly disconnect a "door" from a closet and associate it with another.
That being the case, is it possible to add a manual door count override? If 16 doors are being cabled back to a single location, and the base controller is a 4-door model, the need for the additional 3 controllers all within the same physical space makes the map get cluttered quickly.
We have already talked about updating the Add/Configure Door Modal for having more than 4 doors, so in the short run this might be something you could use a Generic Door controller for.
I do not expect that we would allow a door count override on a controller as that would effectively break the workflow and accuracy (max reader counts, inputs, ouputs, etc). This is still something we will need to work out for Generic Models.
Can you email me at sean@ipvm.com the manufacturer/model of controllers and expansion boards that you are using so we can use some specific examples to try to solve the problem?
I think one of the biggest examples that would get used is the Mercury LP1502 controller with MR52 sub-controllers. Since you already have it in place to 'label' the enclosure, would it be feasible to add (as an example) MR52 (or other expansion boards) downstream of a LP1502 controller, and then being able to configure doors off of the individual boards from there?
Nice!
Looking good! I'm impressed with the improvements made over the years.
It's been a while since I've accessed the tool. Modernizing the camera icons are a nice detail compared to older versions.
Thanks U3, this was updated a while back New: Calculator Camera Icons Improved And Networking Devices Development
For users that do not want to use these new icons, they can be toggled on or off in the Camera View Options Panel:
Very nice. We're heavy System Surveyor users but many of the newer IPVM design tool features makes this a strong consideration when our subscription renewal comes due.
One major feature the IPVM tool has that System Surveyor doesn't are the included camera models and specifications.
Outside of a handful of manufacturer partnerships, those have to be entered manually in System Surveyor.
I handle this personally for our team and its a grueling task. Hats off to whoever is doing this at IPVM. It's a lot of work.
We've been doing it for close to a decade, and I agree it is very grueling, though as you note, extremely valuable.
Just a reminder to everyone, if there is a camera not in our database, click here and request that we add it. You can also access it in the Camera Model Selector window:
Hello team,
Is there a possibility to implement the possibility to connect fiber optic closets?
Also the possibility to create power supply points and to connect a camera to both its "network" closet and its "power supply" closet which is often different in the installations for urban video protection.
Thx for your job!!!
Mickael, our apologies but we do not plan to add those features. We are focused on the most basic use cases currently.
