Channel letters, drawn and priced off the real outline
Most shops quote channel letters off a rectangle and a gut feel, then find out at fabrication what the job actually needed. Sign OS reads the true vector outline of your letters — the perimeter you will wrap coil around and the face area with the counters taken out — and prices the materials and the LEDs from that.
Type a word, or drop in the logo
Type the wording and pick a style, or upload the customer’s logo as SVG or DXF and let it read the paths. Set letter height and return depth, choose front-lit, halo-lit or raceway, and the estimate follows the actual shape rather than a bounding box around it. Everything is metric, end to end.
The difference matters most on the letters that hurt: a script capital with tight counters has far more perimeter and far less face than its rectangle suggests, and that gap is where channel-letter quotes go wrong.
- Type wording or upload SVG / DXF artwork
- Front-lit, halo-lit and raceway builds
- True perimeter and face area, counters removed
- Metric throughout, with live 3D
A material estimate you can defend
The estimate itemises return coil by the metre, backing by area, trim cap around the full perimeter and acrylic face by area — each at your own rates, which you edit. Sign OS vouches for the geometry; the money is yours.
There is a reality-check band under the total, comparing your figure against what a finished lit set typically runs at per 100 mm of letter height. If you are well below it, you have usually forgotten the fabrication labour rather than the materials — which is a far more useful warning before the quote goes out than after.
- Return coil, backing, trim cap and face itemised
- Your rates, edited by you — not ours
- Reality-check band against typical finished pricing
- Bill of materials straight onto the quote
LED and power sizing, honestly labelled
The illumination panel works out approximate module placement and power draw from a real LED range, so your quote and your bill of materials carry a module count rather than a guess. It is fabrication guidance for quoting — not a certified mains design, and no substitute for your electrician. We would rather say that plainly than let a number imply more than it should.
- Module centres and count from the real outline
- Power draw for the set
- Guidance for quoting and BOM — not certified mains design
- DXF and STL export for the router
It ends up on a quote, like everything else
The layout you drew becomes priced lines on a quote, and the quote becomes a job with the same numbers. The designer is included on the Scale plan; Sign OS is built and operated in Australia, priced in AUD with no per-user fees, and every plan starts with a free 30-day trial.
Frequently asked questions
- Does it price off a bounding box or the real letter shape?
- The real shape. It reads the vector outline, so perimeter is the path you actually wrap coil around and face area has the counters removed. On tight or script letterforms that is a materially different number from a rectangle.
- Are the LED figures safe to build from?
- They are guidance for quoting and your bill of materials — module count, approximate centres and power draw. They are deliberately not a certified mains design and do not replace an electrician. We label that on the screen as well as here.
- Can I use my own material rates?
- Yes, and you should. Every rate in the estimate is editable and defaults to something sensible rather than something authoritative. The geometry is what Sign OS stands behind; the pricing is your shop’s.
- Which plan includes it?
- The channel-letter designer and LED layout are part of the design tools on the Scale plan, alongside DXF/SVG cut pricing and sheet nesting. Every plan, Scale included, starts with a free 30-day trial and no card.