IdeaRoom Transforms Woodworking Plans for the Modern Woodworker

Sawtooth Ideas (http://www.sawtoothideas.com), an online marketplace for buying and selling digital woodworking plans, is pleased to announce the release of IdeaRoom, software that transforms traditional woodworking plans into dynamic, interactive experiences for the woodshop. Woodworkers can now explore project models and detailed plans right in the woodshop, effectively integrating technology directly into the building process.

“Woodworking plans haven’t changed much in the past 30 years. They’re often ambiguous and inflexible. IdeaRoom changes this, ushering in a new era of woodworking plans. Now you can rotate, zoom, isolate, and explode project models right in the woodshop, answering questions about the project as you build it,” said Russ Whitney, Sawtooth Ideas President and CEO.

IdeaRoom provides digital content and interactive models for each idea (an enhanced plan). Digital content includes required tools, materials lists, cut lists, diagrams, and step-by-step instructions. Models are fully interactive, using simple mouse or touch gestures. Users can zoom in to study complex joints, isolate individual parts to find detailed measurements, or explode the model to see how all parts come together.

“The use of computer-aided design (or CAD) technologies is fairly limited within the woodworking community. Typical CAD programs are expensive and hard to learn. IdeaRoom eliminates both the expense and the learning curve, giving woodworkers access to these incredibly useful and fun capabilities,” said Dan VanOrden, Sawtooth Ideas Vice President of Engineering.

IdeaRoom is fully-integrated with the Sawtooth Ideas online marketplace, which features a large and growing collection of ideas from experienced woodworking designers. Ideas purchased on the Sawtooth Ideas website are automatically downloaded and updated within IdeaRoom. An idea browser within IdeaRoom provides easy access to all purchased ideas.

“IdeaRoom is the foundation of our strategy to provide woodworking plans that are fundamentally more useful, more engaging, and more fun than existing plans available today. We want to make woodworking accessible to anyone, and we believe this technology will help us get there,” said Whitney.

IdeaRoom for Windows is now available for download at http://www.sawtoothideas.com. IdeaRoom for Mac, iPad, or iPhone is now available in the Apple App Store. Woodworkers who want additional information about IdeaRoom or who are interested in selling or purchasing woodworking ideas should visit http://www.sawtoothideas.com.

About Sawtooth Ideas, Inc.
Sawtooth Ideas, Inc. was founded to achieve two primary goals: deliver an exceptional online shopping experience for woodworking plans and provide fundamentally better woodworking plans to woodworkers, hobbyists, and DIY builders. The Sawtooth Ideas online marketplace allows Sawtooth designers to share or sell their digital woodworking ideas. Sawtooth builders can easily access a broad collection of woodworking ideas from those designers. And IdeaRoom provides both designers and builders with a dynamic set of capabilities for communicating and exploring woodworking ideas.

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