Set up AI Sign Designer on a Material Length customiser

AI Sign Designer converts a customer image into an SVG sign design. On a Material Length customiser, Sign Customiser measures the length of the SVG paths. It uses that length and the Letter Material Cost rate to calculate the price, and adds a start price if you set one. The admin shows Material Length as Advanced Letter.

This feature works with Neon signs, Channel Letter signs (Acrylic and Metal) and Metal Cut-Out signs. This article is for merchants who have a Material Length customiser or who want to create one.

Before you start

Make sure that the customiser uses Material Length pricing. AI Sign Designer also works with Frame Fit pricing. It does not work with Fixed Width (Simple Letter) pricing. For Frame Fit, read How to Enable AI Sign Designer.
Create a Material Length pricing for the customiser. Refer to Pricing - Advanced letter model.
Create a fallback form. The form needs a File Upload field and a required Email field. Customers use this form when AI Sign Designer cannot make their design.
Make sure that your Store has AI credits. A successful conversion uses one credit. A failed conversion does not use a credit. For plan credits and how to buy more AI credits, read the AI Sign Designer Guide.

Create a new customiser with AI Sign Designer

Select Customisers, then select Create customiser.
In Step 1, select Neon Letter Signs or Channel Letter Signs. Both cards show an AI Sign Designer badge.
In Step 2, select Price by material length. An eligible option shows an AI Sign Designer Compatible badge.

Pricing step of Create a sign customiser. The Price by material length option shows an AI Sign Designer Compatible badge.

In Step 3, keep Include demo data turned on.
Keep Set up AI Sign Designer turned on.
Select Create.

The demo data selects a fallback form. On a Neon customiser, it also selects a Material Length pricing. On a Channel Letter customiser, it selects a Fixed Letter pricing instead. Save rejects that pricing. Create a Material Length pricing and select it before you save. You must also check the dimensions in the next section. The correct default size and minimum height depend on your production method.

Turn on AI Sign Designer on an existing customiser

Select Customisers, then select the name of your customiser.
Under Core Setup, select Custom Designs.
In the Custom designs card, select AI Sign Designer (recommended).

Custom designs card with AI Sign Designer (recommended) selected.

The Set up AI Sign Designer card shows below the Custom designs card. Complete the three lines in this card. See Set up the pricing model and fallback form later in this article.

Set the sign dimensions

The Sign Dimensions card shows only on Material Length customisers.

Under Default sign size, enter the Default width and the Default height.
Under Minimum production height, enter the Minimum height.

Default size

The default size is the size of the base (1x) size tier. Sign Customiser fits the uploaded design inside the default width and height. It keeps the original proportions. A wide logo fills the width. A tall logo fills the height. The card shows a preview of how different logo shapes fit.

Size tiers

On a Material Length customiser, each size on the Sizes page has a Size Scale Multiplier. The multiplier scales the design size at the base (1x) size. For a logo that fills the default width of 50 cm, a size with a multiplier of 1.5 is 75 cm wide. The height changes by the same factor. Material Length pricing uses the length measured at each size to calculate the price for that size.

Minimum height

The minimum height is the smallest height that your production method can make. The card gives a guide for each type of sign:

Neon: the tube bend radius.
Channel letters: the return depth and the LED clearance.
Flat cut metal or acrylic: the structural integrity.
3D or built-up letters: the fabrication depth.

A design can be shorter than the minimum height at the selected size. In this case, the shopper sees “The overall sign height is too small. Please increase the height.” The shopper cannot add the sign to the cart. The shopper must select a larger size.

The card shows Dimension conflict detected when the default width is less than 8 times the minimum height. In this case, a logo with a ratio of 8:1 or wider is shorter than your minimum height at the base size. Increase the default width or decrease the minimum height. A shopper can also select a larger size.

Set up the pricing model and fallback form

When you select AI Sign Designer (recommended), the Set up AI Sign Designer card shows. The card has three lines. Each line has a status icon. A green tick means that the line is ready. A red ! means that you must take action.

The text under the heading shows a count, for example 1 of 3 ready. When all three lines are ready, the text shows 3 of 3 ready. Customers can use AI Sign Designer.

Set up AI Sign Designer card on a Material Length customiser. The text under the heading shows 3 of 3 ready.

The three lines are:

AI credits. The line shows your balance of AI credits. Each finished AI design uses 1 credit. When your Store has 0 AI credits, select Get AI credits. Customers cannot see AI Sign Designer until you get more credits.
Pricing model. Select the pricing model for the customiser.
Fallback form. Select the form that customers use when AI Sign Designer cannot make their design.

Select the pricing model

In the Pricing model line, select a Material Length pricing model.
Check that the line shows This pricing model works with AI Sign Designer.

A Material Length customiser needs a pricing model of type Material Length. If the line shows Select a Material Length pricing model., select a pricing model of that type. The name of a pricing model does not tell you its type. Select a pricing model with the Material Length badge.

Select the fallback form

In the Fallback form line, open the list and select a form. The list shows forms that have a required Email field and a File Upload field. It also shows a saved form that cannot be used, and marks that form.
Check that the line shows: “When AI Sign Designer cannot make a design, customers send you their image with this form.”

When you select AI Sign Designer (recommended), the page selects an eligible fallback form. New AI Sign Designer customisers already get a form named AI Sign Designer Form.

If no form is eligible, select Create a fallback form. The page creates a form named AI Sign Designer Form and selects it. The form has these fields: Email, First Name, Last Name, Phone, Project Description and Upload Your Logo. The form is created at once. Select Save to keep the change. If other forms exist, the Edit my forms button also shows. To build your own form, read How to Enable AI Sign Designer for the form steps.

If the selected form does not work, the line explains why:

Deleted form means that the saved form was deleted. The line says: “The selected form does not exist. Select a different form.”
(cannot use) after a form name means that the form lacks a required field. The line names the missing field. Select a form that has all the required fields.

Set the send option and the AI processing option

Decide if you want Send designs that cannot be made automatically to the fallback form. This setting is on by default.

When it is on, the shopper goes to your fallback form with the image attached.
When it is off, the shopper can try again or use another image.
It has no effect when you do not select a fallback form.

Optional: turn on Auto-process uploaded images with AI. This checkbox is in the Set up AI Sign Designer card, below the Send designs that cannot be made automatically to the fallback form checkbox. Sign Customiser then sends PNG, JPEG, and SVG files from form submissions through AI Sign Designer. It does not process WebP and PDF files automatically. Each successfully processed file uses one credit.
Optional: change the customer text under Language. Examples are File Upload Title and Form request button.
Select Save. Your changes apply only after you select Save.

What the shopper sees

The shopper opens the Custom tab. The default upload title is “Upload your logo”.
The shopper drops an image. By default, the customiser shows “Reading your image” and “Finding the shapes and words to keep.” It then shows “Designing your sign”. After about 60 seconds, it shows “Refining your design” and “Detailed images take a little longer.”
When the design is ready, the customiser shows “Your design is ready.”
The shopper selects a size. On a Material Length customiser, the app multiplies the material length of each measured path at that size by the Letter Material Cost rate. It then adds the path prices. A printed UV face adds no length price.

If the size boundary has a Sign Start Price, the price also includes it one time for each logo. On a customiser with multi-font or multi-colour selection, the pricing can use Assign start price to each size (1 start price). Then the price includes one Start Price from the size boundary that fits the selected size, and no Sign Start Price. For a price example, read Letter Material Cost.
When AI Sign Designer cannot make a design from the image and the fallback form is on, the shopper sees “We can’t make this one automatically.” The fallback form opens. A design that does not pass the automatic manufacturing check is treated in the same way when the fallback form is on. No “Submit as a form request” button shows.
When a design fails for another reason, the shopper sees “We couldn’t design this one” and a short explanation. A run that runs out of time shows the message in step 5 when the server ends the run first and the fallback form is on. If the browser ends the run first at four minutes, the shopper sees “We couldn’t design this one” with a short explanation instead. Some failures show their own title instead. An example is a rate limit, which shows “Too many uploads just now”. The shopper can try again or use another image. When you select a fallback form with a File Upload field, a “Submit as a form request” button also shows.

You can change some of this text under Language on the Custom Designs page.

Limits

Simple Letter pricing does not work with AI Sign Designer.
A Frame Fit customiser does not show a Sign Dimensions card. It has no Default sign size or Minimum height fields.
When you create a Metal Cut-Out customiser, only Frame Fit pricing is available.
A shopper cannot add a design that is shorter than the minimum height to the cart.
When your Store has no AI credits, AI Sign Designer cannot convert new images. Keep a fallback form selected. Refer to the AI Sign Designer Guide.