CE Pro October 2024 - 60

TECHNOLOGY | Home Controls
Translating to the
Custom Install Market
While tools and interfaces
like Map View may appeal
to wider audience of smart
home users who might not
necessarily contract with
an integrator, the tool has
clear applicability in a more
integrated, custom smart
home experience.
" In that sort of professional
install market, sometimes
these large homes have a
lot going on, " Tekippe says.
" Having a map view interface
for those users can be really
powerful. It's an elegant
way to interact and manage
your home and open it up to
other people. "
However, some manufacturers
that are synonymous
with the custom home integration
industry can accommodate
a floor plan interface
via a custom solution. In fact,
Crestron has been doing so
for some time.
According to Michael
Short, senior director of
Marketing Operations for
Residential at the Rockleigh,
N.J.-based control technology
giant, Crestron dealers
can custom program a user
interface that includes a floor
plan or map view.
" We've been doing it for
years, " Short says.
However, the release of
the Crestron Home OS platform
several years ago offers
one experience that does
not include a floor plan.
Crestron's reasoning is
simple: Homes in which Crestron
interfaces are installed
vary widely in terms of their
size and number of rooms.
" It is completely user
dependent and house
dependent on whether it will
60 | CE Pro October 2024
Savant rolled out its TrueImage technology for its app several years ago so owners could use
familiar photos to navigate room controls.
Still, there are plenty of
projects in Crestron's database
that do include floor
plans, including one apartment
in Hungary that wasn't
overly complicated in terms
of the layout, Short notes. In
addition, the customer came
from a technical background
and preferred the visual floor
plan to a list of rooms.
Other Professional
Visual Aids For Controls
Crestron can and does still
offer that floor plan view
via the custom integration
work of their dealers, but
interface works on a caseby-case
basis.
At its core, any smart
home control manufacturer,
whether a DIY, commercially
available solution from
Amazon or Samsung, or
a professionally installed
solution from Crestron,
Control4, Savant or others,
should strive for simplicity.
In Crestron Home, users
can upload pictures of
their home and individual
rooms and give them unique
names to help them see
which homes and rooms
they are controlling. Savant
dimming, color temperature,
and more. Customers can
upload images with the
native camera in the app,
allowing them to refresh
the look of their interface
without professional help,
according to Tony Fritts,
director of product management
at Savant.
" It is a very user-friendly
way for homeowners to
navigate each room, " he says,
" to achieve the precise smart
home control experience
they desire from a Savant UI
that actually is a photo of
their own space. " CE Pro
cepro.com
work, " Short says. " Professional
smart home projects
are usually in bigger homes
or bigger super yachts with a
lot of rooms and areas. "
Imagine a floor plan for a
mansion with three floors,
50 rooms, dozens of bathrooms,
a guest house, a pool
area, and a variety of other
spaces relevant only to the
super wealthy.
" It can become convoluted, "
Short says.
the overall opinion of those
on the more integrated,
professional side of the
smart home industry would
say that floor plan interfaces
just add too many extra
steps.
" With the smart home
operating system, the idea
is that everything you need
should be at your fingertips
and as easy with as few steps
as possible, " Short says.
Essentially, a map view
offers similar functionality
with its TrueImage control
technology that allows
owners to take a photo of
their home and each room,
as well as individual lighting
loads for rooms with many
lighting loads.
Those images are the
background image in the Savant
app and touchscreens.
Users can tap each light to
toggle the light and other
control options, such as
SAVANT

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CE Pro October 2024

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