Wednesday, May 8, 2019
imos expanded their digital range of functions.
From networked applications to own ecosystem iX Interio
imos AG has achieved its goal of networking suppliers, manufacturers and end customers:
The ecosystem iX Interio reduces the communication and transaction processes between the individual business areas and makes cooperation models more attractive – even across locations. iX Interio is the result of developing autonomous software applications to integrated solutions that fulfill the requirements of digitalization and overcome both technological barriers and company boundaries.
Mapping innovative business models
“iX Interio is based on a series of applications and databases which connect the different user groups in the design, manufacturing and sale of furniture, even beyond the company boundaries,” says Winfried Dell, Managing Director for Sales and Marketing. “Depending
on application and user group, both desktop and cloud-based applications are used – not all components are necessarily from our company. The key component, of course, is the central product database, which dissolves the interfaces in the process and provides
reliable information at all times”.
Beyond applications and locations
In addition to the development of functions, the imos developers in Herford and Utrecht have spent the last two years on focusing the constructive combination of technologies. Web-based sales solutions communicate directly at the data level with CAD-based design
applications and vice versa. End customers and planners work together on ideas that can be exchanged online and thus successively finding solutions. Different applications communicate via web services and allow different editing options for the work results.
Planning for professionals and amateurs
Planning should be fun – for the planner and the customer. The web-based application iX NET has been extended by numerous functions. Planning speed, usability and interoperability were at the top of the list of requirements. Furthermore, the photorealistic
presentation of the planning results was improved using new material, lighting and rendering techniques. The 3D planning results can also be uploaded into social networks at any time and viewed interactively by anyone.
Room creation in iX PLAN has also gained in design comfort. It benefits from articles and components that can be placed more flexibly and interact with each other.
The moving furniture or the animated fitting
“Form follows function” is an important guiding principle for planners, designers and architects. The form can be easily recognized from drawings and photorealistic image material. The function of the furniture is often concealed behind a simple front and leaves the viewer in the dark. The new software version iX 2019 now offers the possibility of making the function visible. And this throughout in all applications – in the construction as well as at the point of sale.
All movable furniture components such as doors, flaps and drawers can be opened and closed as in the real world. To the viewer they show both the interior of the furniture and the kinematics of the components in animated form. This is either simply linked to the
component or even follows the real movement model of the fittings used.
The second generation of Virtual Reality
About two years after the presentation of the first VR applications, imos AG is already presenting the next generation. VR is now not only a presentation tool for finished planning results but can also be used in the design phase in direct dialogue with the customer. This can be done either together in the showroom or online at separate locations. Planning results from iX PLAN, iX CAD or iX NET can be shared directly via VR and experienced virtually.
Engineering furniture gets more comfortable
The central application of the ecosystem iX Interio is still iX CAD. Here the parametric furniture constructions are created, which enable the continuous process from sale to production. This powerful application has been basically redesigned with regard to the
essential operating elements. The iXplorer selects and manipulates the individual construction elements. In addition to a modern user interface, optimizing the operating sequences was significant. Graphical tool tips, a user friendly interface that can be
interactively arranged by the user and the automatic zoom function when selecting a component for detailed modifications are just some of the functions that simplify and speed up daily work with iX CAD.
Smart assistant for built-in articles
Who does not know the task: Furniture and furnishing elements have to be combined with the room situation in order to create a harmonious interior design. In old buildings in particular, wall projections, joists, pillars or heating ducts are usually a barrier and make planning more difficult.
The developers of iX CAD have created a convenient way for a standard corpus or component to follow a wall or roof contour and other structural obstacles in a matter of seconds. This allows you to plan cut-outs, bevels, gaps and installations safely and quickly.
If a different measurement is later taken on the construction site, the parametric approach allows changes to be tracked directly.
Drawings and documents – individual, fast and correct
In spite of the increase of digitalization, technical drawings of the entire planning, the products or individual components are still required as a basis for contracts as well as for production and assembly. These drawings can be different depending on the application but are based on the same database. The new version iX CAD has refined the approaches of the previous version: Conflicts in the positioning of dimension lines and texts are identified and corrected. Curved components and assemblies are specially evaluated during the creation of the production documents and displayed graphically correct and ledgible.
Providing CNC data for complex production processes
There are also new features in iX CAM. Special milling strategies for solid wood processing have been developed and the display on the component label has been improved. The control of the edge banding unit on CNC machines has been completely revised so that these machines can be supplied with the necessary data much more comfortably. This applies first to the machines of the market leaders.
Better management of lager projects
Experience has shown that large furnishing projects that involve several rooms or even floors are subject to multiple changes during the course of planning and implementation. These can be, for example, corrections of incorrect measurements, re-planning during the execution phase or changes to execution variants. iX 2019 provides help in change management:
An adequate tool, embedded in the iX Organizer, allows the recording of desired building structures such as floor, area, room or workplace. The individual iX CAD planning and part orders can be assigned to this structure. Changes for individual building structures or for a workstation can then be changed globally with a few mouse clicks via the respective execution variable. But the execution only takes place when the respective drawing or the part order is updated and the part lists, and if necessary, the calculation are adapted.
Supporting digitalization of buildings
What is still perceived as an individual case in our regions is already part of day-to-day business outside Germany. We are talking here about the provision of 3D planning data for BIM (Building Information Modelling) applications in the IFC (Industry Foundation Class) exchange format for builders and administrators. At least BIM level 2 is required. The current imos iX 2019 version can adapt the LoD (Level of Detail) in the 3D representation and generate the required exchange formats as required.
imos at the LIGNA
Visitors will find imos AG in hall 15 at booth G47 this year. There the imos product managers will present all innovations for iX 2019, show iX Interio in action and give an insight into the current developments in the iX lab. The iXperience Show takes place every 30 minutes and takes visitors into a digital world. They will be accompanied by the digital assistant RobiX.
Tags: CNC data, digital range of functions, digitalization, expand, imos, iX Interio, virtual reality
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