THEORY2. Graphics libraries for kitchen design
Everyone has a different sized kitchen, in some houses the kitchen space may be long and narrrow, or a flat may just have a tiny corner available whilst a mansion probably has space for a huge kitchen.
And yet manufacturers tend to use standard sized units for cupboards, drawer units, oven units and so on. So the design task is to fit the most suitable standard units into the space available with maybe some additional custom work for the final fit. It is a bit of a jig-saw puzzle with dozens of possible configurations.
A good kitchen design package will come with an extensive graphics library of kitchen units. The company will also add their own products into the graphics library. Every item in the library is drawn accurately so saving a huge amount of work when putting a design together. Each item can be scaled to the dimensions of the main drawing. There will be no loss of details when scaling as they are all vector based drawings.
The designer will first of all set out the dimensions of the room in 2D and maybe 3D. In the 2D plan view, they will then begin to select units from their graphics library. Each item will be dimensionally accurate and so it is very simple to add items into the kitchen design and yet know that it will fit perfectly.
The package may also have a 'snap' function where the software automatically aligns the units as the designer drops them into the design.
The graphics library may also contain surface textures that represent the material and colour schemes on offer. This means the kitchen is first designed from a dimensional point of view, then texture is added to show what the real design will look like. If the package supports 3D then the design is rendered and the client can see what it will look like from different angles.
If there were no graphic library available, then every design would have to be hand-drawn which would be a huge waste of time and money.
| Advantages of graphics libraries for kitchens |
|---|
| All items are already accurate in terms of size / dimensions – no need to re-draw the same thing over and over |
| Very easy to change the design, simply delete and re-select another item |
| Allows a design to make maximum use of the space available and yet use standard components as much as possible – saves money for the customer and stock levels for the company |
| Kitchen can be easily customised to by selecting smaller items such as taps, sinks, handles and so on, so no two kitchens as exactly alike |
| Design can be viewed and printed from different perspectives. |
| Textures are treated as separate graphic elements, so very easy to add the right colour treatment after the dimensional design is complete |
challenge see if you can find out one extra fact on this topic that we haven't already told you
Click on this link: Kitchen Design Software