Bright and lively interiors often seem to be the preferred choice of many consumers, especially ones looking for quality interiors. However, behind such quality is the tech-oriented, detailed furniture drafting and drawing practice. Alongside what goes in is 2D furniture drawing services delivered by expert CAD draftsmen.
Designers have been empowered with comprehensive 2D furniture shop drawings capable of passing clear design intents among the stakeholders. With 2D and 3D CAD furniture drawings, designers can communicate complex furniture designs, automate design customization and efficiently develop convertible furniture designs.
Challenges faced by designers in furniture design development
Limited visualization
Designers who use traditional furniture drafting methods struggle to visualize the furniture model from multiple angles. This sometimes leads to miscommunication between the manufacturers and the designers, impacting the overall productivity.
Estimation of material
Traditional paper-based furniture drawings revolve around the measurements and other drawing specifications. Material information such as material type, the quantity of material, etc., are manually calculated. Manual methods are error-prone and iterative; they slowing down the entire design cycle.
Customized designs
Furniture buyers google for popular designs and mix this up with their own choices before placing the order. Even small variations such as a combination of accessories, sizing, material type, etc. in the existing designs can lead to reworking the complete furniture drawing from scratch. It involves repetitive work and is time-consuming.
Complex designs for convertibles
In addition to customization, another trend that is taking the furniture industry by storm is convertible furniture. Space-saving, cost-effective furniture has become the favored choice of many consumers. However, for designers, the complex design structure of convertible furniture is a challenge as each element is expected to multi-task.
2D and 3D CAD platforms used by furniture designers speed up the overall design cycle and ensure seamless design communication between furniture designers, and manufacturers.
4 Ways furniture drawings boost the efficiency of designers
2D furniture shop drawings with Bill of Material and Bill of Quantity
Designers often struggle to define large assemblies in 2D shop drawings. Modern CAD solutions offered by SolidWorks or Inventor give the designer an automated way to generate 2D shop drawings directly from 3D models. CAD platforms also allow designers to generate Bill of Material and Bill of Quantity to get near accurate estimates.
With this approach, detailed information about every design element is documented and communicated among manufacturers, and other stakeholders. Since, all the required information is generated automatically and precisely, chances for error reduce significantly, which improves performance.
Installation and assembly guides with 2D drawings
When too many parts are involved in the furniture drawing, communicating the right intent and product information between the stakeholders becomes quintessential. This is particularly useful in the case of convertible furniture where every piece is multi-tasking and aligns with interior design. Additionally, the manufacturing of such parts and assembly & installation of the product happens at different locations.
To develop convertible furniture drawings with the necessary information, CAD drawing expert include installation and assembly guides in their drawings. Manufacturers can access all relevant information from these guides to perform a successful product installation and assembly.
Documentation with detailed geometrical information
CAD workflows also enable the creation of 3D models with comprehensive information about the product. Not only this, but it also lets you add instructions for successful assembly and installation to convey the accurate design intent. For example, while working on a lively and bright interior project of a home-office workstation, the designer can use 3D CAD to show the detailed product geometry. Using the available tools of CAD drawing platforms, he can add necessary material information to the drawing. All this reduces the risk of design alterations and improves productivity.
The ability to visualize furniture design concepts from multiple angles is met by the 3D interface that provides the designers with a 360-degree view. It imparts better clarity and communication.
Faster design customization using automation plugins and platforms
Another important feature of parametric CAD workflows is their ability to customize furniture drawings using automation. There are many popular platforms and automation plugins such as SolidWorks macros that furniture designers use to customize design faster.
Also, with decent scripting and automation skills on board, one can easily customize macros, APIs, and plugins. Such a feature is useful when you want to replicate the same design with changing form and finish to match with the interior designs and architectural designs. You just have to deploy the macros to customize designs as per the need.
Conclusion
A well-designed interior not only looks appealing but also acts functionally well. The limitations of traditional design methods restrict the designers from leveraging their skills and expertise. Instead, it engages them more towards iterations and filling communication gaps.
2D/3D CAD furniture drawings save furniture designers from unnecessary iterations. They automate repetitive tasks, offer better visualization, and pass detailed information across teams. Furniture CAD drawings empower the designers with all the capabilities required to deliver innovation smartly.
About the Author:
Usha B. Trivedi is an engineer and she contributes in-depth articles for mechanical and industrial equipment designs, furniture designs, and the fabrication sector. Her contributions are primarily focused on enabling engineering professionals, furniture manufacturers, and fabricators to optimize design outcomes through CAD and CAE tools.
