Authors of exhibition space planning software use it to plan their own show scheme using their customers’ products.

Nimlok, the leading single source solution provider for the exhibition and display industry, needed a space-planning and visualisation tool to assist their sales representatives in selling their custom modular exhibition stand system, Velocity.

A search of the internet took them to Virtual Worlds - more readily known for planning and visualising bathrooms and kitchens where highly detailed models of products are placed in an interactive virtual environment before the scene is transformed into a photorealistic image.

Interlocking frames of various sizes and shapes featuring stunning graphics panels made from a printable cloth material form the core of the Velocity product. Counters, cupboards and additional graphics shapes may be added to create a functional environment.

A bespoke version of Virtual Worlds was created using a catalogue of Velocity products. The stand space is quickly created and populated by panels ‘snapped’ together to form the ‘shell’ of the scheme. The position of work counters, storage cupboards and brochure dispensers can be tried by dragging items around the stand ‘space’. Customised images are applied to the panels, simulating the intended visual impact of the design. Finally, decorative items such as plants, laptops and product place-holders may be added.

In addition to images of the layout, a fully priced item list is generated as a quotation. Velocity may be purchased for a multi-show programme or rented for a one-off exhibition. Hybrid solutions of part-purchase, part-rental are also possible.

Research & Development Manager for Nimlok, Jean-Marc Ziegler, has overseen the project and is, “thrilled at the potential”, adding, “We’ve already had interest from our parent company in the States who are equally excited about this tool.”

Logicom, the authors of Virtual Worlds, are, not surprisingly, obvious customers for such a display system as trade shows are a key element of their marketing activities and they already had plans to attend the Tile and Stone Journal Show at the Excel Centre – the premier summer show for the tile industry.

For their bathroom design users, Logicom had created a set of features to decorate a space with ‘virtual’ tiles – recreating the complexity of real life application of various tile sizes, borders, zones, patterns etc. Catalogues have been created for manufacturers such as BCT Candy, Villeroy & Boch, Vitra, Dune and Bisazza and users may create their own from images they source themselves.

The Velocity planner was soon put to work creating a stand design for the show. “Everyone involved in planning the exhibition was able to easily understand the possibilities and therefore create a functional use of the available space. The result was exactly as expected”, commented Logicom’s David Roberts.
The attached images show the virtual stand design and the realisation of the design at the Excel Centre.

Jean-Marc Ziegler
Research & Development Manager
Nimlok Ltd
Booth Drive, Park Farm
Wellingborough, Northants, NN8 6NL
01933 409 409 (ext 418)
www.nimlok.co.uk

Dave Roberts,
Business Development Manager,
Logicom Virtual Worlds,
1 Portland Drive, Willen,
Milton Keynes, MK15 9JW, UK.
Direct: +44(0)1908 448877
Phone: +44 (0)1908 663848
Fax: +44 (0)1908 666654
Mob: +44 (0)7908 652985
Visit our website at <http://www.virtualworlds.co.uk>