Shima Seiki’s APEXFiz programme has been developed to further accelerate digital fabric sourcing prior to 3D design and production and further eliminate previously time-consuming and costly fabric sampling.

It enables fabric data, including texture maps, to be created without fabric samples and colourways, and patterns to be freely edited, in combination with the creation of all information for automatic production.

For flat knitting, the programme incorporates Shima Seiki’s Yarnbank, consisting of extensive digitised yarn data supplied by all partner yarn manufacturers, and the company’s Datamall library of over 1,500 default knitting structure patterns. All yarns and structures can be freely edited.

“As 3D creation increases across the industry, accelerating the procurement of digital fabrics, APEXFiz can create fabric designs based on production data and can simulate virtual fabrics using digitally-sampled yarns,” explained Hiyato Nishi, of Shima Seiki USA. “In recent years new functions have been added to create even more realistic digital fabrics while being able to export texture map data to be used in other 3D software.”

In celebration of its 60th anniversary in 2022, the leading flat knitting machine manufacturer has been sharing a collection of online events, including keynote speeches from experts such as MIT Media Lab director Dr Dava Newman, as well as videos showcasing the company’s tech and software developments over the past six decades. They can be viewed here.

www.shimaseiki.com