Icona Solutions Releases new Version of aesthetica

By DE Editors

Icona Solutions Ltd. has announced the availability of aesthetica Version 3.1, which applies manufacturing tolerances and deformation information directly to a 3D CAD model to enable real time, “what you see is what you get” perceived quality studies using imagery early in the product development process.

Among new features and functions introduced with V3.1 are the ability to import and re-use measured or pre-analyzed data on the variation of locator features on existing products or vehicle platforms; to import tolerance specification sheets and make assumptions based on the current manufacturing capability; and to import measured or simulated form variation for individual components. A direct interface to Autodesk Showcase and improvements to the existing Bunkspeed HyperShot interface enable photorealistic visualization of aesthetica deformed models.

There are three new modules for importing and then re-using existing variation data and tolerance stack-up models: the Feature Tolerance Importer, Tolerance Specification Importer and Part Variation Importer. 

Used to visualize how a new concept design will look when assembled using an existing vehicle platform or product, the Feature Tolerance Importer enables actual and simulated measurement data on the locator scheme of the existing vehicle platform or product to be imported into aesthetica from third-party software products such as Vis VSA, QMC/CM4D and 3DCS, etc. The effects of the measured variation can then be visualized in real time on new 3D models imported into aesthetica from CAD software products such as Autodesk Alias, ICEM Surf, CATIA, Siemens’ NX, and Solidworks, etc.

The Tolerance Specification Importer enables information on real manufacturing capability, from reporting systems such as CM4D and QDAS,  etc, to be imported into aesthetica. This will then automatically apply dimensions and tolerances to the 3D models based on actual manufacturing capability and visualize the impact of real-world manufacturing variation,  including offset means and skewed or non-symmetric distributions.

The Part Variation Importer enables quality control reports on measured components collected from inspection devices on the shop-floor using software such as QMC/CM4D and QDAS, etc, to be imported into aesthetica so that users can visualize real form variation directly on digital parts or assemblies. 

For more information, visit Icona Solutions Ltd.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.