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Follow on Google News | Icona Solutions announces latest version of its unique 3D 'virtualisation' softwareaesthetica Version 4 provides product design and engineering teams early, visual insight to the effects that manufacturing variation and materials flexibility will have on the final product 's aesthetics: saves time and reduces development costs.
By: Icona Soutions Ltd. The latest version of the software enables a proactive approach to perceived quality that provides early insight to possible issues so that concept and design teams can deliver achievable requirements into the downstream design development and engineering processes. It also introduces several advanced new features and functions. These include a new 3D visualisation system supporting high dynamic range (HDR) environments, lighting and shadows; a new, extended material library; a new, geometry-based measurement system; and a new graphical user interface (GUI) that significantly reduces model preparation time. From concept onwards Version 4 of aesthetica also acts as a precursor to the introduction of aesthetica for Concept Design. This will focus on the early concept design and styling phases of the design-to-manufacture process. For example, the software’s Target Study functions will allow worst-case combinations of proposed variation targets for all gap and flush conditions to quickly be generated, demonstrated visually and confirmed or refined accordingly. This insight enables the key decisions on perceived quality to be made early in the concept design stage. “aesthetica users in the automotive industry, in particular, already identify cost savings many times greater than the original software and implementation costs, through fewer late design changes, fewer physical models and more right-first- “Customers including Bentley Motors, GM/Opel and Nissan, among others, are constantly seeking new ways to improve the design processes required to achieve quality in manufacturing and several have worked closely with us in the specification of aesthetica Version 4,” Illingworth added. “We are therefore confident that this latest version will help concept, engineering, quality and manufacturing teams better appreciate and understand each other’s requirements and limitations and thereby reach agreement on tolerances and locator schemes much earlier in the design development process.” New features build on existing aesthetica Version 4 has been developed specifically to enable design and engineering teams, throughout the entire development process, to accurately visualise, in real time, the effects that geometric variation caused by manufacturing processes will have on the aesthetics of a new vehicle or product. Among the new features introduced with aesthetica Version 4 are: New 3D visualisation system: supports HDR (high dynamic range) environments, lighting and shadows and a new material library, with accurate car paint materials, including metallic and pearlescent finishes; glass with accurate reflection and refraction; bump-mapped materials with natural and technical grains; automatic depth-sorted object transparency; User benefits With its new visualisation system, aesthetica Version 4 brings high-end 3D perceived quality simulation and visualisation to the design studio. This enables on-demand, real-time perceived quality reviews to be conducted without the need to book VR facilities in advance, saving time and enabling issues to be uncovered in the earliest stages of the development process. Nevertheless, when full-scale, virtual reality design reviews using fully ray-traced visualisations are required, aesthetica provides export interfaces to most of the popular high-end 3D design visualisation and VR systems. The new measurement system introduced with aesthetica Version 4 provides a number of new capabilities and brings a new level of precision and visual clarity. It enables gap and flush plans to be developed and reviewed entirely within the aesthetica environment and then documented directly in Microsoft Powerpoint. Efficiency and ease-of-use are improved through the new ‘ribbon’ user interface. Context sensitive menus enable the user to manipulate the model without needing to go back and forth between the ribbon and the model. This significantly speeds up the data preparation stage. Efficiency is further improved through the four tabs on the ribbon that deliver all the functions required for differing perceived quality studies, their review and their documentation. Finally, a significant benefit of the developments in aesthetica Version 4 is that perceived quality studies and reviews require less time than with previous versions. In particular, model and data preparation time has been reduced by more than 50% compared with the previous version. Availability aesthetica Version 4 is available immediately through Icona Solutions’ world-wide network of distributors and value-added resellers. For information on their locations visit: www.iconasolutions.com About Icona Solutions and aesthetica Icona Solutions Ltd is a UK-based developer and provider of unique and innovative software solutions for helping manufacturing companies improve the perceived quality of their products. The company’s flagship software solution, aesthetica, is 3D ‘virtualisation’ Many of the world’s leading automotive OEMs, including Nissan, GM/Opel, Porsche, Bentley Motors, Chrysler, FIAT Automobiles and Great Wall Motor Company, are users of aesthetica, along with automotive design houses and manufacturers of commercial and heavy-duty vehicles. aesthetica can form an integral part of a manufacturing company’s overall product lifecycle management (PLM) software environment and is supplied and supported through an expanding, global network of qualified, specialist resellers and engineering services providers. Icona Solutions is a member of Dassault Systèmes’ CAA V5 Adopters, Siemens PLM Software’s JT Open and Autodesk’s Developer Network programmes. Find out more at: www.iconasolutions.com ENDS Editors: for further information contact: Tim Illingworth: Neil McLeod: +44 (0)1666 504293, e-mail: neilmcleod@btopenworld.com End
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