Release Date: 28th March 2004

Icona Solutions announce aesthetica™ v1.0 for the automotive industry

Icona Solutions Ltd have announced the launch of aesthetica™ Version 1.0. aesthetica™ is an innovative solution for visualizing the impact of production variations on the aesthetic quality of new vehicles early in the design process.

For the first time, engineers are able to review the effects of manufacturing variation on the appearance of a vehicle or assembled component, such as an instrument panel or body work, through the increased use of computer based virtual prototypes rather than life sized real models. aesthetica™ is the result of development collaboration between industry leading OEMs, their 1st tier suppliers and Icona.

Highlights of this innovative new product include

• Interactive high quality visualization of non-nominal product
• Visually inspect worst/best case scenarios
• Take live gap and flush measurements on A-class surfaces
• Conduct studies on assemblies containing both rigid & flexible components
• Set realistic aesthetic targets and review the evolving design against them
• Explore gap and flush visibility across a range of different trim levels
• Evaluate aesthetics within an virtual recreation of a real inspection environment

aesthetica™ v1.0 enables manufacturers to take decisions ensuring aesthetic quality of the finished product, early in the design process.

For more information, visit www.iconasolutions.com

About Icona Solutions

Founded in the UK in early 2003 as a University of Leeds spin-out company, Icona Solutions grew out of pioneering work undertaken at the School of Computing, University of Leeds as part of a Government-funded (EPSRC) project called VITAL (Visualisation of the Impact of Tolerance Allocation). The four-year project involved close collaboration with the automotive industry. The project’s team leader, Dr. John Maxfield, later joined Icona Solutions as founder and technical director.

Since the original proof-of-concept work of the team at the University of Leeds, Icona Solutions has undertake research and development to significantly extend the functionality to the software, with the result being aesthetica™.
Icona Solutions has developed significant added functionality to the software, with the result being aesthetica.

The company is currently establishing technical support, training and sales operations to serve the global automotive industry.