HOW DESIGNERS USE aesthetica

Early visual reviews of measurement plans on A-Class Models

Very early in the product development process, designers define the measurement plan for a vehicle. This plan can be quickly verified using aesthetica to ensure the maximum and minimum gap and flush targets are visually acceptable.

Using aesthetica™ to facilitate an early review of the measurement plans on a digital model delivers the following benefits to Concept and Design:

• Interactively vary the model to visually verify the acceptability of gap and flush targets
• Reduce risk of unforeseen problems in the measurement plan, supporting “right first time” design;
• Enable designers to specify the precise visual conditions for aesthetic review activities going forward throughout the product development process

To perform a measurement plan review, the A-Class surface model is imported into aesthetica where advanced material properties can be assigned and the measurement plan, view points and light conditions can be configured.

Wire Frame	Surface Model	Texture And Materials	Shaders And Shadows

Using the aesthetica full screen review capability it is then possible to conduct an interactive visual review of any gap and flush condition in a high resolution photorealistic 3D digital environment.

Examples Of Gap And Flush target Review

Examples of gap and flush target setting on two vehicle exterior assemblies – the fuel filler flap and front headlamp sections:

Examples of misalignments

Instantly visualise and verify any combination of conditions on the digital model, e.g.:

“Visually review the appearance of worst-case miss-alignments between A-Class components…”

“Quickly assess the impact of see-through and shadowing within gaps and closures at the proposed extremes…“

Key features for the visual review of measurement plans:

• Fully interactive high resolution 3D visualisation, supporting a wide range of PowerWall configurations
• Robust import and export of CAD and surface models through industry standard file formats eg.IGES, STEP and JT;
• Unique “force fit” capability to instantly visualise A-Class models to any combination of extreme gap and flush conditions;
• Dynamic tape measurements and sectioning tools for taking accurate gap/flush measurements during a visual review;
• Large library of advanced shader-based materials, include automotive paint, coarse finish plastics, chrome, glass, wood veneer, grained leather, textiles and technical grain;
• Real-time shadows and dynamic self shadowing captures effect of shadows within the interactive environment on surface, accurately recreating the appearance of gap conditions on the vehicle
• Powerful tools for generating static images or animations incorporating camera transitions
• Simple and intuitive interface enabling rapid preparation of models, including a unique journaling system for tracking progress in the model preparation process;