CAD Software enables automated 3D graphical inspection.
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Press Release Summary:
Geomagic Qualify v4.0 quality inspection software compares actual part information against CAD database, and provides on-screen 3D graphical report to tooling. It can capture thousands of data points per second, and works with point clouds from CMMs, articulated arms, and data acquisition devices. Display options include deviation color maps; continuous, segmented or go/no-go displays; deviation and comment annotation; and specified location checking.Original Press Release:
Raindrop Geomagic Qualify 4.0 Software Removes Quality Inspection Bottleneck
New software expected to "save considerable time and money"
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., March 18, 2002 Raindrop Geomagic announces Geomagic Qualify 4.0, new quality inspection software that combines the speed of non-contact 3D scanning with a new level of simplicity for computer-aided inspection (CAI).
"We expect Geomagic Qualify 4.0 to save us considerable time and money in our first-article inspection process," says Rus Emerick, staff designer for Schneider Electric's Square D brand. "Our designers will be able to identify immediately where the part does and doesn't match the CAD database, then provide an on-screen 3D graphical report back to tooling, which can quickly understand where the problems lie and make necessary changes. You don't need to be an expert to use the software the user interface is intuitive and follows a simple workflow: align, compare, evaluate, report."
Geomagic Qualify 4.0 enables automated, 3D graphical inspection for the following applications:
* first-article inspection
* tool validation
* wear analysis
* object alignment (datum-based, 3-2-1 or best-fit)
* 2D and 3D dimensional analysis (whole part, sectional or part print)
* reporting (graphical or tabular)
The new software takes advantage of the latest technology in 3D laser scanners that can capture thousands of data points per second. It also works with large and small point clouds from CMMs, articulated arms and other data acquisition devices. Point clouds collected by the scanner are automatically processed within Geomagic Qualify and turned into 3D graphics displays to provide a visual comparison between the CAD model and the manufactured part or prototype.
Display options in Geomagic Qualify include deviation color maps; continuous, segmented or "go/no-go" displays; deviation and comment annotation; and specified location checking. New datum-based registration in Geomagic Qualify 4.0 allows users to automatically align features to determine tolerance differences between the CAD model and actual part.
Geomagic Qualify generates reports in the following formats:
* HTML for on-screen viewing and Internet collaboration
* PDF for printing and distribution
* tabular spreadsheet-compatible output
* customizable graphics formats
* optimized VRML models embedded in HTML
Square D's Emerick and others have identified the following benefits of the Geomagic Qualify approach for quality inspection:
* Major time and money savings Inspection and approvals can be done in hours instead of weeks, enabling a much faster product development cycle. Geomagic Qualify also eliminates the need to outsource inspection, which can save $30,000 or more with a part of medium complexity.
* Better control over quality Quality control can be done in-house, rather than relying on a third party.
* Improved design efficiency Geomagic Qualify can be learned in an hour and is easy to operate even if not used on a regular basis. This makes it a more intuitive tool for designers, who no longer have to decipher tabular reports and convert data on 2D drawings to a 3D CAD model.
* Better accuracy, faster Geomagic Qualify allows users to inspect quality for a surface that is defined by tens of thousands of point clouds, compared to the five or 10 points that might define a CMM surface.
"Geomagic Qualify 4.0 has the potential to deliver both hard and soft cost savings," says Emerick. "The hard savings come from faster product development cycles and not having to outsource inspection work. The soft savings come from allowing designers, who know the design best, to evaluate their parts by comparing 'as designed' to 'as manufactured.' This eliminates linear first piece inspection, which can take weeks to complete, freeing designers' time to design more products, not analyze a spreadsheet.
"We will have the ability to quickly identify the features that match the database and focus our efforts on those features which do not," says Emerick. "This will be of immense value to our organization."
According to reports from the National Institute of Technology (NIST), dimensional accuracy verification is the biggest bottleneck in the manufacturing process. Geomagic Qualify 4.0 is attacking that bottleneck head on, according to Ping Fu, president and CEO of Raindrop Geomagic.
"Geomagic Qualify 4.0 is the first CAI software that is simple, automated and repeatable," says Fu. "It is 1,000 times faster than traditional metrology for data collection and identifying the location of problem areas, which will translate into incredible productivity gains for manufacturers."
Geomagic Qualify will be available in May 2002, exclusively from Raindrop Geomagic and its distributors. For more information, visit http://www.geomagic.com/products/qualify/.
Raindrop Geomagic (www.geomagic.com) provides 3D photography solutions for digital manufacturing, mass customization and quality assurance. In addition to its flagship products, Geomagic Studio and Geomagic Qualify, Raindrop Geomagic offers customized software for vertical markets such as hearing instruments and dental devices. Manufacturers worldwide including Toyota, Harley-Davidson, Fisher-Price, Align and many others turn to Raindrop Geomagic to provide the technology for customizing products, automating processes, and increasing throughput.
