InnovMetric has launched PolyWorks 2022, the latest version of its digital ecosystem for intelligent 3D metrology. PolyWorks 2022 offers key new features that extend the capabilities of its three ecosystem foundations:
- the universal 3D metrology platform now facilitates inspection of a batch of items when CAD data is not available, and offers a universal data center;
- digital connectivity between data and people is improved, enabling the deployment of global metadata management strategies and the programming of alerts that automatically detect failed dimensions and notify the right people in real time
- collaboration between probing operators and their measuring equipment is taken to another level, thanks to mixed-reality display technology that enhances operators' perception of 3D metrology.
PolyWorks 2022 also demonstrates InnovMetric's commitment to open solutions, unveiling an API that enables data to be searched from its data management solution and injected into third-party software applications.
"For decades, the core mission of 3D hardware and software manufacturers, including ourselves, has been to provide cutting-edge technologies for creating data from 3D measurements. This strategy has proved highly successful for market players and fueled significant growth in the use of 3D measurement technologies in manufacturing companies. However, as the amount of 3D measurement data grew exponentially, new data management complexities also emerged, leading us to reconsider our company's mission. That's why, today, PolyWorks goes beyond data creation by managing data storage, opening up enterprise-wide data access and enabling digital data flows between hardware, software and people," says Marc Soucy, President of InnovMetric. He adds:
"Providing an API for our data management solution is a key step in the evolution of our digital ecosystem. The data we manage doesn't belong to us, it belongs to our customers. For this reason, we had to provide a digital technology to enable customers to seamlessly transmit PolyWorks data to any software application they wish to use."
Extensions to the universal platform
Manufacturing companies often need to measure and inspect several items, even if they don't have access to a reliable 3D CAD representation of these items. For example, in the early stages of a product engineering cycle, or after physically adjusting the design on the shop floor. To address these measurement scenarios, the PolyWorks universal platform offers new geometric feature measurement guidance technology to guide probing, scanning and geometric feature extraction when measuring and inspecting multiple items, in the absence of CAD data and nominal geometric feature components. Users can inject a CAD model and nominal geometric entity components at any time later in the process, and propagate these modifications to previously measured items.
The PolyWorks universal platform also includes a new universal data center that brings all relevant data together in one place:
- inspection projects can be created automatically from the measurement results of third-party software and shared digitally across the company;
- native CAD and QIF MBD file readers import all GD&T control types to ensure digital interoperability with product definition processes;
- users can also rely on a more precise device to measure a dimensional check and inject the measured value into a scanned or palpated object for reporting purposes
Enhanced digital connectivity for users of 3D measurement data
In a 3D metrology context, metadata consists of important attributes that describe part design, item manufacturing and 3D measurement processes. PolyWorks 2022 provides meaningful and usable metadata, managing shared properties that are common to multiple inspection projects and item models. Unified and synchronized shared properties enable search, filtering and analysis across centralized 3D metrology data archives.
PolyWorks 2022 also enables production teams to program alerts that evaluate incoming measurements and notify the right people by e-mail when a dimension is out of tolerance or out of control. These notifications enable real-time responsiveness, as they include a hyperlink that instantly opens the problematic item in a web-based 3D viewer. From there, users can quickly assemble a research team using PolyWorks' modern digital communication technologies.
More efficient probing processes thanks to mixed-reality display
Mixed reality display technology enhances the perception of 3D metrology by superimposing holograms on inspected items and offering an instinctive, gesture-based user interface. The PolyWorks 2022 mixed reality solution offers new visual guidance and feedback capabilities that optimize the efficiency of probing operators. In addition to superimposing guidance geometry and measurement instructions on the inspected item, it also displays probed points, measurement results and the digital display in real time, and enables users to remotely invoke common probing functions.