DEVIATION ANALYSIS

Computer-Aided Inspection of Parts and Tools

Deviation Analysis is a method of inspection that compares 3D scan data to existing CAD or other scan data. The process is also called Computer-Aided Verification (CAV) or Computer-Aided Inspection (CAI) The output of the process is often called a color map for its bright, colorful visualizations.

Deviation Analysis is an extremely cost-effective way to capture near full-coverage of any part and compare it to a known standard.

The deliverable of a Deviation Analysis project can also be referred to as a Comparative Analysis, Computer Aided Inspection (CAI), Computer Aided Verification (CAV), or Color Maps. Point cloud data is overlaid to an existing CAD model or scan data of another part to show deviation. Used for rapid design verification, part-to-part comparison, tooling validation, and first article inspection.

Story-Worthy Service. Rapid Response.


Color maps are an excellent way to visually identify sink, warp, twist and other undesirable characteristics as you evaluate your parts or tools.

This is especially useful for organic and complex shapes where traditional CMM inspection may lack coverage and point density.

For product and process development, deviation analysis using 3D scanning is very cost-effective. Without requiring full first articles on every dimension, you can quickly check the profile of your part against nominal CAD or a golden part and verify that it is within an acceptable range.

Deviation Analysis1

Scanning

Everything begins with 3D scanning. A variety of scanning technologies can be utilized as needed given physical constraints of your part’s material, size and complexity.
Deviation Analysis2

Processing

The resulting point cloud data is then processed to remove noise and ensure a clean scan.
Deviation Analysis3

Alignment

The clean scan data is aligned to the reference data and packaged as an interactive 3D report. The reference data can be an existing CAD model or an STL created from another scanned part.
Deviation Analysis4

Processing

On project close, we will deliver both the 3D interactive report (with viewer software provided) and a 2D report (pdf) as determined by your project requirements.

Flexible Delivery. Powerful Reports


The output of every Deviation Analysis project includes a interactive 3D report, and a powerful viewer app called IMView. The deviation between the base and scan data can be represented in any way that is useful to you - Pass/Fail, color scales with custom range, etc. This viewer/report deliverable provides the ability for you to further interrogate the data and create custom reports in the future. Specific dimensional call outs can be taken from this report and published as a FAI data spreadsheet. This hybrid deliverable is called a CAV Plus.

Deviation Analysis is used as a final proof-of-work at the end of every Reverse Engineering project to demonstrate a precise point-by-point comparison that what we have created matches your  physical part as scanned.  This level of precision in verification is virtually impossible with manual methods.  A Deviation Analysis makes full verification cost-effective and is critical to assure accuracy of the resulting model.