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Inspection & Analysis

Deviation Analysis & Inspection

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.

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3D scan data of an airfoil

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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.

Inspection & 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.
Inspection & Analysis2

Processing

The resulting point cloud data is then processed to remove noise and ensure a clean scan.
Inspection & 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.
Inspection & 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.
Inspection & Analysis
Considerations before starting a 3D Scanning project:
  • Have a good idea of how this analysis will be used.
  • Existing CAD OR a "golden part" to compare to.
  • Basic images of the part.  These will enable us to quote scanning requirements based on material, size and complexity.
  • Your reporting requirements.  Know potential for specific callouts, deviation scale, threshold, tolerances, etc.
Related Resources
Download sample files in our resource center.

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