CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive

9 August 2004

Implementation Investments

Airbus and FTI Rely on Right Hemisphere Software for CG Animations and Fly-Throughs of Massive New A380 Test Rig

Right Hemisphere announced that Airbus and FTI Engineering Network GmbH used the company's software to communicate the progress and capabilities of the huge new A380 High Lift Test Rig (HLSTR). A critical device of massive scale and built specifically for the testing, certification, and authorization of the world's largest airliner, the HLSTR was ceremoniously put into operation on June 4. Using Right Hemisphere software, FTI created computer-generated animations and "fly throughs" of the rig to visually communicate its function.

Department Leader High Lift Test, Airbus Deutschland Bremen Jens Strahmann said, "Having the ability to animate special, complex sections of the test system-like the Inner Middle Outer Flap with its Hexapod System-is critical to convey their precise movement and function to a mixed audience of engineers and non-engineers. These HLSTR visualizations were originally created for the grand opening event. But we're still using them to communicate about the project with geographically dispersed Airbus personnel, government officials, and others. They help people to quickly understand the innovative nature of this new system."

The test, simulation, and project management experts at FTI were instrumental in doing the realization of the HLSTR structure. The basis data was created by Airbus using CATIA® V4 engineering software from Dassault Systemes. In just a few days and using a combination of Right Hemisphere Deep ExplorationT and CATIA Module software, FTI was able to reduce 1,800MB of CATIA data down to a manageable 7.5MB in the Right Hemisphere format. Once the data was in the Right Hemisphere format, FTI had the ability to create animations and fly-throughs, and even embed those animations into video and Microsoft® Office PowerPointT for its communication purposes. The whole process of reducing, converting, and importing data from CATIA to video took less than two weeks.

With these visualizations living beyond their intended use, Airbus asked FTI to make additional changes to them. By employing a new polygon reduction technology from Right Hemisphere, FTI was able to reduce the size of these files even further. Right Hemisphere's new polygon reduction technology was introduced in a separate announcement today at the SIGGRAPH convention in Los Angeles, Calif. The technology is included in a new version of the Right Hemisphere CADtools Module, also announced today, and demonstrated in the company's booth #2033 at SIGGRAPH.

"The A380 is a 555-seat, double-decker airplane," said Ute Franke, head of the project control office at FTI. "Imagine the size of the structure which had to be built in order to test and certify the A380 flap drive system. It's enormous and took a year and a half to construct. Without Right Hemisphere software to reduce those 3D CAD files to a manageable size and preserve the visual quality and integrity of that data, we would not have been able to practically or fully communicate the test system's unique capabilities to the disparate audiences."

Franke continued, "The Airbus HLSTR is an example of a hole that exists today in large industry documentation, visualization, and communication processes. With Right Hemisphere software, we see many opportunities to combine our expertise with theirs to fill this hole for manufacturers. We plan to start by using Right Hemisphere's software to streamline our internal technical documentation process."

FTI is currently using Right Hemisphere Deep ServerT, Deep Exploration, Deep Viewer, Deep Publish, CATIA Module, Illustration Module, and CADtools Module software. For more information about the full complement of Right Hemisphere software, please go to http://www.righthemisphere.com or call toll free at (877) 309-3204.

 

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