Québec City, Qc, Canada - May 20, 2003 - InnovMetric Software announced today that Version 8 of its world-leading high-density point cloud inspection software PolyWorks/Inspector will offer two major technical advances that will dramatically increase the range of inspection capabilities of point cloud digitizers. Already established among most major car manufacturers worldwide and renowned for offering the most advanced inspection tools, PolyWorks/Inspector V8 keeps adding value to quality control through extended GD&T and soft-gauging capabilities.

"This eighth version of PolyWorks/Inspector was developed directly from the gathered needs and challenges of quality engineers working in stamping and assembly departments worldwide" says Marc Soucy, President of InnovMetric. "With PolyWorks V8, we have developed a complete set of comparison and measurements tools that replicate traditional inspection techniques that were only possible using CMMs & physical gauges, take a fraction of the time, and yield superior results at a fraction of the cost", he continued.

New features in PolyWorks/Inspector Version 8 include:

New advanced GD&T capabilities:

• Automatic feature extraction from CAD models
• ANSI/ISO compliant GD&T annotations
• Full support of datum-based alignments for Absolute and Relative True Position
• Full support of feature patterns
• New GD&T and tolerance templates for quick and efficient GD&T programming
• Extensive scripting capabilities for automating the inspection of several instances of the same part.

Software-based gauging techniques for measuring dimensions directly on a digitized part:

• Programmable Flush & Gap gauges for measuring flush and gap distances and checking profile deviations on assemblies. The gauge measurement algorithm can be fully customized through a user-friendly visual programming environment.
• Automatic thickness measurement
• Caliper gauges for automatically measuring linear dimensions.
• Fully automatic Radius gauges that detect all fillets within a radius range, evaluate the radii along the fillets, and display results using color maps.

In addition, the InnovMetric team has added hundreds of functional and interface improvements, including new alignment, comparison, measurement, and reporting techniques.

Among noticeable new features, users will have access to:

• A new COM interface and plug-in capabilities enabling digitizers to be directly connected to PolyWorks/Inspector for real-time comparison to CAD models at rates averaging 40,000 points-per-second. PolyWorks/Inspector' scripting language can be used to fully control the application from an external program.
• WYSIWYG scalable vector-based graphics that can be exported to HPGL format for 1/1 full-scale plotting, as well as to DXF, PDF, and SVG formats. Users can now print meaningful reports on B&W laser printers and use scalable graphics in their documents.
• In addition to CATIA V4 and VDA translators, InnovMetric now offers new optional translators for the CATIA V5 and Pro/E formats. IGES support is standard.

PolyWorks V8 will be released in June 2003. About PolyWorks®

PolyWorks is a complete point cloud processing software suite composed of two distinct packages:

PolyWorks/Modeler™

Providing superior meshing capabilities to the manufacturing community since its first release, PolyWorks/Modeler expands the use of polygons for manufacturing applications by delivering unique polygon editing tools that prepare models for 3-axis or 5-axis milling, CFD & FEA analysis, and rapid prototyping. PolyWorks/Modeler also offers powerful NURBS surface generation tools to convert a polygonal surface into an accurate NURBS model that can be directly imported into all major CAD/CAM software.

PolyWorks/Inspector™

PolyWorks/Inspector is a powerful software solution that uses high-density point clouds to control the quality of castings/dies/molds, and to approve manufacturing processes through prototype, first-article, manufactured, and assembled parts inspection. PolyWorks offers a complete toolset for comparing forms and profiles (part-to-part and part-to-CAD), and includes the most complete GD&T analysis capabilities on the market, as well as the widest array of soft gauging tools (linear, radius, flush & gap, thickness, etc.). All quality control tasks can be completely automated and performed by one click of a mouse using PolyWorks' powerful scripting language.

About InnovMetric Software

Founded in 1994, InnovMetric pioneered the market for point cloud inspection and polygonal manufacturing software solutions. InnovMetric is a privately-owned company which has sustained an 86% average yearly growth. Today, PolyWorks licenses are at work daily in more than 30 countries, providing users such as BMW, Boeing, Daimler-Chrysler, Ford, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Lockheed-Martin, Peugeot, Porsche, Rolls Royce, Toyota, and Volkswagen with the most complete, accurate, and robust 3D point cloud processing software solution on the market.

For more information please visit our website at www.innovmetric.com or contact us at: Email Contact

© 2003 InnovMetric Software Inc. All rights reserved. PolyWorks is a registered trademark of InnovMetric Inc. InnovMetric, PolyWorks/Modeler, PolyWorks/Inspector, IMAlign, IMMerge, IMEdit, IMCompress, IMInspect, IMTexture, and IMView are trademarks of InnovMetric Software Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.