ICEM Launches Its New-Generation Surface Modelling, Validation and Design Visualisation Software Suite, ICEM Shape Design

Software integrates seamlessly with automotive, aerospace and other manufacturing companies' Dassault Syst�mes CAA V5-based collaborative product development, manufacturing and PLM software environments.

London, 15 December, 2005. - At an international press conference in London today, ICEM Ltd., the leading global developer of surface modelling, surface validation and design visualisation software, announced and demonstrated its new-generation software suite for automotive vehicle body and interior and other product design development, ICEM Shape Design.

ICEM Shape Design is the first product release following a strategic software development and marketing agreement between ICEM Ltd and Dassault Syst�mes announced at the end of March, 2005. The new software suite provides a range of highly intuitive tools for the creation, validation and modification of any type of surface, from freeform surfaces to complex mechanical shapes. Significantly, having been developed on Dassault Syst�mes' CAA V5 software architecture, it integrates seamlessly with Dassault's CATIA V5 collaborative product development and manufacturing software suite and CAA V5-based product lifecycle management (PLM) environments.

The new software is available either as a collaborative installation, where access is granted to all CATIA V5 products that are licensed on a network, or as 'standalone' solutions, where no installed CATIA V5 software is required.

The advanced surface modelling facilities of ICEM Shape Design deliver solutions ranging from general surface modelling to the specialised surface design and engineering requirements of specific industry sectors, such as automotive body and interior components, aircraft exterior skins, business jet and luxury yacht interiors, consumer durable goods and complex tyre designs.

Announcing the new software suite, Lee Cureton, chief executive, ICEM Ltd., said, "The release of ICEM Shape Design represents a significant step forward to the fulfilment of our committed vision of providing advanced design development software solutions that fit seamlessly into design and manufacturing companies' existing product development and product lifecycle management (PLM) software environments. By enabling design development and engineering processes to proceed in parallel at a much earlier stage, ICEM Shape Design will help automotive and other manufacturing companies meet ever shorter product development time-scales, as well as the demands for higher perceived and actual product quality."

Philippe Laufer, director of research & development, shape design and styling solutions, Dassault Syst�mes, added, "Automotive companies in particular are facing increasing pressures today on their styling and engineering processes and need to consider innovative approaches to reducing design cycle time. By combining the best software technologies from ICEM and Dassault Syst�mes, we are able to offer a unique and innovative V5-based styling-to-manufacturing solution that can reduce that cycle time and that also forms an integral part of a company's PLM software environment."

Jeff King, digital design data manager, Bentley Motors Ltd, stated, "We applaud both ICEM and Dassault Syst�mes for this development. In the future, as we enhance the computer systems that support our new vehicle development processes, the use of ICEM Shape Design will enable native CAA V5-based design data to be used throughout the entire vehicle design development, engineering and manufacturing process. This would remove the need to translate data at any stage, thereby improving the overall product development workflow and avoiding the possibility of costly delays caused by incomplete data."

Comprehensive software suite. The ICEM Shape Design (ISD) software suite comprises a family of software modules addressing different aspects of the product development process. Entry into the suite is through any one of three standard configurations - CE3, EX3 and RE3 - each of which acts as the pre-requisite for further modules. All three standard configurations are based on the ICEM Shape Design Centre (ISD Centre) product, which provides comprehensive surface modelling and validation tools, including tools for the modelling of Class A surfaces.

The three standard configurations are:

1. Configuration CE3 - comprising ICEM Shape Design Centre plus ISD Realtime Renderer and an IGES interface. 

2. Configuration EX3 - comprising ICEM Shape Design Centre plus ISD Expert and an IGES interface. 

3. Configuration RE3 - comprising ICEM Shape Design Centre plus ISD Scan, ISD Quick Surfacer, ISD Form and an IGES interface.

Any number from a range of optional, specialised modules providing more advanced surface modelling capabilities, as well as reverse engineering, data manipulation and surface model analysis and photo-realistic design visualisation facilities, can be added to these standard configurations.

Currently, there are seven optional add-on modules. Between them they provide such facilities as; � specialised Class A functionality, including the creation of tube surfaces, helix features and advanced fillets and profiles; � the ability to integrate designers' initial 2D sketches and renderings into the 3D environment as the basis for surface model creation; � the import, filtering, trimming, tessellation and character line definition of digitised data as part of the reverse engineering process; � the simple and rapid construction of surfaces from digitised data; � the ability for non-CAD specialists to create aesthetic and conceptual forms using 'sculpting' techniques and to add details to a model and to copy and paste features from one model to another; � the ability to interactively create realistic and dynamic renderings and animations of digital models, in real time; � the ability to create visually realistic static and movie simulations of the digital model using a powerful ray-tracing engine to compute soft shadows and accurate reflections and refractions of light.

Availability. All three standard configurations, as well as the first seven optional, add-on modules in the ICEM Shape Design product portfolio, began shipping to customers on 5 December, 2005.

Worldwide marketing, sales and support for the ICEM Shape Design software suite is provided exclusively by ICEM Ltd. and its approved distributors.

About ICEM Ltd. 

With its headquarters in the UK, ICEM Ltd. is the leading worldwide developer of advanced surface modelling, design and visualisation software. ICEM software is a key component of the product lifecycle management (PLM) software environments of many of the world's leading automotive and aerospace manufacturers and their suppliers.

With a worldwide network of sales and support offices and specialist distributors, ICEM's principal market sector is the worldwide automotive industry. Here it includes most of the leading manufacturers among its customers, including the Ford Motor Company, DaimlerChrysler Group, Volkswagen Audi Group, Porsche, BMW, PSA Peugeot Citro�n, Renault and Nissan.

www.icem.com

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