ICEM Surf is a computer-aided industrial design (a.k.a. CAID) software used for creating 3D digital surfaces for

automotive design Automotive design is the process of developing the appearance (and to some extent the ergonomics) of motor vehicles - including automobiles, motorcycles, trucks, buses, coaches, and vans. The functional design and development of a modern moto ...

and industrial design. This software is used to create

class A surface In automotive design, a class A surface is any of a set of freeform surfaces of high efficiency and quality. Although, strictly, it is nothing more than saying the surfaces have curvature and tangency alignment – to ideal aesthetical reflection ...

s using the

Bézier surface Bézier surfaces are a species of mathematical spline used in computer graphics, computer-aided design, and finite element modeling. As with Bézier curves, a Bézier surface is defined by a set of control points. Similar to interpolation in man ...

modeling method. ICEMSurf was later purchased by

Dassault Systemes Dassault Group (; also GIM Dassault or Groupe Industriel Marcel Dassault SAS) is a French group of companies established in 1929 with the creation of Société des Avions Marcel Bloch (now Dassault Aviation) by Marcel Dassault, and led by son Se ...

. Its similar rival is

Autodesk Alias Autodesk Alias (formerly known as Alias StudioTools) is a family of computer-aided industrial design (CAID) software predominantly used in automotive design and industrial design for generating class A surfaces using Bézier surface and non-un ...

History

ICEM Surf, originally known as VW Surf, was developed by

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...

in the 1980s for advanced 3D surface modelling

s, visualization and analysis for use in the vehicle body development process. Later, VW Surf was made commercially available to other automotive companies and was renamed as ICEM Surf and a joint venture company ICEM Technologies was floated to market and support the software. Later in the mid 1990s post Europe success, the division was spun off and became part of Control Data Systems, Inc. whose first

CAD Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve co ...

/CAM product was released way back in 1978. For a brief period, ICEM Technologies was part of PTC and again was a standalone company. Since 2007 ICEM Surf is part of

Products

* ICEM Surf Professionalhttps://www.3ds.com/fileadmin/PRODUCTS-SERVICES/CATIA/PDF/ICEM_Surf_415_Student_Edition_K49-STU.pdf – The premier module for developing

s using free form methods * ICEM Surf Master * ICEM Surf Magic * ICEM Surf Realtime – Offers rendering tools for designer to generate a photo-realistic representation of the CAD model. * ICEM Surf Scan Modelling – Extra tools to generate model from point clouds or facet data. * ICEM Surf Advanced Tools – more advanced industry specific tools to create accelerated Surfaces, Advanced filleting, Gaps, and advanced analysis tools. * ICEM Surf Safety Analysis – Developed for safety and legislation studies during design to detect edges and corners on a 3D model that may cause injuries.

References

{{reflist

External links

Computer-aided design software Computer-aided industrial design 3D computer graphics