What is Virtual Prototyping?
Virtual prototyping is a computer-aided engineering technique that creates a digital model of a product to simulate and test its behavior and performance under various conditions, without the need for physical prototypes. A wide range of parameters can be digitally reproduced such as optical and acoustic properties, electromagnetic effects, thermal and mechanical stresses, fluid dynamics, manufacturing processes… This method allows engineers to analyze and refine designs and processes using advanced software tools, reducing the need for costly and time-consuming physical prototypes.
Eclat Digital’s Ocean™ software focuses on optical simulation. This includes material properties, geometric configurations and lighting conditions.
Virtual prototyping with Eclat Digital & Ocean™
The core activity of Ocean™ is the digital material visualization through physically realistic rendering. It generates accurate images and data of a scene, as it is perceived by the human eye. It virtually simulates the appearance of a digital prototype and quantifies its optical performances.
For this, it combines the 3D data of a given product with the optical properties of its constituent material(s) (measured beforehand) to compute these data with its ray tracing technology, applying the laws of geometric optics. It thus generates predictive images and data that reproduce the optical behavior of the final product, in a given scene, with an advanced degree of accuracy.
Ocean™ applies this virtual prototyping approach from a small digital sample in controlled environments to highly detailed scenes with sophisticated geometries and complex lighting conditions.
Figure 1: a wide variety of virtual simulation possibilities, from samples chips in controlled environment to complex scenes. All these simulations have been generated with Ocean™
The assets of Ocean™, our virtual prototyping software:
Science-based rendering:
Ocean™ uses advanced global illumination and path tracing techniques to ensure scientific accuracy in virtual prototyping. Thanks to a stochastic Monte Carlo approach, it explores light paths probabilistically, optimizing pixel information for realistic and predictive rendering. As a statistically unbiaised spectral polarized solver, it also captures complex light polarization effects with precision, ensuring accurate representation of optical phenomena.
The use of all these techniques Ocean™ contributes to a high level of accuracy and fidelity in simulated images, providing users with a comprehensive and realistic representation of the optical behavior. It achieves industry-leading performance and provides reliable insights for engineering applications.
Advanced key features:
Ocean™ optical simulation software offers advanced features to ensure precise and comprehensive simulations:
Uses a full-spectrum lighting algorithm to calculate light transmission for every wavelength, preserving color information across multiple bounces and allowing customizable color space conversion.
Adheres strictly to geometric optics laws, accounting for every significant light path to accurately simulate complex lighting situations.
Tracks the polarization state of each ray, essential for accurately simulating materials like glass or liquids.
Functions as a multi-purpose light transfer simulation tool, capturing light with virtual instruments and allowing easy switching between different analysis modes.
Supports high-precision lighting calculations with detailed multi-million polygon CAD models, ensuring efficient use of memory without simplifying light transmission.
Proven reliability:
Endorsed by the International Commission on Illumination (CIE) in accordance with CIE 171:2006 standards, Ocean™ is a reliable and rigorously tested solution for calculating illuminance mappings. Ocean™ uses real data derived from optical characterisations, with calculations based on established laws of optical physics. This unique approach enables the software to produce highly predictive renderings without the need for physical samples, marking a significant advancement in virtual prototyping.
The Benefits of Virtual Prototyping with Ocean™:
Ocean™ ray tracing software is an advanced tool based on optical measurements. It generates physically true virtual prototypes – not just aesthetic renderings – that are a trusted asset in the product development phase:
- Enhanced Simulation Accuracy: Advanced simulation tools provide highly accurate predictions of product appearance, enabling project developers and stakeholders to digitally preview the product and make informed decisions early in the development process.
- Cost Reduction: By reducing the need for physical prototypes, companies significantly reduce material and manufacturing costs. Virtual models can be modified and tested repeatedly at a lower cost.
- Time Efficiency: Developing and testing real world specimens is a time-consuming process. Virtual prototyping allows multiple iterations to be performed quickly in a digital environment.
- Fast iteration: Explore a wider range of design options and make adjustments easily with virtual prototypes. This flexibility is a great advantage in the early stages of product development, when ideas are still being refined.
Virtual prototyping is a key part of innovation and competitiveness in many industries. It allows for the creation of detailed digital products that can be rigorously tested in virtual environments, reducing the need for physical samples. The scientifically rigorous approach employed by Ocean™ provides solutions to a wide range of areas particularly benefits to four modern industries: product design, materials, architecture and industry.
Case study – How to generate a virtual prototype with Ocean™
The creation of an accurate virtual prototype is a precise and reliable process that is streamlined to ensure each step is completed with the highest level of accuracy. The following is a step-by-step guide for generating a virtual prototype using Ocean™:
Step 1: Import 3D model of object or scene in Ocean™:
The first step is to import the 3D model of your object or scene into Ocean™. Our realistic rendering software supports fully detailed multi-million polygon CAD models, which means there is no need to simplify your designs for the sake of simulation. Ocean™’s high-precision lighting calculations, combined with algorithms for high computational speed, allow users to work with complex and detailed models efficiently, preserving all the nuances of their original design.
Figure 7: Importing 3D data is the first step of the virtual prototyping process
Step 2: Enter optical proprieties of material(s):
To achieve accurate simulations, it is essential to input precise laboratory measurements and optical properties of the materials involved. Ocean™ excels in representing a wide range of materials, emitters or instruments based on these measurements. You can either supply your own data or lean on Eclat Digital’s expertise in materials characterization. Precise spectral measurement standards are employed to ensure that the simulations reflect real-world behaviors of materials, providing a solid foundation for the next stages.
Figure 8: Some examples of possible materials measurements necessary to generate accurate optical behavior with Ocean™.
Step 3: Run Validation & Simulation Phases with Ocean™:
Next comes the validation and simulation phase. Thanks to its precise calculation algorithm and measurements based approach, Ocean™ generates a physically true virtual prototyping, enabling its use for decision making.
The more accurate the material properties and CAD data, the more accurate the virtual prototype. For assessing the accuracy of the simulation model, a photo-render validation process can be performed in a controlled environment.
Thanks to its advanced capabilities, Ocean™ delivers results in a few minutes to a few hours. The generation time depends on several factors such as image resolution, computer performance and scene complexity.
Figure 9: Detailed materials optical properties and cad data are the two required input for the generation of an accurate virtual prototype.
Step 4: Generate lighting analysis and in-situ visualization:
At last, Ocean™ offers the ability to create comprehensive lighting analyses and in-situ visualizations. This step facilitates precise forecasting of your product’s appearance at an early stage of the design process, enabling optimal decision-making and material selection validation. You can run multiple iterations with different materials and lighting setups, performing light quantification analyses such as photometry, radiometry, spectral imaging, colorimetry, and illumination mapping. This in-depth analysis guarantees that every aspect of your design meets the desired specifications before proceeding to physical prototyping or production.
Figure 10: Last step: generation of data for fast iterations or in situ visualization
Conclusion - Enjoy the benefits of physically true digital products with Ocean™
An understanding of the meaning of virtual prototyping and its benefits reveals how this advanced technique revolutionizes optical engineering. By making use of Ocean™, engineers are able to create highly accurate digital models, simulate realistic light interactions, and analyse optical performances with an exceptional degree of accuracy. The process of virtual prototyping enhances design precision, reduces development costs, and expedites project timelines by minimizing the need for real world specimens. The scientific rigor inherent to Ocean™’s approach ensures that virtual prototypes are reliable and predictive, providing valuable insights for optical component design and material characterization. As a result, virtual prototyping not only furthers innovation, but also ensures high-fidelity simulations in optical engineering projects.
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