Jaguar Land Rover accelerates design process with OPTIS software

OPTIS, the leading software developer for the scientific simulation of light and human vision, today announced that Jaguar Land Rover is using its SPEOS software tool to quicken the design and development process at its car manufacturing sites in the UK.

Typically it can take four years to develop a new car from concept to prototype but by the use of visualization techniques enabled by OPTIS’s software, Jaguar Land Rover is able to reduce both the time and investment required to build a full sample car.

SPEOS software enables engineers to confirm that a particular design works well at all levels by the exact analysis and measurement of both the ergonomic criteria and felt quality of material surfaces from the users perspective and under unlimited lighting environment. This solution helps designers to optimize and improve the layout of the car interior, all lit graphics as well as the cars headlights by precisely developing multiple, virtual prototypes and verifying the design integration. The OPTIS software also helps with the development of more strict specifications of materials that can be used in particular cars. It can even help to determine new products.

Jaguar Land Rover also uses traditional rendering solutions, often useful for beginning marketing pictures before the development has started. The difference between these traditional solutions and SPEOS is SPEOS ability to accurately measure the physical – and thus optical – properties of the materials and lighting sources, as well as the occupants visual perception. This physics based approach ensures that the virtual prototype will accurately predict the reality of the final product and in any lighting conditions, from any outlook. There will be no last-minute surprises when the car goes into production.

OPTISs physics-based rendering SPEOS software is fully integrated in the CATIA V5 PLM solution. This is an important advantage as it processes the CAD-data generated in the design process and optically models the performance. It simulates the performance of the vehicle from the relative position of the user and helps engineers to imagine how the interior reacts with light in different conditions. It helps accurately model light sources and surfaces from the direction of each user.

SPEOS enables Jaguar Land Rover to look at the spreading of light throughout the vehicle and the internal and external effects of different components they may use, as well as the effect of a sunny or night-time environment. The optical accuracy of SPEOS helps them with standards verification, component compliance and gives them the ability to easily inspect a number of repetitions. This reduces the cost of expensive prototype parts and provides senior management an optically accurate view of the finished design.

OPTIS says that SPEOS is the only truly physics-based rendering tool with the power to model the physical properties of light and maps the path and interaction of light with different surfaces, and particularly, how these interactions will be seen by the users. The software is used throughout the design process to study the vision and visibility for different driver positions depending on size and seating configuration, helping to avoid potentially dangerous reflections for the driver.

Jaguar Land Rover are currently looking to introduce the SPEOS software into their Virtual Reality center, to allow designers, engineers and ergonomists to interact with their designs in a fully immersive 3D environment.

"We are delighted to welcome Jaguar Land Rover as a major customer," said Pete Moorhouse, VP Sales & Marketing at OPTIS. "We have worked closely with the Jaguar Land Rover team to efficiently implement our solutions and guarantee that full advantage can be taken as quickly as possible. I look forward to supporting Jaguar Land Rover throughout their virtual prototyping activities”.

Jacques Delacour, President & CEO, OPTIS, added, “I am really proud to work with Jaguar Land Rover as an Optis partner. Jaguar Land Rover is at the forefront of automotive manufacture and is using the SPEOS software in a number of innovative and exciting ways that help its design process and visualisation.”

About Jaguar Land Rover

Jaguar Land Rover is a business built around two great British car brands that design, engineer and manufacture in the UK. Jaguar Cars, founded in 1922, is one of the world’s premier manufacturers of luxury saloons and sports cars. Land Rover has been manufacturing authentic 4x4s, since 1948, which the company says define the “breadth of capability” in their respective market segments.

The Jaguar XF, XJ and XK models are manufactured at the companys Castle Bromwich plant in Birmingham. The Land Rover Freelander 2 is manufactured at the Halewood plant in Liverpool. Land Rovers Defender, Discovery 4, Range Rover Sport and Range Rover models are all built at Solihull (all UK).

The Jaguar Land Rover business employs over 16,000 people, predominantly in the UK, including some 3,500 engineers at two product development centres in Whitley in Coventry, and Gaydon in Warwickshire. The business is a major wealth generator for the UK with 78 per cent of Land Rovers exported to 169 countries and 70 per cent of Jaguars exported to 63 countries. Sales to customers are conducted principally through franchised dealers and importers.