Method and system for computer aided manufacturing measurement analysis

A computer based method comprising:

• inputting a computer aided design file containing a model of a physical object, at least one inspection surface on said physical object corresponding to an equivalent surface on said model, wherein each of said surfaces on said model is enclosed by a different defined volume,
• including a datum point common to both said model and said physical object,
• inputting the position of a surface point on an inspection surface of said physical object,
• defining at least one target volume from said defined volume that encloses said surface point,
• determining the distance between the surface on said model enclosed by said at least one target volume and said point on said physical object.

A computer based method comprising:

• inputting a computer aided design file containing a model of a physical object, at least one inspection surface on said physical object corresponding to an equivalent surface on said model wherein each of said surfaces on said model is enclosed by a different defined volume,
• including a datum point common to both said model and said physical object,
• inputting the position of a surface point on an inspection surface of said physical object,
• defining at least one target volume is from said defined volume that encloses said surface point,
• determining the distance between the surface on said model enclosed by said at least one target volume and said point on said physical object, wherein,
• each of said at least one of said defined volumes comprise the smallest possible three-dimensional region that can enclose said inspection surface.

A medium including machine-readable computer program code for managing computer aided design data, the medium including instructions for causing a computer to implement a method comprising:

• decomposing data from a computer aided design file of a model,
• saving said decomposed data in a plurality of smaller files wherein at least one of said smaller files is an analysis file which does not contain imaging data,
• accessing at least one of said analysis files to analyze the surface geometry of said model,
• wherein at least one of said smaller files comprises a list of specified surfaces on said model and data relating to the smallest possible three-dimensional region that can enclose each specified surface;
• obtaining the position of a surface point on an inspection surface of a physical object, at least one physical inspection surface on said physical object corresponding to an equivalent surface on said model, wherein each said surface on said model is enclosed by a different defined volume,
• defining at least one target volume from said defined volume that encloses said surface point,
• determining the distance between the surface on said model enclosed by said at least one target volume and said point on said physical object.

A medium including machine-readable computer program code for use in measuring a physical object, the medium including instructions for causing a computer to implement a method comprising:

• inputting a computer aided design file containing a model of a physical object, at least one inspection surface on said physical object corresponding to an equivalent surface on said model, wherein each of said surfaces on said model is enclosed by a different defined volume,
• including a datum point common to both said model and said physical object,
• inputting the position of a surface point on an inspection surface of said physical object,
• defining at least one target volume from said defined volume that encloses said surface point,
• determining the distance between the surface on said model enclosed by said at least one target volume and said point on said physical object.

A medium including machine-readable computer program code for use in measuring a physical object, the medium including instructions for causing a computer to implement a method comprising:

• inputting a computer aided design file containing a model of a physical object, at least one inspection surface on said physical object corresponding to an equivalent surface on said model, wherein each of said surfaces on said model is enclosed by a different defined volume,
• including a datum point common to both said model and said physical object,
• inputting the position of a surface point on an inspection surface of said physical object,
• defining at least one target volume is from said defined volume that encloses said surface point,
• determining the distance between the surface on said model enclosed by said at least one target volume and said point on said physical object, wherein,
• each of said at least one of said defined volumes comprise the smallest possible three-dimensional region that can enclose said inspection surface.