About Laser Projection

A laser projection is used in manufacturing shop floors.
Basically, it projects the shape of the ply to be laid on the mold by the operator for better positioning.

The following formats are used to exchange information:

  • VIRTEK (.ply for plies information, .cal for calibration points information)
  • LPT (.xml, with one file for plies information and one for target points information)
  • LASERGUIDE (.lg)
  • LAP (.lpd, .cal).

Laser Projection Export

When generating laser projection information, you can complete plies and points information with:

  • Additional Geometries, taken into account provided Laser Projection Export has been selected at their creation.
  • Stacking Texts defined in Composites Design or Composites Manufacturing Preparation.
  • Projected Texts if the option is selected in Laser Projection.

Laser Projection Export is done in two main steps: Discretization, then elevation.

  • As soon as entities are selected, all the curve-type geometries for each ply/cut-piece are discretized.
    They can be
    • Inner and outer ply contours
    • Additional curve-type geometries
    • Guide curves
    • Orders of drape.
  • Discretization points are elevated from the reference surface taking the cured or uncured thickness into account.
    The thickness is given by a core sample.
  • The rosette is transferred at the seed point, if any, at the computed central point otherwise.

As soon as a discretization is done, a preview tree displays the elements to export and the projectors, enabling you to check the elements.

Laser Projection File Reader

As in export, a preview tree displays the read elements.

Preview Tree

The preview tree displays the elements to export or to read in nodes, according to the options selected in Laser Projection.

The information in the preview tree are very similar in both commands. However, less information are provided at reading (contour information or projector information, for example).

Selecting a node in the preview tree lets you check the elements in the node. It does not select the elements for export.

Each element node corresponds to:

  • A LAYER level in VIRTEK format.
  • A xml node level in LPT format.
  • A PLY command in LASERGUIDE format.
  • A DRAWING/LAYER/GROUP in LAP format.

Ply and cut-piece nodes contain detail nodes for each element:

  • Rosette
  • Contours
  • Guide curve
  • Order of drape contours
  • Additional geometries:
    • Just like ply geometries, all visible curve-type geometries found in Additional Geometries Sets are discretized and exported.
    • Closed curves are marked as Additional contours in the corresponding node.
    • Open curves are marked as Additional curves.
    • In all formats, the curves and contours are exported as the other ply geometries (contours, seed curves, ...).
  • Stacking Texts are inserted in the preview tree, and exported in the file layers or xml nodes, at the same position they have in the specification tree.
    The type of the text is given between brackets
    • Text (projected) if the text is with 3D representation and if 3D option is chosen as  its laser projection type.
      It is projected on the mold alongside the other geometries.
    • For VIRTEK format:
      Text (information)       if Information option is chosen as its laser projection type. It is displayed on the console.
      Text (query) if Query option is chosen as its laser projection type. It is displayed on the console and validation is requested.
      Text (LED) if LED option is chosen as its laser projection type. It is displayed on the LED display.
    •  For LPT format:
      Text (information) if Information, Query or LED option is chosen as its laser projection type. It is displayed on the console.
      Ignored (no node) if 3D Stacking Text is outside plies or cut-pieces.
    • For LASERGUIDE format:
      Comment if Information, Query or LED option is chosen as its laser projection type.
      Ignored (no node) if 3D Stacking Text is outside plies or cut-pieces.
    • For LAP format:
      Ignored (no node)       if Information, Query or LED option is chosen as its laser projection type or if Stacking Text is outside plies or cut-pieces.   
  • Automatic text when Projected Text is selected.
    The text is added under each ply or cut-piece node in the preview tree and therefore in the corresponding LAYER (VIRTEK format), xml node (LPT format), PLY block (LASERGUIDE format) or GROUP (LAP format).
    The text is displayed in the preview tree as Automatic Text (projected).
    It is visible in graphic area when the node is selected (or its parent ply node).
    3D representation is the same as a Stacking Text with 3D representation and placed below the transferred rosette, in the same plane as the rosette and along the x direction of the rosette.

The result font of 3D texts projected by the actual projector may be different in shape and length, but the height remains the same. Polygonal representations are the same.

Display Options

Display options are proposed in Laser Projector, Laser Projection Export and Laser Projection File Reader.
Although similar, they vary from one command to the other.

  • Normal Vectors. They are colored green, yellow or red depending on the angle they form with the ray line from the projector to the discretization point. When no projector is available, the vectors are colored green. When several projectors are available, the color of the normal vector is that of the shortest ray with an angle below the warning angle. The aim is to check that the plies and cut-pieces can be projected, not to show all solutions.
  • Original Contours of the ply or cut-piece on the reference surface to be compared with the discretized ones.
  • Laser Projection Rays that are the lines from the projector to the discretization points. When several projectors are available, for each discretization point, the projector considered is the closest projector with a ray-normal angle smaller than the warning angle.
  • Vertical Limit Planes with respect to the maximum vertical angle of the projector.
  • Horizontal Limit Planes with respect to the maximum horizontal angle of the projector.
  • Size of Normal Vectors
  • Color of the Projector Rays and of the Projected Elements.

Examples of Files

Extract of a .ply file

LAYER START Plies Group.1
LAYER START Sequence.1
LAYER START Ply.1
START Ply.1
P 3
242.604 62.809 -72.223 0 0.652 0.758
222.679 48.544 -58.311 0 0.698 0.716
212.716 55.676 -65.267 0 0.676 0.737
P 31
212.5 112.41 -105.855 0 0.474 0.88
150 112.41 -105.855 0 0.474 0.88
87.5 112.41 -105.855 0 0.474 0.88
25 112.41 -105.855 0 0.474 0.88
25 102.132 -100.009 0 0.514 0.858
25 92.194 -93.747 0 0.552 0.834
25 82.596 -87.102 0 0.586 0.81
25 73.331 -80.102 0 0.619 0.786
25 67.332 -75.249 0 0.639 0.769
25 61.471 -70.254 0 0.658 0.753
25 50.139 -59.856 0 0.693 0.721
25 40.781 -50.488 0 0.721 0.693
25 31.77 -40.748 0 0.747 0.665
25 23.095 -30.643 0 0.77 0.638
25 14.748 -20.18 0 0.793 0.61
87.5 14.748 -20.18 0 0.793 0.61
150 14.748 -20.18 0 0.793 0.61
212.5 14.748 -20.18 0 0.793 0.61
275 14.748 -20.18 0 0.793 0.61
275 23.095 -30.643 0 0.77 0.638
275 31.77 -40.748 0 0.747 0.665
275 40.781 -50.488 0 0.721 0.693
275 50.139 -59.856 0 0.693 0.721
275 61.471 -70.254 0 0.658 0.753
275 67.332 -75.249 0 0.639 0.769
275 73.331 -80.102 0 0.619 0.786
275 82.596 -87.102 0 0.586 0.81
275 92.194 -93.747 0 0.552 0.834
275 102.132 -100.009 0 0.514 0.858
275 112.41 -105.855 0 0.474 0.88
212.5 112.41 -105.855 0 0.474 0.88
END Ply.1
LAYER END Ply.1
LAYER END Sequence.1

Extract of .cal file

4
T 1 D 25 162.459 -126.061
T 2 D 275 162.459 -126.061
T 3 D 160.121 71.803 -104.222
T 4 D 222.679 48.404 -58.454

Extract of .xml file (plies information)

<?xml version="1.0"?>
-<XML>
-<PART TopLayers="3" HIGHESTPLY="135" USEASSIGNEDLASERS="" DEFAULTLASER="0" MODIFIED="2016-03-03-11.28.13" INVERTNORMALS="" DBVERSION="" STATUS="" NAME="vmua">
-<PLY NAME="L1-Ply.40">
-<PLY NAME="L2-Ply.40:0" LASERNUMBER="1">
<POINT NAME="" KVAL="-0.727" JVAL="-0.687" IVAL="0" ZVAL="-95.185" YVAL="69.445" XVAL="183.016" NUMBER="1"/>
<POINT NAME="" KVAL="-0.727" JVAL="-0.687" IVAL="0" ZVAL="-70.899" YVAL="43.751" XVAL="147.661" NUMBER="2"/>
<POINT NAME="" KVAL="-0.727" JVAL="-0.687" IVAL="0" ZVAL="-22.326" YVAL="-7.637" XVAL="218.372" NUMBER="3"/>
</PLY>
-<PLY NAME="L3-Ply.40:1" LASERNUMBER="1">
<POINT NAME="" KVAL="-0.567" JVAL="-0.824" IVAL="0" ZVAL="-10.856" YVAL="-7.371" XVAL="295" NUMBER="1"/>
<POINT NAME="" KVAL="-0.644" JVAL="-0.765" IVAL="0" ZVAL="-41.197" YVAL="15.753" XVAL="295" NUMBER="2"/>
<POINT NAME="" KVAL="-0.721" JVAL="-0.693" IVAL="0" ZVAL="-68.791" YVAL="41.541" XVAL="295" NUMBER="3"/>
<POINT NAME="" KVAL="-0.811" JVAL="-0.585" IVAL="0" ZVAL="-97.36" YVAL="75.621" XVAL="295" NUMBER="4"/>
<POINT NAME="" KVAL="-0.855" JVAL="-0.519" IVAL="0" ZVAL="-109.87" YVAL="94.472" XVAL="295" NUMBER="5"/>
<POINT NAME="" KVAL="-0.896" JVAL="-0.443" IVAL="0" ZVAL="-121.294" YVAL="114.414" XVAL="295" NUMBER="6"/>
<POINT NAME="" KVAL="-0.958" JVAL="-0.287" IVAL="0" ZVAL="-137.171" YVAL="151.744" XVAL="295" NUMBER="7"/>
<POINT NAME="" KVAL="-0.981" JVAL="-0.192" IVAL="0" ZVAL="-143.754" YVAL="171.65" XVAL="295" NUMBER="8"/>
<POINT NAME="" KVAL="-0.997" JVAL="-0.081" IVAL="0" ZVAL="-147.64" YVAL="192.329" XVAL="295" NUMBER="9"/>
<POINT NAME="" KVAL="-0.999" JVAL="0.039" IVAL="0" ZVAL="-148.088" YVAL="212.618" XVAL="295" NUMBER="10"/>
<POINT NAME="" KVAL="-0.985" JVAL="0.172" IVAL="0" ZVAL="-145.959" YVAL="232.783" XVAL="295" NUMBER="11"/>
<POINT NAME="" KVAL="-0.935" JVAL="0.356" IVAL="0" ZVAL="-138.644" YVAL="259.427" XVAL="295" NUMBER="12"/>
<POINT NAME="" KVAL="-0.853" JVAL="0.522" IVAL="0" ZVAL="-126.175" YVAL="284.729" XVAL="295" NUMBER="13"/>
<POINT NAME="" KVAL="-0.853" JVAL="0.522" IVAL="0" ZVAL="-126.175" YVAL="284.729" XVAL="5" NUMBER="14"/>
<POINT NAME="" KVAL="-0.935" JVAL="0.356" IVAL="0" ZVAL="-138.644" YVAL="259.427" XVAL="5" NUMBER="15"/>
...</PLY>
<TEXT NAME="1" PT3ZVAL="26.246" PT3YVAL="-59.025" PT3XVAL="147.661" PT2ZVAL="-22.326" PT2YVAL="-7.637" PT2XVAL="218.372" PT1ZVAL="-70.899" PT1YVAL="43.751" PT1XVAL="147.661" VALUE="Ply.40"/>
</PLY>
</PART>
</XML>

Extract of .xml file (target points information)

<?xml version="1.0"?>
-<XML>
-<TOOL TOOLCODE="" STATUS="" COORDSYSTEM="RIGHT" MODIFIED="2016-03-03-11.28.14" NAME="vmub" DBVERSION="">
<TARGET NAME="Point.1" SEARCHRATIO="1.0" ZVAL="-126.061" YVAL="162.459" XVAL="275" DVAL="Y" LASERNUMBER="1" NUMBER="1"/>
<TARGET NAME="Point.19" SEARCHRATIO="1.0" ZVAL="-101.832" YVAL="68.518" XVAL="195.779" DVAL="Y" LASERNUMBER="1" NUMBER="2"/>
<TARGET NAME="Point.20" SEARCHRATIO="1.0" ZVAL="-80.933" YVAL="43.099" XVAL="79.575" DVAL="Y" LASERNUMBER="1" NUMBER="3"/>
<TARGET NAME="Point.21" SEARCHRATIO="1.0" ZVAL="-151.805" YVAL="197.793" XVAL="73.237" DVAL="Y" LASERNUMBER="1" NUMBER="4"/>
<TARGET NAME="Point.22" SEARCHRATIO="1.0" ZVAL="-151.629" YVAL="194.743" XVAL="182.877" DVAL="Y" LASERNUMBER="1" NUMBER="5"/>
<TARGET NAME="Point.8" SEARCHRATIO="1.0" ZVAL="-76.567" YVAL="38.393" XVAL="147.661" DVAL="Y" LASERNUMBER="1" NUMBER="6"/>
</TOOL>
</XML>