An international company and global leader in business aviation service has turned to 3D modeling of the plane’s interior to design, produce, and assemble Boeing B737 BBJ2 furnishings.
There were 2 steps to the project:
1. Conducting a full scan of the plane interior
A team of Creaform 3D scanning experts travelled to the client’s facilities in Germany, equipped with Handyscan 3D scanners, a Leica long-range scanner, MetraSCAN optical CMM 3D scanners with C-Track sensors and a MAXscan for the photogrammetry part. Once the data was acquired and compiled, the files were post-processed before being transferred to Creaform’s CAD Department in Lévis (Canada) for phase 2. 
2. Creating 3D model files
Using CATIA V5 software, Creaform designers reconstructed the plane’s interior, including the various elements of the plane’s structure, such as floor beams and plates, frames, longerons, mechanisms, and various types of piping and wiring. Work was broken down into parts according to the plane’s sections. Using digital files, solid models of airplane elements were recreated. These solid models can be sectioned, and planes or surfaces can be built directly on top of them. For objects with continuous sections, solid models were generated either as an extruded section following a direction or as a scanned section following a trajectory. For non-continuous parts (e.g., in the case of certain mechanisms), the elements were broken down into basic pieces that could be redefined using simple geometric functions. Surface models were used to render some objects whose shapes were too complex. The surface models were then thickened to obtain solid models. In the case of this reconstruction, the degree of precision required enabled us to reuse reconstructed elements in different places, such as for the pulleys that guide the control cables.
Finally, all reconstruction files were assembled to produce a 3D model of a Boeing B737 interior, used by the aviation service company to design, produce, and assemble the plane’s interior furnishings to meet the needs of its demanding clientele.
Are you aware of similar projects (in the aerospace industry or not) using the same process?
The Creaform Team