Aesthetix®: The Ultimate Surface Finish Solution​

Aesthetix® is an advanced system that predicts the impact of surface quality on consumer perception using new measurement metrics.

This modular device measures all aspects of surface quality, including glossiness, texture, topography, surface patterns, and visual homogeneity. Adaptable to various workflows, it can measure flat, curved, and small areas with contact or non-contact methods. Aesthetix® can distill complex measurement into easy to understand perception parameters which can be used to set pass/fail tolerances. Enhanced with Rhopoint Appearance Elements software, it supports data sharing, storage, analysis and reporting, making it a comprehensive tool for surface quality assessment.

THE ULTIMATE SURFACE CHARACTERISATION TOOL

Rhopoint Instruments has launched its new Aesthetix optical surface characterisation tool: a brand-new product of exceptional versatility containing a camera that mimics visual surface perception. Aesthetix is the ultimate in surface characterisation tools because it offers measurement of the following appearance characteristics:

• Traditional gloss and new perception-based contrast gloss
• Haziness and waviness of surface
• Reflected image sharpness
• Surface texture and roughness
• RGB colour analysis
• Sparkle and graininess

Rhopoint’s Aesthetix comprises a screenless hand-held sensor that combines built-in hardware as standard while offering customisation in design and use. When paired with Rhopoint’s modular Appearance Elements software, the hand-held Aesthetix sensor offers unrivalled versatility for surface measurement through the options afforded by exchangeable design components. The standard hand-held sensor has a magnetic base that is removable and interchangeable and allows for non-contact measurement of materials, as well as curved surfaces and small components, which further extends the versatility of the sensor.

Essentially, Aesthetix becomes the ultimate instrument for measuring high-gloss surfaces by overcoming the well-known limitations of traditional gloss meters. Aesthetix allows the measurement of haze, orange peel and poor DOI which are not characterised in traditional glossimetry techniques.

Aesthetix may be plugged directly into a Windows 10 or 11 compatible device and may also be used in conjunction with collaborative robots (‘cobots’) in automated workflows such as high-throughput experimentation. It works through USB-3.0 connection, operates without batteries and is ideally suited to the laboratory environment, but also offers some portability by being tablet-compatible. It also boasts no less than nine interior light sources – six of them arranged in a ring – and offers on-screen resolution of 10 μm/pixel – a power similar to a 100x laboratory microscope; Rhopoint Appearance Elements software facilitates digital image capture of any surface under analysis. The product is the result of extensive R&D co-operation with scientists at the University of Leuven in Belgium and a broader research co-operation with some of the world’s leading surface coatings manufacturers.

Rhopoint’s modular Appearance Elements software system is under continuous development and three different modules are already available to industry. These modules offer the metrics to measure surface brilliance, effect finishes and textures.

• The surface brilliance module offers a combination of metrics for the characterisation of any high-gloss surface by measuring the following: gloss, visual gloss, haze, sharpness, distinctness of image (DOI), waviness, luminance, and RGB colour.
• The effect finish module is for coatings containing effect pigments for sparkle and coarseness. It measures coarseness, RGB colour, luminance, haze, sparkle density, sparkle visibility, waviness and gloss and is ideal for companies in the automotive and consumer goods industries.
• The texture module is ideally suited to industries where textured surfaces and finishes are in widespread use such as automotive interiors, leather and powder coatings. It measures cell amplitude, cell count and size, reflectivity, luminance, RGB colour and gloss.