Hello Sid,
> > I downloaded the 1st version [of MachCloud] from a link that Art posted
> > in one of his messages at the beginning of this thread- should still be
> > there- if not lemme know and I'll send it to you.
Thanx. I found a November version and downloaded. Not yet installed. I
had some luck with the latest version earlier today.
> > In order to 'orbit' the view in Mach Cloud you need a wheel mouse.
> > Touchpad on a laptop won't work (at least not on mine). The roller
> > wheel allows the rotation.
Thanx for the tip. I learn something new here every day. I scrounged up
a mouse with a wheel and can now rotate views. There must be a method to
that but, so far, I just screw around on the screen until I get something I like.
> > Also Rhino is a good program for viewing the point clouds. Download
> > and viewing Clouds are free but you have a limit on saving meshed files.
That is a big (135MB I think) download and I am still on dialup. I'll
have to wait and download on somebody else's cable then write to CD.
> > Let's see some clouds!!!
Working on it but it is painfully slow. I am using a laptop that slows
to a crawl when I load the video plugin. I found a newer driver for
Windows 2000 and XP. I will try that later today. Maybe that camera
driver will be more compatible with Mach3.
I finally figured out that the scan assumes that the projected laser
line is parallel to the X axis and that a single pass scan would be in
the Y direction. I cannot rotate this version of the laser triangulation
gauge so I swapped the X and Y axis pins in Mach3 so I can test.
I tried scanning a penny. It works but the Z values vary so little that
showing Z details is a challenge. I think the resolution is there, just
difficult to demonstrate so I will work that one another time.
I am presently scanning a key. I started a single 2 inch long Y scan of
a 0.75 inch wide X path a couple of hours ago. It should be done in
another hour or two. I was not exaggerating when I said that Mach3 slows
to a crawl when I load the video probe plugin.
BTW, thanx for the tip about stopping the video to get to the Source
option to setup AGC and other options. How did you ever figure that out?
Days ago I got nothing from the Source button and the Format button
locked up Mach3 so that I had to use Ctrl-Alt-Del to get out of Mach3
and restart. And, of course, redo the calibration.
Well, that's it for now. I made a lot of progress today. Most of it in
just understanding how to use Mach3 for this. Is there a document
covering video probing?
Tom Hubin
thubin@earthlink.net
