Hello,

Thanx for the file conversion suggestions.

I used the free Vellum viewer to convert from VLM to Windows BMP. Then used Windows Paint to convert the BMP to JPG and the BMP to GIF. Smallest file is GIF (13KB), then VLM (24KB), then JPG (62KB), and finally the very large BMP (565KB) with 256 colors. The default for BMP is 24 bit color and that produced a 1.5MB file.

I use black for the drawing and blue for the dimensions. JPG changed the blue to dark blue or purple. I am red/green colorblind so cannot be sure what the blue is actually changed to. My real objection is that the new color is so dark that it looks black to me unless I study it carefully. That defeats the purpose of using a different color for dimensions.

GIF is the smallest file and the best color match for my VLM file.

I am going to post the same drawing in GIF and JPG just to see how they come out.

VLM is a small line drawing file and there is a free viewer/converter. Is adding VLM to attachable the list an option?

Tom Hubin
thubin@earthlink.net

Tom,

Your drawings look GREAT!  All those conversion steps paid off.  I'm R/G B-Blind as well and can see very clearly what you are talking about!  The .GIF has better color though!   It's not the way I have mine setup now so I think I will give your idea a try and see what happens.  Stay Tuned...

Thanks,
Sid

Here's a quick sketch to show what I was meaning about using a wedge. I used Tom's basic geometry.

I've been thinking i could probably make some resolution gratings on one of the plate imagers at work (bunch of parallel lines close together) which if you stuck it to a block setup to the laser plane angle you could use to get your focus just right. I'll definitely need one to do a Scheimflug mount test.

The wedge block is 30 degrees slope but that is irrelivant as any angle would do. What I would like to see in the scanned data would be straight lines equally spaced ... any variation on that could be attributed to optical distortion.


Cheers
Mark

PS the laser is red

Here's another one showing the 14 degree FOV

being a newbie I'm allowed to ask stupid questions (aren't I). What actually do you do with this function ? I can see you need a laser source and web cam  but can mach 3 do everything else ? do I plug the webcam in to the PC and set up a target area and tell Mach to go scanning ? I know I've over simplified but in general is this the idea? Could I also make a request to the moderators that there is a sticky post at the top of each section very very briefly explaining what that section is all about? Only a few lines but it will help the newbie tremendously in trying to find the right area to help solve their problems or read up on what they should be doing. In general though this forum is pretty splendid with a very broad knowledge base. Thanks to all who contribute especially to Art and the Team for still being as involved and as enthusiastic as ever.

Hi:

  Yes, basically you just plugin a webcam, but the laser source is also needed.. other than that Mach3 handles the rest. Pretty experimental though.. results vary by how dedicated an experimenter you are. Fun to play with though..

Art

Thanks for the response. Playing with stuff is a natural pastime of mine so I'm sure I'll be playing with this as soon as I get my system up and running. An absorbent mat underneath the object may be good as well as the correct wavelength filter. The resultant of the scan goes in to some sort of matrix file. Can it then be turned back in to G code? Similarly with the hardware probing experiments which one is producing the best results?  The good thing for this facility is the price of small lasers and web cams have dropped fantastically over the last few years almost to the point where people give them away. A real good source of powerful lasers is the LED type used in disk players.  I’ve fiddled with them before and using the DVD burner types you can actually etch wood with it. Wearing all the necessary protective gear of course as they will burn out your retinas just as quick given a chance and are infra red so you can’t see them coming to get you.[/b][/u] They also come with a small lens already matched to the laser giving you a small but very accurate dot at a give focal length.

Hi:

  Yeah, gotta watch that infra red stuff..

 You cant turn it into Gcode using Mach3, but MachCloud will create a 3d stl file for you, CAM programs liek Vectric will then create GCode..

Art

Hi Art,
I have had no success with meshing with MachCloud except your prop.txt
Is there a limit on the object size? For example when meshing the penny submitted by TomHubin the cloud disappears and no meshing is done.
Could it be a matter of parameter selection in Ball Pivot window? If so what would be proper parameters?
Best Regards,

Gaston.

Hi:

  There has to be enough samples, and not too many.. The ball meshing takes one number , the diamter of the ball, what it does is rotate a ball of that diameter across the points, and when it rests on 3 points, it makes an edge of a triangle. Usually, 1 - 4 mm is the right setting for it, but you may have th edecimate the cloud some to get it to remove enough points to allow it to work.. no secret to it.. just a lot of playing around..

Art