Messages

21

Video P*r*o*b*i*n*g / Re: New 3d Video Probe

« on: May 27, 2009, 10:59:00 PM »

OK I ordered a couple of those.  Not much to lose if they're no good.  

Now what should I be looking for in a camera?

Resolution?  Compression?  

I see a lot of the webcams on ebay claim up to 8MP but in the specs are only 640 x 480

Greg

I am using 640x480 cameras. One is the Play Station camera. There are two silver models and one black model. All seem to work ok but the silver ones are easier to mount with a flat top surface. I drilled and tapped the top surface to have the same mounting pattern as the Watchport/V series of cameras.

The Watchport/V2 camera is great but seldom turn up on ebay. Can be bought new for $125 to $200. Can get on ebay for $50 to $100 when it turns up about once every 2 or 3 months.

The Watchport/V camera is interchangeable with the Watchport/V2 but much cheaper. It is from the 1990s so does not do compression so is slower. But it works fine on many machines. Can be bought on ebay for $10 to $30 including shipping. Often the IR Blocking Filter is hazy but it is easy to remove or replace. I have a few that the factory gave me so can mail you one if need be.

Most webcams can be used but may be a pain to mount. The Watchport webcams have 1/4-20 thread on the bottom so can be mounted on most tripods. There are two 1/8 inch diameter holes on the bottom that take 1/8 inch diameter dowel pins for consistent registration.

Take a look at some of my  hardware and drawings scattered around the Mach3 Video Probing forum.

Tom Hubin
thubin@earthlink.net

22

Video P*r*o*b*i*n*g / Re: Scanning Coins

« on: May 27, 2009, 10:40:11 PM »

Here is the zipped xyz file.

23

Video P*r*o*b*i*n*g / Re: Scanning Coins

« on: May 27, 2009, 10:38:22 PM »

Here is the GIF file.

24

Video P*r*o*b*i*n*g / Scanning Coins

« on: May 27, 2009, 10:32:57 PM »

Hello,

Note: I am having trouble attaching the files so they may show up on another message.


Here is another scan of a penny shown in a GIF file. This is about 63Kb. Rhino was used to import the xyz file and create multiple views. Then saved using Ctrl-PrtScr to copy to the clipboard. Then pasted into mspaint.exe. Then saved as a GIF file.

One of the options with my Mach3 plugin, Scan3d, is scaling for each axis. This can be used to exaggerate features. Negative scale values can be used to produce a point cloud file for a mirror image.

The Z data is exaggerated by a factor of 10. Oddly, it appears that the surface of the penny is bowl shaped.

The data is in the zipped xyz file. This is about 3Mb compressed and 12Mb uncompressed. It is plain text with space between numbers. Each line of data has x,y,z and total intensity and intensities for red, green, and blue components. The RGB components range from 0 to 255 each. The total intensity is the sum of color values and ranges from 0 to 765.

This scan was done with a Watchport/V2 camera using a 12mm f/2 lens.

Tom Hubin
thubin@earthlink.net

25

Video P*r*o*b*i*n*g / Re: New 3d Video Probe

« on: May 27, 2009, 06:30:40 PM »

This looks interesting Tom.

Thanks very much for sharing your work.

What sort of line laser is needed or recommended?

This is one cheap one I found.  Same as the cross one that I presently use for job setup.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5928

Thanks,  Greg

Hello Greg,

Mine is similar, almost identical. See link below for more detail.

http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,4989.msg50288.html#msg50288

Tom Hubin
thubin@earthlink.net

26

Finished Plugins for Download / Re: 3d Video Probe

« on: May 27, 2009, 01:16:50 AM »

hello,

Here is a screenshot of Scan3d.

The laser line is cutting across a 3/4 inch diameter cylinder.

Tom Hubin
thubin@earthlink.net

27

Video P*r*o*b*i*n*g / Re: New 3d Video Probe

« on: May 26, 2009, 09:15:25 PM »

Hello,

I just uploaded the latest version of my 3d video probe plugin called Scan3d.

"http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,10958.msg74209.html#msg74209"

I included the source code with an "Open Source" license for those who wish to explore writing programs for accessing webcams.

Testing is somewhat limited right now since I have been away from home and my shop for the last 6 weeks.

Tom Hubin
thubin@earthlink.net

28

Finished Plugins for Download / Re: 3d Video Probe

« on: May 26, 2009, 09:06:36 PM »

Hello,

Attached is the latest version of my 3d video scanner plugin for Mach3. The plugin file is Scan3d.dll and the little bit of documentation that I have, so far, is Scan3d.doc.

I have included the source code as "Open Source" for those of you who wish to fiddle with video plugins for personal use or to share your own as "Open Source".

I use the older VFW (Video For Windows) routines. More modern camera calls would be better but I do not have time to pursue that right now. Perhaps somebody else can tackle that or point me to equivalent calls for the camera operations.

Most of the camera access is in the file Video.cpp. The remaining files were adapted from James Leonard's plugin tutorial at "http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,4884.0.html".

Tom Hubin
thubin@earthlink.net

29

Mach SDK plugin questions and answers. / Re: Posting Open Source Code

« on: May 06, 2009, 01:40:11 PM »

Tom,

If you want to require that a user of your plugin source code publish full source to their derivative work then you probably want the FSF GPL.  See it here:

http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/

-James

Hello James,

I read the material which attempts to point out the difference between "Free Software" and "Open Source". It is not at all clear which is appropriate for me. So I will continue my quest with a couple more questions.

Are any of the other Mach plugins including source code? If so, with what license?

Tom Hubin
thubin@earthlink.net

30

Mach SDK plugin questions and answers. / Re: Posting Open Source Code

« on: May 02, 2009, 09:10:27 PM »

Hello again,

I was not clear in my post. I do plan to zip the plugin directory and subdirectiories.

What I want is something that declares it as open source, like you would expect for Linux programs like EMC. I want to share with those who will also share their source code. That does not mean that you cannot sell derivative programs, as long as you provide source code for free, just as I am doing.

Tom Hubin
thubin@earthlink.net