Messages

91

Video P*r*o*b*i*n*g / Re: Video plugin crashing windows?

« on: May 16, 2008, 01:08:31 AM »

Hello,

I have tried three laptops that have similar problems.

Compaq Armada M700, 750 MHz, Windows XP Pro

Dell Inspiron 8000, 850 MHz, Windows 2000 Pro

Dell Inspiron 8200, 1.5 GHz ?, Windows XP Pro

All for these laptops run Mach3 ok for the little bit of testing that I have done...jog, MDI, Gcode. All run the vendors software for my 3Com Watchport/V camera. All run both Mach3 and the vendors software at the same time side by side. No conflict or speed problems.

But when I try either the Video Window plugin or the 3d Video Probe plugin all have a similar problem. The video plugin works ok but the stepper clocking drops to about 1% of the normal value. That is not an exaggeration. I timed jogging and MDI. Furthermore, I was able to scan a key. It just took a few hours. The key scan point cloud is posted in another thread.

Furthermore, no matter how I exit the Video Window or 3d Video Probe, Mach3 still runs steppers at 1% of normal speed. To get the steppers running right I exit and restart Mach3.

Another situation is that if I load either the Video Window or the Video Probe then exit the plugin I cannot load the other plugin. As before, to switch plugins I have to exit and restart mach3.

Tom Hubin
thubin@earthlink.net

92

Video P*r*o*b*i*n*g / Re: Post your Point Clouds Here!

« on: May 11, 2008, 04:54:18 PM »

Hello Sid,

>> Wow- I wish my first scan turned out that good!  Nice!

Well, I did qualify that by saying it was my first (recognizable) scan. 

> Looks like you need to play with the "Ignore" variable to eliminate the Zero plane
> (or raise the key above your table a little bit).

I thought I could take that out with MachCloud. I was able to set data boundaries for positive and negative X and Y and for positive Z. Attempting to set for negative Z deleted all the data before I could mark the boundary. I would prefer to leave in some table points since thickness is a necessary characteristic of a key if you want to duplicate it or catalog it.

Of course, I am just playing with a key. There is no real goal here. However, one of my customers in the mid 1980s was interested in cataloging keys to create a data base for keys used in crimes.

Tom Hubin
thubin@earthlink.net

93

Video P*r*o*b*i*n*g / Re: Post your Point Clouds Here!

« on: May 11, 2008, 06:09:55 AM »

Here is my first recognizable cloud.

It is a small key. Too small for a house key. Probably from a mailbox or large padlock.

The file was made with MachCloud. I tried both the November and December versions of MachCloud. I have had no luck yet with the meshing feature so I am just posting the cloud.

Tom Hubin
thubin@earthlink.net

94

Video P*r*o*b*i*n*g / Re: MachCloud point viewer program

« on: May 11, 2008, 04:37:43 AM »

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

95

Video P*r*o*b*i*n*g / Re: MachCloud point viewer program

« on: May 10, 2008, 07:12:01 PM »

Hello Sid,

> Something happened to the 2nd release of Mach Cloud and although all of the dialogs appear and the
> sections DO get inserted the video part of it during the alignment is missing.  So, now I'm using the
> 1st version to 'Stitch', saving the cloud and then opening up the latest version to DECIMATE and mesh.

I scanned a penny. The PointCloud seems to have reasonable data, although the scaling is off. Nevertheless, I should get a round disc with some slightly raised surface features.  I can read it into the latest version of MachCloud but cannot manipulate it in any way. Also, the upper right view and both of the lower views are the same except for rotation. I have been unable to rotate or scale anything.

Are you still using the first version? If so, where can I get it? Maybe email it to me?

Tom Hubin
thubin@earthlink.net

96

Video P*r*o*b*i*n*g / Re: setting up cammera and laser

« on: May 10, 2008, 04:54:30 AM »

Hello Sid,

> when I mounted my camera as shown on the drawing it is upside down.
> This results in the my calibration line for my cube showing up lower rather than higher as the table (Zero).
> I used a setting in the camera driver to 'flip' the image so it appeared correctly on the screen.

I think I am having the same problem. My image needs to be inverted too. I can do this with the camera vendors software and I can do this with MS Photo Editor. Where did you find this control within Mach3?

> While this fixed the problem with my Y axis, it didin't invert my X axis.

Some camera software uses ROTATE 180 DEGREES to invert both axes. Others mirror horizontally and mirror vertically. These mirror options might be labeled MIRROR or FLIP or one of each.

Tom Hubin
thubin@earthlink.net

97

Video P*r*o*b*i*n*g / Re: Webcam Image Analysis Software

« on: May 08, 2008, 12:01:35 AM »

Much to my surprise I already have usable software.

I found out that MathCad 2000 Pro will do most of what I want for displaying the numerical values collected in an image file. See some posted in the "Improving Signal to Noise Ratio" thread.

Tom Hubin
thubin@earthlink.net

98

Video P*r*o*b*i*n*g / Re: Improving Signal to Noise Ratio

« on: May 06, 2008, 01:31:09 AM »

Hello,

I did some experiments with lighting and exposure control.

For each example the top left is a photo of my laser triangulation gauge looking down on a shiny plastic medical device. The laser shows as a single thin line of light generally from front to rear.

Only about 0.5 inch of the laser line is within the cameras field of view. Laser light outside of the cameras field of view is wasted.

The camera is on the left end of the bar and the laser module is on the right end. I have posted drawings of this setup on another thread.

Top right is what the gauge camera sees with the thin laser line hitting the shiny plastic surface. This is the image that I get in the Mach3 Video plugin.

Lower left is a contour map of the image (produced with MathCad 2000). I did everything in 8 bit black and white so light values range between 0 and 255. I also limited the camera resolution to 320 x 240, rather than 640 x 480, so as get it all to fit on my screen for these examples.

Lower right is a vertical slice through the image showing a graph of just a single column. Software would have to find the center of the laser on this line.

Exampl01 is the image with a lamp on the left side and a ceiling light. With AGC set to average, the exposure time of 1/60 sec is too long IMO. The laser signal is saturated at 255 and the noise floor is about 160. The second peak, with a value of about 245, is an edge of the device reflecting the left side lamp.

Exampl02 has the left side lamp turned off. This eliminates the reflection but the AGC increases the exposure time to 1/20 sec to try to get the average back up. This results in the laser signal even more saturated with lots of odd artifacts near it.

Exampl03 is nearly ideal, IMO. The left side light is off and the AGC is set to PEAK. The exposure time ends up at 1/244 sec and the peak of the laser signal is at, or slightly less than, 255. Noise floor is about 30 and the graphs look great.

Exampl04 has the left side light turned on and is using Peak AGC. Exposure time of 1/244 sec is the same as with the left side light off. This surprises me a little. In any case, the laser signal looks good with a narrow spike peaking at, or near, 255. Noise floor has increased to 50 or so. The reflection shows up again with a short peak of about 70. You can just barely see it in the image on the right side about 3/4 of the way up from the bottom.

Tom Hubin
thubin@earthlink.net

99

Video P*r*o*b*i*n*g / Re: setting up camera and laser

« on: May 02, 2008, 04:44:51 AM »

Hello,

Here are two photos of my laser triangulation gauge installed on my Sherline 5410 CNC mill. It is mounted on a Sherline spindle spacer block and that, in turn, is installed in place of the spindle and motor.

The third photo is the underside of the laser triangulation gauge with the camera on the left end, the laser on the right end, and the Sherline spacer attached near the center of the rear face.

I took some photos of the finished metalwork but the lighting was bad. I will retake those and post them another day.

I took some photos of the video display. They are ok but I would prefer a snapshot of the screen. How do I capture the screen as a gif or a jpg or other acceptable file format?

I also have some photos of focus procedures and experiments with agc methods. The photos need to be organized before posting so that will happen some day after another day.

Tom Hubin
thubin@earthlink.net 

100

Video P*r*o*b*i*n*g / Re: Post your Point Clouds Here!

« on: April 20, 2008, 06:03:15 AM »

Hello Sid,

> I hope others will post some point clouds too!

I wish I could. I have all the material and tool bits here now so hope to be able to build my laser triangulation gauge over the next few days. I will be attending a local amateur machinist club (http://www.cams-club.org/) meeting Thursday evening and would really like to show my laser triangulation gauge there.

After that I still have a system problem with Mach3. I have tight quarters in my apartment's small second bedroom shop. I prefer laptops to control my Sherline 5410 CNC mill and Sherline 4400 (soon to be CNC) lathe. I have been able to get Mach3 to run ok and my camera software to run ok and both to run ok simultaneously. I have also been able to get the camera to run within Mach3 for Video Window and Probing. However, Mach3 slows to a crawl, at about 1% normal speed, after either video plugin is loaded.

I have this situation on three different laptops. I may be forced to use a desktop plus keyboard plus monitor but, frankly, I have no idea where I will put all that stuff.

Tom Hubin
thubin@earthlink.net