To access the SA Arm interface options, press the Edit Arm Settings button in the bottom left-hand corner of the interface. This takes you to the Options dialog
Arm buttons 1, 2, and 3 (if available) can be set to perform a series of functions:
None. Disables the associated button so it performs no action.
Record/Accept. The associated button will record a point or begin streaming points if pressed momentarily, and accept a dialog, accept geometry creation, or close a measurement mode if held for a few seconds.
Delete Last/Mouse Toggle. The associated button will delete the last point or pause streaming if pressed momentarily, and if held for a few seconds, will toggle the use of the arm to control the mouse cursor.
Delete Last/Cancel. The associated button will delete the last point or pause streaming if pressed momentarily, and cancel a dialog, cancel geometry creation, or close a measurement mode if held for a few seconds.
Record / Delete Last. The associated button will record a point or begin streaming points if pressed momentarily, and delete the last point if held for a few seconds.
Accept / Cancel. The associated button will accept the mode if pressed momentarily, and cancel if held for a few seconds.
Next / Previous. These controls can be used directly with Feature Inspection by progressing to the next feature if pressed momentarily, and returning to the prior feature if help for a few seconds.
Button Operations Summary
Button Operations Summary |
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Button Setting Name |
Short |
Long |
Active Meas - Short |
Active Meas - Long |
Record/Accept |
Next |
Accept Mode |
Record |
Accept |
Delete Last/Cancel |
Prior |
Mouse Pad |
Delete Last |
Cancel |
Delete Last/Mouse Toggle |
Prior |
Mouse Toggle |
Delete Last |
|
Record/Delete Last |
Next |
Prior |
Record |
Delete Last |
The button functions can also be triggered even without the arm but- tons by using the number keys on the keyboard. Press 1,2, or 3 to trigger the function of the corresponding button on the arm. You can also use Ctr+1, Ctr+2,Ctr+3 to trigger the corresponding long hold function.
Note: Toolbar button operations are hard coded.
Instrument interfaces have unit settings in addition to SA itself. Choose the active units (inches, meters, millimeters, centimeters, or feet) in this drop-down.
Clicking the Sound Options button will bring up the Sound Properties dialog.
Speech Enabled. If the SA Speech Server is running, this option will add speech prompting to the arm interface.
Test. This button can be used to verify that the speech feature is operating correctly.
Server Computer. The IP address of the computer running the speech server (leave blank if running on the current computer).
Speech Port. The network port used by the speech server (set in the Speech Server’s settings).
Test. Play a series of arm sounds to check the volume setting and verify that arm sounds are audible.
Volume (1-40). Sets the volume of the arm’s speaker (if appli- cable). If the arm is not equipped with an internal speaker, the computer’s speaker will be used instead, and this setting will have no effect.
Use for Plane Sections. When enabled, the arm will sound when the probe crosses a plane section or geometry trigger that results in a measurement.
The Fit/Meas Options button brings up a dialog where you can specify a series of options related to arm measurement and geometry fitting.
Query Rate During Measurements. Specify the rate at which the instrument is polled for data while measuring. This controls, for example, the rate at which measurements are recorded during the temporal Stream Points measurement mode, and the rate at which data is transmitted for UDP Broadcasts. Keep in mind that the requested data rate is limited by hardware, net- work, and other restrictions.
Send All Points as Cloud Points. All measured points will be sent to SA as cloud points instead of measured targets.
Send Scan Stripe Clouds (For Meshing). Enabling this option will change the cloud format sent to SA to a Scan Stripe Cloud. This format included a probing transform per scan line used in meshing. For high speed scanners Voxels can be used to reduce the data density as you scan.
The Voxel Size control and Min Points per Voxel should be familiar from SA’s Voxel controls. The #Cloud Pts per Voxelization option controls how many points are processed in a batch before they are sent to SA. This means a larger number will slow the rate data appears in the graphics.
Send Intermediate Points with Features. For measurement modes that create geometry, if checked this option will also send the measured points that created the geometry. By de- fault, these points are not sent.
Send Geometries. If disabled, geometries resulting from mea- surement modes that create geometry will not be sent to SA.
Increment Group After Measurements. When selected, the group name will increment upon the completion of a measure- ment mode.
Increment Point Names By X. Each subsequent measured point will be incremented by the specified amount.
The UDP Data Stream feature enables the instrument interface to broadcast real-time probe position and orientation over the User Datagram Protocol (UDP). This allows the interface to send this data over a network without requiring a specific data connection to be established beforehand. This means that other clients on the network can be set up to receive this data and, perhaps, do some thing useful with it.
For example, you might set up UDP data streaming to broadcast real- time 6D probe information to a custom client application that is lis- tening on the proper port for UDP data packets. This client application could take this 6D information and process it, performing a useful task (such as using the 6D information to control a motorized pan/tilt head camera mount).
Data to Send. Choose whether to send 3D coordinates (X, Y, and Z probe position) or 6D Transformations (X, Y, Z, and prob- ing vector). You must also choose whether to send this data relative to the instrument, working, or world coordinate frame.
Destination. Enter the network computer name or IP address to target for the UDP broadcast, or leave it blank to broadcast to the entire local network. You must also specify a port number to target.
To test the data being transmitted via UDP packets, use the SpatialAnalyzer UDP Monitor (available in the SA Install directory as SpatialAnalyzer UDPMonitor. Set it up with the appropriate port, then click the Start button to view the data as it arrives over the network port.
Update SA Graphics When Not Measuring. When enabled, the depiction of the arm in the graphical view will update, even when a measurement mode is not active.
Query Rate for Updates. The rate at which graphical updates will occur when not measuring. While the interface will ask the instrument for this rate, the actual update rate is limited by hardware, network, and other restrictions.
Joint Update Threshold. If a joint encoder has not rotated by the angle specified in this field, the joint’s graphical view will not update. Larger values will result in less frequent updates.
Auto-Correct Graphic Model. Due to the kinematics involved, and that fact that some manufacturers do not have fixed en- coder orientations (or they do not expose this information), sometimes the model of the arm in the graphical view may ap- pear to be oriented incorrectly. When this option is enabled, the interface will attempt to automatically correct the kinematics of the model of the arm in the graphical view. This option is exclusively for graphical purposes, and has no effect on the accuracy of the actual measurement data coming from the instrument.
Reset Model. If the model continues to be incorrect, click this button to attempt to reset the graphical representation.
Diameter. You can override the arm’s probe diameter by enter- ing a different value in this field (generally NOT recommend- ed). Click the Apply button to apply the changes.
Use Shank for Auto-Prox. When enabled the shank axis of the probe can be used with a calibrated shank probe to take proximity measurements.
Add Additional Patch Shift. Select this option to add an additional thickness for the Patch (Projected Pt.) measurement mode. This can be used, for example, to account for extra material thickness on a measured surface.
Offset. Enter the desired patch shift offset amount in this field. A positive offset implies that there is extra material on the measured part.
This button is used to load or create a translation file for the arm interface.