Measuring with a graphic user interface

To enable effective work in this environment, operation is limited to the bare essentials. The "intelligence" of the software then takes over, for example, the exact determination of the object area to be captured, the selection of the geometric element to be measured (e.g. straightness, circle, corner point) and the linking algorithms for determining features such as distances, angles and diameters ("AutoFeature" software tool, Fig. 51). To determine an angle or distance between two edges using image processing, for example, the operator simply positions the field of view of the sensor roughly on the two edges in question one after the other and triggers the automatic measurement process using a universal stylus ("Measure"). This sets the image processing windows (size and position), recognises the geometric elements to be measured and selects the algorithms required for processing. As a result, the two edges appear as straightnesses. The feature (angle or distance) is then also automatically recognised and calculated, depending on the relative position of the straightness. Other similar functions allow the measurement of distances, curve radii, circular shapes and corner points.

Simple measuring tasks can be solved in a similar way with other sensors. When measuring with stylus or distance sensors, geometry elements are roughly determined with a few points and further points are automatically distributed on the surface, measured and linked to form geometry elements. Point clouds captured with X-ray tomography or other sensors can be linked and analysed by automatically recognising the boundaries and type of geometry elements with a simple click. For more complicated measurement tasks, the procedure described above is no longer sufficient. The operator can therefore take over parts of the processes that actually run automatically (setting windows, selecting features) and familiarise himself step by step with the more detailed control of the measurement sequences. To support this, measurement points or scan lines are automatically distributed on the geometry elements to be measured, taking into account the necessary bypass paths. Measurement sequences specified in this way can be saved and called up as an automatic sequence in the event of repetition.