Author: Brian Cowan

VisionGauge® OnLine version 13.38, dated April 25th, 2019, is available for download.

This update adds greater functionality to working with an overlay position during an automated program:

The Image Overlay Settings window has renamed the option to “Set Offset” of the overlay to “Move Overlay Position”.

We have also added the options to “Set Overlay Current Position” and “Output Overlay Current Position”. The Output option requires that you choose which dimension you want to output, the nominal and tolerances on the value, and the Output options (to which Data Group the data will be sent, any label information, etc.). This new Output option could be useful to determine by how much an overlay has shifted, for example, after a Auto-Align procedure.

This update also contains a significant performance improvement that will reduce latency and “waits” at many points during the system’s operation. Specifically, we have enhanced the software to optimize runtime performance, so that when the software is started up it pre-calculates a number of (long-to-compute) coefficients and then re-uses them (instead of re-computing them) when they are required.

The performance improvements that a user will obtain vary depending on the specific system configuration (typically multi-mag systems will benefit most) and also depending on how the system is used (typically, users that frequently switch back-and-forth between manual operation and automated programs should see the greatest benefit from these performance optimizations).

However, it’s worth noting that these are quite “core” performance enhancements and the system should feel “snappier” for almost all users.

Also in this update, we have restructured and greatly improved how ProLink software is used with VisionGauge® OnLine.

This update introduces the “Output on Command” mode, which is now an option to the default “Real-Time” mode. Real-Time mode sends all data sent to a Data Group to ProLink immediately. Output on Command mode allows a user to accumulate data to a file before sending a command to output all that data to ProLink at once. This helps ProLink group the data for a part and avoids ‘deleted points’ from being inserted in places where ProLink would expect data to exist that did not come in with a file.

Also, “Source” and “Extra” data that are sent with a measurement have been relocated to the measurement specific options. Previously these were defined for the entire ‘machine’, but they are now able to be defined for each measurement. In addition, “Note” data can now be sent with each measurement to better relay information about a measurement in ProLink. As before with Source and Extra data, Notes can be defined as user-selected text, or String/Numeric variables.

In addition, we made outputting results to ProLink using manual measurements easier by adding the possibility to output results directly from Data Groups. Data for a part can be accumulated in Data Groups and output all at once to ProLink when it is ready. This allows the possibility to change labels and ensure all manual measurements are correct before output.

The complete documentation for setting up and using ProLink software with VisionGauge® OnLine may be found here.

VisionGauge® OnLine version 13.26, dated February 23rd, 2019, is available for download.

The following enhancements have been made over the last few update versions:

We’ve included support to define many manual measurements using datums. This means the results of other manual measurements or specifically saved datums can be used during definition of other manual measurements.

Measurements in the General tab that support being defined by datums are:

• Point-to-Point Distance
• Horizontal Distance
• Vertical Distance
• Distance between Arbitrary Parallel Lines
• Point-based Radius
• Point-based Diameter
• 3-Point Angle
• 4-Point Angle

Measurements in the Marker to Marker tab that support being defined by datums are:

• Center of Circle
• Line Midpoint
• Point of Intersection Of Two Lines
• Orthogonal to Line
• Closest Point on a Midline

The Program Toolbox Statistics & Data Groups step has been modified to allow the user to define a directory path when saving the contents of a Data Group to file and using a String Variable as the file name. Select the “Browse” button to choose any file in the target directory, and the directory path will be used when saving the Data Group with the selected String Variable as the file name.

Program Toolbox – Statistics & Data Groups – Save a Data Group to file

We’ve added a Roll Pin Distance measurement tool which is useful for many different types of inspections, including:

• root forms of blades
• root forms of disk slots
• gear teeth
• thread teeth
• etc.

This new tool is very easy to setup and use and is extremely accurate & repeatable. Roll Pin distance measurements can be found in the Miscellaneous tab of both the manual measurement mode and the Program Toolbox Measurement step for fully-automated measurements.

Roll Pin Distance measurement

Roll pin distance measurement from a datum line

More information about the Roll Pin Distance measurement will be posted soon.

We have included some DXF format radius charts in VisionGauge® OnLine’s \LiveImageOverlays\DXF sub-directory. Operators of traditional optical comparators will already be very familiar these charts, and they could be very useful in certain instances with the VisionGauge® Digital Optical Comparator (for example: when inspecting short-arc radii).

DXF format Radius Chart in VisionGauge® OnLine

This update also adds password protection for several options from the Motion Control window, including the Set Zero, Set, Output, Home All buttons, the Coordinate System, Zero on Center Point, Skew menu items, and the individual axis zero buttons.

The Security Manager can allow operator access to these items in the Motion Control window if the option is checked. Otherwise the user will be prompted to enter the password when trying to access these items.

VisionGauge® OnLine’s Security Manager

We have added an option to apply 5-axis transforms and corrections to manual move operations (“Go All” moves from the Motion Control Toolbox). Previously, 5-axis transforms and corrections were only able to be applied during a program.

This update applies exclusively to our 700-series 5-axis Inspection and Measurement Systems. These new options can be found in the “Motion Control – Settings – Transforms – 5-Axis Transform Settings” menu. 5-Axis Corrections, 5-Axis Transforms, and the Fixture Center of Rotation Offset Corrections may be applied to manual “Go All” operations by selecting the appropriate checkbox.

When this option is selected, any coordinates that are entered directly into the “Go To” section of the Motion Control Toolbox will be transformed with the current corrections and transforms, and the stage will move to that transformed position. The “Current Position” / DRO in the Motion Control Toolbox will show the actual position of the encoders following the stage move (the transformed position).

Please note that while the 5-Axis Tranforms “Fixture Height” and polarity settings are saved with a program and may be changed by loading different motion programs into the Program Toolbox, the option to apply these transforms and corrections to manual operations is machine dependent and saves with other VisionGauge® OnLine setting files.

Applying VisionGauge® Online 5-Axis Transforms and Correction to manual operations

During the setup of Control Sections for overlays, users can now use the Select mode to choose a Control Section they would like to edit, remove, etc. Simply click Select, the using the mouse, choose the control section from the overlay.

Selecting specific Control Sections to modify during overlay setup

The procedure for writing ‘carryover’ settings has been modified to permit automatic correction in the case of incomplete shutdown procedures. If an incomplete shutdown procedure is detected, VisionGauge® Online will advise you and automatically try to repair the startup settings.

VisionGauge® OnLine version 13.01, dated August 16th, 2018, is available for download.

VisionGauge® OnLine has been updated with new measurement tools.

We’ve added a new marker-to-marker measurement tool in both manual measurement  mode and the Program Toolbox. The marker is “Orthogonal to a Line Bisecting an Angle”. Users will need to select if the angle type they want to bisect is Actue or Obtuse.

We’ve also added four new manual measurement tools in a “Miscellaneous” tab of the Manual Measurement Mode. These tools are “Parallelism”, “Perpendicularity”, “Parallelism of a Midline”, and “Perpendicularity of a Midline”. Each of these measurements are also able to be defined using previously saved datums.

And we’ve made a few changes to the Program Toolbox – Measurement user interface with regards to datums. When selecting datums, the edit boxes are now editable. This will be particularly useful for setting up measurements with large numbers of datums.