Tag: software features

VisionGauge Digital Optical Comparator Featured Software Tools

The VisionGauge® OnLine software drives the VisionGauge® Digital Optical Comparator. This powerful machine vision software for automated inspection, verification, and data collection includes state-of-the-art vision tools for defect detection, pattern matching, automated measurement, optical character recognition, blob analysis, and much more. VisionGauge® OnLine features exclusive tools for use with our VisionGauge® Digital Optical Comparators, many of which are listed below.

Patented CAD Auto-Align™ – Automatic CAD Overlay Alignment

The VisionGauge® Digital Optical Comparator's CAD Auto-Align™ tool automatically aligns the CAD data to the part.

 

The VisionGauge® Digital Optical Comparator’s ground-breaking CAD Auto-Align™ tool automatically aligns the CAD data to the part, drastically reducing inspection times and obtaining increased accuracy.

Patented CAD Auto Pass/Fail™ – Automatic Pass/Fail Results

The VisionGauge® Digital Optical Comparator's patented CAD Auto Pass/Fail™ tool allows you to automatically determine, very accurately and in real-time, if a part is within tolerance.

 

The VisionGauge® Digital Optical Comparator’s patented CAD Auto Pass/Fail™ tool accurately computes and displays, in real time, a part’s deviation from nominal, to automatically determine with a Pass/Fail result if a part is within tolerance.

VisionGauge®’s Patent Pending “Tooth Checker™” Tool

Bone screw teeth verification with the VisionGauge® “Tooth Checker™” tool

 

VisionGauge®’s powerful and innovative new patented “Tooth Checker™” tool automatically locates, to very high accuracy, the crests and / or roots of  a part’s teeth or threads and determines if they are within their tolerance band.

Advanced Auto-Pass/Fail Analysis & Report Tools

CAD Auto-Pass/Fail Entity Cross Section Analysis on a Fir Tree InspectionVisionGauge®’s Advanced Auto-Pass/Fail Analysis and Report tools allow operators to easily review, explore, and label CAD Auto-Pass/Fail™ results at each cross section of interest in the field-of-view.

Specifying Tolerances for CAD Overlay Tools

CAD Auto-Pass/Fail inspection on a condyle implant

 

VisionGauge® OnLine has an easy and intuitive interface for specifying tolerances on CAD overlay files used with the CAD Auto-Align™ and CAD Auto-Pass/Fail™ tools. You can also read-in tolerances directly from the CAD file. Multiple tolerance types are supported with different display options.

True Position Measurements (Position Tolerance)

True Position measurement of a cylindrical feature inspected using Cartesian basic dimensions

 

Easily define features with datums, then automatically determine if the Actual occurrence of a feature falls within the Nominal’s allowable tolerance zone with VisionGauge® OnLine’s True Position measurement tool (Position Tolerance).

VisionGauge® Edge Break Measurement Tool

Automated edge break measurements

VisionGauge®’s Edge Break Measurement tool automatically locates to high-accuracy, the edge breaks of lines – including sharp, rounded, and chamfered edges. Lines are automatically calculated at any orientation and there are no limitations to the angle at which the edges meet.

Thread Inspection and Measurement Tools

Thread measurements with VisionGauge®

The new VisionGauge® Thread Inspection and Measurement tools are designed to meet strict quality inspection requirements with automatic measurements on various types of parts with threads, extremely quickly and to high accuracy.

Pattern Matching Tools

pattern matching tools - sample

VisionGauge® includes powerful pattern matching tools useful in solving a wide range of applications. These robust tools can quickly and accurately identify and locate objects and features without limitations.

Remote Program Communications for Quality Inspection in Cell Automation

Direct machinery robotic interface for visual inspection with VisionGauge

VisionGauge® Remote Program Communications features makes it easy to interface with a robot or other part-positioning equipment to fully automate and coordinate quality inspection operations.

True Position Measurements (Position Tolerance)

VisionGauge® OnLine programs can take advantage of our new True Position measurement tool. True Position (sometimes referred to as “Position Tolerance”) is the total permissible variation that a feature can have from its “true” position. VisionGauge® OnLine’s approach to True Position allows a user to define a Nominal feature whose position is compared to the Actual occurrence of that feature. Features are defined using datums that have been set in previous program steps, using VisionGauge® OnLine’s rich measurement toolset to specify points. Nominal features can be defined using either Cartesian or Polar coordinates, which makes this software tool versatile in solving different types of applications. Nominal features can also be offset from a position using Basic Dimensions in the current measurement units.

VisionGauge® Online presently supports Cylindrical (point location) and Non-Circular (line) features of size. The Nominal tolerance zone is displayed along with the Actual feature location. As with all VisionGauge® Online measurements, results – including a Pass/Fail result – can be automatically output to Data Groups and other reporting options.

True Position – Cylindrical (Cartesian)

True Position measurement of a cylindrical feature inspected using Cartesian basic dimensions
True Position measurement of a cylindrical feature inspected using Cartesian basic dimensions

In the above example, the hole’s nominal center point is defined precisely 1.250 inches vertically and horizontally from the corner of the part. The actual center of the hole is located, and the software automatically computes the True Position of the feature and reports a Pass/Fail result based on the diametric tolerance zone defined.

True Position – Cylindrical (Polar)

True Position measurement of a cylindrical feature inspected using Polar basic dimensions
True Position of a cylindrical feature inspected using Polar basic dimensions

In this example, the hole’s nominal center point is defined precisely at 60 degrees clockwise on a radius of .750 inches centered about the part’s center hole. The actual center of the hole is located, and the software automatically computes the True Position of the feature and reports a Pass/Fail result based on the diametric tolerance zone defined.

True Position – Non-Circular (Polar)

True Position of a non-circular feature inspected using Polar basic dimensions
True Position of a non-circular feature inspected using Polar basic dimensions

In this example, the nominal centerline is defined precisely at 45 degrees clockwise and centered about the part’s center hole. The actual centerline of both teeth on the spline is located, and the software automatically computes the True Position of the feature and reports a Pass/Fail result based on the tolerance zone defined (equidistant and parallel to the nominal centerline).

Please contact us with your application requirements, and visit our Applications page for more examples of applications we can solve.

True Position Measurements (software feature)

VisionGauge®’s Patent Pending “Tooth Checker™” Tool

VisionGauge®’s Patent Pending “Tooth Checker™” tool is specially adapted to check parts
with teeth

VisionGauge®’s powerful and innovative patent pending “Tooth Checker™” tool automatically locates, to very high accuracy, the crests and / or roots of  a part’s teeth or threads and determines if they are within their tolerance band. It can also determine all other part characteristics, such as tooth pitch, thread depth, major & minor diameters, etc…

Bone screw teeth verification with the VisionGauge® “Tooth Checker™” tool
  • Fully automated
  • Completely independent of part orientation & clocking
  • With a rotary stage the crest and root points can be used to calculate part runout
  • Can also be applied to parts that are larger than the field-of-view
  • The tool is usable in both manual and fully-automated modes (i.e. within an automated program)
  • The tool produces a PASS / FAIL result (which can be exported and used in all of the same ways as the current PASS / FAIL results) and also shows where the part passes and where it fails
  • Supports linearly variable tolerances, plus/minus tolerances, plus/plus tolerances, minus/minus tolerances, etc…
  • Smart “Adaptive Thresholding” automatically disregards point imperfections

Perfect for quickly and accurately checking:

  • Bone screws
  • Medical rasps
  • Gears
  • Fluted Instruments
  • Threads & fittings
  • Etc…
Medical Rasp Inspection and Verification

The Tooth Checker tool can check that either crests, roots, or both, are in tolerance

Automatic thread inspection: Automatically detect crests and roots in major/minor diameters of teeth or screw threads with VisionGauge®’s new Patent Pending “Tooth Checker™”.

Quick & Easy to Set Up!

VisionGauge Tooth Checker Nomenclature

Using the crest & root points that the Tooth Checker tool has found, it can then automatically determine all other part characteristics

Overview Video:

Our new Advanced Analysis and Report tools also allow operators to follow-up a Tooth Checker™ operation to review, explore, and label results at each cross section of interest in the field-of-view.

CAD Auto-Pass/Fail Entity Cross Section Analysis on a Fir Tree Inspection

Download a .pdf version of this VisionGauge® Digital Optical Comparator Application note here.

CAD Auto-Align™ – Automatic CAD Overlay Alignment

Automatic CAD Overlay Alignment with New Enhanced CAD Auto-Align™

(Patented & Other Patents Pending)

VisionGauge®’s groundbreaking CAD Auto-Align™ tool automatically aligns a CAD overlay to a part. This gives VisionGauge® its unique ability to carry out fully-automated CAD-to-part comparison.

The VisionGauge® Digital Optical Comparator's CAD Auto-Align™ tool automatically aligns the CAD data to the part.

VisionGauge®’s patented CAD Auto-Align™ tool allows you to drastically reduce inspection times and obtain increased accuracy. This powerful tool is very fast (it typically takes just a few seconds) and it produces repeatable and accurate results that are completely operator-independent!

It’s a very general-purpose tool and the CAD-to-part alignment can be carried out along either a single or multiple datums or as an overall best-fit. The tool can carry out both translation and / or rotation alignment. You can easily apply it to meet the requirements of your specific application!

VisionGauge®’s CAD Auto-Align™ tool can be used to solve many different applications across a very wide range of industries including medical, aviation & aerospace, power & energy, military & defense, tooling, packaging, electronics & semiconductors and many, many more. This tool is the ideal solution whenever you need to compare a part to its CAD data.

(New) CAD Auto-Align™ beyond the field-of-view and depth-of-field

VisionGauge®’s CAD Auto-Align™ tool has now been enhanced to make it even more widely applicable. The tool can now be applied to very large parts that extend way beyond the system’s optical field-of-view. And in the same way, it can now be used on parts that have very large variations in depth and height, much larger than the system’s optical depth-of-field.

When dealing with large parts, the system scans the part (a single time) and captures and stores images of all of the areas of interest as well as the precise location at which each image is taken (using the system’s high-accuracy encoder readings). VisionGauge®’s proprietary algorithm then iteratively aligns the CAD to the part, across all of the images and along all of the prescribed datums. As these calculations quickly converge to the correct solution, the system does not need to revisit any of the image capture locations, thus tremendously speeding up the overall operation. All of the calculations throughout the entire process are carried out on the initial image buffers. This results in tremendous time savings and very fast overall performance, even when dealing with very large parts.

Furthermore, because there is no limit on the number of images used to encompass all of the part’s datums and features of interest, it is possible to carry out this CAD Auto-Align™ operation at high magnification, which produces very high accuracy results, even in the case of large parts.

5x hip implant inspection

Image 2: 5X magnification – hip stem
Previously, the CAD Auto-Align™ tool operated on a single field-of-view. This means that for larger parts, a lower magnification needed to be used. This necessarily produced lower resolution and accuracy

Multi-FOV CAD Auto-Align
10x hip implant inspection
10x hip implant inspection (section 2)
10x hip implant inspection (section 3)

Image 3: 10X magnification – hip stem
Because the new enhanced CAD Auto-Align™ tool can now use multiple images to cover all of the part’s features of interest, it imposes absolutely no limitation on magnification and produces results of maximum resolution and accuracy.

For example: Images 2 and 3 above show the same hip stem. In Image 2, a lower (i.e. 5X) magnification is used so that the entire part fits within the field-of-view. In Image 3, a higher (i.e. 10X) magnification is used and the entire part is covered using 3 images. VisionGauge®’s new enhanced CAD Auto-Align™ tool carries out the CAD-to-part alignment across all 3 of these images and – because the system resolution is higher at 10X than at 5X – it produces a higher resolution and higher accuracy results.

Turbine blade inspection at 10x magnification

Image 4: Turbine blade fir tree at a lower (10X) magnification to fit the entire part inside a single field-of-view.

20x magnification Turbine Blade inspection
20x magnification Turbine Blade inspection (section 2)

Image 5: The same turbine blade fir tree as above, but this time covered using 2 images taken at a higher (20X) magnification. VisionGauge®’s new enhanced CAD Auto-Align™ tool carries out the CAD-to-part alignment using both images. This approach produces an overall result of higher accuracy.

And in the same way that VisionGauge®’s enhanced CAD Auto-Align™ tool is able to deal with parts that are larger than the system’s (XY) field-of-view, it can also overcome depth-of-field limitations. Specifically: in applications where the variations of the part’s height or depth (i.e. along the Z axis) are greater that the system’s optical depth-of-field, images taken at different Z positions can be included in the image set. VisionGauge®’s new calculation algorithm is then able to carry out a CAD Auto-Align™ over the image entire set, taken at different Z (and also possibly X and/ or Y) positions and best-fit the CAD to the part in these situations as well.

All of these new enhancements are the subject of new patent applications.

And, as previously, the results of VisionGauge®’s CAD Auto-Align™ operation can then be analyzed by VisionGauge®’s patented CAD Auto-Pass/Fail™ tool, all of which provide VisionGauge® with its unique and powerful ability for fully-automated high-accuracy part-to-CAD comparison.

(New) CAD-Fitting™ Tool

VisionGauge®’s new “CAD Fitting™” tool

VisionGauge®’s patented CAD Auto-Align™ tool aligns the CAD nominal to the part at user-specified control sections. It does this in a least-squares sense, i.e. it minimizes the sum of the squared deviations from nominal over all of the control sections.

In most cases, this is ideal. However, there are some situations where it might not be the absolute optimal approach. For example: we can imagine an (extreme) situation where the result of the CAD Auto-Align™ calculation would have the CAD nominal perfectly aligned with the part at all of the control sections except one, at which the part would be just outside the tolerance band. This could lead to a “Fail” result. In this example, the optimal solution might be to slightly modify the alignment (still respecting all of the prescribed constraints) so as to “bring the part back into the tolerance band” at the one control section where this was not the case. This could result in the part slightly “moving away from the CAD nominal” at the other control sections, but still remaining in tolerance at all of these locations. This is what we refer to as “CAD Fitting™” and, in this case, it would transform the result to a “Pass”.

Sketch 1 shows an area of a part that is out of tolerance. The CAD Auto-Align™ tool would attempt to carry out the correction “A” to align the CAD nominal and the part. The CAD Fitting™ tool, on the other hand, would only attempt to bring the part back in the tolerance band, i.e. applying the smaller correction “B”.

out of tolerance edge - sketch1

Sketch 1: An area of the part that is out of tolerance

Sketch 2 illustrates how the CAD Fitting™ tool is only applied on the control sections in the out-of-tolerance areas, whereas the full CAD Auto-Align™ tool is applied on all control sections everywhere.

out of tolerance area - sketch2

Sketch 2: The CAD Fitting™ tool would only affect the out-of-tolerance areas (highlighted in red)

Finally, Images 1 and 2 show how – in certain circumstances – the CAD Fitting™ tool manages to turn into a “Pass” the results of the CAD Auto-Align™ tool that produced a “Fail” result. Image 1 is concerned with an aerospace part and Image 2 with a medical part.

aerospace part CAD Auto-Align results vs CAD Fitting
Aerospace part CAD Fitting results

Image 1: the CAD Fitting™ tool applied on an aerospace part. The results of the CAD Auto-Align™ tool are shown on the left and those of the CAD Fitting™ tool are on the right.

medical part CAD Auto-Align result
Medical part CAD Fitting results

Image 2: the CAD Fitting™ tool applied on an medical part. The results of the CAD Auto-Align™ tool are shown on the left and those of the CAD Fitting™ tool are on the right.

Contact Us

Many VisionGauge® Digital Optical Comparator users combine the CAD Auto-Align™ and CAD Auto Pass/Fail™ tools to fully automate their inspections:

  • The operator loads the part in the fixture and scans the barcode on the traveller.
  • This causes the VisionGauge® Digital Optical Comparator to load and run a part-specific program that automatically:
  • Reads-in the correct CAD file
  • Auto-Aligns the CAD file to the part (even in the case of very large parts)
  • Produces an Auto Pass/Fail result that is collected in a Data Group and sent to Excel or another external application…
  • In the case of parts that are larger than the system’s optical field-of-view, the stage moves the part and carries out the Auto Pass/Fail inspection at however many different locations are required. This way, the whole part gets inspected without having to “shift the overlay”. The CAD data tracks the part’s movement!

With VisionGauge®’s patented CAD Auto-Align™, CAD Auto Pass/Fail™, and patent-pending Tooth Checker™ tools, the VisionGauge® Digital Optical Comparator is truly revolutionizing how parts are inspected, quickly and accurately, directly on the shop floor!

Download a pdf about this feature.

Please contact us for more information including a detailed spec sheet, a “Frequently Asked Questions” document, pricing, etc…

CAD Auto Pass/Fail™ – Automatic Pass/Fail Results

Automatic Pass/Fail Results with CAD Auto Pass/Fail™

 

The VisionGauge® Digital Optical Comparator’s patented CAD Auto Pass/Fail™ tool allows you to automatically determine, very accurately and in real-time, if a part is within tolerance.

The VisionGauge® Digital Optical Comparator's patented CAD Auto Pass/Fail™ tool allows you to automatically determine, very accurately and in real-time, if a part is within tolerance.

The CAD Auto Pass/Fail™ tool can be either point-based or it can consider complete geometric entities. In point-based mode, the part’s deviation from nominal is evaluated at precise user-specified cross-sections to verify that the part is within tolerance at all of these locations. And the geometry-based CAD Auto Pass/Fail™ tool verifies that the part is within tolerance over complete geometric entities. Note that the control-section-based and geometry-based CAD Auto Pass/Fail™ tools can be used simultaneously on the same part!

The CAD Auto Pass/Fail™ tool can be either point-based or it can consider complete geometric entities on VisionGauge® Digital Optical Comparator
With the VisionGauge® Digital Optical Comparator you can specify bi-directional tolerances at various control sections. The system then automatically computes and displays, in real time, the part's deviation from nominal at every control section and automatically displays a pass / fail result at every control section as well as for the overall part.
With the VisionGauge® Digital Optical Comparator you can specify bi-directional tolerances at various control sections. The system then automatically computes and displays, in real time, the part's deviation from nominal at every control section and automatically displays a pass / fail result at every control section as well as for the overall part.

The geometry-based CAD Auto Pass/Fail™ tool is especially well suited to parts with “peaks and valleys” where we don’t know beforehand where the min & max deviations might be located…

The geometry-based Auto Pass/Fail tool is especially well suited to parts with "peaks and valleys" where we don't know beforehand where the min & max deviations might be located on VisionGauge® Digital Optical Comparator
The geometry-based Auto Pass/Fail tool is especially well suited to parts with "peaks and valleys" where we don't know beforehand where the min & max deviations might be located... on VisionGauge® Digital Optical Comparator

Also, note that there are no restrictions on the tolerance values. So tolerances can be either the standard “plus/minus” tolerances, as well as “minus/minus” or “plus/plus” tolerances.

Many VisionGauge® Digital Optical Comparator users combine the CAD Auto-Align™ and CAD Auto Pass/Fail™ tools to fully automate their inspections:

  • The operator loads the part in the fixture and scans the barcode on the traveller.
  • This causes the VisionGauge® Digital Optical Comparator to load and run a part-specific program that automatically:
    • Reads-in the correct CAD file
    • Auto-Aligns the CAD file to the part
    • Produces an Auto Pass/Fail result that is collected in a Data Group and sent to Excel or an other external application…
    • In the case of parts that are larger than the system’s optical field-of-view, the stage moves the part and carries out the Auto Pass/Fail inspection at however many different locations are required. This way, the whole part gets inspected without having to “shift the overlay”. The CAD data tracks the part’s movement!

Our new Advanced Analysis and Report tools also allow operators to follow-up an Auto Pass/Fail inspection to review, explore, and label results at each cross section of interest in the field-of-view.

CAD Auto-Pass/Fail Entity Cross Section Analysis on a Fir Tree Inspection

With the patented CAD Auto-Align™, CAD Auto Pass/Fail™, and patent-pending Tooth Checker™  tools, the VisionGauge® Digital Optical Comparator is truly revolutionizing how parts are inspected, quickly and accurately, directly on the shop floor!

Please contact us for more information including a detailed spec sheet, a “Frequently Asked Questions” document, pricing, etc…