New Tutorials Added

A number of new tutorials have been added to the SA Roadmap.  There are now 17 beginner, intermediate, and advanced tutorials available covering a wide range of feature sets:

Beginner

• Working With Frames
• Construct and Modify Objects
• View Control
• Basic Point Analysis
• Best Fit Points to Points
• Creating Callouts
• Inspection with GD&T
• Reporting with Dynamic Reports

Intermediate

• Best Fit Geometry From Points
• Creating Relationships
• Minimizing Relationships
• Geometry Relationships
• Designing a GD&T Inspection
• General Inspection with CMM Arms
• General Inspection with Laser Trackers
• Basic USMN

Advanced

• Running Multiple Laser Trackers

USMN: Instrument Uncertainty Fields

If you've performed an Uncertainty Field Analysis in USMN, you can now view each instrument's uncertainty field using Analysis > Coordinate Uncertainty > Show Instrument Transform Uncertainty Fields (USMN).  This command will show each instrument's positional uncertainty (the dots in the below right image), as well as the uncertainty of its standing axis (the lines in the below right image).

After a USMN solution has been calculated, you can also view each instrument's transformation uncertainties at the bottom of the report bar when the applicable USMN Event is selected:

Dynamic Reports: Export to PDF

Dynamic reports now support direct export to PDF by clicking on the PDF icon.  (You can already export to PDF by printing to a PDF printer, such as Adobe PDF):

Important:  This feature does not currently support Unicode character sets.  You may see slight layout changes when exporting to PDF.

Dynamic Report and Report Bar Copy & Paste

You can now copy contents of the Report Bar to the clipboard to easily transfer data to other applications such as Microsoft Excel.  Simply hold down Shift and mouse-drag over the items in the report bar that you'd like to copy.  Any cell at least partially enclosed by the selection region will be copied.  The Paste Format Dialog shows what's been copied and allows you to specify whether values should be delimited by a space, comma, or tab character, and whether the data should be sent to the Clipboard or to Excel.

You can also copy contents of a table from a Dynamic Report in the same manner:

New Command: Instrument > Object Associations > Highlight Points Measured by an Instrument

This command will highlight all points measured by a selected instrument.  To clear the highlights, use View > Clear all Highlights.

Point Cloud Display Control

View > Cloud Display Control (Ctrl-T) provides access to a new slider dialog to adjust cloud thinning and point size.

New Watch Point Projection Options

New projection options have been added to the Watch Closest Point and Watch Point to Point watch windows.  These allow you to specify the direction and sense of the reported delta values by indicating whether the delta is computed from Actual to Nominal or from Nominal to Actual.

New Laser Tracker Acquisition Method: Time Spaced Points

This acquisition method allows you to measure multiple discrete points spaced by a specified time, wherein each discrete point is the result of a number of averaged samples taken by the instrument.  A new measurement profile, Temporally Spaced Discrete Points, has been created as a starting point for this purpose and has the following default parameters:

Using the above values, the measurement mode would work like this:

Once the retro moves and becomes stable, 50 samples (Samples/Pt.) are taken at 100 Hz (Sampling Frequency).  Once the samples are taken, they are averaged and the average point is sent to SA (Send Points to SA).  A 1/2 second delay (Time Between Points) follows, at which point the process repeats until a total of 100 points have been measured.

Another default measurement profile, Watch Update Discrete Points, uses the same acquisition method with some slight changes to the parameters to be better suited for watch windows.  This measurement profile customizes the Time Spaced Pts acquisition method and is named Avg Pt for Watch Update.  It is set up by default so that discrete points are measured until the user stops the operation.

File > Import > Image

Use File > Import > Image to import image files into the tree for use in reports.  This functionality has been available in prior versions of SA by right-clicking the Photos category header and selecting Import.

Instrument > Locate (Transform to Part) > Jump Instrument to New Location

The Jump Instrument to New Location command has been added to the standard menus.  This command was previously only available when right-clicking in the tree on an instrument whose interface is active.  The command will add a new instrument, activate its interface, and (optionally) hide the previous instrument, all in one step.

Standard Deviation Methods Clarified

Both vector group and relationship summaries now use equivalent statistical methods for presenting standard deviation.  You can obtain the standard deviation from the average of the values, or the standard deviation from zero:

In most cases (depending on whether deviations are treated as signed or unsigned values), standard deviation from the average will be slightly smaller than standard deviation from zero.

GD&T: Added Support for Spherical Datum Features

Spherical CAD surfaces can now be used as GD&T datum features.  Put another way, spherical CAD surfaces can now be used to define point datums for GD&T analysis.

MP Editor:  Copy/Paste Across MP Editor Windows

You can now copy one or more lines from one MP and paste them into another MP running in the same instance of SA.  References which are contained within the copied commands are retained after pasting to a new MP.

MP Command Enhancement: Construct B-Splines from Points

This MP command now supports the full set of fit options that appear in the SA interface.

MP Command: Analysis Operations > Get B-Spline Properties

This command reports the detailed properties of any B-Spline.

MP Commands: Get & Set Point Properties

This MP command allows you to set the planar and radial offsets for points, as well as retrieve those offsets along with point uncertainties.

MP Command: Stop Active Measurement Mode

This command stops the active measurement mode.

Home Button & Trackers Without a Tracker-Mounted Nest

The home button in the tracker interface is now disabled only for trackers that have no tracker-mounted nest.

API Device Interface: External TTL Trigger

The API DI now supports external TTL triggers.  This functionality can be enabled in the tracker interface via Settings > Tracker > General Settings > API_DI.

Each transition from 5V to 0V in the TTL will trigger a measurement.  The trigger will override the sampling frequency used in the Temporal Scan acquisition mode until this option is unchecked.

Nikon (Metris) Laser Radar: Cloud View Control MP Commands Implemented

The cloud view control commands in MPs (Clear Cloud Viewer, Send Cloud to SA, Save Point Cloud File, Load Point Cloud File, and Set Filter) have been implemented for the Nikon Laser Radar.

PowerSearch Support for Leica Total Stations

Support has been added for PowerSearch for compatible Leica total stations.  The search window can be defined in the Automation Options dialog.  If not specified, a default 360° search window is used.

Roadmap: PDF Version Available

A PDF version of the SA Roadmap is now available by request.  Contact support@kinematics.com if interested.

For information on additional fixes, features, and changes, refer to the SA Readme file.