ATS800 Using the OVC

This is a quick reference guide for basic tracker operation. More detailed information can be found in the ATS800 documentation.

 

Using the built in OverView Camera (OVC)

The top left controls are divided into 3 sections:

 

Driving the Instrument

The instrument drive controls are found at the bottom right-hand side of the OVC window. Use the Hand icon by clicking and dragging it in the direction you want the tracker to move.

An additional helpful features is the play button which a can be enabled from the Positioning control: 

This allows an operator to click in the OVC graphics and measure a point at the selected location. Doing so also sends this point measurement to SA.

 

Area Scans

Scans are defined within the Tree View. To define a scan, select the desired scan type category and press the Add button. The Tree is context sensitive so its important to select the desired category prior to pressing the add button.

The next step is to select the desired guide points within the graphics to define the scan zone perimeter and right-click to end selection. A blue scan zone is shown in the graphics to help illustrate the region to be scanned:

When you right-click to end selection the instrument will try to measure the guide points to define the distance to the part. For this reason it is important to select points on the part that you wish to measure. The scan zone can then be scaled if you want to cover the entire part using the Grow/Shrink Width control.

Area Scans are defined as Regions that are then composed of one or more Polygons. Select the Region category to control the properties:

Use the Add button to add additional Polygons to the selected Region. Additional Polygons can be marked for Exclusion to define zones within a region to ignore.

 

Linear or Cross-Line Scans

Line scans are defined in the same way as Area scans. First select the Line category and press the Add button. This will activate selection of the guide points from the graphics. Select the two end points of the line and right-click to end selection. Doing so will again trigger measurement of these guide points for distance computation so be sure to select two points on your part.

Once a Line is defined additional Polylines can be added to the Line definition by using the Add button. Choose between Linear or Cross Line selection with the drop-down selection in the Properties of the selected Line. The Point to Point Distance, Line to line distance and Width of the line can be adjusted as needed and will also update the graphic display.

 

Feature Scans

Feature Scans can be defined as geometry or as Disk / Patch scans. Select geometry if an extracted geometry should be sent to SA rather than the raw cloud measurements.

Geometry Scans are defined much the same as all other scans except the click points are as follows:

  1. First left-click at the center of the scan, such as the center of a sphere or center of a hole

  2. Drag outward until the circular scan zone matches the size of the sphere or hole.

  3. Click the set distance button to finalize the scan distance. This is necessary as the guide points are not going to be on the part.

Each feature has its own properties that include the Accuracy (Fast, Standard, or Precise) and the feature name.

 

Patches and Disks

Features can also be defined as either raw Disks (which use much the same selection process as a circle) or as Patches.

A patch is defined as a rectangle using 3 points. The first 2 points define an axis or direction and then the 3rd point defines the width perpendicular to that axis of the patch. Again the distance is set using the button at the top of the tree.