Running PC-DMIS 64-Bit with Vision System Pros & Cons

Chromatic Whitelight Sensor (CWS) continued problems

Now that it’s been almost four months since my previous reply about the CWS, it’s time to update. PC-DMIS has not been good at handling it. This has all been a 32-bit installation. There’s very little documentation for it, just what little is in the help files. Only a few Hexagon employees have any real knowledge about it.

There are a lot of settings with variables that I have to guess how to set. Many have a numerical value for an input. It seems that some values have an effect on other settings. I have to assume that different color, texture and reflective properties of the part being scanned affects what settings are acceptable. I’ve used settings that worked, but how close that is to ideal is unknown.

PC-DMIS 2013 MR1 SP6 could create a Linear Open Scan, but it often crashed the software. When it didn’t crash, I could then construct features (circle, line) from segments of the scan. While getting some additional training for the CWS on our Optiv Performance 664 the trainer was instructed over the phone by someone at Hexagon to update to SP7. That reduced the number of software crashes but also eliminated the ability to construct features from the scan. It will scan a single Surface Point, but half the time it adds about +5mm to the Z location. Executing the single feature again usually places it where it looks to be correct.

PC-DMIS 2014.1 SP1 was never able to scan at all. Oddly enough it would go through the calibration procedure but when I wanted to do a scan an error message indicated that there was no scanning device present. Months later I found out that a registry setting that was “false” then changed to “true” allowed the CWS to scan. Constructing features from the scan points has never worked.

PC-DMIS 2014.1 SP3 crashes immediately every time I try a Linear Open Scan. It will scan a single Surface Point, but that’s it.

I’ve had enough time to dedicate about 100 hours to trying to learn how to use the CWS. Recovering from software crashes that often require restarting the controller and rebooting the computer have taken up a chunk of that time. It’s been an expensive but not very useful tool.

Chromatic Whitelight Sensor (CWS) continued problems

Now that it’s been almost four months since my previous reply about the CWS, it’s time to update. PC-DMIS has not been good at handling it. This has all been a 32-bit installation. There’s very little documentation for it, just what little is in the help files. Only a few Hexagon employees have any real knowledge about it.

There are a lot of settings with variables that I have to guess how to set. Many have a numerical value for an input. It seems that some values have an effect on other settings. I have to assume that different color, texture and reflective properties of the part being scanned affects what settings are acceptable. I’ve used settings that worked, but how close that is to ideal is unknown.

PC-DMIS 2013 MR1 SP6 could create a Linear Open Scan, but it often crashed the software. When it didn’t crash, I could then construct features (circle, line) from segments of the scan. While getting some additional training for the CWS on our Optiv Performance 664 the trainer was instructed over the phone by someone at Hexagon to update to SP7. That reduced the number of software crashes but also eliminated the ability to construct features from the scan. It will scan a single Surface Point, but half the time it adds about +5mm to the Z location. Executing the single feature again usually places it where it looks to be correct.

PC-DMIS 2014.1 SP1 was never able to scan at all. Oddly enough it would go through the calibration procedure but when I wanted to do a scan an error message indicated that there was no scanning device present. Months later I found out that a registry setting that was “false” then changed to “true” allowed the CWS to scan. Constructing features from the scan points has never worked.

PC-DMIS 2014.1 SP3 crashes immediately every time I try a Linear Open Scan. It will scan a single Surface Point, but that’s it.

I’ve had enough time to dedicate about 100 hours to trying to learn how to use the CWS. Recovering from software crashes that often require restarting the controller and rebooting the computer have taken up a chunk of that time. It’s been an expensive but not very useful tool.