I was wondering what the best method for brining in a surface that we will have laser scanned (imagine a coke can shape with a rock candy like outer surface). I will then want to use this scan to cut in half to create a mold pocket to make that shape.
Rocko,
You mean like a crystal facet type surface ? A bunch of polygon flats ?
I don't know how you'd do this even with a specialized program like Geomagic. You don't really want to drape a surface over the points. It'll just smooth out all the details. You almost need exact vertex points and some way of connecting the dots.
Regards
Mark
Our "SketchFile" macro (bad name in this case) does a "surface by x/y/z points". Have a look at
What is your output data format? IIRC Some of the less expensive CAM programs cut things like STL data files .... example:
depending on how good or bad the data is, points to polys will make a polygon model from the point cloud.... it's free (or used to be) from Paraform.
A point cloud is a point cloud. No more; no less. It's all in the post-processing.
The best post-processing I have seen (I have NOT seen it all) is by GeoMagic
I had the privilege of a 3-hour one-on-one demo of this product. Geomagic's products are interesting. Not only can it make surfaces from point clouds, it can also recognize where surfaces should break off into fillets, holes, etc.
I have had mixed luck with the hacks implementing the software, though. I had a die laser scanned and processed. I received a single-surface model like a towel dropped across the piece, and the service firm insisted that was all they could give us. I know the GeoMagic software can do more, like recognize cylndrical and planar faces and process them accordingly, so I was really disappointed.
Moral of the story: talk to the software vendor so you know what is possible. Some service firms are either too stupid or too lazy to properly implement.
well, if the points are sorted along curves, it's much easier to handle than an unordered point cloud. All you'll need then is our SketchFile macro
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