Point cloud data are used as a link between different methods of digitising and the CAD representation. Certainly, they are also used as a base for comparison in first article inspection procedures. Since the direct output of a CT measuring device is a series of CT grey value images, the software tool has to calculate a dense point cloud on the surface of the measure part. Without the software tool, the CT measurement data cannot be imported into CAD systems; also, 3D measurements and comparisons to nominal CAD models are impossible. Features are:
- Import of a series of grey value images
- Accurate image segmentation (contour extraction)
- Sub pixel operations
- Handling of large datasets
- Export of point clouds
EMPA has developed a near productive software prototype for point cloud generation named Smart Points with following advantages:
- Vast reduction of time and costs for point cloud generation (few minutes for processing, fully automated, user-friendly interface, fully reproducible)
- Handling of huge CT data sets (no limits)
- Improved accuracy using slice by slice optimised thresholding Arbitrary slice spacing possible (suitable for Smart CT data).