Do you have a 3D Stereo Vision Lens Calculator?

Scorpion 3D Stinger Camera

To support our Scorpion 3D Stinger Camera we have created this new 3D lens calculator.

This calculator estimates the 3D FOV width, height  and the corresponding  pixel resolution at given minimum and maximum distance based on the following input

• The cameras CCD size,
• The image resolution,
• The lens size (focal length),
• The baseline distance between cameras,
• The minimum distance,
• The maximum distance.

Click to use the 3D Lens Calculator

What is Scorpion VisionX?

The VisionX is a complete software component for adding image processing and camera support to any windows application.

The component contains the following elements:

• Scorpion 2D and 3D Image Processing
• Interface to Web, Network, Area and Line Scan cameras over USB, GigE, CameraLink and Firewire
• Camera Viewer with zoom, measurement, save and overlay graphics
• Python Scripting Engine

More information:

• Datasheet PD-2004-015-b Scorpion VisionX.pdf
• A short introduction how to integrate Scorpion VisionX into your application is located in Scorpion Online Help.
• Scorpion VisionX tutorial press here
• Scorpion VisionX 8 pricelist.

With the release of Scorpion 8 the following is added to VisionX:

• A new low cost entry level for 1D and 2D barcodes decoding
  • list price  starts at 375 euro includes image capture
• OpenCV version starts at 375 euro listprice
  • A complete vision system including image capture

VisionX is a runtime component with a standard SDK purchace requirement.

3D Point Cloud Memory Limitation in Scorpion

Running as a 32-bit application under Windows XP or w7 Scorpion is limited by the available memory in the computer. There are difference between 32 bit and 64 bit operating system versions.

32-bit Operating System Limitation is 2 GByte

If the computer is equipped with 3 GByte or more it is normally limited by the Operating System. The original NT memory model, there is 2GByte for User Mode and 2 GByte for the operating system.

A 32 bit application is normally limited to approximately 1.2 GByte.

Large memory Model is supported by Scorpion Vision – this means that Scorpion have more than 2.0 GByte of memory available.

From Scorpion Vision 7.0 the 3G Byte memory model is fully supported – more information http://scorpion.tordivel.no/help/GettingStarted/3gswitch.htm

Windows-7 64-bit OS – provides 4 GByte memory for each 32-bit application

Moving to Windows 64-bit will double the amount of available memory to Scorpion Vision Software from 2.0 GByte to 4.0 GByte.

Windows 32-bit OS – Large 3D Point Cloud – 4000 x 18000 x 3 = 210 MByte

Scorpion in large memory model can handle a point cloud of 70 million elements = 4000×18000 points. The calculation can be a follows:

1. Scorpion Vision Program   300 MByte
2. Active 3D Image – 3 copies = 630 MByte
3. Three Images in History list = 630 MByte

Total Memory consumption = 1.7 GByte

This size of point cloud is close to the practical image size scorpion can handle.

Windows 64-bit Large 3D Point Cloud – 4000 x 18000 x 3 = 210 MByte

Scorpion in large memory model can handle a point cloud of 70 million elements = 4000×18000 points. The calculation can be a follows:

1. Scorpion Vision Program   300 MByte
2. Active 3D Image – 3 copies = 630 MByte
3. Ten Images in History list = 2.1 GByte MByte

Total Memory consumption = 3.0 GByte

With Windows-7 64 Bit pointclouds of 300 MByte can be handled with headroom 🙂

What is Scorpion Vision Software?

Vision Software® is a powerful, flexible and extremely expeditious system software tool for industrial vision.

The most advanced 2D and 3D solutions are made without any programming.

The system is founded on top of a standard Windows XP/XPe/Vista/7 PC platform.

It is cost effective benefitting from the processing power of the multicore cpu, low-cost and high quality digital cameras

and the possibility of connecting multiple cameras to one PC.

The system gives the user the choice of a small form factor of an embedded PC, the Sony SmartCam or the power of a multicore Industrial Computer.

Scorpion Vision Software® 7 is a complete 3D machine vision platform.

More information Scorpion Vision Features

Does Scorpion Vision do sub-pixel measurement?

The clue about sub-pixel measurement is removing lens distortion. The Calibrator tool is the key for for this.  More information is found in the Scorpion Online Help.

All Scorpion tools work with reference and process image with subpixel accuracy the reference chain contains a Calibrator. This  gives the user the advantage of sub-pixel measurement without any special effort. Sub-pixel measurement is an extremely important feature in 2D and 3D machine vision system. With Scorpion you can increase the accuracy from 10 – 30 times taking advantage of the Calibrator tool.

The image below is a Image from a patented system from Tordivel Solar. The shadowline is located with 1 micrometer accuarcy with a camera pixel resolution of 40 micrometer.

High Precision Line Location

The following rule of thumb can be used to indicate the tolerance of a width measurement : The accuarcy is equal to 1 pixel – the measurement standard deviation is 1/10 pixel or better. This means that with a field of view of 100 x 100 mm and a Sony XCD-700 camera measurements has a accuracy of 0.1 mm and a resolution better than 0.01 mm.

The image below is captured with 4.8 mm wide-angle lens. The grid has the following properties:

• 15 rows and 22 columns
• Dot spacing of 50 mm
• Pixel resolution is 1,01 mm

The following corrections are performed with lens calibration:

• The RMS position deviation is 0,3 mm or pixels
• The maximum deviation is 0,8 mm
• The edge points are moved 58,7 mm

The effect of using the calibrator is that the optical precision is 0,3 mm. Before correction the maximum error 2 * 58 mm = 116 mm. The maximum error is thus reduced with a factor close to 300.

Using the ImageResampler tool the following perfect image can be created:

See also the Calibrated Measurement example.