Testing and Review of the DotProduct Scanner

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TomGreaves
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Re: Testing and Review of the DotProduct Scanner

Post by TomGreaves »

DotProduct supports a variety of file formats for a variety of reasons. Unstructured PTS data is near universal though somewhat limited. For example, the dimensions of PTS data need to be specified externally as this information is not carried in the file format. Before anyone gets up on his high horse about the superiority of the metric system we observe that even in the metric-using parts of the world, some people default to mm and others to m.

We support structured PTX data to allow more sophisticated post processing. The PTX format carries the sensor position and orientation (pose) information which allows range filtering for example. I understand the automated feature extraction tools ClearEdge3D EdgeWise and Elysium's Infipoints require structured data.

The drawback of PTS and PTX is that they're both text formats which means they bloat up in size. Our binary .dp files which are structured are typically 1/50 the size of their PTS/PTX equivalents. This is material--it often makes the difference between being able to email a file or transporting a thumb drive. A typical .dp file is 25MB or less.
Last edited by TomGreaves on Sun Jan 24, 2016 9:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Testing and Review of the DotProduct Scanner

Post by TomGreaves »

arie wrote: I'd be quite interested to see the shaded pointcloud without colors.
Colors can be quite deceiving when it comes to evaluating the level of detail/ noise.
We have two display modes on the DPI-8: rendered and points and users can toggle between these modes without lag. We find newbies much more comfortable with the rendered view and experienced operators prefer the point view. Hominids have had 3 million years or so of evolution to sort out the advantages of color vision. It really helps when sorting out partially occluded geometry. Of course we humans like to cling to a color narrative too and we're perfectly capable of filling in colors that aren't there.
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Re: Testing and Review of the DotProduct Scanner

Post by 3DForensics »

To Tom's point about file sizes...

I ran some more testing yesterday and when I went to transfer the DP files, each set of scans was about 8Mb, 4Mb...etc. I thought it was a mistake, but it wasn't. These file sizes are tiny!

You can drag and drop them right into CloudCompare and they work flawlessly. I guess that is part of the reason for the quick optimization and saving...well done.

Eugene
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Re: Testing and Review of the DotProduct Scanner

Post by jedfrechette »

3DForensics wrote:I ran some more testing yesterday and when I went to transfer the DP files, each set of scans was about 8Mb, 4Mb...etc. I thought it was a mistake, but it wasn't. These file sizes are tiny!
Also compare that to Faro Freestyle scans that, just for the raw data, are easily 1+GB each. I don't think the Freestyle data is three orders of magnitude more detailed than the DPI-8 data either.
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Re: Testing and Review of the DotProduct Scanner

Post by Mike Annear »

It's good to see that DotProduct scans can now go directly into Rhino 3D via a free plugin.

http://blog.rhino3d.com/2016/01/dotprod ... ectly.html

Regards,
Mike.
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Re: Testing and Review of the DotProduct Scanner

Post by arie »

TomGreaves wrote:We support structured PTX data to allow more sophisticated post processing. The PTX format carries the sensor position and orientation (pose) information which allows range filtering for example. I understand the automated feature extraction tools ClearEdge3D EdgeWise and Elysium's Infipoints require structured data.
Very interesting! Thanks for the feedback.
I've requested some sample data, looking forward to having a play with it.

Quite impressive technology!
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Re: Testing and Review of the DotProduct Scanner

Post by jorgenspetz »

Most interesting Eugene,

Any ideas regarding quality if one would like to compare with Artec Studio and Xtion?

Couldnt resist use a kitchen.

J Spetz
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Re: Testing and Review of the DotProduct Scanner

Post by 3DForensics »

I absolutely love Artec Studio and think that it is by far the most comprehensive scanning software package available today. The texture quality is the best around and the tools are great. However, you are going to be stuck with a tethered system with a laptop. I don't think a tablet will do the job.

Also, the file sizes are larger and time to process scans is much slower than DotProduct. However, in the end, you will end up with a textured mesh result. Something that is difficult to do using any other means.

In the end, the Xtion sensor is the same and quality of the mesh/scan result is similar. I wonder if DP would consider porting their file format into Artec Studio 10??

I guess you can see a common theme with me...I prefer scanner manufacturers and software developers play nice with one another so we can all benefit.

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Re: Testing and Review of the DotProduct Scanner

Post by 3DForensics »

Here is another small test of a mock crime scene that I did for which it only took me 5 minutes between scanning, optimization and scanning.

The point cloud that you are looking at below is 15 million points with a whopping 13Mb file. That's 13 Mb!
FileSizes.jpg
The native dp file loads directly into CloudCompare without issue and provides you with all the individual frames so that if you want to make adjustments, remove parts of the scan or segment, it is all possible. I tend to just fuse everything together otherwise you are having to deal with all the individual smaller point clouds.
DPCrimeScene1Small.jpg
DPCrimeScene2Small.jpg
I think this level of detail is good enough to create plan drawing from.

Eugene
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Re: Testing and Review of the DotProduct Scanner

Post by dhirota »

I did not see mentioned the wifi uploading of the DPI-8 files to the Z+F 5010X for merging registration with the zfs scan files. We have the current Z+F Scout firmware and software, but are waiting for the improved GUI from DPI to show some examples.
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