Version 2.298 online.

[ArtF]

Kirk:

  I dont use blender as of yet, but this file passes all my ther tests, Up loads it , VCarve loads it with no errors and my at3d tests the ifule and finds it watertight. Might be some
sort of definitions errors, some programs are more sensitive than others..

Give it time, it will gradually become celar how large a problem this is..

Thx
Art

[KKirk]

Beautiful part Art.

What material did you machine it into?  And what was the resolution of the camera and the size and shape of the cutter?

I keep thinking I need a better webcam.

Karl

[ArtF]

Karl:

  Both items are machined in sign foam, which is very fast to machine in. The camera was my microsoft lifecam.
I did do a couple tricks though...

  First, I placed black tape on each side of the camera until it framed my face. I allowed only a small
amount on either side to show, the rest was black. This made the noise field very low so it wouldnt impact the
end result , so the pull was better.
  Secondly, I allowed it to pull overnight. While 90% is done in the first few minutes, that final 10% can take awhile,
so while I slept I allowed it to continue building. In the morning I stopped it and generated the GCode. Make sure
your room is as dark as you can get it.. and uncheck the "ambient correction", while I find that can help if a small
light sourece in the room is adding noise, I find overall it detracts otherwise. Ill make it default off in future.
Keep the gradient slider to about 1.95 for the large pull.

  The results were the best sculptures Ive managed to make in all the years Ive worked in cnc. Detail is very high
as I used a .5mm cutter for the finsih pass.

Art

[KKirk]

You did not include the resolution of the camera?  I drove 60 miles today to get the finest resolution I could find.  I found a "Digital Innovations 1080P Webcam".  It lists resolutions up to 1920 x 1080. When plugged into usb port stereo photometrics only shows various resolutions up 640 x 480 with no text to the right of the resolution numbers.  Shoot I had that resolution with the built in camera.  I may take it back and get the MS lifecam.

Did you mean you put black tape on the lens of the camera?  Why not just move closer to the camera?

Karl

[ArtF]

Karl:

  The example you see was at 800x600, but 640x480 would have worked as well I think..

The reason for the tape is the aspect ratio, your head is tall and narrow, your camera is using a wide
and short field. My camera has a window on it, so I taped over some of the left and right sides, the result
is a picture which is tall and narrow, the rest is black.. In the fall Ill be just adding a control to let you put a
mask on the video to mask off what you dont want, I wondered if it would be helpfull.. so tape showed me if it
would work.. and it does.

If the camera shows no text, its probably a format I didnt add, I used only RGB and YUY2, but some use YUYV , and
about a dozen others.. I picked the most likely two, but Ill look at adding others in the fall.

  I might add, I turned off my camera auto brightness and turned it up a bit so the image with just my monitor lighting
me up was a fair brightness. But different cameras will give differetn responce. I use low res for quick testing of lighting
conditions,it pulls out quick so you get an idea of quality, then capture at 640 x 480 or 800x600..

[KKirk]

Ok, I just did everything that you did (tape on lens, unchecked "ambient correction" and etc) and let it run all night (1,4320,000 interrelations) I stopped it, hit "add stl", then went "output options" and selected "STL".  Everything is gone, I can't go back to image and there is nothing selected.  What did I do wrong?  Is there any way back to my image?

Karl

[ArtF]

Karl:

  You poor bastard.. you keep gettgin hosed. Sorry about that, I havent added much for safeties for you. You could have hit undo and been OK..
Did you wait until the STL actually appeared on the project screen? If so, an undo will bring it back.. but it shouldnt have gone anywhere so Im
thinking it wasnt actually created for some reason. Never hit STL output until you see it on the project screen and can rotate it and such.
  Ill be adding a save feature so the data of a run can be instantly reloaded..but Im not there yet.

You can also save the project once the STL is on the project screen, it will then be reloadable with the stl in it..

Art

[ArtF]

Karl:

In recognition of your pain, I am now adding a "save Photos" button.  :)

Art

[KKirk]

THAT's my job as beta tester is to get hosed occasionally, right?

Replaying what I did.  I did not set from pixels to inches. because I did rotated it around.

Oh, well, there's other nights and other dark rooms!

Karl
 

[KKirk]

Sorry I meant, I "but" I did rotate it first.  Not "because" I did rotate it.

By the way, I am not complaining, just reporting.  I love this project!

[KKirk]

Hi again

  I set Gearotic to creating another file.  I drove back to the computer store and traded the camera I bought yesterday and bought a Microsoft LifeCam HD-3000.  I brought it back home and:  still 640 x 480 is the max resolution. 

  After allowing it to iterate for about 8 hours (1,208,300 times), I set the size to 3.9 x 2.9 and "add stl".  the system crashed.  I followed the debug thru 4 screen and took photos of each.  Do you want me to upload the photos.

Karl
 

[ArtF]

Karl..

Wow, your really having a hard time of it. Im still not sure why your only gettign 640 x 480 and with no text.. Is this XP or win7?

What message did you get when it crashed? Anything? You did hit stop before tryign to create the stl right? ( Though Im pretty sure I stopped any capability of that happening..)

I hope to have a new version in a day or so with photo saving so you wont have to keep taking photos again. I see if I can add some code to show what formats your camera is actually reporting..

Art

[KKirk]

Art

  Here are the error screens I got (in the order they occurred) after the last crash.

  I bought a MicroSoft LifeCam and still have no text to the right of the screen resolutions and 640 x 480 Maximum.

  The current picture I have it evaluating, I turned the camera 90 degrees instead of black taping the lens.

Karl

[KKirk]

My machine is windows 7 OS.  32 bit

Yes I have always hit the "stop growth key" before selecting the "add stl" button.

[ArtF]

Hi Kirk: ( et. al.)

  Version 2.2988 is now online. I added a "Save photos" button, and a "load photos" button.

The system doesnt care if the photos were taken by Gearotic or any other process. They must simply be alphabetic
in name, ( ex. Photo1, Photo2..etc.. ) in order of right, top, left, bottom, so you may take images in any setting,
or any light triggered system you wish to setup. Load the photos and continue as if you shot them yourself. If you save
photos, you may load them back anytime. This will at least allow you to save the good shots you make so you can more easily
play.

  Selecting a new video mode will get rid of any loaded photos.

For the probalem of video types not showing up, I have added several more types, but am not necessarily supporting
them properly in the code. Each type requires a different bit field process so let me know what shows up and what works..

Thx
Art