Tools > Registration > Detect Sphere Targets detects tooling ball centers on one or more point objects or one or more polygon objects in preparation for Tools > Registration > Target Registration. The result is a point datum (named Target N) for each detected tooling ball center. The datums appear in the Model Manager in a Datums folder under each object that is subjected to detection.
The controls are:
Display dropdown (a list of the objects that were selected in the Model Manager, plus “All” to represent all of them simultaneously) - specifies which one of the several objects is displayed in the Viewing Area and subject to sphere detection.
When more than one object is selected in the Model Manager, typically display just one, detect the sphere targets on that object, press Apply, change this dropdown to “All”, then apply the same detection parameters to all objects by pressing Apply again.
Adjust Parameters - The goal of this function is to distinguish spherical tooling balls from other elements of the selected object(s). The function is divided into two processes, selection and segmentation.
Selection Parameters group - The goal of the selection process is to ascertain the curvature parameters of the tooling balls that are in use. (All tooling balls must be of identical size.) The user will specify the curvature parameters of a tooling ball: by selecting a known tooling ball in the Viewing Area and by adjusting the parameters if necessary, or by setting the parameters manually without having selected a known tooling ball.
Use Selected Sphere radio button - specifies that the user will identify the curvature parameters of a tooling ball by selecting a sphere that represents a known tooling ball. When a single ideal sphere has been selected, press the Set Selection Parameters button.
Set Selection Parameters button - establishes the curvature parameters of the selected tooling ball as the default values in the Manual Adjustment section.
Manual Adjustment radio button - Whether a known tooling ball was selected in the Viewing Area or not, use this section to fine-tune the curvature parameters of the tooling balls that are in use on this object. In other words, the user may now adjust the sliders to eliminate points of very high curvature and very low curvature that do not match the tooling balls that are in use.(Initial values are based on settings used the last time this dialog was used. When using identical tooling balls on various projects, therefore, most of these parameters may require adjustment on the first project only.)
Max Curvature slider (Low to High; default High) - At the default of High, no points are excluded from consideration as a tooling ball. As you move this slider toward Low, points on highly curved regions disappear from consideration. Move this slider toward Low until points on the real tooling balls begin to disappear, thereby eliminating curved points on the object that are more curved than a real tooling ball.
Min Curvature slider (Low to High; default Low) - At the default of Low, no points are excluded from consideration as a tooling ball. As you move this slider toward High, points on flatter regions disappear from consideration. Move this slider toward High until points on the real tooling balls begin to disappear, thereby eliminating curved points on the object that are less curved than a real tooling ball.
Segmentation Parameters - Now that the curvature parameters of tooling balls are established, the next effort is to distinguish large clusters of points with ball-like curvature from small clusters that do not represent real tooling balls, and to determine whether various clusters are close enough that they represent the same tooling ball.
Coherence slider (Low to High; default Low) - controls the degree of discrimination between individual clusters of points. Low coherence assumes that close clusters are separate tooling balls.
Min Size (%) decimal field (0.0 to 20.0) - specifies the size of a cluster, relative to the size of the entire object, below which it is considered too small to be a real tooling ball.
View group - specifies the contents of the Viewing Area. When a Selection parameter is adjusted above, the Selection radio button is automatically pressed so that the Viewing Area will display the change. When a Segmentation parameter is adjusted above, the Segmentation radio button is automatically pressed so that the Viewing Area will display the change.
Selection radio button - the Viewing Area displays entire object(s) with candidates highlighted, representing the software’s ability to discriminate the curvature of surfaces.
Segmentation radio button - the Viewing Area displays the tooling ball candidates only, and represents how size and closeness of clusters affect the software’s perception of real tooling balls.
Spheres Detected indicator - the number of candidate segments converted to sphere targets (after the user presses Apply).
OK button - saves detected sphere targets to the Model Manager as point datums named Target N.
Cancel button - terminates the dialog.
Apply button - converts candidates to sphere targets, activates the Segmentation view, and displays the quantity of targets in the Spheres Detected indicator. The Apply button remains inactive until any parameter is adjusted.