Exporting Points for Complete Program data

[[Ry...]]

Hey Folks,

I have a customer looking for our exported CMM data points for their "SmartProfile" CMM Data analysis program. They are asking for a ".xyz" file format, but I believe this is a PC-DMIS only file. That file is a single file that includes all the CMM points taken from the program.

Is there anything like that in Calypso that I'm missing?
I can only export points for each individual feature, and my customer is saying that is very time consuming and messy to deal with. And prefers one file with everything.

Thanks for you help,
Ryan

[[Ma...]]

I wonder what if you use general surface ( or how it is called ) and recall all measured points. Then in evaluation tab you can select export and format. It's on the bottom of eval page.

[[Ry...]]

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Martin,

I just took a look at that feature you mentioned, and there is no option to recall feature points. So in theory it sounded like a good idea, but unable to execute that idea.

Thanks,
Ryan

[[Cl...]]

Maybe this will help (if I'm understanding you correctly)

Resources - Results to file will save all the measured points from a program.
These points are held in the idmeaspoints folder in the program folder.

As I understand it they are .csv files and should be able to be used as you mentioned.

[[Ry...]]

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Clarke,
I see where you are going there, and I tried that already. Unfortunately, the file is a .zmp, which my customer cannot read. I think that is a Calypso read only file to re-measure features using different criteria/characteristics.

Thanks,
Ryan

[[Me...]]

SmartProfile can directly import ".zmp" files generated by Calypso. Keep in mind that this is the raw data set from each measured feature, and correlation issues may arise since Calypso does not always use every point captured for evaluation. Exporting points from each feature separately as you’ve already done is the same point coordinates as saved within the .zmp file.

We have been using the writeActualsToFile() function to export all point data needing to be sent over to SmartProfile since this allows for us to let Calypso handle filtering / outlier removal. Additionally, exporting points in the manner allows for more of an "apples to apples" comparison between software packages because all points that are exported are the same that Calypso uses for evaluation. You'll still end up with individual files, but a little coding can take care of that.

[[Aa...]]

Yes, SP can read .zmp files, but I think the older versions did not have that functionality, so depending on how old a version the customer is using, they may be telling the truth about not being able to import .zmp. For those older versions, a script to convert the .zmp to a .csv file can be very helpful.
FYI, .zmp is actually a weird suffix for a .zip file. If you change it to .zip, you can view the contents: one tab-delimited text file for each feature in your calypso program. In my experience, this is way more useful than most dmis raw data files, which in my experience don't include the points from the features used in the base alignment.

The only thing I've seen cause problems in the newer versions of SP when importing .zmp files is where Tangential scanning is used on a cylinder, where Calypso is collecting points for the entire ramp-on and ramp-off.

[[Ry...]]

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Is this a PCM Function? Unfortunately, we don't have PCM...

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I'll recheck with my customer and see if they have the latest version, as they may not be aware of this if used to the old version (I think they purchased in 2019). What kind of script would they be looking for to do something like that?
We don't use tangential scanning that I am aware of, so we're good there.

If not, I'll try the .zip file trick you mentioned.


Thanks for all the help guys, it's really appreciated
Ryan

[[Me...]]

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This is true, but I don't understand why they need a single file when they could easily write their own script within SP to import the data from individual files. I'm not buying the whole "time consuming and messy to deal with" excuse. 🙄

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You'll see the same "over-saturation" of points on cylindrical features that are scanned beyond 360 degrees without using tangential scanning. Calypso is just excluding them internally during evaluation. This is another reason we have opted to not use the zmp files with SP.

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No need for PCM to use this function, just stick it into either a Text or Result element. To keep Calypso from barking at you about data types, add the following to the end of the function:

Result Elements
writeActualsToFile().asCBoolean

Text Elements
writeActualsToFile().asString

You can read more about this function in the PCM user manual if you opt to go this route. Additionally, the writeActualsToVDA() function could also be used since SP can read this file type as well. You’ll just need to be sure that surface points are exported instead of ball center coordinates because the stylus information is not written to the file.

In the end, it may be easier for you to just send them either the zmp files (provided they can import them directly) or the individual export files you initially offered. But, if you're a really nice guy, you can use Python or some other language to combine everything into a single file.

[[He...]]

.zmp-files are just renamed zip-files. Rename them to .zip and you can open then in windows explorer. However the points are only ballcenters so the radius correction will have to be done in another way.

[[Ri...]]

You can also go to Features - Additional Features - Point Cloud

From there, you can recall feature points for every feature in your measurement plan. Then close the feature, right click, export points.

I like this method because you can do "heat-maps", and export the points according to a specific alignment.

[[Ry...]]

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Phillip,
I tried both the Text Elements and Result Elements and both reported and error back saying no results available. Sorry, but I'm missing something.

And yes I am a nice guy, but not for this company. They have a tendency to beat up the little guys (Us), and I also don't know Python or any language for that matter, so no combining from me.

But if I do send them the .zmp files, won't they have to compensate for the probe diameters for all features? If this is a big program with multiple probes, could be a PITA for them?

Maybe I'll just stick with either the individual exported files, or try the all-in-one points cloud method and let them figure it out.

Thanks again guys,
Ryan

[[Me...]]

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Not sure about the error you’re getting because I can make it work just fine. You should be just seeing a true/false return. Make sure that you're referencing a characteristic for a feature that you need to export.

The stylus diameter is recorded, so there should not be an issue given that their version of SP can open zmp files. You can view the format by opening one of the files in the “geoactuals” folder of the measurement plan.

[[Za...]]

zmp files include stylus radius, for example:
status/taster 0 1.50235411444