Product News Update: PC-DMIS Vision 2009, Watch MultiCapture Demo

(Wilcox Associates: North Kingstown, RI) -- Wilcox Associates, a Hexagon Metrology company, has released PC-DMIS Vision 2009. It includes a patented MultiCapture feature that typically improves measurement productivity by 35 percent (and more when the part is densely populated with features that require inspection). Watch a demo showing a measurement routine with and without MultiCapture.

PC-DMIS Vision 2009 also includes RGB pixel adjustment for improved edge detection with color cameras, support for multi-core processors, and numerous improvements that enhance the software’s stability and lay the foundation for other advanced features in future releases.

PC-DMIS Vision 2009 is a CAD-based, 3-D vision measurement program for manual and DCC vision measurement systems, multisensor measurement systems, and coordinate measurement machines (CMMs) equipped with vision probes. The version is available at no charge to users with a maintenance agreement.  It also available as a retrofit for most popular vision and multisensor measurement systems.

MultiCapture is a revolutionary vision measurement technology that automatically finds multiple features that fit within the same field of view and captures their measurement data simultaneously. Upon completing the measurements in a particular field of view, MultiCapture drives the camera to the next cluster of features and measures them in the same way.  This sequence continues until the inspection program is complete. MultiCapture also works with manual vision systems by prompting the user to move the viewfinder to successive zones of densely populated features.

Within PC-DMIS Vision 2009, MultiCapture is set as the default. Users do no additional programming to take advantage of productivity improvements that have been as much as 70 percent for parts with complex, densely populated features, such as medical, electronic or other complicated precision parts with closely packed features including micro hole dies, sieves, filters, fiber optics, and inkjet nozzles.

MultiCapture works well with single processors. However, the PC-DMIS image processing engine also supports dual- and quad-core processors that offer a significant improvement in throughput. Wilcox intends to introduce image processor support for eight cores by the end of 2009.

PC-DMIS Vision 2009 also includes a significant feature that allows the programmers to adjust RGB sensitivity for features captured with color cameras to heighten contrast and dramatically improve edge detection. This capability improves measurement consistency in general and is particularly useful when edges on colored parts are ambiguous or undetectable using gray-scale manipulation and lighting modifications. 

PC-DMIS Vision 2009 uses the same software platform as other PC-DMIS EMS (Enterprise Metrology Solutions) software for CMMs, portable measurement systems, on-machine metrology solutions, and other types of measurement equipment. Each of these EMS products relies on imported or directly accessed CAD models as the basis for fast and accurate measurement system programming.

This approach makes it easy to exchange programs or parts of programs as well as results between different types of measurements systems and to compare the results. In addition, users of one type of PC-DMIS product can typically learn the basics of PC-DMIS on another type of measurement device in a few hours. This makes it easy to cross-train users on a wide range of measurement devices at minimal cost.

For more information about PC-DMIS Vision 2009 contact your nearest Hexagon Metrology Office or visit Wilcox Associates at www.pcdmis.com.  

  
Simultaneous Data Capture: The MultiCapture feature of PC-DMIS Vision automatically finds multiple features that fit within the same field of view and captures their measurement data simultaneously instead of one at a time. This reduces measurement throughput by 35% or more. 

About The Author

Wilcox Associates

Wilcox Associates is a member of Hexagon Metrology. Founded in 1990, Wilcox revolutionized CMM measurement with its PC-DMIS CMM software, which for the first time integrated CAD into the inspection process. PC-DMIS technology is the core of a set of closely related software products focused on the collection, evaluation, management and presentation of manufacturing data. Wilcox Associates markets and distributes its products worldwide through its Hexagon Metrology sister companies.