Brightness inspector

The first step of the scanning process is the brightness inspector. Core will ask you to verify the brightness calculated by the system.

You can manually adjust the brightness of the testing pattern using the corresponding control; slide the nob on the bar to adjust the brightness.

• Automatic-Click here if you would like the camera to recalculate the brightness automatically.

The visible color on the surface in the camera image must be optimized for color rendering that is as realistic as possible–not too dark or too bright.

If the system displays a low brightness, you can go back to the ‘Camera options’ and try changing the parameters to get a better result.

Once you are satisfied with the result on screen, click ‘Next’.

Dot Inspector

This is the most important visual feedback loop. Here, you specify the granularity of the test pattern that is used to retrieve the projector mapping and surface properties.

The result of the auto alignment depends on how this pattern is viewed and interpreted by the camera.

On the “adjust size of scan pattern” window, you should aim to see as many green dots as possible. Red dots should be avoided unless they are naturally occurring (e.g. by shooting over the projection area, having obstacles in the path of projection, etc.).

• Size- To change the size of the dots, glide the nob on the slider to make the dots bigger or smaller.
• Margin-To change the space between the dots, glide the nob on the slider to make the spaces between the dots bigger or smaller.
• Pattern crop-Leave out parts of the projection. This is useful if the projection results are unsatisfactory due to out-of-focus projectors, bad surfaces, etc.

To get optimal results from a calibration, external influences that may disrupt the scanning process must be avoided as much as possible.

In some cases, red or orange dots cannot be avoided. After you achieve the best result possible, click ‘Threshhold’ to check the threshold parameters or ‘Next’ to continue with the calibration.

The goal of this process is to get as much data on the projection surface as possible and the dots are a visual representation of information.

A green dot means the camera can detect and identify the spot correctly. The more green dots you have, the more information the system will have to work with and the more precise your calibration result will be.

A red dot means that the system can’t identify that space correctly and there is something interfering with the scan on that spot.

Your aim should be to get as many green dots as possible. There are some surfaces where a couple of red or orange dots will appear, this does not necessarily mean that your scan result will be bad, as the system can extrapolate and calculate the information missing on those spots. By minimizing trouble spots, you can make it easier for the system to get a good scan result.

Noise Filter (optional)

This is an optional step to use if you have trouble achieving “good” dots. To get to this window, click on the ‘Threshold’ button on the Dot inspector window.

The noise filter inspector provides a visual feedback from a projected line pattern viewed by the camera.

• Threshold- Glide the nob on the threshold slide bar to adjust noise levels. The aim is to have as little noise as possible. Set the threshold level so that all lines are easily visible at the edges and in the corners of the test image (striped pattern). However, be sure to avoid visible interference (noise)!
• Thickness-To adjust line size, glide the nob on the thickness slide bar. Smaller or thicker lines will influence the duration of the scan and how precise the result will be.

The line thickness should primarily be selected so that the lines are continuous. Thin lines are preferable, since thick lines are related to the risk of excessive camera brightness.

The objective is to obtain continuous lines with no visible camera interference (see illustration below). The obvious goal is to have visible noise suppressed as much as possible without influencing the lines too much. In other words, set the noise filter only to a value that noise disappears, but not influencing the lines. Experiment with the controls in order to achieve optimal