Import Raw Measurement Data from External Software

Import Raw Measurement Data from External Software

Introduction

CMM-Manager has a built-in Import Points Operation that allows importing point data from external source such as 3rd party metrology software. Many 3rd party systems lack CAD and reporting capabilities needed for the current task... If so, just import you point and CAD data to CMM-Manager and perform Alignment, Feature constructions, Best-Fitting, Reporting, etc.  The legacy software simply collects measurement data, while CMM-Manager performs more advanced fitting, reporting, CAD comparisons, etc.

   

Typical XYZ point data Format

Point data format can vary to some extent... For example, both formats shown below are acceptable. Typically, the data should be comma delimited and could contain Point Name, X, Y, Z, I, J, K. The Point Name should start with alpha character, afterwords CMM-Manager automatically detects XYZ / IJK data.
  1. // name: CAD_CLOUD < total_points: 2205 >
    // probe radius: 0.0000000
    // X Y Z
    1.7131581, 0.0000000, -67.0721419
    5.2486686, 0.0000000, -70.6076524
    8.7841529, 0.0000000, -74.1431367
    9.1457864, 0.0000000, -74.5047703
    9.0714713, 1.7695448, -76.2000000
Or this...
  1. Feature,CAD_CLOUD
    RefFrame,Use Current
    Data#,2205
    Probe Diameter,0.00000
    , X, Y, Z
    P1,1.71316,0.00000,-67.07214
    P2,5.24867,0.00000,-70.60765
    P3,8.78415,0.00000,-74.14314
    P4,9.14579,0.00000,-74.50477
    P5,9.07147,1.76954,-76.20000

Point Data from Nikon Automeasure

Unfortunately, the data coming from Nikon's Automeasure software is a bit strange since it contains Point label that only includes Numeric text, thus confusing the CMM-Manager import mechanism that is trying to automatically distinguish a difference between numeric point data and alpha-numeric point labels. Automeasure file looks something like this:
  1. 1,1.71316,0,-67.07214
    2,5.24867,0,-70.60765
    3,8.78415,0,-74.14314
    4,9.14579,0,-74.50477
    5,9.07147,1.76954,-76.2
    6,5.53587,5.30515,-76.2
    7,2.00038,8.84064,-76.2

So, we use VBScript to Read, edit, and then re-write the file from Automeasure so that it is usable in CMM-Manager. In summary this Script prompts user for input file, reads input file, removes blank lines, ignores lines that start with "//", and then writes each line to a new file while adding "P" to the Point Label. Here is the script:
  1. Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject") Set objWShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell") Set ChooseFile = objWShell.Exec( "mshta.exe ""about: <input type=file id=X><script>X.click();new ActiveXObject('Scripting.FileSystemObject').GetStandardStream(1).WriteLine(X.value);close();resizeTo(0,0);</script>""" ) MyFile = ChooseFile.StdOut.ReadAll 'strip out Carriage Return ChrPos = InStr(MyFile, Chr(13)) ChrPos = ChrPos -1 MyFile = Left(MyFile, ChrPos) 'Create file for writing MyFileOut = "C:\ProgramData\Nikon\xyz_data_file.dat" Set objFileOut = objFSO.CreateTextFile(MyFileOut) ' Open file and read all lines Set objFile = objFSO.OpenTextFile(MyFile, 1) i = 0 Do While objFile.AtEndOfStream = False MyLine = objFile.ReadLine If Left(MyLine, 2) = "//" Then Else MyLine = "P" + CStr(MyLine) objFileOut.WriteLine(MyLine) i = i + 1 End If Loop objFile.Close 'close input file objFileOut.Close 'close output file
When you run the CMM-Manager program you will see the standard Windows file selection dialog, like this:

    

Once the script runs you should see points imported automatically. The remaining program could include Alignment, Feature Constructions, Reporting, etc. It is typical to use CAD for Best-Fitting and Comparison in these cases. See attached example file including Automeasure XYZ Point data file.

Point Data from Micro-Vu Inspec

See the attached PDF guide to export measurement (XYZ points) data from Micro-Vu's Inspec software into CMM-Manager.  This transfer of data can be performed automatically such that the Inspec program runs, collects and exports data, then requests CMM-Manager to run, ingest data, and perform advanced reporting tasks.

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