Couple of questions about Skanect

[Eduard van Iersel]

Hi,

I just downloaded Skanect and got it running, but I've got a couple of questions about te program:

- Is there a manual which explains all the functions?

- Does Skanect have a measurement function to check the accuracy of the scan against the real life model?

- Is it possible to stitch together several scans using Skanect or another program?

Hope someone can help me out.

Eduard

[Eduard van Iersel]

Got another question: is it possible to export scans to external programs, like meshlab, with the free version of Skanect?

Eduard

Op maandag 3 juni 2013 14:39:24 UTC+2 schreef Eduard van Iersel het volgende:

[Nicolas Tisserand]

Hi Eduard,

Here are your answers:

1) Skanect's user manual unfortunately has yet to be written. In the
meantime, you can find a FAQ and tutorial material here:
http://skanect.manctl.com/support/. Browsing this very google group
can also help in solving specific issues.

2) Regarding accuracy checking, well, if knew how to compute
measurement errors from the real-world, there would not be any
accuracy problems in the first place. So the basic answer is no, we
cannot.

One way we assessed scanning precision in the past was by using
professional-grade 3D scanning devices to get a very precise model of
a reference object, and then check our scans against that.

Moreover, accuracy is determined by the exact sensor model you're
using, the size of the scanning box, and the sensor-model distance
(precision decreases with distance). Typical figures: a few
millimeters when scanning below one meter, a few centimeters when more
than 4 meters away.

3) Currently, there is no builtin stitching feature in Skanect. What
for, and how exactly would you like to use it?

Meshlab, with a little extra work, could surely help you. Also, this
group is actually a very good place to start asking about that.
Skanect users have previously used it to share model editing workflows
and tutorials that make up for features that we did not yet get a
chance to implement. Those surely help us in determining what to do
next and how!

Thanks for your interest in Skanect!
--
Nicolas

[Eduard van Iersel]

Hi Nicolas,

Thanks for the reply. I must say Skanect is easy to get the hang of. I'm planning on using Skanect to make a full scan of an old Dutch fishing vessel called a 'botter'. Because the ship is more then 13 meters long and because I must scan both the interior and exterior it is nearly impossible to do this in one scan. Therefore I need to stitch together different scans. I've got a bit of a problem, last week I installed Skanect on an older laptop I have because it is a bit more powerfull then my current laptop. When I start up Skanect is says it recognises the driver for my Asus xtion pro live, but when I go to the screen for making scans it doesn't give any input from the device. I installed the drivers from the cd-rom and also tried those of this website and another from elsewhere on the internet but nothing seems to work. Could you help me figure out what is going on and how to solve the problem?

Bye

Eduard

Op vrijdag 7 juni 2013 12:57:27 UTC+2 schreef Nicolas Tisserand het volgende:

[howard chu]

Nicolas,

Great program, I also purchased the pro version so I can continue to experiment with scanning, exporting, and 3d printing files.

I have a few questions as well:

1. My desktop is a 2600k 3.3ghz computer but running amd 6870 video card. I am currently getting anywhere from 8 - 15 fps on version 1.4, will upgrading to a nvidia gtx 660 increase my fps? if so, what might the fps range be?

2. the feedback quality setting, does this control the visual feed back only or does it actually control the quality of sensor feedback skanect is getting back from the kinect sensor for xbox 360 i am using?

3. what scale unit is the exported stl model in? or is the exported model scaleless? does adjusting the bounding box affect the relative size of the stl model? I know I can also just scale the object to the dimension I need in my 3d modeler program, but just wondering about the nuts and bolts of skanect.

Thank you, really having fun with Skanect!!!

Best,

Howard

[howard chu]

Sorry, I found the answer for nvidia gtx card question. 30fps on medium setting for gtx 660 would be awesome.

I will try again tonight with high setting, the fps goes way down when I tried previously... this is probably pretty good indication that it's actually processing more data. I will need to search again for what record all frames does.

If anyone can chime in on scanned units would be awesome!!!

[Nicolas Tisserand]

Hi Eduard,

On Sat, Jun 15, 2013 at 10:32 PM, Eduard van Iersel
<eduard...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Nicolas,
>
> Thanks for the reply. I must say Skanect is easy to get the hang of. I'm
> planning on using Skanect to make a full scan of an old Dutch fishing vessel
> called a 'botter'. Because the ship is more then 13 meters long and because
> I must scan both the interior and exterior it is nearly impossible to do
> this in one scan. Therefore I need to stitch together different scans. I've

Multiple scan composition and stitching would be a killer feature
indeed, but we unfortunately still have more pressing work to do on
the single-scan scenario front!

> got a bit of a problem, last week I installed Skanect on an older laptop I
> have because it is a bit more powerfull then my current laptop. When I start
> up Skanect is says it recognises the driver for my Asus xtion pro live, but
> when I go to the screen for making scans it doesn't give any input from the
> device. I installed the drivers from the cd-rom and also tried those of this
> website and another from elsewhere on the internet but nothing seems to
> work. Could you help me figure out what is going on and how to solve the
> problem?

Could you please provide us with more details? Skanect's log, along
with exact operating system version and machine hardware details would
help immensely!

Thanks for your feedback!

[Nicolas Tisserand]

Hi Howard,

Thanks for your support! We're thrilled that you're having fun with Skanect!

On to your questions:

1) Yes, a high-end gaming NVidia GPU such as the GTX 660 will allow
you to run the GPU-accelerated fusion. We can't predict at what
average framerate, though. But it should be fairly decent!

2) Feedback quality controls also the resolution of the model, if you
do not perform an (optional) offline reconstruction. The sensor output
quality stays the same, regardless of this setting.

3) Scale is always metric in output models. The bounding box does not
perform extra scaling, but of course, if it's made smaller, so will
the maximum model size be.

Hope that helps!
--
Nicolas

> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
> "Skanect" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an
> email to skanect+u...@googlegroups.com.
> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
>
>

[howard chu]

I see, I read from another post that the file is saved in meters but the size of the scan is relative to the bounding box. OK, this is good.

MM might make more sense since 3d printing defaults to MM. I also saw another online tutorial that fixes the kinect and rotate the subject being scanned. I think this technique is probably more appropriate for what I am trying to do.

I will also be trying to scan a pair of feet through plexiglass at 45 degree angle to minimize reflection. Not sure if anyone has tried this already. Please feel free to chime in.

Thanks,

Howard

[James Allan]

I'll just chime in here: Meshlab does a very good job in stitching together geometry as long as there are enough common geometry points you can match up. I've had great results from using this method.

[Nicolas Burrus]

A quick comment, millimetric scale will be supported as an option in
the next release. Scanning through plexiglas should be possible, if
you can avoid reflections. Would be happy to hear about your results
if you can!

[Eduard van Iersel]

Hi Nicolas,

Here is a log in the attachment. My laptop is a HP Compaq 8510w. I started up Skanect just now and the program showed some images and I made a small scan. After I closed down Skanect and started it up again it didn't got any feedback from the sensor (asus xtion lice pro) anymore. It seems it only works occasionaly, any idea what it could be?

Regards,

Eduard

Op maandag 17 juni 2013 11:03:33 UTC+2 schreef Nicolas Tisserand het volgende:

[Nicolas Burrus]

Could you check if a skanect instance is still running in the task
manager when this happens? It may be an issue on exit. Otherwise
unplugging and plugging the sensor back should make it work again.

Thanks,
Nicolas

On Sun, Jun 30, 2013 at 10:37 PM, Eduard van Iersel

[Eduard van Iersel]

Hi,

Skanect is still visible as a task and a process, also unplugging and plugging back in doesn't give any results. When I plug in the sensor and then start up Skanect I can see the sensor starts emitting an infrared dot pattern. When I unplug it and plug it back in it doesn't emit any infrared anymore.

Thanks,

Eduard

Op maandag 1 juli 2013 19:21:14 UTC+2 schreef Nicolas Burrus het volgende:

[Nicolas Burrus]

Does it help if you kill the existing skanect processes? Thanks for
the feedback, this helps.

On Mon, Jul 1, 2013 at 7:34 PM, Eduard van Iersel

[Eduard van Iersel]

Hi,

I just ended the skanect process (and with it obviously skanect itself), started it back up again. The sensor is sending out a dot pattern but skanect doesn't show any feedback. Could it help if I reinstalled the driver?

Op maandag 1 juli 2013 19:43:45 UTC+2 schreef Nicolas Burrus het volgende:

[Nicolas Burrus]

Ok, I would suggest killing the process, unplugging the camera,
replugging it, and restarting Skanect.

On Mon, Jul 1, 2013 at 7:49 PM, Eduard van Iersel

[Eduard van Iersel]

Again, no results unfortunately.

Op maandag 1 juli 2013 19:51:42 UTC+2 schreef Nicolas Burrus het volgende:

[Eduard van Iersel]

Hi Nicolas,

I finished scanning the 'botter' using a borrowed laptop. I've got about 12 gigabytes of data. Now I've got to turn this into all the meshes and stitch them together. For I obviously need a license to export the data. I was wondering if it is possible to use the license key on several computers?

Thanks,

Eduard

Op maandag 1 juli 2013 19:56:43 UTC+2 schreef Eduard van Iersel:

[Nicolas Burrus]

Hi Eduard,

The license is per-user, so as long as you are the one using it, you
can install it on a reasonable number of computers.


On Mon, Aug 19, 2013 at 5:51 PM, Eduard van Iersel

[Eduard van Iersel]

Hi Nicolas,

Thanks for the reply, I'll be purchising a license soon. I was also testrunning some of the scans and although the software could keep track while I was scanning, while I was postprocessing the software sometimes loses track. Is there a way to prevent this from happening of is it possible to restart the fusionprocess from where it lost track?

Regards,

Eduard

2013/8/19 Nicolas Burrus <n...@manctl.com>

[Nicolas Burrus]

Are you using Skanect 1.5? This should not happen with the latest release.

On Mon, Aug 19, 2013 at 12:39 PM, Eduard van Iersel

[Eduard van Iersel]

Maybe I should update to the latest version. Thanks

2013/8/19 Nicolas Burrus <n...@manctl.com>