Okay, forget linear thinking when it comes to optic alignment. Ie. if one area is off by 1mm then all should be, and in same direction. When setting up the camera one of the first tests is all the round dots? this is used to check for optical distortion. an obvious example is comparing a fish-eye to a standard lens: if using a fish-eye lens - where as you get away from the center of the image things seem distorted? Compressed? compared to a standard lens the distortion is obvious and pronounced. well ALL lens do this kind of thing. That test is used to build a table in the software to adjust for this. errors in the table is why areas of the image can be off by different amounts and directions compared to other areas. The round dot test is THE most important adjustment. Do that one very carefully and do it properly. Just a little error or saying, well .7 is better than .68 can make a difference in the results larger than you would expect. Take your time with this part of the alignment to get it as good as you can. Then understand that if the position of the camera vs the laser cutter changes in even a small amount, the results can be quite a bit. One way to visualize it is to think in ANGLES - and Not Linear distance. the test is designed to determine linear distance by measuring angles and a tiny change in angle can result in a large linear distance. the concept (But not what is actually happening) is similar when u shine a light-source on a mirror from off to the side at a shallow angle, and then change the angle u shine it just a tiny bit, the reflection of the beam on the wall can move inches if not feet. and it gets worse as the light spot shines on objects farther away. Its a hard idea to try to explain so I hope this is not too confusing.
Oh and by watching the screen of your actual camera images shown thru the software? I am pretty sure that your camera is too close to the work area. the issue I described has less and less of an effect as the distance between camera and surface is increased. Did u set it up with the suggested distances from the software in mind?
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great !
Okay, forget linear thinking when it comes to optic alignment. Ie. if one area is off by 1mm then all should be, and in same direction.
When setting up the camera one of the first tests is all the round dots? this is used to check for optical distortion. an obvious example is comparing a fish-eye to a standard lens: if using a fish-eye lens - where as you get away from the center of the image things seem distorted? Compressed? compared to a standard lens the distortion is obvious and pronounced. well ALL lens do this kind of thing. That test is used to build a table in the software to adjust for this. errors in the table is why areas of the image can be off by different amounts and directions compared to other areas. The round dot test is THE most important adjustment. Do that one very carefully and do it properly. Just a little error or saying, well .7 is better than .68 can make a difference in the results larger than you would expect.
Take your time with this part of the alignment to get it as good as you can. Then understand that if the position of the camera vs the laser cutter changes in even a small amount, the results can be quite a bit. One way to visualize it is to think in ANGLES - and Not Linear distance. the test is designed to determine linear distance by measuring angles and a tiny change in angle can result in a large linear distance. the concept (But not what is actually happening) is similar when u shine a light-source on a mirror from off to the side at a shallow angle, and then change the angle u shine it just a tiny bit, the reflection of the beam on the wall can move inches if not feet. and it gets worse as the light spot shines on objects farther away. Its a hard idea to try to explain so I hope this is not too confusing.
Oh and by watching the screen of your actual camera images shown thru the software? I am pretty sure that your camera is too close to the work area. the issue I described has less and less of an effect as the distance between camera and surface is increased. Did u set it up with the suggested distances from the software in mind?
Thank you for your detailed explination - I will try to align via your suggestions.