Workspace and More

Artec Studio User Interface

Windows, Panels and Bars

When you launch Artec Studio, you will see the main application window, which allows you to perform all operations on scans and models.

The main window is divided into several sections:

Section	Intent and other information
3D View	Display all 3D data.
Navigation cube	Quickly orient objects.
Scene settings	Alter 3D-data appearance and toggle display of coordinate grid.
Quick toolbar	Quickly access to the set of tools for working with objects geometry and transformations.
Workspace panel	List and manage 3D objects as well as toggle their display and availability for tools.
Properties panel / Features panel	Displays detailed information for 3D objects. / Displays information about captured targets for scans with global registration applied.
Log window	Store records of any executed commands, specifying the time and details of each operation (error and troubleshooting messages).
Status bar	Contains information on memory availability and current usage by Artec Studio. It also has a progress indicator for any currently running task, such as algorithm execution, model and scan exporting, and so on.
Left panel	Accommodate panels for various application modes, including Scan, Autopilot, Editor, Tools, Align, Fix holes, Texture, Construct, Measures, Settings, History and Feedback.
Left toolbar	Toolbar to start the above mentioned modes.
Menu bar	Dropdown menus with various commands.

If any of the panels are hidden, go to the Window menu on the Menu bar, and select the panel to display it. If Quick toolbar is hidden or some of the tools are disabled, it means that your projects doesn’t contain any supported objects.

You can also quickly show or hide some of the panels/toolbars (namely, Left toolbar, Workspace panel and Log window) by clicking on the special bars marked with double arrows: , , , . These bars are located along one of the borders of the corresponding panel or toolbar.

You can minimize or maximize the right-side panels by clicking on the (-) or (+) icons on the upper right corners, respectively.

Note

The Workspace, Features, Quick toolbar, and Properties panels are detachable, and can be moved around and placed anywhere on the window. Simply drag-and drop, or click on the on the upper right corner of the panel, and drag.

Primary Settings

To access the settings dialog, select Settings… in the File menu. The settings window has several tabs for various groups of application settings. To switch between the tabs, click the icon at the top of the dialog. For a detailed description of the tabs, see Settings.

To change the language, select the Miscellaneous tab (Figure 228) and then the required language from the list and click OK. You will be asked to confirm the operation and restart the application. Once you agree, Artec Studio will automatically restart using the new interface language. If you choose not to restart, the changes will be applied the next time you start the application.

Important

By default, the 3D view window functions in the normal camera mode. However, you can switch to Orbit camera mode by selecting the Orbit Camera option in the View menu.

Workspace Panel

Object Types

After each scanning iteration, Artec Studio saves a separate scan. The list of all scans for a given project appears in the Workspace panel (see Figure 87). Afterwards, the algorithms, primarily fusion, yield models.

Artec Studio can accommodate the following types of objects in Workspace:

Table 4 Object types in Artec Studio.

Type	Icon	Content	Origin
Scan		Set of frames	From scanners Eva, Spider, Spider II, Leo, Micro, and Micro II
HD raw data		Set of HD frames	From Eva scanner
Point cloud scan		Point cloud	From Ray and Ray II scanners
Raw point cloud scan		Point cloud	From Artec Point scanner or imported point cloud
Sparse reconstruction		Sparse reconstruction object	Created in Artec Studio
Model		Polygonal mesh	Algorithm output (fusion) or imported mesh
CAD model		CAD model	Imported
Cylinder		CAD primitive	Created in Artec Studio (see Constructing CAD Primitives)
Cone		CAD primitive	Created in Artec Studio
Plane		CAD primitive	Created in Artec Studio
Sphere		CAD primitive	Created in Artec Studio
Torus		CAD primitive	Created in Artec Studio
Freeform		CAD primitive	Created in Artec Studio
Targets		Target cloud	Imported
Group		Group of objects	Grouping of objects listed above

See also

Figure 89.

Object Columns

Object data in the Workspace panel is arranged in several columns:

	Scans marked with in this column will appear in the 3D View window and will undergo processing by all Artec Studio algorithms and tools.
Icon	Each type of objects has a specific icon (see Table 4). This icon is always displayed to the left of the object or group name for improved visual perception of information in the Workspace panel.
Name	When a scan is created, Artec Studio automatically assigns it a name, such as Eva Scan 1, Eva Scan 2 and so on, according to the values in the Scan name and Start with fields as well as the state of the Add scanner type in prefix checkbox in the Scan panel. To rename some object, follow these instructions.
Color	In this column, each object has a colored square (for example, ) next to it for clarity and quick visual search. You can change the color by clicking on the corresponding square and selecting the desired color from the palette.
Type	The type of an object. See here for details.
Error	The largest registration-error value among all frames in the scan. More information.
Frames	The total number of frames constituting the scan.
Scanner type	The type of the scanner that created the object.
Texture frames	The number of captured texture frames. See Texturing for details.
Polygons	The number of polygons constituting the object.
Locks	Algorithms will not reposition the frames of the scans marked with , nor will they move the scans and other objects marked with .

Figure 87 Workspace panel and respective context menus: object list on left and surface list on right.

Use the button at the top left to select the columns to be displayed or to hide the panel. Change the column order by drag-and-dropping their headers.

Note

The columns marked with and appear automatically if you set the Lock object or Lock frames status respectively, for one or more objects using the context menu (see Operations with Objects for details on the context menu operations).

Figure 88 Selecting columns to be displayed, and filtering objects.

Operations with Objects

In the Workspace panel, you can perform various types of operations with objects. All types of operations are available through the context menu called by clicking RMB on some object.

Menu Item	Description
Objects filter	Instruct Workspace to display only particular types of the objects.
Select all	Select (highlight) all objects for further operations on them. If only one or several objects of one group are selected in Workspace, the first run of this command will select all group objects, the second – all Workspace objects.
Deselect all	Reset any selection
Invert selection	Reset the current selection and select all other objects.
Group / Ungroup	You can group a few objects in the workspace according to some feature. Select required objects, call the context menu by clicking RMB and select Group. You will see that the objects are wrapped with a common header (for example, Group 1), which can be changed as well as the object names (see below). It is possible to create subgroups within groups. Resumed scans are also grouped automatically during scanning. Each scan imported from Leo will be included in a separate group inside the project group. See also Actions with Groups.
Rename	Select an object by clicking LMB on its name, hit F2 and specify a new object name in the opened dialog window. You can also rename many objects at once: select multiple objects (as described above) and then use F2 or RMB to rename them.
Duplicate	To make a complete duplicate of an object in the Workspace, right-click on the object and then select Duplicate. A copy of the object will be created with the name like Copy of Fusion 1.
Show	Display the selected objects in the 3D View section. See Selecting Scans and Models for details.
Hide	Do not display an object in the 3D View section (cancel the Show operation).
Lock frames	Set the Locked frames status () to a scan, which blocks the reposition of the scan frames during Global Registration. See Locking Object’s Position for details.
Lock object	Set the Locked object status () to a and object, which blocks its position while using various other tools. See Locking Object’s Position for details.
Unlock	Remove the Locked frames and Locked object statuses from an object.
Change color	Call the color palette to change the color of an object or a group. See also Actions with Groups.
Copy transformations	Save the transformations of a scan and its frames for their further transfer to another scan. See Transferring Transformations for details.
Unregister	Reset the positions of individual frames in a scan computed during its registration. See Separating Scans for a use case.
Delete	Delete objects from your project.
Upload to Cloud	Upload fusions and models to cloud directly from Artec Studio. See Exporting to Artec Cloud for more information.
Any column header	Sort the objects by either of their properties. Clicks: ascending order → descending → initial.

Figure 89 Filtering objects in Workspace.

Actions with Groups

In the Workspace panel you can perform the following actions with the groups of objects using the elements of the group header row:

Table 5 Actions with groups in the Workspace panel.

Action	How to perform
Select/Deselect	To select or deselect all objects in a group, click the group row in the column marked with .
Set/Change group color	By default, the group color is not set (). To set or change the color of a group, click the group row in the Color column area and select the desired color from the palette. When the group color is set and the group is collapsed in the Workspace panel, then all objects in the group are painted in the group color. Otherwise, each object is painted in its own color.
Unset group color	To cancel the color setting for a group, right-click the group row in the Color column area.
Lock	To lock or unlock all objects or frames in a group, click the group row in the Lock column area ( or ). See Locking Object’s Position for details.

Selecting Scans and Models

To view a scan or model in the 3D View window or to process it, you need to mark it with the icon in the Workspace panel. To navigate scans and models, use keys ↑ and ↓ or click an arbitrary area except those in , or color column ().

Purpose	Method	Alternate Method
Highlight an object in Workspace to view its properties or run a command from the context menu	Left-click on the scan name	—
Toggle visibility and availability for processing (flag )	Left-click in the column	Use the Show or Hide context-menu commands Select the object name using Ctrl+Alt+LMB.
Batch selection (deselection) of objects for display and processing	Click in the rows of the required objects one by one	Hit Ctrl+A (Ctrl+D) to select (deselect) all objects Click LMB while holding Ctrl (Shift) to highlight a few objects and then hit Space Click LMB on one of the flags and while holding down LMB, move the cursor through the other flags.
Select a single object for processing and deselect others	Select the object name using Ctrl+Alt+LMB	Use Ctrl+LMB in the empty area of the column

In addition to the methods in the table above, you can use commands from the context menu by clicking RMB on the objects.

See also

The full list of hot keys in workspace.

Selecting Frames

Double-clicking on the scan name (or using the View frames command in the context menu) opens a list of all the frames in that scan (see Figure 87, right).

Manually selecting specific frames will make them (and only them) appear in the 3D View window. Alternatively, to select a particular frame directly on the 3D View window, without the need for manually browsing through the frames list, simply click LMB while holding the Alt key.

You can select frames in a number of ways:

• Click LMB on the frame name to select it while clearing other selections.

• Click LMB while holding the Ctrl key to select several frames at once.

• Click LMB while holding the Shift key to select a sequence of frames in the specified range.

• Click Ctrl+A/Ctrl+D to select/deselect all frames.

• Click LMB while holding the Alt key to select a frame directly from the 3D View window. This will display only the selected frame in the 3D View window.

To start a sequential frame demonstration, use the button at the upper right of the Surface list. To stop the demonstration, click .

Object Properties

At the bottom of the Workspace panel, you can see a Properties panel. Click on it to expand it. Then select any object to display its properties. Depending on the selected object, its properties are displayed under the Basic and Advanced tabs.

In the Advanced tab, you can view details of a scan like number of Polygons or Size of the scan and Scanner ID.

Figure 90 Basic and advanced object properties of a selected scan.

If no object is selected, the global settings of the project will be displayed in the Properties panel.

Figure 91 Project properties when no object is selected.

Features

By default the Features panel is located at the bottom of the Workspace panel near the Properties panel. Click on it to expand it. Then select one or more scans with the global registration applied and/or a reference target cloud to display the features of the captured targets.

See Features Panel for details. If no object is selected, the Features panel will be empty.

Figure 92 Features without a selected object.

Selecting a Point Cloud Scan

Point cloud scans contain only one surface. Click LMB on a point cloud scan and look at the Properties section:

Figure 93 Properties of the point cloud scan.

Parameter	Description
Global registration	Shows whether the global registration procedure has been performed.
Mesh polygons	Since Artec Studio doesn’t display all the points constituting the scan, you can only see a mesh obtained from a simplified copy of the actual point cloud.
Points	Total number of points in the point cloud.
Sections	When you scan with Ray, you may select particular regions (sections) to narrow down the actual scene. This parameter stands for the number of these regions.

Quick Toolbar

You can get access to the most frequently used tools for CAD and other objects using quick access Quick toolbar. The presence of tools on the Quick tolbar and their accesibility directly depends on the objects existing/being selected in your project.

Tool	Icon	Summary	Supported objects
Transformation		Allows to move, rotate, scale and mirror objects relative to the global coordinate-system axes. Same as Editor → Transformation tool.	All visible
Cross section		Creates a dynamically adjustable cutting plane.	Scans, Models, CAD objects, Point clouds.
Chamfer		Creates a transitional face between two adjoining object faces at a certain angle depending on set distances. Symmetrical/asymmetrical.	CAD objects.
Fillet		Creates a smooth, rounded transition between two faces of an object, based on specified distances. It generates a new face that smoothly connects the original faces and can be either symmetrical or asymmetrical.	CAD objects.
Draft		Modifies the angle of object face.	CAD objects.
Thickness		Adds thickness to object by offsetting faces inward or outward, or in both directions.	Models, CAD objects.
Move surface		Move the selected surface by a specified offset.	CAD objects.
Delete face		Delete one or more faces on CAD models.	CAD objects.
Deviation analysis		Calculates the deviation of two objects and asseses the result of the fitting and aligning geometry tools. Same as Measures → Distance map.	Models, CAD objects.

Cross section

To create a cross section,

1. Mark the checkboxes of desired object in the Workspace to which you would like to apply the Cross section tool on the Quick toolbar.

2. Click the Cross section () icon on the Quick toolbar to open the Cross section tool. The Cross section tool will open in a pop-up, which is draggable and can be located at any place in the 3D view window.

3. Select one of the available coordinate planes (YOZ , XOZ , XOY ). Once the coordinate plane is selected, you will see the preview of a cross section.

Figure 94 Cross section on YOZ coordinate plane.

Z-axis is always perpendicular to section.

To customize cross section,

• Move section along its normal (Z-axis) by clicking LMB on the arrow and dragging it.

• Flip the direction of cross section by clicking the Flip direction button

Figure 95 The flipped cross section on YOZ coordinate plane

Note

Even after the cross section is generated, you can switch to another coordinate plane.

• To enhance visibility by filling section with color, toggle the Show cap switch on.

  Keep in mind that showing caps is only available for CAD objects and models.

Figure 96 Cross section with colored cap.

Apply changes by clicking on the Save as section button. Your saved section will appear on Measures panel along with other measures.

Chamfer

To create a chamfer,

1. Mark the checkboxes of desired CAD object in the Workspace to enable Chamfer tool on the Quick toolbar.

2. Click the Chamfer () icon on the Quick toolbar to open the Chamfer tool. The Chamfer tool will open in a pop-up, which is draggable and can be located at any place in the 3D view window.

3. Click LMB on the desired edge of the CAD object. The hovered edge will be highlighted in yellow. Once it’s selected, you will see a preview of the default chamfer.

Figure 97 The default symmetrical chamfer at 45°angle.

To customize the created chamfer,

1. Set the value of distance from initial edge to the new edge on the first face to the Distance 1 field. If the Symmetrical switch is toggled, the value entered in the Distance 1 field will also be applied to the Distance 2 field.

2. To make the created chamfer assymetrical, toogle the Symmetrical switch off and enter custom distances in the Distance 1 and Distance 2 field.

3. To adjust the shape of chamfer corner, try different values of Corner Form parameter

4. To spread the chamfer to the neighbouring edges that are smoothly connected, use Tangent propagation parameter

5. Apply changes by closing the Chamfer tool.

Figure 98 Chamfer with Tangent propagation parameter off.

Figure 99 Chamfer with Tangent propagation parameter on

To reset your changes, click Reset icon (). All changes will be undone.

Fillet

To create a fillet,

1. Mark the checkboxes of the desired CAD object in the Workspace to enable the Fillet tool on the Quick toolbar.

2. Click the Fillet () icon on the Quick toolbar to open the Fillet tool. The Fillet tool will open in a pop-up, which is draggable and can be located at any place in the 3D view window.

3. Click LMB on the desired edge of the CAD object. The hovered edge will be highlighted in yellow. Once it’s selected, you will see a preview of the default fillet.

Figure 100 The default symmetrical fillet.

To customize the created fillet,

1. Set the value of distance from initial edge to the new edge on the first surface to the Distance 1 field. If the Symmetrical switch is toggled, the value entered in the Distance 1 field will also be applied to the Distance 2 field.

2. To make the created fillet assymetrical, toogle the Symmetrical switch off and enter custom distances in the Distance 1 and Distance 2 field.

3. To adjust the shape of fillet corner, try different values of Corner Form parameter.

4. To spread the fillet to the neighbouring edges that are smoothly connected, use Tangent propagation parameter.

5. Apply changes by closing the Fillet tool.

To reset your changes, click Reset icon (). All changes will be undone.

Thickness

To thicken an object,

1. Mark the checkboxes of the desired mesh or CAD object in the Workspace to enable the Thickness tool on the Quick toolbar.

2. Click the Thickness () icon on the Quick toolbar to open the Thickness tool. The Thickness tool will open in a pop-up, which is draggable and can be located at any place in the 3D view window.

3. To adjust the thickness, set the desired value in either the Forward or the Backward field, or assign different values to both fields by turning off the Symmetrical switch.

Figure 101 The Thickness tool with a 5mm forward and backward offset

Draft

To create a draft,

1. Mark the checkboxes of the desired CAD object in the Workspace to enable the Draft tool on the Quick toolbar.

2. Click the Draft () icon on the Quick toolbar to open the Draft tool. The Draft tool will open in a pop-up, which is draggable and can be located at any place in the 3D view window.

3. Select one or multiple adjacent faces connected to the base for which the draft will be specified.

4. Set the draft angle in the Angle field.

5. Click the Apply button to save the created draft (see Figure 102).

Figure 102 The created draft at 20°angle

To reverse the direction of the base surface, click the Reverse () icon in the Draft pop-up. The surface draft will be flipped.

Move surface

To move a surface of the selected CAD object,

1. Mark the checkboxes of the desired CAD object in the Workspace to enable the Move surface tool on the Quick toolbar.

2. Click the Move surface () icon on the Quick toolbar to open the Move surface tool. The Move surface tool will open in a pop-up, which is draggable and can be located at any place in the 3D view window.

3. Select any face of the CAD object. Shift-click to select multiple faces.

4. Set an offset value to the Distance field.

5. Specify an offset axis (optional).

6. Click the Apply button to save changes. The face surface is moved.

Figure 103 The Move surface tool with a 50mm offset - Not applied yet.

Delete face

To delete a face of the selected CAD object,

1. Mark the checkboxes of the desired CAD object in the Workspace to enable the Delete face tool on the Quick toolbar.

2. Click the Delete face () icon on the Quick toolbar to open the Delete face tool. The Delete face tool will open in a pop-up, which is draggable and can be located at any place in the 3D view window.

3. Select any face of the CAD object. Shift-click to select multiple faces.

4. Choose between the Leave hole and Try fixing hole options. Depending on the selected option, the hole left in place of the deleted face will either remain as is, or Artec Studio will attempt to fix it.

5. Click the Apply button to save changes. The selected face is deleted.

Figure 104 Deleted face with the fixed hole.

Figure 105 Deleted face with the left hole.

Deviation analysis

In Artec Studio there is a number of tools that fit the geometry of one object into another or align them:

• Fit all kinds of primitives

• Fit Freeform surfaces

• Best-fit

• Autosurface creation

Deviation analysis tool calculates the distance map showing the deviation of the initial and fitted surfaces. Deviation analysis can be performed between CAD and model or two models.

To enable the tool,

1. Mark the checkboxes of the desired CAD object and model, or two models in the Workspace to enable the Deviation analysis tool on the Quick toolbar.

2. Click the Deviation analysis () icon on the Quick toolbar to open the Deviation analysis tool. The Deviation analysis tool will open in a pop-up, which is draggable and can be located at any place in the 3D view window.

Note

If you selected only one object, the Deviation analysis tool will be enabled, but you will see the text prompt to select at least two objects. If invalid objects are selected, Deviation analysis tool will remain disabled.

Once you’ve selected the valid objects for calculating the deviation, the algorithm will run automatically, the Deviation analysis pop-up will open.

Figure 106 The Deviation analysis tool with calculated distance map

By default, Search distance is 1 mm but you can also recalculate by entering a desired Search distance (in mm) value and click the Recalculate button. For more information about Distance map parameters, refer to the Distance Maps section.

See also

The Deviation analysis tool is the same as Measures → Distance map and can also be performed in the Datum Alignment mode. See Datum Alignment for more details.

Memory Management: Smart RAM Usage

Working with a large data set requires a huge amount of RAM and you might often find it necessary to free up RAM without deleting any of the project data. While the previous versions of Artec Studio tackled this by making it possible for you to load or unload scans manually, the new Artec Studio 16 automatically optimizes RAM usage through smart memory management.

When you open a project, all the scans are preloaded into the RAM and displayed in the Workspace, which enables you to start working with them immediately. When you select one or more scans in the Workspace, Artec Studio will automatically load only the selected scans. If a particular algorithm or action requires any scans, the application will automatically load them into RAM too. Likewise, Artec Studio will automatically unload unnecessary scans, frames, textures or a combination thereof. This selective loading and unloading of data frees up extra RAM automatically.

Note

In addition to 3D data, the change history can also consume a large portion of memory. For information on how to control the history size as well as how to clear it, consult History of Project Changes.