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Alignment and automatic registration mark pickup with Cyclops

Aeronaut's Cyclops Machine Vision is a low-cost, simple and effective tool which, in conjunction with the software joystick, allows the user to have an accurate and detailed view of exactly what is on the cutting table at the cutting head. The Cyclops camera is mounted on the cutting head and looks at a small area of the cutting table below the head. The image from the camera can be displayed in Tangent on the computer in a slide-out view attached to the software joystick window. Clicking on any point inside the Cyclops view will rapidly centre the cutter and camera over that point. Once the camera is aligned over a point, a whole range of functions become a great deal easier. For a start, you can see exactly where the cutter head is over a job for example to make sure that a cut pattern is going to fit on the fabric on the table. Cyclops can be easily used to create accurate alignment grids in a nesting queue and locate registration and registration marks to fit digitally printed material on the cutting table.

Patterns in the queue can have registration marks. These are either imported in the original file or added in Tangent. The cutter and Cyclops camera is moved to the approximate position of the first registration mark by clicking in the queue and using the contextual menu 'Move here on table'. The mark is then centred accurately using the Cyclops camera and a registration mark set. Once one alignment mark in the queue is registered, the cutter can be rapidly moved to other alignment marks using the Move to Mark button. Cyclops can be used to locate fabric defects which, in conjunction with Tangent's Fault Line feature, allows you to create a buffer zone and manually or automatically nest around the them. The cutter can be easily moved around the table using the software joystick but Cyclops is especially effective when used in with SiliconEye. With SiliconEye, you get the big picture… you can see all over the table and with Cyclops, you see the fine detail. As with so many things, Cyclops is one of those tools that once you see it working, you won't know how you ever did without it.

To see video clips of Cyclops in action follow the Video Clips menu…