Gw - 23 July 2008 10:43 AM
Well I finally figured out what the problem was!
I was waiting for one of those moments where it clicks and you have a wave of relief.
Last night I swapped out the Tamron lens for just the plain old stock Point Grey microlens, and BINGO.
I place my fingers down on the acrylic, and there was instant insanely bright blobs. This means that it has been working correctly since I set it up, I just couldn’t see the blobs!
Few notes on lasers:
The laser doesn’t have to be near the surface at all for it to trigger the blobs. It can be near 1” away from the acrylic and still penetrate Rosco Grey with no effort! I used NASA precision when setting up the lasers when I could not get bright blobs, just be aware, for simple testing it does NOT have to be perfect for you to see blobs.
(1) of Alex P’s lasers is extremely powerfull and now I understand that the second one is added just to prevent blocking, but it is not needed for more light, even with a 120 degree spead.
I want to thank all the people that helped me out in diagnosing this problem.
Stay tuned for some serious updates!
Looking good!!!
The reason why you want the laser light plane to be just above the surface is that:
1. You’ll get blobls only on touch
2. You’ll get the brigthest blobs this way
3. Your blobs will have the right shape (because the light will lit up the tips of your fingers)
4. You’ll get the most accurate blob position and size
~Alex
