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How to simulate a laser line light source?

Posted: 13 Jul 2015, 20:25
by Irgi
I want to use V-REP for fast simulation of a laser triangulation system with a robot mounted camera and laser. I am looking for a way to simulate a single line laser light source and capture the intensity image with a vision sensor.
In the forum i found two suggestions:
1. Use a standard light source (directional / spot) and a masking plane to form a single line -> Does not work becaue V-REP does not do shadows
2. Use the "painting gun" -> Does not work for me because i want the light to interact with the surface of the object considering the surface BRDF

Two questions:
1. Did i get the information for the two suggestions above correct or is there some misunderstanding on my side?
2. How would you suggest to simulate a single line laser lightsource?

Thanks,
Stephan

Re: How to simulate a laser line light source?

Posted: 15 Jul 2015, 12:42
by coppelia
Hello Stephan,

currently this is not feasable, but next release of V-REP will include a ray-tracing plugin, that will allow to have shadows. The next release (V-REP 3.2.2) should be out in 3-4 weeks.

Cheers

Re: How to simulate a laser line light source?

Posted: 17 Apr 2016, 16:32
by drmajr
I'm trying to do the same thing. Has anyone made any progress? I'm stumped.

Re: How to simulate a laser line light source?

Posted: 19 Apr 2016, 08:16
by coppelia
To simulate a laser-type sensor, you have several possibilities. You can use ray-type proximity sensors, or orthographic vision sensors, or a combination of both.
The first approach is very fast for individual measurements and provides exact geometric distances. The second approach is very fast for simultaneous measurements, but provides approximate distances, since based on the GPU depth buffer, which has a limited resolution.

Cheers