Clouds does all kinds of distance measurements between objects in a data file. The name clouds comes from the fact that it generates random points inside 3D objects (i.e. a cloud of points) for models and distance measurement distributions. Objects must be created in the object library format using either Volume Builder for 3D objects or Pick Points for point objects. Point objects may be created with some other program and then read into Pick Points to convert it to object library format. The measurement output is text file with distances in a column format such that it is readable by the user and can be easily cut and pasted into a spread sheet. The user can select one or a number of possible measurements to do in any one measurement run.
Overview | Object Files | Image File | Group Objects | Edit Group | Num random points | Bin random measurements | Number of Bins | Cloud Measurements | Cloud Models
Pick Points | Volume Builder | 3D Model | Priism
Files describing the objects are required input for Clouds. They need to be in the object library format and there are currently two types of objects that the program can use:
The image file can be a file or a window. When a window is used, graphics are drawn to the window to show the objects. When objects are grouped, all grouped objects share the same color so that one can tell if the objects are properly grouped.
Objects are divided into groups such that all small objects that fall inside a bigger object are grouped together. To group objects, press the "Group Objects" button. By defaults objects are divided into groups by going through all the objects and testing each object with all the others to see if one is inside the other. When there are many objects, this can be time consuming. The pulldown menu with options "no pregrouping" and "outer objects in wave" allows you to speed up the process if you can tell the program that the outer objects are in a separate wave from the inner objects. Normally the criterion for automatic grouping is that the center of gravity of the smaller object is inside the bigger object. If there are a lot of small objects that are right on the edge of the big object, this may not work. Turning on the "force" button and then pressing the "Group Objects" button will force any object that touches a big object at all to be grouped with the big object. Be aware that if outer objects are touching each other then using force could cause outer objects to be grouped together when no pregrouping is used.
Once you have grouped the objects (or even if you haven't), you can edit the grouping of objects. When you press the "Edit Group" button, you get a directive to click in the outer object of the group to add to. Once you do that, you can click in any smaller objects that should be part of that group. When you are done, press the "End Edit" button. The toggle button for "show directive popups" lets you turn off the popups that tell you what to click.
When sampling an object with random points or making cloud models, tell the program how many random points you want generated. You can enter a different amount for outer objects and inner objects.
For measurements involving random points, the results are presented as a histogram if the "bin random measurements" toggle button is on or as the raw distances if that toggle is off.
Sets the number of bins used when histograms are reported for cloud measurements.
The "Cloud Measurements" button opens a dialog that allows you to select which measurements you want to do. The measurements will be written to a file whose name you must enter in the "Output dist file" field or select by using the file dialog that appears when press the "Output dist file" button. You add a measurement to the list of measurements to perform (a "run list") by using the "From" and "To" pulldowns to select which object components to use for the measurement and then pressing the "Add Setting" button. Whenever you change the "From" pulldown, the "To" pulldown will change to reflect the available targets for the measurement. You can add as many measurements to the list as you want. To save a list of measurements that you want to reuse with another set of objects:
To reload a list of previously saved measurements press the "Load Run List" button and use the file dialog that appears to select the file containing the list of measurements. To clear a list of measurements so you can enter another list, press the "Clear List" button. Once you have selected the list of measurements, press the "DO IT" button at the bottom of the dialog to perform the calculations and write the results.
There are quite a few combinations of elements that can be used for measurement. Currently implemented measurements are:
For measurements involving randomly generated points, the measurements are either reported as a histogram or as the raw distance values depending on whether or not the "bin random measurements" toggle is on. It is not currently possible to generate both the histogram and raw distance values in the same run for the measurements involving randomly generated points.
Use the "Cloud Models" button in the main Clouds dialog to write a description of the generated clouds which 3D Model can read and display. A dialog will appear to prompt you for the name of the file to write (or you can select it with a file dialog by pressing the "getfile" button). Press the "Save" button in that dialog to generate the file. A cloud will be created for every volume object that has been loaded into the program.