Current Help System: PC-DMIS CMM (View Core Help)

## Scanning: Introduction

With PC-DMIS and your CMM you can scan your part's surface at specified increments in DCC (Direct Computer Control) mode using a TTP (Touch Trigger Probe) or an analog (continuous contact) probe. Alternately, if you're working in Manual mode, you can perform manual scans with touch trigger or hard probes as well.

DCC TTP scanning, also known as "stitch-type" scanning because it resembles a sewing machine's stitching action as it contacts the part's surface, is driven by PC-DMIS and the CMM controller. This provides an intelligent, self-adapting algorithm that can calculate surface normal vectors for accurate probe compensation.

DCC continuous contact scans (scans done with an analog probe head) remain in continuous contact with the part's surface. PC-DMIS sends the scanning parameters to the controller. The controller scans the part and then informs PC-DMIS of the scan points based on the chosen parameters. Continuous contact scans generally result in large amounts of point data being generated relatively quickly.

These different scanning approaches are useful in digitizing profiles on your part's surfaces.

Example Surface Plot of a Patch Scan

In order to scan your part's features and surfaces PC-DMIS provides you with these scans: Basic Scans, Advanced Scans, and Manual Scans.

The main topics in this section discuss the options available from the Insert | Scan submenu:

- Performing Advanced Scans

- Performing Basic Scans

- Performing Scans Manually

- Working with Section Cuts

Important: The scan options in the scanning dialog boxes are discussed in the "Scanning Your Part" section in the PC-DMIS Core documentation.