Automatic area measurement on the Mentor Visual iQ+ VideoProbe 

In this article:

• Automatic Area Measurement on Mentor Visual iQ+ explains how the videoprobe calculates planar surface areas using best‑fit planes, reducing manual effort and improving repeatability in visual inspections.
• Area vs. Auto Area modes outlines when to use cursor‑based outlining versus automatic perimeter detection, with examples like corrosion, coating loss, and missing material on turbine components.
• Best‑practice guidance highlights accuracy tips using point clouds, measurement planes, and area grouping to ensure reliable results in real‑world industrial inspection scenarios.

Is automatic area measurement available on the Mentor Visual iQ+ VideoProbe?

What is area measurement?

Measures a planar area on a surface by outlining an indication with multiple cursor points.

Example Applications:

• Missing blade corners using a Measurement Plane
• Coating loss
• Surface area of pitting or corrosion
• FOD impact damage

3D Surface Mask:

When enabled in Settings, surface points very close to the best-fit plane are shown in green. The mask is cleared near the perimeter lines to provide an un-obscured view of the part for accurate cursor positioning.

Best Practices to Improve Measurement Accuracy:

• Check the point cloud to ensure accurate cursor placement.
• When measuring a curved surface, reduce error by measuring multiple smaller areas and combining the results.
• Use with a Measurement Plane to measure area and lengths of blade missing corners. See Measurement Plane section for details.

What is auto area measurement?

Automatically outlines surface areas based on manual placement of one or two cursors, determines a best-fit plane using the perimeter points, and computes the area on the best-fit plane.

Example Applications:

• Corrosion, erosion and pitting
• Missing material, oxidation and TBC loss for gas turbine HPT and combustor inspection applications
• Other instances where area measurements, especially multiple concentric area measurements are needed

3D Surface Mask:

No 3D Surface Mask is shown for Auto Area to avoid confusion with the area masks.

Best Practices to Improve Measurement Accuracy:

• Use the single-cursor Auto Add tool to measure areas with well-defined perimeters.
• Use the two-cursor Auto Box tool to create a box around areas with less well-defined perimeters.
• Use the Draw and Erase tools to make fine adjustments.
• With either the Auto Add or Auto Box tool selected, new boxes can created using a touch drag.
• After selecting Auto Area from the measurement menu, a single combined area value will be provided for one or multiple separate masked areas selected using the various tools. To obtain separate results for different areas, press the Add Area soft key to create a new grouping of one or more masked areas with a separate result. The top result value is the total combined area.
• Areas are always mutually-exclusive with no overlap. When measuring features within other features, such as oxidation within an area of TBC loss, create the area for the inner-most feature first and the outer-most feature last.
• After creating area masks on the full screen 2D image, switch to the Split View to verify that the planar area surface accurately represents the desired measurement area.
• For applications that require area measurements that conform to a curved surface, consider using multiple smaller normal Area measurements or contact Waygate for guidance.
• After creating the desired areas, press Done to return to the normal measurement state to save the image, access alternate views, or add measurements of other types.
• To change an existing Auto Area measurement, press Add Measurement, and select Auto Area from the measurement menu.