Concept
Speed
High productivity of imaging is a basic aspect of the entire FotoRobot Concept.
It would be a mistake to only assume an affective reliance on the speed of movement of the machine.
The current generation of FotoRobots move at speeds on the limit of the laws of physics. There are no technical issues to rotate the robot at higher speeds - but notice several examples, when this is not suitable:
- unstable objects (mobile phones etc.) - here the movement has to be slowed down to keep the object in the defined position
- suspended objects (jewellery, MP3 players) - quick movements are not suitable due to object swaying
- models - not every lady likes a speedy ride on a merry-go-round...
Another important issue to be considered is the speed of image download from the camera, because at high resolution in certain modes overload of the buffer occurs, followed by camera failure (overflow of the buffer in case of insufficient write speed to the internal memory card, or during the download of images to PC, when the camera cannot shoot another image)
Therefore we place emphasis on other methods of increasing productivity:
- placing the object into a precise centre of rotation using lasers (later corrections during image processing is not needed)
- crop-free scene setting (used methods of placement and scene lighting to eliminate cropping of all images - with respect to the number of images needed to create 3D presentations it is a substantial acceleration)
- integration of FotoRobots in Workflow of the Customer (when time losses of completion of information on the photographed object, manual copying of images etc. is minimised)
- sequencers (control systems can be programmed to simulate the "camera flight", so the spatial perception of motion can be achieved with a minimal amount of images)
- continuous rotation (advantage especially during demonstration of clothing functions during fashion photography)
- and many other special solutions
Modular configuration
We realise the importance of a quick service for immediate continuation of the processes of our clients. Therefore the entire system has a modular design - it is not "one complicated machine", but a set of individual components:
- Photographic robots
- Connection motor cable
- Hardware control unit "BlackBox"
- IT Infrastructure (local LAN)
- Control PC
- Graphical computer MAC (optional)
The interface of individual components is always controlled (e.g. correct connection of cable using LEDs) - therefore remote identification and replacement of a defective component is easy and allows quick mending of a defect - this ensures the immediate continuation of the operation.
BlackBox - hardware controlled motion!
It would be less costly to control the robot motion using software directly from a PC. But experience shows that a similar solution is unstable, because the operating systems of usual computers are not suitable for control of time critical applications. Therefore the FotoRobot concept is based on a hardware control unit BlackBox.
BlackBox ensures all movement of the machine - acceleration, drive, deceleration. The unit is pre-programmed for particular sizes and speeds of steps (saved in memory slots) and for photograph sequences the PC only recalls individual blocks of partial movements - ensuring reliability and minimum communication between the PC and the robot.
BlackBox is connected with the control PC through LAN - enabling better placement of systems in the photographic studio and control of many robots through one PC in real time. This concept also enables trouble-free synchronisation of mutual movement of several machines (e.g. movement for suspension of a "Cube" with the robotic table at the same time - when the photographed object is placed and suspended at the same time).
We control the Camera by software :-)
FotoRobot communicates during operation with the connected camera through a software driver.
Primitive systems use a wire or mechanical shutter release, which doesn't provide feedback on the image capture, its download into the computer in real time is impossible and in a case of failure of one image in the sequence it is necessary to repeat the entire process.
FotoRobot has full control over the camera control
FotoRobot is a professional solution.