Method and apparatus for tracking the position and orientation of a stylus and for digitizing a 3-D object

A method for developing a mesh representation of a three-dimensional object by a computer system, the method comprising:

• receiving a data point from a probe corresponding to a surface point on a surface of a three-dimensional (3-D) object as a user moves said probe over said surface of said 3-D object;
• adding said data point to an end of a current contour line of a mesh representation when said data point is received, said current contour line including a plurality of data points corresponding to surface points on said surface of said 3-D object;
• and
• creating a triangle in said mesh representation when said data point is received and when a previous contour line exists in said mesh representation, said previous contour line being adjacent to said current contour line and including a plurality of data points corresponding to surface points on said 3-D object, said triangle including a data point of said current contour line, a data point of a previous contour line, and a third data point from either said current contour line or said previous contour line.

A method for providing a selection template for receiving commands from a probe apparatus used for measuring three-dimensional coordinates, the method comprising steps of:

• defining a template region within a selected volume as said selection template, wherein a probe included in said probe apparatus is movable within said selected volume;
• defining a selection region within said template region and associating said selection region with a command to a host computer coupled to said probe apparatus, said command being used to select a function of said host computer or of said probe apparatus and not being used to determine the position of said stylus;
• and
• providing said command associated with said selection region to said host computer to select said function of said host computer or of said probe apparatus, wherein said command is provided when said probe of said probe apparatus is detected within said selection region.

A method for developing a mesh representation of a three-dimensional object by a computer system, the method comprising the steps of:

• receiving a data point from a probe corresponding to a surface point on a surface of a three-dimensional (3-D) object;
• adding said data point to an end of a current contour line of a mesh representation, said current contour line including a plurality of data points corresponding to surface points on said surface of said 3-D object;
• and
• creating a triangle in said mesh representation, said triangle including a data point of said current contour line, a data point of a previous contour line, and a third data point from either said current contour line or said previous contour line, wherein said triangle is created only when said current contour line is not the only contour line of said mesh representation, and wherein said received data point, an index data point of said previous contour line, and a prior data point of said current contour line immediately previous to said received data point are included in said triangle when a distance between said received data point and said index data point is less than the distance between a next data point on said previous contour line immediately following said index data point and said prior data point.

A method for developing a mesh representation of a three-dimensional object by a computer system, the method comprising the steps of:

• receiving a data point from a probe corresponding to a surface point on a surface of a three-dimensional (3-D) object;
• adding said data point to an end of a current contour line of a mesh representation, said current contour line including a plurality of data points corresponding to surface points on said surface of said 3-D object;
• and
• creating a triangle in said mesh representation, said triangle including a data point of said current contour line, a data point of a previous contour line, and a third data point from either said current contour line or said previous contour line, wherein said triangle is created only when said current contour line is not the only contour line of said mesh representation, wherein when said received data point is a second data point of said current contour line, a meshing direction is determined from said previous contour line and said current contour line, said meshing direction indicating from which end of said previous contour line to start creating said triangle.