Deviation Analysis Guide

Overview

The Deviation Analysis tool allows users to compare two meshes — a reference and a target — and measure geometric deviations between them. Results are visualized with a color-coded map, numeric statistics, and optional tolerance checks.

The tool is useful in contexts such as:

  1. Quality control against a nominal CAD or reference mesh.
  2. Reverse engineering workflows, where geometric fidelity of reconstructed meshes needs to be quantified.
  3. Inspection tasks requiring quick pass/fail assessment based on tolerances.

Deviation results can be exported as meshes, shared online, or saved as a report for documentation purposes.

UI/UX

The Deviation Analysis tool is accessed via Tools → Deviation. This opens a floating Deviation window.

The interface is divided into the following sections:

  1. Target Selection - Choose the Reference and Target entities to compare.
  2. Settings - Configure deviation scale, nominal ranges, steps, and tolerance checks.
  3. Actions - Run deviation calculations, clear callouts, export results, or generate reports.
  4. Info Bar - Displays a colorbar legend and numerical statistics in a dockable window.
The Deviation UI
Deviation Analysis UI

Workflow States

Deviation Analysis follows a simple workflow:

  1. Entity Selection - User specifies Reference and Target meshes.
  2. Calculation - Tool computes per-vertex deviations.
  3. Visualization - Deviations are displayed as a heatmap with color scaling.
  4. Review - Users inspect callouts, statistics, and tolerance results.
  5. Export - Results can be exported to mesh files or HTML reports.

Settings

Scale and Display Controls

  • Steps - Number of discrete color steps in the map (2-10; can also be manually changed by control + click on the slider).
  • Auto Scale - Automatically computes scale range from data statistics.
  • Max Distance - Maximum accepted deviation value for statistics (0 = unlimited).
  • Scale Max - Upper bound of scale range; values beyond are clamped to red/blue.
  • Step Size - Increment between scale steps.
  • Nominal Range - Defines acceptable positive (+) and negative (-) deviation bounds. Users can enable asymmetric nominal ranges.
Deviation Settings
Deviation Settings Panel

Tolerance Checks

The tool can evaluate pass/fail conditions against thresholds:

  • Check by Count (%) - Maximum percentage of points allowed outside nominal bounds.

Results are highlighted in the Stats tab and background color (green = pass, red = fail).

Visualization Options

  • Show Reference - Toggle rendering deviations over the Reference mesh (instead of Target).
  • Callouts - Users can click on the mesh to annotate specific deviation values.

  • Info Bar - Dockable panel with two tabs:

  • Colorbar - Scale legend, nominal bounds, and deviation histogram.

  • Stats - Numerical summary (min, max, mean, standard deviation, tolerance check).

Actions

  • Calculate - Runs the deviation analysis with current settings.
  • Clear Callout - Removes all callouts from the view.
  • Export Meshes - Saves Reference and Target entities as PBN files.
  • Save Report - Generates an HTML report containing deviation map, colorbar, and statistics.
  • Share - Uploads deviation results (not available in PointKit View).

Output

When deviation analysis is complete, the following results are available:

  1. On-screen heatmap - Color-coded deviations mapped to the mesh.
  2. Deviation Info Bar - Includes histogram, legend, nominal range visualization, and stats table.
  3. HTML Report - Standalone document with captured images and statistics.
  4. Exported Meshes - Reference and Target with deviation color data.