Measure Tool

Measure

The vibration and tracking tool can both provide measurements in real world units provided calibration is applied first. To begin calibration select the Measure tab and check Show cursors. Drag the two red cursors at the top left of the screen to span the distance between points a known distance apart in the image. Select either m or mm in the Units pulldown and press Calibrate. In the popup that appears enter the distance between the two cursors in the real world units selected and press OK.

The calibration applied here will now be available to the Vibration and Tracking tools by selecting either mm or m in the Units pulldown for those tools.

The measure tool also enables a simple method of estimating object speed if the cursors are placed on the same object or feature at different positions in the timeline. To perform this measurement first drag cursor A on top of the chosen feature. Use the transport controls to adjust the clip time until the feature has moved to a new position a comfortable distance from cursor A. For fast moving objects this might only be a single frame. Place cursor B on top of the feature in it’s new position. The time taken to move from A to B as well as the object speed will now be computed.

To reduce display clutter the cursors may be turned off by unchecking Show cursors. This will not affect the calibration.