Anyone interested in a system to measure depth and chart it?

[eastshores]

I recently bought a digital depth guage from igaging. This is the unit I got. After it arrived I noticed it had a USB port and after looking a little I found that they have a separate unit for $80 that allows you to interface it to a PC.

I am a software developer so I am planning to write some software that will allow me to use a webcam and overlay the caliper setup over an image of the mandolin top/bottom so that I can capture the depths and mark the exact spot on the image.

Anyone interested in a system like this? I would give the software away. I was planning to make a C style jig to mount the caliper in.. so I am thinking that I can mount a flexible webcam arm on the jig so that I can be sure that I am marking the depths accurately on the image of the top/bottom. This would provide a nice digital mapping solution for about $150 plus whatever time you put into making the C jig and the cost of the webcam and mount.

I imagine this could work for any picture that you can take.. so guitar tops/bottoms as well. If there's enough interest here I'll document my build and publish the software online for everyone.

I threw together an app. I am not sure what the best way is going to be to show the webcam image since the piece being measured is going to be moving around and the caliper will be fixed.

[j. condino]

http://www.magicprobe.net/

[Wrnchbndr]

That is way cool. I will look into this more. Not really something I need right now with the current mode of work but if anyone has information for an optical or non-contact method of mapping a fretboard topography with accuracy to within .001", I'm highly interested. Something that can map the level of fret heights in under two or three minutes.