6DOF tracking of rigid bodies

6DOF tracking identifies rigid bodies from the 3D data of a measurement and calculates their translation and rotation. It is activated with Calculate 6DOF on the Processing page in the Project options dialog and is controlled by the 6DOF tracking parameters, see chapter 6DOF tracking.

6DOF versus 3D

A single point in the mathematical sense can be fully described by its three coordinates (X, Y, Z) in a Cartesian coordinate system (3D). This can also be described as having three degrees of freedom. A physical body, such as a ship or an aircraft, requires three additional degrees of freedom to fully characterize its pose, namely three rotation angles. The characterization of an object by three positional coordinates and three rotational angles is therefore called ”six degrees of freedom” (6DOF).

To measure the 6DOF data of a physical body QTM uses 6DOF bodies (rigid bodies). A 6DOF body consists of markers placed on an object at fixed positions. The physical design of a 6DOF body is described in chapter How to design a 6DOF body.

For more information about how to create rigid bodies and how to process 6DOF data, refer to the following chapters.