So.. I could integrate an IO controller DLL declaration right into the mel script, and read the data from the parallel port right into the script?

I´ve been doing quite alot of various VB stuff, and have found some nice DLLs to use, but I think the INOUT.DLL could be called by any windows application regardless of development language.

For the 3D scanner... I´ve not actually built it yet, but I´ve been working on some ideas.

The core is an ATMEL AT8515S for those who know microcontrollers. It´s a 8 bit RISC processor, running at up to 8MHz.

The first thought was to build a rig that was driven by step-motors, scanning the entire surface of the car using a laser-beam, but I dropped the idea, cause there is a slight problem using light rays for distance measurements: For a accuracy of +/- 1meter the meaure circuit would have to run at 300MHz !!! and for 1 mm (millimeter)... You figure it out
So I kinda dropped that thought, and changed my mind. I think I´ll go for a simpler and more lightweight rig, that is manually operated. It´s a rig that can move over the car, much in the same way as the small fully automated car-washers you´ll find in almost all small gas stations in Norway, only it´s not powered by engines, and made from very lightweight components.

It has digital encoders on all axis, and a little button on a handle, and each time the button is pushed, it stores X,Y and Z coordinates, or send it straight to the computer (I haven´t desided wich metode i´ll use) With this aproach, I´ll have more control of what data I actually get. I could trace the outline of the bonnet, roof and windscreen, and use birail or birail+ to create the surfaces from the CV curves generated by the MEL-script.

It´s not as cool as the fully automated, but it´s easier to build and ALOT cheaper, alltho´I haven´t given up that idea either. There is just one problem: I´m in the army right now (all Norwegian men have to complete one year of military service. Undseth (did I spell it right?) could tell you more) and that reduces the time I get to spend on my computer and in the workshop, but I got alot more time to think about stuff , and come up with ideas.
Right now I´m drawing a fully automated system that uses one laser, wich moves across one plane of the car, and a ultra acurate detector wich locates the laser "dot" on the car surface, and from the angle of the laser and the detector, It should be possible to calculate the distance, but It´s gonna be slow, and the coding of the microchip wil be quite advanced.

A bit off-topic but If you have ideas on a different design, please post!