National Instruments NI-IMAQdx manual

NI-IMAQdx TM NI-IMAQdx User Manual Image Acquisition Software NI-IMAQdx User Manual February 2007 371970B-01[...]

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Conventions The follo wing con ve ntions are used in this manual: » The » symbol leads you through nested menu items and dialog box options to a final action. The sequence File»Page Setup»Options directs yo u to pull down the File menu, select the Page Setup item, and select Options from the last dialog box. This icon denotes a tip, which alert[...]

© National Instruments Corpor ation v NI-IMAQdx User Manual Contents Chapter 1 Introduction to NI-IMAQdx About the NI-IMAQdx Software .............. .............. .............. ................. .............. .......... 1-1 Application Development Environments ...... ...... .............. ............ .............. .... 1-2 Configuring Your Ca[...]

Contents NI-IMAQdx User Manual vi ni.com Chapter 3 Advanced Programming with NI-IMAQdx Camera Attributes ............... .............. ............... .............. ................. .............. .............. ... 3-1 Attribute Name ................... ............... .............. .............. .............. .............. ...... 3-1 Attri[...]

Contents © National Instruments Corpor ation vii NI-IMAQdx User Manual Chapter 5 Using NI-IMAQdx in C and .NET Using NI-IMAQdx for C ....................... .............. .............. .............. .............. .............. .. 5-1 Using NI-IMAQdx for Microsoft Visual Studio .NET ....................... .............. ............. 5-2 Crea[...]

© National Instruments Corpor ation 1-1 NI-IMAQdx User Manual 1 Introduction to NI-IMAQdx This chapter describes the NI-IMAQdx driver software, li sts the supported application development enviro nments (ADEs), describes the fundamentals of creating applicatio ns using NI-IMAQd x, describes the files used to build these applications, and explains [...]

Chapter 1 Introduction to NI-IMAQdx NI-IMAQdx User Manual 1-2 ni.com Application Development Environments This release of NI-IMAQdx supports the following ADEs for Windows Vista /XP/2000: • LabVIEW version 7.1.1 and later • LabVIEW Real-Time Module v ersion 7.1.1 and later • LabW i ndows ™ /CVI ™ v ersion 7.0 and later • Microsoft V isu[...]

Chapter 1 Introduction to NI-IMAQdx © National Instruments Corpor ation 1-3 NI-IMAQdx User Manual Fundamentals of Building Applications with NI-IMAQdx Architecture Figure 1-1 illustrates the NI -IMAQdx dri ver architecture. Figure 1-1. NI-IMAQdx Architecture The architecture uses a hardware abstraction layer , which separates software API capabili[...]

Chapter 1 Introduction to NI-IMAQdx NI-IMAQdx User Manual 1-4 ni.com NI-IMAQdx Libraries The NI-IMAQdx function libraries are dynamic link libraries (DLLs), which means that NI-IMAQdx routi nes are not linked into the executable files of applications. Only the in fo rmation about the NI-IMAQdx routi nes in the NI-IMAQdx import lib raries is stored [...]

© National Instruments Corpor ation 2-1 NI-IMAQdx User Manual 2 Basic Acquisition with NI-IMAQdx This chapter contains an overview of the NI-IMAQdx library, a description of the acquisition flow of NI-IMAQdx, and generic programmin g examples. The chapter also contains flowcharts of high-level and low-l evel snap , grab , and sequence operati ons.[...]

Chapter 2 Basic Acquisition with NI-IMAQdx NI-IMAQdx User Manual 2-2 ni.com Both high-level and low-l evel functions supp ort snap, grab, seq uence, and triggered acquisitions. Using high -lev el functions, you can write programs quickly without havin g to learn the details of the low-lev el API and driver. The low-level functions give you finer gr[...]

Chapter 2 Basic Acquisition w ith NI-IMAQdx © National Instruments Corpor ation 2-3 NI-IMAQdx User Manual Camera Name NI-IMAQdx references all camera sessi ons by a name. The driver creates default names for each camera in your sy stem in the order that the cameras are connected. The names observe th e convent ion shown in Table 2-1. Every camera [...]

Chapter 2 Basic Acquisition with NI-IMAQdx NI-IMAQdx User Manual 2-4 ni.com When you open a camera session with the Camera Open function, the camera with the unique serial number described by the interface file cam n .iid opens, where n is the reference to the camera. If the camera is not present and a camera of the sa me make and model is present,[...]

Chapter 2 Basic Acquisition w ith NI-IMAQdx © National Instruments Corpor ation 2-5 NI-IMAQdx User Manual acquisition. Nationa l Instruments recommends one-shot acqu isition for applications that do not require real-time acquisition or processing. Use a continuous acquisition to start an acquisition, continu ously acquire images into the internal [...]

Chapter 2 Basic Acquisition with NI-IMAQdx NI-IMAQdx User Manual 2-6 ni.com transferred from the camera to system memory. In all video mo des, the ROI specifies the amount of data decoded by the driver while acquiring into a user buffer. By default, the dri ver transfers the en tire image. Specify a s maller R OI for the following reasons: • T o [...]

Chapter 2 Basic Acquisition w ith NI-IMAQdx © National Instruments Corpor ation 2-7 NI-IMAQdx User Manual Buffer Number Mo de Specify one of the following opt ions for the buffer number mode. • Buffer Number—Gets the e xact buff er number specified in the Buf fer Number parameter . • Last—Gets the most recently acquired buf fer . • Next?[...]

Chapter 2 Basic Acquisition with NI-IMAQdx NI-IMAQdx User Manual 2-8 ni.com The default overwrite mode for all types of acquisition is to get the newest valid b uffer . This option, which National Instruments recommends for most applications, enables you to process th e most recent image. If you need to get the image closest in time to a requ ested[...]

Chapter 2 Basic Acquisition w ith NI-IMAQdx © National Instruments Corpor ation 2-9 NI-IMAQdx User Manual Decoding images requires CPU resources . Howe ver , many of the decoding algorithms have been optimized in the driver . If you do not want decoded image data, you can use NI-IMA Qdx to get a copy of the raw camera output. Programming Examples [...]

Chapter 2 Basic Acquisition with NI-IMAQdx NI-IMAQdx User Manual 2-10 ni.com Note If you do not hav e a va lid session, a temporary session is created using cam0 . Then, the snap acquires the ne xt incomi ng image into a user b uffer . After the image is acquired, the program ca lls image processing and analysis functions. When the processing and a[...]

Chapter 2 Basic Acquisition w ith NI-IMAQdx © National Instruments Corporat ion 2-11 NI-IMAQdx User Manual Calling the Configure Grab function opens a session for a grab acquisition. During acquisition, each successi ve grab copies the last acquired internal buf fer into a user buf fer wh ere you can process the image. Sequence A sequence acquires[...]

Chapter 2 Basic Acquisition with NI-IMAQdx NI-IMAQdx User Manual 2-12 ni.com Snap The low-level snap examples set up a one-shot, single-image acquisitio n and start the acquisition. The program acquires an image and processes it. Finally, the program stops the acquisi tion, unconfigures the acquisitio n, and closes the session. Figure 2-5 illustrat[...]

Chapter 2 Basic Acquisition w ith NI-IMAQdx © National Instruments Corporat ion 2-13 NI-IMAQdx User Manual Grab The low-level grab examples dem onstrate how to perform a g rab acquisition using low-level functi on calls. The program sets up a continuous acquisition into three in tern al buffers and star ts the acquisition. The main loop it erates [...]

Chapter 2 Basic Acquisition with NI-IMAQdx NI-IMAQdx User Manual 2-14 ni.com Sequence The low-level sequence examples dem onstrate how to perform a sequence acquisition using low-level calls. The prog ram sets up a one-shot, multi-image acquisitio n and starts the acquisition. The main loop iterates once for each internal buffer. In th e main proce[...]

© National Instruments Corpor ation 3-1 NI-IMAQdx User Manual 3 Advanced Programming with NI-IMAQdx This chapter contains informatio n about setting camera attributes, broadcasting acquired images to multiple mach ines, using scale to define the size of transferred images, and triggering. Camera Attributes After opening a camera, configure the cam[...]

Chapter 3 Advanced Pr ogra mming w ith NI-IMAQdx NI-IMAQdx User Manual 3-2 ni.com Attribute T ype The attribute type determines how a came ra attribute is stor ed in the driver and the camera. Use the Get Attribut e Type function to query the type of a given attribute. Each at tribute is represented as one of the following types. Attribute V alue T[...]

Chapter 3 Advanced Progra mming with NI-IMAQdx © National Instruments Corpor ation 3-3 NI-IMAQdx User Manual The following v alu e type s are compatible for any gi ven attrib ute type. The bolded compatible value type indicates the native v alue type. For example, use a 32-bit unsigned intege r value type when dealing with a 32-bit unsigned intege[...]

Chapter 3 Advanced Pr ogra mming w ith NI-IMAQdx NI-IMAQdx User Manual 3-4 ni.com The follo wing range is appli cable for any gi ven attrib ute. Broadcasting Many machine vision applications involv e a single host computer acquiring data from a single industrial cam era. Other machine vision applications acquire data from mult iple in dustrial came[...]

Chapter 3 Advanced Progra mming with NI-IMAQdx © National Instruments Corpor ation 3-5 NI-IMAQdx User Manual Figure 3-1. One Came ra Broadcasting to Multiple Host Computer s The camera broadcasts video data on the camera bus and all the connected host computers recei ve the same image data. In this scenario, one host computer is designated as the [...]

Chapter 3 Advanced Pr ogra mming w ith NI-IMAQdx NI-IMAQdx User Manual 3-6 ni.com For GigE V ision cameras, you can conf igure the camera to broadcast or multicast image data to all nodes on the network. Broadcast is not routable, and ev eryo ne on the same network sees the data, ev en if they are not listening. Multicast is routabl e if the networ[...]

Chapter 3 Advanced Progra mming with NI-IMAQdx © National Instruments Corpor ation 3-7 NI-IMAQdx User Manual The Increment values are camera-specif ic. Refer to the camera documentation or query th e Increment attrib utes for width and height to obtain the act ual values. Figure 3-2. Partial Image Si ze Format (Sca lable) T rigger Modes The IIDC 1[...]

Chapter 3 Advanced Pr ogra mming w ith NI-IMAQdx NI-IMAQdx User Manual 3-8 ni.com • TriggerParameter —Certain trigger mod es require an additional parameter . Refer to the following sections to see if the optional parameter is required. T rigger Mode 0 With trigger mode 0, the camera starts frame integration when the external trigger input chan[...]

Chapter 3 Advanced Progra mming with NI-IMAQdx © National Instruments Corpor ation 3-9 NI-IMAQdx User Manual T rigger Mode 2 With trigger mode 2, the camera starts frame integration when the external trigger input changes to an active va lue. The same frame is exposed for multiple triggers. The number of triggers is specified by the optional param[...]

Chapter 3 Advanced Pr ogra mming w ith NI-IMAQdx NI-IMAQdx User Manual 3-10 ni.com T rigger Mode 4 With trigger mode 4, the camera starts frame integration when the external trigger input changes to an active va lue. Multiple frames are exposed before the camera transfers the image to the host computer. Each frame is exposed for a duration specifie[...]

Chapter 3 Advanced Progra mming with NI-IMAQdx © National Instruments Corporat ion 3-11 NI-IMAQdx User Manual T rigger Modes for Gi gE Vision Cameras Note All triggering mo des and parameters for Gi gE V ision cameras are subject to camera vendor implementation. Refer to your camera documentation for triggering modes and parameters av ailable for [...]

© National Instruments Corpor ation 4-1 NI-IMAQdx User Manual 4 Using NI-IMAQdx in LabVIEW This chapter describes how to use NI-IMAQdx VIs in LabVIEW. Introduction The NI-IMAQdx VI library—part of the NI-IMAQdx software—is a group of virtual instruments (VIs) th at enable you to use LabVIEW with your camera. NI V ision for LabVIEW is the Natio[...]

Chapter 4 Using NI-IMAQd x in LabVIEW © National Instruments Corpor ation 4-2 NI-IMAQdx User Manual The Vision and Motion»NI-IMAQ dx»NI-IMAQdx Low Level palette contains VIs for more advanced applications. Refer to the NI-IMAQdx VI Reference Help for more information about using these VIs. Common VI Parameters The following sections describe com[...]

Chapter 4 U sing NI-I MAQdx in LabVIEW NI-IMAQdx User Manual 4-3 ni.com Acquisition VIs Two types of acquisition VIs are ava ilable in LabVIEW: high-l evel and low-level. High-Level Use the high-level acquisition VIs for ba sic image acquisiti on appli cations. VIs are included for snap, grab, and sequence, as described in the Acquisition Types sec[...]

Chapter 4 Using NI-IMAQd x in LabVIEW © National Instruments Corpor ation 4-4 NI-IMAQdx User Manual Buffer Management The IMAQ Create VI and IMAQ Dispose VI manage image buffers in LabVIEW. IMA Q Create, shown in Figure 4-1, allocates an image buf fer . Image Name is a label for the b uf fer created. Each buf fer must hav e a unique name. Image Ty[...]

Chapter 4 U sing NI-I MAQdx in LabVIEW NI-IMAQdx User Manual 4-5 ni.com Acquisition T ypes The following sections describe snap , grab, and sequen ce acquisitions in LabVIEW and give examples. Snap Use the IMAQdx Snap VI for snap applications. Figure 4-3 shows a simplified block diagram for using IMAQdx Snap. Figure 4-3. Acquiring an Image Using Sn[...]

Chapter 4 Using NI-IMAQd x in LabVIEW © National Instruments Corpor ation 4-6 NI-IMAQdx User Manual Figure 4-4 shows a simplif ied block diagram for using IMA Qdx Configure Grab and IMA Qdx Grab. Figure 4-4. Acquiring Images Using Gr ab Sequence Use the IMAQdx Sequence VI for sequence applications. IMAQdx Sequence starts, acquires, and rel eases a[...]

Chapter 4 U sing NI-I MAQdx in LabVIEW NI-IMAQdx User Manual 4-7 ni.com Image Display Many image acquisition applicatio ns require that one or more images be displayed. You have several o ptions for displaying images in LabVIEW. Y ou can display an image dire ctly on the front panel u sing an Image Display control, which is av ailable on the Vision[...]

Chapter 4 Using NI-IMAQd x in LabVIEW © National Instruments Corpor ation 4-8 NI-IMAQdx User Manual If you hav e LabVIEW R T , you can use IMA Q R T V ideo Out, located at Vision and Motion»Vision Utiliti es»IMAQ RT , to display an image on the monitor connected to your R T device. Use IMA Q V i deo Out Display Mode, located at Vision and Motion[...]

Chapter 4 U sing NI-I MAQdx in LabVIEW NI-IMAQdx User Manual 4-9 ni.com Figure 4-9 sho ws ho w to set camera attr ib u tes with the p roperty nodes in NI-IMA Qdx. Figure 4-9. Setting Camera Attributes with Property Nodes Error Handling Every NI-IMAQdx VI contains an error in input cluster and an error out output cluster. The clusters, shown in Figu[...]

Chapter 4 Using NI-IMAQd x in LabVIEW © National Instruments Corporat ion 4-10 NI-IMAQdx User Manual Y ou can use the Simple Error Handler VI, located on the Functions» Dialog & User Interface palette, to check for errors that occur while ex ecuting a VI. If you wire an error cluster to the Simple Error Hand le VI, the VI deciphers the error [...]

© National Instruments Corpor ation 5-1 NI-IMAQdx User Manual 5 Using NI-IMAQdx in C and .NET This chapter briefly describes how to use NI-IMAQdx fu nctions in Microsoft Visual C and Microsoft Visual Studio .NET. Using NI-IMAQdx for C This section outlines the process for developing NI-IMAQdx appl ications using C. Detailed instructi ons about cr [...]

Chapter 5 Using NI-IMAQdx in C and .NET © National Instruments Corpor ation 5-2 NI-IMAQdx User Manual Y ou can use the additional Image functions installed with NI-IMA Qdx. These functions use the NI V ision memory manageme nt feature, which automatically allocates the memory for your image. T o use these Image functions, f irst create an image us[...]

Chapter 5 U sing NI-IMAQdx in C and .NET NI-IMAQdx User Manual 5-3 ni.com 4. Select Tools»Add/Remove Toolbox Items . 5. Under the .NET Framework Components tab, select the CWIMA QV iewer control. When the V iewer control is in the toolbox, you can add it to your form s by clicking on the tool and drawing an area on the form. References to the NI V[...]

© National Instruments Corpor ation A-1 NI-IMAQdx User Manual A Register -Level Programming This appendix explains ho w to access an d program register locations using the NI-IMA Qdx software, and disc usses the ca veats in volv ed in programming registers. Introduction All cameras communicate to the host computer through register maps. The regist[...]

Appendix A Register- Level Programming NI-IMAQdx User Manual A- 2 ni.com Figure A-1. Explanation of Split T ransactions NI-IMA Qdx supports the 1394 T rade Association IIDC 1.31 register specification and the GigE V ision 1.0 specification for industrial cameras. Most of the intricacies o f register -lev el programming are abstracted by the dri ver[...]

Appendix A Regist er -Level Progr amming © National Instruments Corpor ation A-3 NI-IMAQdx User Manual The NI-IMA Q dx software provides the following register-le vel primitives: • Read Register—Reads 32-bits of data from a specified memory location • Write Register—Writes 32-bits of da ta to a specified me mory location • Read Memory—[...]

Appendix A Register- Level Programming NI-IMAQdx User Manual A- 4 ni.com Advanced Example The adv anced feature described in th is e xample is specif i c to Basler IEEE 1394 cameras. The advanced feature replaces the li ve video feed with a static test pattern. According to the user documentati on for the Basler A601f camera, the TEST_IMA GE regist[...]

Appendix A Regist er -Level Progr amming © National Instruments Corpor ation A-5 NI-IMAQdx User Manual endian data. T o correct for this discrepancy , NI-IMA Qdx byte-swaps e very quadlet that is read or writt en with low-le vel register primitiv es. Byte Array Many cameras allo w register-le vel access to more than 32 bits of data per communicati[...]

© National Instruments Corpor ation B-1 NI-IMAQdx User Manual B T echnical Support and Professional Ser vices Visit the following sections of the National Instruments Web site at ni.com for technical support an d professional services: • Support —Online technical support resources at ni.com/support include the following: – Self-Help Resource[...]

© National Instruments Corpor ation G-1 NI-IMAQdx User Manual Glossar y A acquisition windo w The image size specific to a video standard or camera resolution. address V alue that identif ies a specific lo cation (or series of locations) in memory . API Application programming interface. area A rectangular portion of an acquisiti on window or fram[...]

Glossary NI-IMAQdx User Manual G-2 ni.com D default setting A default parameter value record ed in the driv er . In many cases, the default input of a control is a certain v alue (often 0). DLL Dynamic Link Library—A so ftware module in Microsoft W indows containing ex ecutable code and data that can be called or used by W indows applications or [...]

Glossary © National Instruments Corpor ation G-3 NI-IMAQdx User Manual GigE V ision A camera interface standard dev eloped using the Gigabit Ethernet communication protocol. grab Performs an acquisition th at loops continually on one buf fer . Y ou obtain a copy of the acquisition buf fer by grabbi ng a copy to a separate buf fer that can be used [...]

Glossary NI-IMAQdx User Manual G-4 ni.com M MAX Measurement & Auto mation Explor er—A controlled, centralized configuration en vironm ent that allows you to conf ig ure all of your NI de vices. N NI-IMA Q Dri ver software for National Instruments image acquisition hardware. P page-locked bu ffer Memory page that is marked as non-pagable by th[...]

Glossary © National Instruments Corpor ation G-5 NI-IMAQdx User Manual R real time A property of an ev en t or system in which data is processed as it is acqu ired instead of being accumulated and processed at a later time. resolution (1) The number of ro ws and co lumns of pixels. An image composed of m rows and n columns has a r esolution of n ?[...]

Glossary NI-IMAQdx User Manual G-6 ni.com U user buf fer A memory buf fer created by th e user as a destination for the image. In LabVIEW , this is created with the IMA Q Create VI. UV plane See YUV . V VI V irtual Instrument. (1) A combi nation of hardware and/or software elements, typically used with a PC, th at has the functionality of a classic[...]

© National Instruments Corpor ation I-1 NI-IMAQdx User Manual Index A adv anced programming examples grab using low-le vel functions, 2-13 sequence using low-le vel functions, 2-14 snap using low-le vel functions, 2-12 application development, 1-3 C, 5-1 en vironments, 1-2 LabVIEW, 4-1 LabVIEW Real-T ime Module, 4-1 .NET, 4-1, 5-2 NI-IMA Qdx li br[...]

Index NI-IMAQdx User Manual I-2 ni.com F features and ov ervie w, 1-1 Format 7 video mode, 3-1, 3-6 front panel, LabVIEW, 4 -1, 4-7 G grab high-lev el, 2-1, 2-7, 2-10, 4-5 flo wchart, 2-10 in LabVIEW (figure), 4-6 low-le vel, 2-13 flo wchart, 2-13 H help, technical support, B-1 high-lev el functions, when to use, 2-1 I image buf fer . See bu ff e r[...]

Index © National Instruments Corpor ation I-3 NI-IMAQdx User Manual architecture, 1-3 libraries, 1-4 O ov erwrite mode, 2-7 P programming guidelines for C, 5-1 high-lev el functions, 2-1 introduction to programming with NI-IMA Qdx, 2-1 low-le vel functio ns, 2-1 register-le vel, A-1 programming en vironments supported by NI-IMA Qdx driver softw ar[...]

Index NI-IMAQdx User Manual I-4 ni.com V VI parameters, 4-2 video mode decoding, 2-8 table, 2-8 R O I considerations, 2-6 V isual Basic programming language, 1-2 V isual Studi o .NET programmin g language, 1-2 V isual Studio .NET . See .NET W W eb resources, B-1 Y YUV, 1-1, 2-8[...]