Building a project overview


A Matrox Design Assistant project typically acquires an image, processes it, makes a decision, communicates with external devices using the I/O, serial or networking ports, and reports the results to a web page (the operator view) on your runtime platform. These are the basic steps for building such a project:

  1. Connect to a runtime platform (from within Matrox Design Assistant) or start in emulation mode.

  2. Create a calibration file, if using real-world measurements, from the DEFINE CALIBRATION tab of the TOOLS portal page of the Matrox Design Assistant configuration portal.

  3. Create, open, or import a project.

  4. Configure the Camera step and verify the focus and lighting for your camera while acquiring live images. You can also configure the Camera step to use test images from disk (image sets). At runtime, you typically change this setting to acquire images from the camera (remember to select your calibration).

  5. Build the flowchart, which consists of one or more steps that can include processing, analysis, communication with external devices, and/or control of your camera.

  6. Use the Quick Access pane to access the properties of the selected step and configure them in the Configuration pane.

  7. Use the displayed image to specify search regions for a specific step (for example, a search region for an EdgeLocator step, or a test region for an IntensityChecker step).

  8. Test your project.

  9. Update the operator view to match the input and output requirements of your project.

  10. Deploy and run your project to watch the operator view in action.

  11. Use the Matrox Design Assistant configuration portal web pages to manage all the projects that have been deployed to the platform.

Save your project each time you make significant changes. Projects are automatically saved just prior to deployment. An asterisk (*) next to the project name in the title bar indicates that there are unsaved changes. When saving, wait for the asterisk to disappear before shutting down the computer, or files can be corrupted.