Procedure for using the Camera step

When creating a new project, select the camera type from the dropdown list in the New Project dialog. The correct camera and, if necessary, system allocations will be made. If required, you can change the camera type from the Platform Configuration dialog, once the project is created.

If your project requires multiple physical cameras, go to the Platform Configuration dialog and add them using the Cameras page. When adding a camera, you can select the required type from the list of supported cameras. Any necessary system allocations will also be done.

When using a PC runtime platform, Matrox Design Assistant only supports GigE Vision and USB3 Vision compatible cameras. With regards to line scan cameras, Matrox Design Assistant supports GigE/USB3 Vision compatible line scan cameras that accumulate lines into frames on the camera. Since these cameras output regular images, Matrox Design Assistant can interface with them.

For more information on how to add a camera, see the Cameras and your runtime platform section in Chapter 2: Building a project.

The Camera step can use images from the physical camera, images from file (an image set), a series of images taken from the camera and reused (design-time only), or a single image taken from the camera and reused.

To specify a camera as the source of the Camera step, set the Camera Source input to PhysicalCameraN. The Camera Source input can also be changed using the Camera Images pane. The list of all available Camera step sources are presented as a dropdown list. To use an image set, see the Procedure for configuring image sets section in Chapter 29: Acquisition using image sets. To use a series of images taken from the camera during design-time, see the Camera Images pane section in the Panes and editors reference chapter. To reuse the last grabbed image, use the Trigger step; see the Triggering from a software trigger subsection of the Triggering section later in this chapter.

To change the source of the Camera step during runtime (such as, to switch between the camera and saved images), use platform configuration binding, the CameraSettings step, or a link between a Button element and the Set Camera Source action. For more information, see the Changing the acquisition settings at runtime section later in this chapter.

For information on setting the Camera Source input for multi-camera projects, see the Using multiple cameras section later in this chapter.

At design-time, if your camera is out of focus, you can adjust it by performing the following:

1. Select the Camera step. Then, click on the Camera Live () toolbar button, in the Project toolbar. The display refreshes to show a continuous grab from your camera. Note that you can see a live image only if triggering is not enabled (as configured on the PhysicalCameraN page of the Platform Configuration dialog).

2. Adjust the image using the focus and aperture controls on the lens of your camera.

3. Open the Platform Configuration dialog to change the camera's inputs (for example, exposure settings, gain settings, and partial scan size). Such changes are immediately reflected in the live image.

4. Click on the Camera Live toolbar button again to stop the live grab.

5. Click on the Run to the selected step button to update the Camera step's output image.

Adjusting the camera's focus can also be done through the operator view at runtime. To allow this, create an operator view that includes input elements directly bound to the required platform configuration settings or to a CameraSettings step. Ensure that the operator view's display is linked to the correct image (typically, Camera.Image). Configure an operator view Button element so that the camera can be changed to continuous grab mode (disables the Trigger input) and, optionally, back to a triggered mode. The operator can then interactively adjust the camera's settings while viewing the effects. For an example, refer to the TrainingMain page of the operator view in a template project (accessible from the Matrox Design Assistant Quick Start tab).

At runtime, with a supported Matrox smart camera and a liquid lens, you can also focus your camera automatically; see the Camera focus subsection of the Grab and auxiliary I/O overview section in Appendix D: Matrox Iris GTR.

Your project can be in either continuous grab or triggered grab mode. When the Trigger input is disabled, on the PhysicalCameraN page of the Platform Configuration dialog, your project enters continuous grab mode. With this setup, your camera will continuously grab images in a background process. Each time that your flowchart reaches the Camera step, a new image is either taken from the image queue or the next available image is taken. For more information, refer to the Continuous grab mode with image queues subsection of the Grab timing section later in this chapter.

When the Trigger input is enabled, on the PhysicalCameraN page of the Platform Configuration dialog, your project is in triggered grab mode; your camera will only grab images when it receives a trigger (either from the Trigger step, the operator view, a hardware signal, or a PLC). Each time that your flowchart reaches the Camera step, a new image is taken from the image queue. For more information, refer to the Triggering section later in this chapter.

X/Y calibration

Z calibration

Remapping is useful for images with bit depths greater than 8-bit. When enabled, the Camera step's remapping settings specify how to convert the data to the right bit depth for steps that link to the Camera step. You can choose to remap the intensity image, or to remap a depth map, if applicable. To configure remapping for a depth map, see Working with depth maps.

To remap an intensity image, perform the following:

1. Choose the IMAGE REMAP tab in the Camera step's Configuration pane.

2. Check the Enabled checkbox to enable remapping.

3. Optionally, select the gray level range. If no range is specified, by default, all pixel intensity values are mapped to span the full bit depth supported by the step linking to the camera step.

   To select a gray level range, in the IMAGE REMAP tab, manually adjust the sliders, or choose a Start Mode and/or End Mode from the options below. Gray values not selected are saturated to the low or high end of the specified range.

   • MinValue or MaxValue. Specifies to include the minimum or maximum pixel intensity level as part of the selected gray level range.

   • Custom. Enter a custom Start Value or End Value.

   • StdDev. Enter a value equivalent to the number of standard deviations from the mean for which you want to start or end the gray level range. The default value is 1, which sets the start or end at 1 standard deviation below or above the mean pixel intensity value.

When you enable remapping, any step that links to the Camera step will automatically map the selected range to the deepest bit depth that the new step can handle. For example, if the subsequent step requires 8-bit data, but the grabbed images are 16-bit, the specified data values are mapped into 8-bit for the subsequent step. Note that you can link directly to the Unsigned8Bit or Unsigned16Bit output image, if you want to force a shallower depth.