1. What is IVision
LabVIEW toolkit at all?
IVision LabVIEW toolkit is a
developer SDK for LabVIEW language. It has over 380vis, covers functions of
video capturing, image processing, avi/media file read and write, video
blending etc. The video capturing devices can be USB webcam, firewire/IEEE
cameras, DV camcorder and TV tuner etc. It’s based on DirectX/DirectShow for
video capturing and OpenCV for image processing, work on Windows platform.
2. Do the vi icons
mean anything?
For image processing functions, a
vi icon with yellow background means they work on color images. With gray
background means they only work on single channel image. With half yellow and
half gray background means they work on both color and single channel image.
Other vi icon backgrounds are for either examples or high level vis
3. Where can I get
help document of your IVision vis?
For controls and vi descriptions,
you can use LabVIEW context help window (ctrl+H) and move the mouse over the
controls and vi icons to see the descriptions. There are also some comments on
the example’s front panels and in the block diagram. You can also find html
format documents in our website, but they are not always updated. In future
version, we will compile into help file.
4. I download the
Ivision LabVIEW toolkit, but when I try to open the IVision_All_vis.llb, it
says “missing d3d9.dll” and I’m not able to open any vis. Why?
You need to upgrade your computer
system to directx 9.0 runtime. Please go here to get it:
5. What is
development license, what is runtime license for IVision LabVIEW toolkit?
The development license for IVision LabVIEW
toolkit is needed when you design LabVIEW code, which means you need to load
IVision into LabVIEW. The runtime license is needed when you distribute your
standalone application that does not need LabVIEW design environment, but only
LabVIEW runtime engine. Users always need to first purchase development license
before they can order runtime licenses.
6.
I got error at the end of IVision installation when it tries
to use” regsvr32.exe” to register the directshow filters.
Most computers would register the filters
just fine, but there are exceptions. In case the filter registration failed, do
the following, this works for WinXP, vista or Windows 7, both 32bit and 64bit:
Reboot the computer and press F8 to go to
Safe Mode, then manually register the .ax (directshow filter file) by going to
Start->Run…, in command window, type in following:
C:/windows/System32/regsvr32 CalibFilter.ax --- this is for 32bit
C:/windows/System32/regsvr32 ProxyTrans.ax --- this is for 32bit
or
C:/windows/SysWOW64/regsvr32 CalibFilter.ax --- this is for 64bit
C:/windows/SysWOW64/regsvr32 ProxyTrans.ax --- this is for 64bit
When both filter registrations succeed,
reboot the computer and go back to normal mode.
7. How do I get
started quickly with IVision?
The best and quick way to start is by looking
at the examples in IVision. The first vi to load is “IVision_All_vis.vi”, it’s block
diagram organizes all IVision vis into different groups. There are many
examples and usually you just need to run it, you should see the results. For
camera/video capture devices, the best example to start with is
IVision_CameraDemo1.vi. Browsing through all the vis description will also give
you some ideas of what IVision’s capabilities are.
8. I have installed
IVision older version, should I delete it?
Yes, it’s recommended that you uninstall or
delete or backup the previous IVision toolkit to avoid confusing of maintaining
multiple copies of vis. It’s always good practice to save your vis in different
names if you modify some of the IVision vis, so that the upgraded version will
not overwrite your modified vis.
9. Does IVision work
with USB webcam?
Yes, as long as you have
installed the WDM or VFW driver provided by the camera vendors.
10. Does IVision work with
firewire/IEEE1394 cameras?
Yes, as long as you have
installed the WDM or VFW driver provided by the camera vendors.
11. Does IVision work with DV camcorder?
Yes, luckily you don’t need any
driver for DV camcorder.
12. Does IVision work with TV tuner?
Yes, as long as you have
installed the WDM driver provided by the device vendors.
13. Does IVision work with frame grabber?
Maybe, as long as you have
installed the WDM or VFW driver provided by the card vendors.
14. Does IVision work with ATI All In Wonder (with TV tuner)?
Yes, as long as you have the
proper driver installed. ATI All In Wonder can be used as TV tuner or as frame
grabber.
15. I got an error saying “A system
resource is being used by another program” when I try to open the ATI TV tuner
session, why?
Either the device is in use by other WebTV
program or sometimes even you just click on an avi file in the windows explore,
it also uses the ATI hardware resource. You just need to click on any other
file such as txt file and it’ll fix the problem.
16. Can I access the image frame from
live video?
Yes, you can use the “snap”
functions to grab one image at one time, or you can use callback vi to process
the image continuously while video is streaming.
17. Can I play back AVI file, mpeg, DV
format or asf file?
Yes, there are two ways to playback avi file,
using the legacy VFW based AVI functions or media file functions in IVision,
VFW based AVI functions can only play uncompressed or certain compression
format avi files while media file functions can play almost any modern format
avi files.
18. Can I record live video into avi
files?
There are two ways to record video into avi
files. The first way is using the legacy VFW based AVI functions, you can snap
an image, and write to avi file frame by frame. The second and better way to
record video into avi file is using the media file functions, it’ll record
continuously, you can record audio along with video too. Both methods provide
selectable compressions.
19. I want to show two camera’s live
video side by side or picture in picture, can I do that with IVision LabVIEW
toolkit?
Yes, see the example
IVision_Blend2Cameras_Example.vi. You can adjust alpha channel for each video
as well as position and size of each video.
20. I want to playback two avi files
side by side or picture in picture, can I do that with IVision LabVIEW toolkit?
Yes, see the example
IVision_Blend2AVIs_Example.vi. You can adjust alpha channel for each video as
well as position and size of each video.
21. How can I distinguish two cameras with the same model?
Using the IVision_GetCameraDeviceID.vi.
22. Can I control the camera settings and video format?
Yes, there are always functions to bring out
dialog window for settings, but there are also many camera functions in IVision
to set these settings programmatically. Check the video capture device function
group in Ivision_All_Vis.llb.
23. Why my camera is listed under the
ni-imaq for 1394, not in “Imaging devices” in the device manager and IVision
does not work?
The problem is if you have ni1394 driver
installed, some IEEE1394/firewire camera will be forced to be listed under the
ni-imaq 1394 camera rather than normally under the “Imaging devices” group in
the device manager. This will prevent any applications that use DirectShow to
work for these cameras. So you need to change the configuration in the MAX to
let cameras registered as it’s original name rather than ni1394 camera..
Important is making sure your 1394 cameras are listed under the “Imaging
devices” group in the device manager.
24. Where can I get the WDM driver for Basler IEEE1394 camera?
Many camera vendors today provide their own
DirectShow compliant WDM drivers. But Basler does not provide this for their
firewire cameras. A third party software “fire-i software” from Unibrain
provide this WDM drivers for the Basler cameras. It seems that this WDM driver
also works for other vendors such as Unibrain®,
ADS®, AVT®, Basler®, Hamamatsu®, JVC®, MicroPix®, OrangeMicro®, PointGrey®,
Sony®, Teli®, Victor®. Check out the link:
http://www.unibrain.com/1394_products/fire-i_software/fire-i_software.htm
25. Why my second camera does not work when I unplugged the
first one and plug in my second one?
You need to first call the
“IVision_ExitCam.vi” to erase the record of existing cameras in the system,
then you can try your program again. Because once you call the
“IVision_CameraCounts.vi” once, it will keep the records of the existing
cameras, so when you unplug and plug in a new one, it won’t auto detect the
changes until you call the “IVision_ExitCam.vi” to erase the memory, then call
the “IVision_CameraCounts.vi” again to initialize the camera system.
26. I prefer to use IMAQ-Vision for
image processing, can I convert IVision image format to IMAQ?
Yes, you can. We have functions in IVision
can do that. Try out the example "Acquire Camera Image2IMAQ.vi" in
IVisionToIMAQ.llb.
27. I got a memory access error when I
exit LabVIEW while there is still an image window not closed?
You should close down all IVision image
windows before exit LabVIEW to avoid error message. IVision_DestroyWindow.vi
can be used.
28. LabVIEW crashes when I try to use
some image processing functions, why?
Please make sure the image type is
correct. Some image functions work for both color and gray, some only work for
color or gray image and some functions require binary image. Please use the
right type image. Besides the vi description, there are controls descriptions
for image functions. Please move your mouse over these controls and see the document in LabVIEW context
window.