Front Panel Recording Problem

[PaceLT1]

Hello all....

I am trying to create a program that will incorporate Front Panel recording to an .avi file.  I downloaded an example VI from the developer zone that records the front panel to .avi, but it will not work due to an error.  I typed in the appropriate name for the VI to record (RecordFrontPanel.vi), but I get an "Error 1 at Invoke Node in RecordFrontPanel.vi: Possilbe reasons:  An input parameter is invalid".  The program asks for a Frame Control name, and I don't know what that's referring to, so that might be part of the problem.  Can anyone tell me what the Frame Control name is referring to?  And is that what is causing the error, or is there something else about the Invoke Node in the loop that is causing the program to error?  Thanks in advance for any help.....

[nissen6]

Here is how to use the vi that you posted:

Type the name of the vi that is to be recorded into the control labeled "Panel name". For example if you are making a movie of a vi named "Gravity simulator 3D" then put "Gravity simulator 3D.vi" into this field. Next the Frame control name is used to put the frame number onto a front panel indicator on the vi that you are recordind. In my little example I would create an indicator (U32 numeric to be exact) on the front panel of "Gravity simulator 3D" and call it "Frame" (the label of this indicator has to match the "Frame Control Name" input on the front panel of recorder vi). Then run RecordFrontPanel and Gravity simulator and press go at the appropriate time. I tweaked the framerate to make my little movie.

[PaceLT1]

Thanks for the reply.....

I did what you suggested, but still got the same error.  I put a numeric indicator on the VI that I wanted to record and I used the name "Frame" for the label.  I typed "Frame" into the "Frame Control Name", but I still got the same error that I got before.  Does the indicator have to be U32?  Is there anything else I need to do??

[nissen6]

The only way I can get an error #1 with this vi is to have an incorrect value going into the "set control value" invoke node. So you either have the wrong name for your indicator or its not a U32 numeric indicator. But this invoke node's error output is not connected so it shouldn't stop the vi from working. If you are still having problems try deleting the invoke node that sets the Frame control value.

[PaceLT1]

Thanks nissen6, I finally got it working....

Would you mind explaining to me how you tweaked the frame rate?  I want to record a video of a VI, but it needs to be in "real time" and it needs to be a pretty high frame rate (about 30 fps).  I changed the frame rate on the IMAQ AVI Create function, but all that does is take more frames and speed up the play back.  What I need to do is record at about 30 fps in real time, and then play the video back at the same rate (about 30 fps), so it looks like real time when you play it back (probably through Windows Media Player or Labview).  Is that possible to do with the program??  Thanks.

[vivi]

i have a bunch of qwicktime vi's that will make movies if you want to use them here they are

[nissen6]

The easiest way to record frames at real time is to change the wait time in the while loop of the RecordFrontPanel vi. The default was 3000 ms. Change this to 33 ms (1000ms/30fps) and see if that works for you. Hopefully you will be able to capture frames fast enough. If your system is slow (perhaps it is taking data etc) then its possible to speed up the recorder at the cost of memorty by storing the frames in a buffer and then writing them to an avi at a later time.