Machine Vision Configuration

[Bert Christiaens]

Hey!

I have some questions about the configuration of my machine vision application. I'm using a computer based approach.

The software running on the computer is VisionBuilderforAI and the camera that I will use will have an USB, GigE or FireWire interface.

The program in VBAI will be written on my own laptop and not on the computer which will run the application. So I need a VBAI-license for

my laptop and a VBAI-Run-Time license for the other computer, is this correct? Are those the only two licenses I have to order to be able

to run the application? I have at least one connection of each interface type of the cameras at my computer, so I suppose I don't need a

frame grabber anymore?

For some other application, I will need more than one camera. In case of GigE, this will be a problem because I only have one Ethernet-port

on my computer. Can I just add an extra PCI Ethernet card to my computer or do I have to buy a frame grabber? Can someone please explain

me the difference between both, because they differ quite a lot in price?

My last question is what other software I need to buy and install if I want to add custom tools made in LabVIEW to VisionBuilderforAI?

A lot of question, I know but I would really move forward!

Thanks!

Bert Christiaens

[toto26]

Hello Bert,

You're right for the license.

But if you plan to program and deploy in a second time, you can disable your license on the development computer and use it on the deployment computer.

Then, with GigE and Firewire no need to buy expensive framegrabber anymore. A basic board will do the job.

You have the choice between PCI, PCIe or expressCard(for laptops).

The only thing to consider is do you have Firewire A or B? And for GigE, just check the board supports JumboFrames.

Then if you plan to write LabVIEW plugins or even Custom Steps, VBAI and LabVIEW are sufficients

Regards

[Brad]

You are correct that you will need a license for VBAI on your development machine and a run time license for VBAI on your deployed PC. This VBAI license will also activate IMAQdx, which is the driver you will need to acquire from USB, 1394, GigE cameras (IMAQdx is part of the Vision Acquisition installer). No frame grabbers are required for these camera bus types.

In the GigE case, if you need to acquire from multiple cameras, instead of buying a seperate NIC, you could also get a GigE switch. There are some considerations when buying network hardware to ensure the optimal performance of your cameras (i.e. jumbo packets is something important to look into for your card as well). Here are some links to provide more details:

http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/5651

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/EC76AC9B636C6B63862575480003BBFF

Buying an additional card may be required depending on your throughput requirements.

When you say you want to add custom tools made in LV, there are two options for this.

1 - You can have a simple VI that the VBAI inspection calls with a Run LabVIEW VI step. This allows you to pass images, results to the VI and the step will run the VI and add any numeric, boolean, string results so subsequent steps can access them as well as use the updated image if the VI modified it. This option can work on RT targets as well as deployed PCs, but you have to make sure to copy the VIs with the inspection and keep the VIs in the same path the inspection expects them to be.

2 - Create your own custom VBAI steps that are more native, have their own UI and icon in the plugins area.

If you want option 1, all you need is the compatible version of LV (LV 2010 for VBAI 2010 and later or LV 8.5 for earlier versions of VBAI) and probably Vision Development Module if you plan on doing any image processing in the VI. If you want option 2, there is an SDK license you can add on to your VBAI purchase that will enable this functionality and you will also need a compatible LabVIEW version and Vision Development Module version.

Hope this helps,

Brad

[ChristopheC]

If the code you need to add to VBAI needs to process images, you will need a license of Vision Development module to develop your extension (Run LabVIEW or custom step using the Vision Builder AI SDK).