What is the highest supported IMAQ version for VBAI 3.6?

[mvonstein]

I need to know *exactly* what the highest permissible version of Labview and IMAQ is to run this on a CVS 1454. 

Thanks,
Mike 

[Brad]

Vision Builder AI 3.6 requires LabVIEW 8.5 on the CVS.

The minimum version of NI-IMAQ for IEEE-1394 is 2.0.0.

The minimum version of NI-IMAQ I/O is 2.3.0.

The version of NI Vision required is 8.6.1.

I believe the latest Vision Acquisition does not install NI-IMAQ for IEEE-1394, but you don't need this on your host to acquire from cameras on the CVS.

Vision Builder includes a golden image for all supported RT targets that has all the versions of software required for the target and it can install these for you to ensure everything is compatible. Is there a reason you want to install a later version of NI-IMAQ for IEEE-1394?

Hope this helps,

Brad

[mvonstein]

Thanks for the response, Brad.

The golden image copy you are talking about is when you go to "Find network targets" and then "Configure" and do a format?

The problem I'm having is that somehow the levels on my PC doesn't match the levels on the unit.  So when I try to look at the attached camera it gives me an error msg.  Not hooked up currently so don't remember the exact error msg, but I belive it says NI Server version mismatch.  Shows 2.6 on the CVS unit and 2.0 on host.  I was thinking of trying to get my laptop up to 2.6, but thought last night maybe the thing to do is just reformat the unit so they match?

On this project, I'm working with one of our lead engineers who's new to NI and he's not very impressed at this point, with the versioning/configuration/connection difficulties we've had...

Thanks again,

Mike 

[Brad]

Are you trying to acquire from MAX? VBAI doesn't need any other software installed to acquire images from the CVS. Is this where you are having trouble acquiring images, or are you trying to acquire in MAX? There may be a version conflict if you're trying to acquire from MAX and have older SW installed on your computer than the target does. I would recommend using VBAI to acquire images and do your processing in VBAI. If you change the SW on the target to match your host, you may be able to acquire from MAX, but then VBAI may not be able to acquire. We have changed components to be backwards compatible, but you may be using a version on your host that is before the backwards compatibility was available. Is there a reason you don't want to use the acquisition step in VBAI to acquire and change settings? If you really want to acquire from both VBAI and MAX, upgrade Vision Acquisition on your host to 8.6 and that should fix this. In the future as the older software gets upgraded, this won't be a problem since our remote acquisition component has been backwards compatible for about a year.

Hope this helps,

Brad 

[mvonstein]

It's great to hear you are working on backwards-compatability. 

I am using the VBAI Aquire step, but am having intermittent problems.  Could be physical connection related, but from my past experience with a few PC-based applications we have it seemed to be very important that the cameras were setup and I physically saved their configuration in MAX.  I was thinking it would be the same for the CVS.  In this case, the software on the CVS is higher in the host.  Didn't seem like a good thing...

One thing that confuses me, (maybe it shouldn't) is the way the versioning works for IMAQ.  Especially which IMAQ version main version number equates to which driver version of the various IMAQ drivers.   Having the professional subscription, it seems I'm innundated with disks and have a hard time telling which versions are compatable- especially with VBAI.

Perhaps if I install 8.6, it will upgrade my PC to match what VBAI installed on the unit...

Thanks,
Mike 

[mvonstein]

Ok, this is what I get when I go into the VBAI aquire step.  The connections seems secure. It tells me to go to MAX...

 

Thanks,
Mike 

[Brad]

That error message means the camera is not detected. It's a little confusing because on Windows, when you associate the camera with the IMAQdx driver, the IMAQ-1394 driver doesn't see it, so that message is intended for Windows users to fix the problem. On the CVS, both the IMAQdx and IMAQ 1394 driver will see the hardware, so you shouldn't need to go to MAX in the RT case (we should update the message for this case.) If you're getting this message and the CVS is clean (i.e. you haven't tried updating any software on the CVS since installing the golden image from VBAI like you mentioned at the top of this thread), something is wrong with the hardware (could be the camera, connector, cable, port). If you plug the same camera into your Windows machine does the OS detect it fine? If so, can you try plugging the camera into a different port on the CVS? If you have updated SW on the CVS after formatting the CVS from VBAI, I would recommend reinstalling the CVS golden image from VBAI to ensure the version of SW VBAI expects is on the target. Sorry this is giving you so much trouble, but let me know if the camera works well on Windows.

Thanks,

Brad

[mvonstein]

Thanks again for your response.

I only did a format and reinstall from VBAI like you said.  Nothing from MAX.

When I run my inspection in RUN mode, the stop button won't work.   After a little while, it seems to time out then says "lost connection to the CVS", then I have to reboot to get anything to work or connect again. 

The camera works.  The way I found out was, after rebooting, I could go in and make a new inspection and run it in live video mode.  I could also get pictures in my inspection in CONFIG mode, but not in RUN.

 I may have narrowed it down slightly.  This inspection uses IO with an Omron PLC  and this is from the software comparison from MAX:

 

This is the version of NI IMAQ I/O that VBAI installed.  I don't understand the help message on the right.   Should I set it to 1.0.1?  Does 1.1.0 superceed 1.0.1? Should I make it the same as the host?  Is this issue even pertinent?

I'm going to keep trying to narrow it down, but I appreciate your help.

Thanks,
Mike 

[Brad]

I don't understand the message either. The IMAQ IO is the used by the pulse and IO step in VBAI. You can open the Test Panel in VBAI when connected to the CVS from Tools>>NI-IMAQ IO Test Panel and if you can toggle TTL Outputs, then the IO is working on the CVS...wouldn't worry about what MAX says about the versions...VBAI knows what it needs to work with the target and it installed the right versions. As for the lost connection issue, what happens if you just have an inspection that acquires images. If you Run State in Loop (i.e. using the bottom run button in configuration mode) we use a remote acquisition API to acquire images. If you Run Inspection in Loop (i.e. the run button at the top in Configuration mode) we run the inspection on the target using the NI-IMAQ for 1394 driver API to acquire images and send the acquired images across the network using VI Server. It would be interesting to hear if running the state works and running the inspetion causes the CVS to hang. If this is the case, it sounds like the IMAQ 1394 driver isn't installed correctly and I would recommend reformatting. Let me know how this works out.

[mvonstein]

I had the same thought before reading your reply.   I made an inspection that only consisted of a single Aquire step and switched to RUN mode.  It ran fine.   Thinking maybe the firewire connection to the camera was vibrating loose due to vibrations of the machine, I shook the fixture that holds the camera for several minutes in various directions.  I subjected it to vibrations much more violent than the machine does and it ran the acquire step the whole time.

When my inspection runs, it freezes and you can't interrupt it.  Then it will disconnect and you have to reboot the CVS and "End Task" VBAI on the PC to get it to reconnect.  I also tried taking the IO out of the inspection, but that didn't help either.   I tried disabling the Vision Assistant step that does some heavy color thresholding and processing.  Didn't help either.   I've attached the inspection to this post, but the server won't let me upload the "inspect.bin" file because it doesn't like the extension.  Didn't want to confuse anyone reading the post later, so if you need that let me know and I'll rename the extension or I can email it or put it on ftp.ni.com.

Any other thoughts would be appreciated it.  I've narrowed it down a lot, but this configuration is taking me way too long......

Thanks,
Mike