APPLICATION NOTE. How to Use the Basler pylon USB 3.0 AIK Adapter with Cognex VisionPro

Transcription

1 APPLICATION NOTE How to Use the Basler pylon USB 3.0 AIK Adapter with Cognex VisionPro Document Number: AW Version: 07 Language: 000 (English) Release Date: 18 April 2018

2 Contacting Basler Support Worldwide Europe, Middle East, Africa Basler AG An der Strusbek Ahrensburg Germany Tel Fax The Americas Basler, Inc. 855 Springdale Drive, Suite 203 Exton, PA USA Tel Fax Asia-Pacific Basler Asia Pte. Ltd. 35 Marsiling Industrial Estate Road 3 #05 06 Singapore Tel Fax support.asia@baslerweb.com All material in this publication is subject to change without notice and is copyright Basler AG.

3 Table of Contents 1 Introduction Supported Pixel Formats Connecting and Disconnecting Cameras Requirements Installation Operating a Basler USB 3.0 Camera with Cognex VisionPro Accessing the Camera in Cognex VisionPro Configuring the Camera Settings Tab Image Properties Tab Advanced Features Troubleshooting Hardware Not Visible or Application Stops Responding Live Display Flickers Revision History How to Use the Basler pylon USB 3.0 AIK Adapter with Cognex VisionPro 1

4 1 Introduction The Basler pylon USB 3.0 AIK Adapter enables you to operate Basler USB 3.0 cameras with Cognex VisionPro. After a few configuration steps, Basler USB 3.0 cameras are displayed in VisionPro where you can configure them as desired. The Basler pylon USB 3.0 AIK Adapter is available in a.zip file containing the.msi files for 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems (pylonaik_setup_x86.msi and pylonaik_setup_x64.msi) as well as the pylon 5 Runtime, which contains support for USB 3.0 cameras on 32- and 64-bit operating systems. You can download it here: Supported Pixel Formats The current version of the AIK adapter supports a subset of pixel formats of Basler USB 3.0 cameras. Following is a list of supported formats: Mono 8 Mono 12 Mono 12p Mono 12 Packed Bayer BG 8 Bayer GB 8 Bayer RG 8 Bayer RG 12 Bayer RG 12p RGB 8 BGR 8 YCbCr422_8 More formats will be added in future releases. 1.2 Connecting and Disconnecting Cameras The adapter lists the cameras available when VisionPro starts. Cameras that are connected to the computer when VisionPro is already running will not be displayed. If cameras are disconnected during runtime, they will not be removed from the device list in the Image Source dialog of VisionPro. Trying to perform any actions on them will result in an error message. It is also not possible to reconnect disconnected cameras while VisionPro is running. VisionPro has to be restarted for these cameras to be available again in VisionPro. How to Use the Basler pylon USB 3.0 AIK Adapter with Cognex VisionPro 2

5 2 Requirements The pylon USB 3.0 AIK Adapter requires the pylon 5 Camera Software Suite or the pylon 5 Runtime (both version ) to be installed. The appropriate pylon runtime can be found in the root folder. To install only components required for USB 3.0 cameras, use the following parameters: " /passive /install=cpp_runtime;usb_runtime;usb_camera_driver". Alternatively, use "pylon 5 Runtime USB-ONLY.cmd", which contains all parameters required for USB 3.0 cameras. If you don t have the correct version of the Camera Software Suite or the pylon 5 Runtime installed, you are still able to install the Basler pylon USB 3.0 AIK Adapter, but when you later start VisionPro, you will receive an error message. You can download the pylon 5 Camera Software Suite and the pylon 5 Runtime here: For information on how to install the pylon 5 Camera Software Suite, see the Basler Product Documentation (AW001406). You can download the documentation from the Basler website: The pylon USB 3.0 AIK Adapter has been successfully tested with Cognex VisionPro version 9.0. How to Use the Basler pylon USB 3.0 AIK Adapter with Cognex VisionPro 3

6 3 Installation Before installing the Basler pylon USB 3.0 AIK Adapter, make sure that you have read the information in the Requirements section. To install the Basler pylon USB 3.0 AIK Adapter: 1. Run pylonaik_setup_x86.msi or pylonaik_setup_x64.msi. The Basler pylon 5 AIK Adapter for USB 3.0 Cameras Setup window opens. 2. Click Next. The Destination Folder dialog opens. How to Use the Basler pylon USB 3.0 AIK Adapter with Cognex VisionPro 4

7 3. In the Destination Folder dialog, specify the desired location and click Next. The Ready to install Basler pylon dialog opens. 4. In the Ready to install Basler pylon dialog, click Install. How to Use the Basler pylon USB 3.0 AIK Adapter with Cognex VisionPro 5

8 A progress bar is displayed. When the installation is complete, the Completed the Basler pylon dialog opens. 5. In the Completed the Basler pylon dialog, click Finish. The Basler pylon USB 3.0 AIK Adapter has now been installed and Basler USB 3.0 cameras can be accessed in Cognex VisionPro. How to Use the Basler pylon USB 3.0 AIK Adapter with Cognex VisionPro 6

9 4 Operating a Basler USB 3.0 Camera with Cognex VisionPro This section explains how to access a Basler USB 3.0 camera in Cognex VisionPro and how to configure the camera s features. 4.1 Accessing the Camera in Cognex VisionPro To access a camera: 1. Right-click the VisionPro QuickBuild shortcut and choose Run as administrator. This will start VisionPro QuickBuild with administrator rights. 2. Double-click Image Source. The Image Source dialog opens. How to Use the Basler pylon USB 3.0 AIK Adapter with Cognex VisionPro 7

10 3. Click the Camera button. The drop-down list Image Acquisition Device/Frame Grabber lists all Basler USB 3.0 cameras connected to the computer. If not all cameras are listed, see the Connecting and Disconnecting Cameras section. How to Use the Basler pylon USB 3.0 AIK Adapter with Cognex VisionPro 8

11 4. Select the desired camera from the list. 5. Click Initialize Acquisition. You can now configure the camera in VisionPro. 6. To open a live display, click the camera icon in the toolbar. A separate window opens showing a live display. 4.2 Configuring the Camera Once the camera is accessible in VisionPro, you can configure its features. Basic features are available on the Settings and the Image Properties tabs in the Image Source dialog. How to Use the Basler pylon USB 3.0 AIK Adapter with Cognex VisionPro 9

12 4.2.1 Settings Tab On this tab, you can configure exposure, brightness, and contrast. These features are named differently in VisionPro and the pylon Viewer: VisionPro pylon Viewer Exposure Brightness Contrast Exposure Time Black Level Gain Also, the features listed in the table above have different value ranges. For example, the black level (pylon Viewer) can be adjusted in a range from 0.0 to whereas the brightness (VisionPro) range is from 0.0 to 1.0. The maximum value in pylon corresponds to 1.0 in VisionPro, and the values in between are scaled accordingly. How to Use the Basler pylon USB 3.0 AIK Adapter with Cognex VisionPro 10

13 4.2.2 Image Properties Tab On the Image Properties tab in the Image Source dialog, you can configure the Region of Interest (ROI). A smaller ROI can lead to higher frame rates and can generally improve performance. To move the ROI, use the Origin X and Origin Y fields as well as the Width and Height fields. When changing the ROI, the ROI is cropped internally by the camera to the smallest-possible size. If the hardware doesn t support the resulting ROI, e.g. because the ROI doesn t meet the minimum width or height requirements, the remaining parts of the image are cropped by VisionPro. It is not recommended to move the ROI of the camera an odd number of pixels when using the Bayer mode. If you do, the Bayer pattern moves and the pixels can t be interpreted correctly, resulting in incorrectly displayed colors. How to Use the Basler pylon USB 3.0 AIK Adapter with Cognex VisionPro 11

14 4.2.3 Advanced Features If you want to access more advanced configuration features, you have three options: pylon Viewer VisionPro: Imaging Device tab in the Image Source dialog VisionPro: Custom Properties tab in the Image Source dialog See the following sections for details of these options pylon Viewer Using the pylon Viewer to configure the features of a Basler USB 3.0 camera is an easy way to view and change parameter settings. The pylon Viewer requires a full installation of the pylon 5 Camera Software Suite. The pylon Runtime (U3V) alone is not sufficient. For information about how to use the pylon Viewer, refer to the pylon Viewer help that is part of the application. You can only access the camera via the pylon Viewer if the camera is not open in VisionPro at the same time. How to Use the Basler pylon USB 3.0 AIK Adapter with Cognex VisionPro 12

15 VisionPro: Imaging Device Tab On the Imaging Device tab in the Image Source dialog, you have direct access to the camera s features. To configure a feature: 1. In the Feature Access area, enter a feature name in the Feature field. 2. Click Read. The current value is displayed in the Value field. 3. Change the value for the feature in the Value field. 4. Click Write to write the value to the camera. How to Use the Basler pylon USB 3.0 AIK Adapter with Cognex VisionPro 13

16 VisionPro: Custom Properties Tab On the Custom Properties tab in the Image Source dialog, you can select features from a list of all available features and change their settings. To configure a feature: 1. Click Add New in the upper left corner of the tab. A list of all available camera features is displayed. 2. Select a feature from the list. The feature with its current value is added to the feature table. Here, you can modify the value of a feature. The following screenshot shows how to select a new value for the PixelFormat feature: How to Use the Basler pylon USB 3.0 AIK Adapter with Cognex VisionPro 14

17 How to Use the Basler pylon USB 3.0 AIK Adapter with Cognex VisionPro 15

18 5 Troubleshooting This section lists problems that may occur when using Basler USB 3.0 cameras in Cognex VisionPro and provides solutions to fix them. 5.1 Hardware Not Visible or Application Stops Responding If you experience problems such as your cameras not being visible or your application not responding anymore, check the following: Under Windows 7, vision applications using an imaging device must be run with administrator rights. Open the Properties dialog of the vision application and ensure that Run this program as an administrator is selected on the Compatibility tab. Locate the aikserver.exe or aikserver_64.exe (C:\Program Files\Cognex\VisionPro\bin). Open the Properties dialog and ensure that Run this program as an administrator is selected on the Compatibility tab. Using the Registry Editor, check the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\cognex\AIK\Errors subkey. Errors that don t produce an error message are logged here and can help you solve the problem. 5.2 Live Display Flickers If you notice a flickering of the live display of the camera, the PoolSize registry entry value may be too low. This condition may also be indicated by the following error message: Bad memory ptr, please increase pool size! The AIK adapter setup sets the PoolSize entry to an appropriate value, but under certain circumstances, this error may still occur. To fix it, carry out the following steps. To change the value of the PoolSize registry entry: 1. Using the Registry Editor, open the following subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\cognex\AIK\AdapterBaslerpylon 2. Right-click the PoolSize entry and choose Modify. 3. Change the value in the Value data field as required. Use the following formula as a guide to estimating the required pool size. PostedItemsQueueSize + (GarbageCollectionInterval + 2) x NumJobs + SafetyFactor The maximum you can specify is 2 GB. If you require a greater pool size, you have to create an additional subkey called PoolSizeQuantum. See the procedure below. 4. Click OK. For more information, see the Cognex VisionPro help. How to Use the Basler pylon USB 3.0 AIK Adapter with Cognex VisionPro 16

19 To specify the PoolSizeQuantum registry entry: 1. Using the Registry Editor, go to the following subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\cognex\AIK\AdapterBaslerpylon 2. Right-click the AdapterBaslerpylon subkey and choose New > DWORD (32-bit) Value. 3. Name the new entry PoolSizeQuantum. 4. Right-click the PoolSizeQuantum entry and choose Modify. 5. Change the value in the Value data field to 0x Click OK. The pool size will be calculated based on the following formula: PoolSize x PoolSizeQuantum Now you can specify a pool size of e.g. 4 GB by setting the Poolsize entry to 4 MB (4 GB / 0x400). For more information, see the Acquiring Large Images with an Imaging Device section in the Cognex VisionPro help. Incorrectly editing the registry may severely damage your system. Before making any changes to the registry, back up the data on your computer. If these steps don t solve the problem, contact Basler support: How to Use the Basler pylon USB 3.0 AIK Adapter with Cognex VisionPro 17

20 Revision History Document Number Date Changes AW Jul 2014 Initial release of this document. AW Feb 2015 Clarified that the AIK adapter only works with version 4.1 of the pylon Camera Software Suite. AW Jun 2015 Updated the required pylon version and added that pylon runtimes are now contained in the AIK adapter setup.zip file. AW Aug 2016 Inserted Contacting Basler Support Worldwide section at the back of the front page and removed the contact addresses from the last page. Clarified that the AIK adapter only works with version 5.0.x of the pylon Camera Software Suite. Updated the installation procedure description due to the updated setup procedure. New footer and header layout (e.g. replaced the information box frames by new ones). AW Aug 2016 Replaced some screenshots due to presentation problems. The content of the application note stays the same. AW Sep 2017 Added Bayer RG pixel formats to the list of supported pixel formats. Changed String subkey type to DWORD in Section 5.2 ( Live Display Flickers ). AW April 2018 Updated the runtime version and requirements information. How to Use the Basler pylon USB 3.0 AIK Adapter with Cognex VisionPro 18