Color Detection using LabVIEW

[newbiwan]

Hi experts in the forums,

 

I am tasked with a project that requires me to:

a.       Measure the color of the targeted surface which has faded/eroded/deteriorated.

b.       Convert the color tone of the targeted surface into paint formula.

c.       Determine the color pigments to be added to the base color of the targeted surface to recreate the color on the targeted surface which has aged.

 

I have decided to use a webcam as a spectrometer is not available for my use..

 

I have LabVIEW 2014 but i have never used it before and still am figuring my way around it.

 

My LabVIEW does not have the vision and motion package, is it still possible to do it using LabVIEW?

 

Can anyone please give me advice on where to start?

 

 

 

[hooovahh]

Sure.  So parts of the vision toolkit are free.  Basically any image manipulation is what the extra cost is, but I'm pretty sure you can acquire without needing anything extra.  I'm not certain but I think these links will help.

 

http://www.ni.com/example/30030/en/

https://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW/Capturing-live-image-from-integrated-Webcam-using-Labview/td-p/2066668

 

I think the free part of the vision toolkit is called VAS, Vision Acquisition Software.  There was a thread on LAVA at one point talking about it but I can't seem to find it.

[Jordan Kuehn]

I think the free part of the vision toolkit is called VAS, Vision Acquisition Software.  There was a thread on LAVA at one point talking about it but I can't seem to find it.

 

You might be referring to this thread.  Regardless, I linked at the end to the free vision functions which I think is what the OP is looking for to get started.

[QueueYueue]

If you want to go the NI route....

 

I've recently been dealing with the headache that is Vision related licensing. Here is what I understand it to be. The terminology is VERY confusing, so you'll have to deal with me.

 

IMAQ VIs - These are VIs used to get images/video off of NI cameras. These are free to use (development and runtime), but again, they only work with NI hardware.

 

IMAQdx VIs - These are VIs used to get images/video off of ALL other cameras. Your webcam falls into this category. This requires the Vision Acquisition Software (VAS) license to develop AND Deploy. These cost money

 

Other IMAQ VIs - some of these VIs are free to use without any license (such as IMAQ Create), others are not (such as  ImageToImage). The licensed VIs require the Vision Development Module to use in Dev mode, and the Vision Development Module Runtime Engine (I like the way they got development and runtime in the same title) to use in Runtime mode. These both cost money. I don't know of a good list that says X vi needs a license and Y vi doesn't.

 

There are times when you buy one license and get another for free, but I don't stand of chance of figuring out what's what. It's best to call NI support or talk to your local sales guy for help.

 

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/F1699570F78FECBB86256B5200665134

 

tldr (for the NI route); There is no free way to get images from a webcam into labview.

 

The non-NI route....

 

I've gotten images from a webcam into labview using non-NI code. OpenCV is a popular one, but I've never used it. Basically my strategy was "how would a C# programmer access a webcam". I found some code on the internet that I was able to modify into a C# DLL that I could call from labview. I did this a few years ago at another company, so I can't give you and example or much more info.

 

I'd describe this as a pretty advanced task, and not something that I'd recommend to someone who was new to labview, unless they had a good amount of C# experience. The only reason I did it was because we needed to put webcams on 100+ machines, so that means it would have cost $50000+ in licensing. I was able to put something together that did our super small set of tasks in about a week or two. If you're only doing this for 1 machine, just pay NI.

[Jordan Kuehn]

I don't know of a good list that says X vi needs a license and Y vi doesn't.

 

See the linked document above.  I believe it is comprehensive.

[ShaunR]

There is no free way to get images from a webcam into labview.

 

The non-NI route....

 

I've gotten images from a webcam into labview using non-NI code. OpenCV is a popular one, but I've never used it. Basically my strategy was "how would a C# programmer access a webcam". I found some code on the internet that I was able to modify into a C# DLL that I could call from labview. I did this a few years ago at another company, so I can't give you and example or much more info.

 

I'd describe this as a pretty advanced task, and not something that I'd recommend to someone who was new to labview, unless they had a good amount of C# experience. The only reason I did it was because we needed to put webcams on 100+ machines, so that means it would have cost $50000+ in licensing. I was able to put something together that did our super small set of tasks in about a week or two. If you're only doing this for 1 machine, just pay NI.

 

 

Or you can try to use the NI-IMAQ for USB Cameras which was obsoleted by IMAQdx

Edited October 24, 2014 by ShaunR

[QueueYueue]

Or you can try to use the NI-IMAQ for USB Cameras which was obsoleted by IMAQdx

I'm not gonna lie, I found this and read it, but I must have gotten confused because everything is named so similarly.