How to use camera not listed under MAX

[Sharon_]

Hi,

   We have bought a new camera(TeliCam Toshiba) for some projects. I installed the camera but it is not listed under MAX devices.

So how do I use the camera to display the acquired images on Labview image control? 

The camera maker has provided some dlls that support only .NET programming. I am ok with .NET programming using Labview but I am still confused how to use it to show the images on Image Ctrl..

I need to grab the image - adjust camera parameters - do some OCR and if needed adjust the parameters again.

Any idea?

 

Thanks,

Sharon 

Edited May 29, 2015 by Sharon_

[ThomasGutzler]

If there isn't a 3rd party driver for LabVIEW, you need to develop one yourself.

Having a dll you can use to communicate with your camera seems like a good first step. Use the Call Library Function Node to call your dlls and the Picture Functions palette to convert 2D arrays to images. Keep in mind that the dlls won't (or shouldn't) allocate memory for you, so you have to pass already initialised arrays to the call library node.

 

That should get you started. Next time, let's see some code

[Jordan Kuehn]

How does the camera interface with the computer?  A quick google shows only analog outputs.  ThomasGutzler is correct in that you probably need to make your own drivers and do the conversion to IMAQ images using the conversion VIs.  If the manufacturer has a DirectShow compatible version it will make things very simple for you.

[Rolf Kalbermatter]

To add to what Jordan and Tomas already said, the camera is pretty unimportant here. Since it is an anaolog camera you need to have also some sort of image frame grabber interface that converts the analog signal to a digital computer image. This is what is important as to how you can interface to your camera. Unfortunately NI has discontinued all their analog frame grabber interfaces otherwise the most simple solution would have to be to buy an NI IMAQ device and connect your camera to that.

Instead of that there are supposedly still some Alliance Members that sell third party analog frame grabbers with LabVIEW drivers.

 

Other possible interfaces that claim to have LabVIEW support:

http://www.theimagingsource.com/de_DE/products/grabbers/dfgmc4pcie/

http://www.bitflow.com/products/details/alta-an

http://www.i-cubeinc.com/pdf/frame%20grabbers/TIS-DFGUSB2.pdf

 

And as has been mentioned, if the frame grabber has a DirectX driver you should be able to access is from IMAQdx too, possibly with a little configuration effort.

[ensegre]

I've used in the past USB analog frame grabbers like this. They are particularly convenient because they are generally recognized as IMAQdx, indeed.

 

However, the OP wrote "I installed the camera", and "The camera maker has provided some dlls", so either a framegrabber was already bundled there, or she is talking of some other digital camera. Toshiba Teli has many product lines, including GigE, USB3, Firewire, CameraLink, CoaxPress, not merely analogic. If by chance we were talking of a GigE camera, all those I have seen in the last years were Genicam compliant and supported by IMAQdx, which is imho by far preferrable within labview to wrapping a dll. I presume this is not the case, as the OP wrote in contrast "but it is not listed under MAX devices". Which in turn assumes that she has installed IMAQdx.

Edited June 1, 2015 by ensegre

[Rolf Kalbermatter]

I've used in the past USB analog frame grabbers like this. They are particularly convenient because they are generally recognized as IMAQdx, indeed.

 

However, the OP wrote "I installed the camera", and "The camera maker has provided some dlls", so either a framegrabber was already bundled there, or she is talking of some other digital camera. Toshiba Teli has many product lines, including GigE, USB3, Firewire, CameraLink, CoaxPress, not merely analogic. If by chance we were talking of a GigE camera, all those I have seen in the last years were Genicam compliant and supported by IMAQdx, which is imho by far preferrable within labview to wrapping a dll. I presume this is not the case, as the OP wrote in contrast "but it is not listed under MAX devices". Which in turn assumes that she has installed IMAQdx.

 

I wasn't aware of the Toshiba Teli product line. Googling "TeliCam Toshiba" didn't bring up any relevant links :-) and "TeliCam" alone only showed some analog cameras! Since it's indeed an entire range of cameras with all kinds of interfaces we definitely need to know more about the actually used model before we can say anything more specific about the best way to use that from withing LabVIEW.

[ensegre]

Additionally, there seems to be a certain TeliCamSDK, maybe she was referring to that.

[Jordan Kuehn]

Yeah, without more info from the OP there's not much more to say.

[Sharon_]

Hi,

The camera is USB3 . Yes, I need IMAQdx to use it with my LabVIEW. And sorry for the late reply- I have been intalling/reinstalling VAS drivers for two days.

The problem is that the LabVIEW version is 2009 and NI supports USB camera devices from IMAQdx 4.2.0 which is not compatible with 2009. 

We found out only today that IMAQdx 4.2 is *not* supported by LabVIEW 2009, and some NI documentation about the version things, is wrong . It is only supported from LabVIEW 2010.

So I am trying upgrade my LV version 2010 SP1. I will update if everything is ok.

 

Thanks,

Sharon

[MikaelH]

Go to LV2014 if you can, that will make it better and faster.

[Jordan Kuehn]

Hi,

The camera is USB3 . Yes, I need IMAQdx to use it with my LabVIEW. And sorry for the late reply- I have been intalling/reinstalling VAS drivers for two days.

The problem is that the LabVIEW version is 2009 and NI supports USB camera devices from IMAQdx 4.2.0 which is not compatible with 2009. 

We found out only today that IMAQdx 4.2 is *not* supported by LabVIEW 2009, and some NI documentation about the version things, is wrong . It is only supported from LabVIEW 2010.

So I am trying upgrade my LV version 2010 SP1. I will update if everything is ok.

 

Thanks,

Sharon

 

Are you talking about USB3 Vision compliant cameras?  Then perhaps the timeline is correct.  If you are talking about usb cameras in general, my previous DirectShow compliant comment stands and goes beyond 2009.  

PS.  We all want cameras that work with IMAQdx.  Unfortunately, often vision work utilizes emerging camera technology and can't use IMAQdx.  C++/C# drivers often get written first.

Edited June 2, 2015 by Jordan Kuehn

[Sharon_]

Go to LV2014 if you can, that will make it better and faster.

Other than LV,there are also modules like TestStand 4.0 and FPGA Development Module,...

Licenses of these things limit the (free)upgrade only to 2010 SP1.   o