Machine Vision

[lshi]

I have a AVT Prosilica GC660M GigE camera. It had a touble to synchonize with an external trigger. My ex-colleague posted this long time ago (http://forums.ni.com/t5/Machine-Vision/Problem-with-external-trigger-on-GigE-camera/m-p/1060572/high...), so I think it might be better to start a new one. Inside the MAX, there's only one option under the "ExposureMode" as "timed" which only use preconfigured time, and cannot be trigger by an external signal. The workaround is to manually register it inside the camera. It was thought to be a bug and an update of firmware should fix it.However the problem remains after I recently upgraded the firmware. And o I installed the AVT package. Both the MAX and the AVT GigEViewer correctly retrived the camera firmware version as 1.42.02. Yet MAX still shows only the "timed" option, while the GigEViewer shows all four enums as described in their attribute manual "Manual, Auto, AutoOnce, External". I had tried to delet the xml and files associate with the camera under IN-IMAQdx\Data. However everytime MAX genenrates them excatly the same with only "timed" option in the XML file. Now it feels more like something is wrong with the MAX instead. I wonder how to fix it.

Thanks,

Lei

[Tim_O1]

Hi Lei,

I am not exactly sure why you are not seeing all the attributes, but it could be a few different things causing it. First let’s just make sure you have all you attributes being displayed (follow instructions from link below). What happens if you delete the XML file then set your camera to “External” in the GigEViewer software, then load MAX? Do you see any changes? Can you post a screenshot showing the camera attributes from MAX. If you have your camera set to External from GigEViewer and you try to grab from the camera in MAX do you get a timeout error, does it trigger external, what happens?

Why Can I Not See All of My IMAQdx Camera's Attributes in Measurement & Automation Explorer
http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/9FA7FEE4FC51F043862574A30075B7A1?OpenDocument

Why Won't My Allied Vision Technology Camera Work With National Instruments Software?
http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/470DA6BDE3883EB686257341006BCB56?OpenDocument

Tim O

[lshi]

Hi Tim O,

I deleted .xml, .iid and .icd; set the cam to external in GigEViewr, then loaded MAX. Same thing, only "timed" option showed.

I don't have the external setup right now, I'll get back to you later. But I believe I tried what you said before, and MAX works with the external trigger even under the timed option. My inital thougt was to go ahead and edit xml file, but since I don't realy know anything about xml, that failed. 

Here's the screenshot, thank you,

Lei

Lei

[BlueCheese]

Did you close and reopen MAX after updating the XML file? Also, what version of Vision Acquisition and/or IMAQdx are you using?

Eric

[lshi]

Hi Eric,

Yes, I did. It's the same. I have Vision Acquisition Software - August 2011 and NI-IMAQdx 3.8.1.

Lei

[BlueCheese]

Can you attach your camera's XML file to this discussion?

Eric

[lshi]

Sure, and the work-around is to write register 14104 (RegExposureMode) with "external (enum)".

thanks,

Lei

[BlueCheese]

This looks like the feature is simply not implemented in their XML file:

 <Enumeration Name="ExposureMode" NameSpace="Standard">
  <Extension>
   <PvDelete/>
  </Extension>
  <Description>Method of control for exposure duration. Timed mode: exposure duration is set by ExposureTimeAbs.</Description>
  <EnumEntry Name="Timed" NameSpace="Standard">
   <Value>1</Value>
  </EnumEntry>
  <Value>1</Value>
 </Enumeration>

Things to note are that there are no additional modes listed for ExposureMode besides timed and it doesn't actually redirect to a register (it has a "Value" entry rather than a "pValue" that points to a register).

It does appear that the "ExposureAuto" feature does actually redirect to that same register you are setting manually (setting it to "other" writes a 0x4 to 0x14104).

I guess this feature is working in AVT's software because their viewer does not actually use the XML file through GenICam like third-party software does.

Eric

Eric
 

[lshi]

Thank you Eric. I'll contact them for what you observered. Hope they can fix it.

Lei

[A.Low]

Hi Ishi, did you get the problem resolved? I am facing the same problem right now with an AVT GT 1910. 

I need to change the ExposureMode to "External" but am unable to do so in MAX.