IMAQ vision software

[vyas]

Can I create a gray scaled image using IMAQ if I know the wavefront in mathematical form? The mathematical form is in Mathematica.

[Brandon M]

Vyas,

This sounds like it will be possible in LabVIEW, but I will need more information about your application.  What exactly do you mean by 'wavefront?'  Is the mathematical form an equation or set of equations that determines a pixel value?

If this is the case, you could build an array and use the IMAQ ArrayToImage VI, from the Vision Development Module.  This VI takes a 2D array of unsigned 8-bit integers, signed 16-bit integers, or 32-bit floating-point values containing the pixel values that comprise the image, and creates an image from the array.

[vyas]

The mathematical expression is a linear combination of polynomials. This expression is dependent on x,y variables. When I plot it, I obtain a 3D image and if I take a density profile, I will get a 2D image. The equations are obtained in Mathematica. Can Mathematica talk with IMAQ? Can I send these mathematical expressions to IMAQ and create a gray scale image?

[Daniel_E]

What is the equation?  Please post it.  Seeing this would help in knowing the best way to bring this into LabVIEW.  There is currently no easy way to talk to Mathematica.  You might be able to do it with activeX but this is a whole different topic.

[vyas]

These are set of a set of polynomials and their description can be found in the url given below.
http://www.optics.arizona.edu/jcwyant/Zernikes/ZernikeEquations.htm
They are in cylindrical coordinates and can be easily converted into cartesian.

[Daniel_E]

VYAS,

To me, that is a perfect case for the formula node.  You can set up your inputs and outputs, paste in the equations, and make sure the syntax is correct and you are ready to go.  You can than do whatever you need to with the output in LabVIEW.  Let me know if this helps!

Dan

[vyas]

Thank you. I will surely implement what you have suggested.

[vyas]

How fast can LABVIEW 8 process data? I need to read and analyse very high resolution images in real time. I need a speed of a few ms. Is this possible with LABVIEW?

[Brandon M]

Vyas,

The speed at which LabVIEW will be able to process data is dependent on your processor speed, the image size, image depth, and the type of analysis that you are doing.

To give you an idea, I took a very large image and did several complex calculations on it.  I started with a 1280 x 1024 32-bit .BMP.  I ran an extract function to get an 8-bit image, a clamp to measure the size of an object in the image, a filter, a threshold to convert it to binary, and particle analysis (81 properties, such as center of mass, perimeter, moments of inertia) to find all of the associated properties of the 1700 pariticles.  This took an average of 290 ms on a 3 GHz processor.

If you give me more information about the image and the analysis that you are running, I can give you an idea of the speeds that are possible.