No part of this document may be reproduced, transmitted, photocopied, or translated into another language without the written consent of EPIX, Inc. Information in this document is subject to change without obligation or notice. EPIX, Inc. makes no warranty of any kind with regard to this document, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. EPIX, Inc. assumes no responsibility for any errors that may appear in this document. EPIX, Inc. reserves the right to make changes to the specifications of hardware and software at any time, without obligation or notice.
4MIP, SVIP, XCIP, XCAP, 4MEG VIDEO, 1MEG VIDEO, SILICON VIDEO MUX, QUICK SET VIDEO, 12-7MUX, IMAGE MEMORY EXPANSION, COC40, and COC402 are trademarks of EPIX, Inc.
EPIX, SILICON VIDEO, and PIXCI are registered trademarks of EPIX, Inc.
Other brand, product, and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Printing: 11-Feb-2023
EPIX, Inc.
381 Lexington Drive
Buffalo Grove IL 60089
847.465.1818
847.465.1919 (fax)
epix@epixinc.com
www.epixinc.com
Thank you for purchasing imaging products from EPIX, Inc. We are available via email, telephone, or FAX to help with installation or to answer questions about the use of our products.
The PIXCI® CL2 frame grabber, for the PCI bus, is packed in a static dissipative bag. Prior to opening the bag, place the bag near the computer into which the frame grabber will be installed.
We recommend installing XCAP prior to installing the PIXCI® frame grabber. Please refer to the Software Installation chapter for the XCAP installation directions, then follow the frame grabber installation instructions below. Installing XCAP software, which includes the PIXCI® frame grabber drivers, prior to installing the PIXCI® frame grabber isn't required, but more convenient.
The PIXCI® frame grabber can capture and store full resolution images to computer memory (RAM) on a 66 MHz, 64 bit or a PCI-X PCI motherboard provided that other devices do not significantly compete for PCI bus bandwidth. The PIXCI® CL2 has been tested at sustained data rates of 400 megabytes per second. Each PCI slot on a motherboard may exhibit different performance characteristics. PCI bus transfers from other devices will compete for data transfer time with images to be transferred from the PIXCI® frame grabber to memory on the motherboard. The operations of background programs and services may interfere with the capture of images. These programs and services should be disabled during capture if error messages indicate that video transfers have been interrupted.
EPIX, Inc. is an Intel approved, value added reseller and can assemble computer based imaging systems including camera(s), RAID video to disk systems, power supplies, monitors, and cables that have been tested to specific sustained data rates prior to shipment.
The PIXCI CL2 frame grabber has two 26 pin Camera Link
connectors and a 6 pin Lemo connector which are accessible thru the
bracket that mounts the frame grabber to the computer
chassis.
The 26 pin MDR connector P1 is a Camera Link Base configuration data and control connector as described in the Camera Link specification.
Signal | Pin |
Name | Number |
|
|
Inner Shield | 13 |
|
|
Inner Shield | 26 |
|
|
X0- | 25 |
|
|
X0+ | 12 |
|
|
X1- | 24 |
|
|
X1+ | 11 |
|
|
X2- | 23 |
|
|
X2+ | 10 |
|
|
XCLK- | 22 |
|
|
XCLK+ | 9 |
|
|
X3- | 21 |
|
|
X3+ | 8 |
|
|
SerTC+ | 20 |
|
|
SerTC- | 7 |
|
|
SerTFG- | 19 |
|
|
SerTFG+ | 6 |
|
|
CC1- | 18 |
|
|
CC1+ | 5 |
|
|
CC2- | 4 |
|
|
CC2+ | 17 |
|
|
CC3- | 16 |
|
|
CC3+ | 3 |
|
|
CC4- | 2 |
|
|
CC4+ | 15 |
|
|
Inner Shield | 1 |
|
|
Inner Shield | 14 |
The 26 pin MDR connector P2 is a Camera Link Medium and Full configuration data connector as described in the Camera Link specification.
Signal | Pin |
Name | Number |
|
|
Inner Shield | 13 |
|
|
Inner Shield | 26 |
|
|
Y0- | 25 |
|
|
Y0+ | 12 |
|
|
Y1- | 24 |
|
|
Y1+ | 11 |
|
|
Y2- | 23 |
|
|
Y2+ | 10 |
|
|
YCLK- | 22 |
|
|
YCLK+ | 9 |
|
|
Y3- | 21 |
|
|
Y3+ | 8 |
|
|
TERM+ | 20 |
|
|
TERM- | 7 |
|
|
Z0- | 19 |
|
|
Z0+ | 6 |
|
|
Z1- | 18 |
|
|
Z1+ | 5 |
|
|
Z2- | 17 |
|
|
Z2+ | 4 |
|
|
ZCLK- | 16 |
|
|
ZCLK+ | 3 |
|
|
Z3- | 15 |
|
|
Z3+ | 2 |
|
|
Inner Shield | 1 |
|
|
Inner Shield | 14 |
Signal | IN/ | Pin | Pin | IN/ | Signal |
Name | OUT | Number | Number | OUT | Name |
|
|||||
Ground | 1 | 2 | +5 VDC (0.75 Amp max) | ||
|
|||||
NTRIG | I | 3 | 4 | I | PTRIG |
|
|||||
NFEN | I | 5 | 6 | I | PFEN |
|
|||||
NSTR | O | 7 | 8 | O | PSTR |
|
|||||
NIO | I/O | 9 | 10 | I/O | PIO |
P3 is for signals external or internal to the computer case.
External signals can be connected with a cable to the 9 pin
D-Subminiature connector thru a second slot with a bracket to mount
the D-Subminiature connector. A differential to TTL conversion
module and 2 meter cable are available for connecting TTL trigger,
vertical drive, and strobe signals to the PIXCI CL2. The trigger
input is also available on the round Lemo connector, P5.
P3 is located in the top left of the PIXCI CL2 with pin 1 in the upper left position and pin 2 in the upper right position. It is between Lemo connector P5 and Header P4.
Pin 1 is ground.
Pin 2 is +5 volts thru a 0.75 ampere resettable thermal fuse.
Pin 3, NTRIG, is a negative differential trigger input.
Pin 4, PTRIG, is a positive differential trigger input.
Pin 5, NFEN1, is the negative differential frame enable input for line scan applications.
Pin 6, PFEN1, is the positive differential frame enable input for line scan applications.
Pin 7, NSTR, is a negative differential strobe output.
Pin 8, PSTR, is a positive differential strobe output. The PSTR and NSTR signals are driven from the camera control state machine. The strobe signal is delayed by two state machine clocks from the exposure signal.
Pin 9, NIO, is a negative differential board-to-board signal which can be configured as an output, input, or both.
Pin 10, PIO, is a positive differential board-to-board signal
which can be configured as an output, input, or both. The intended
use for NIO and PIO is for board-to-board wiring of the exposure
signal when multiple cameras must have the same exposure signal.
One frame grabber is configured as a master (driver), the other
frame grabbers as slaves (receivers).
A 6 position LEMO EGG.0B.306.CLL connector, P5, which is mounted
at the top of the PCI bracket, has some of the same signals as P3
for connecting trigger inputs and outputs.
Pin 1 is ground.
Pin 2 is +5 volts thru a 0.75 ampere thermally triggered resettable fuse.
Pin 3, Trigger In P, is a positive LVDS differential trigger input, which is also connected to pin 3 of P3.
Pin 4, Trigger In M, is a negative LVDS differential trigger input, which is also connected to pin 4 of P3.
Pin 5, TRG0P, trigger output, is a copy of the negative differential trigger input for multiple frame grabber trigger.
Pin 6, TRGOM, trigger output, is a copy of the positive differential trigger input for multiple frame grabber trigger.
The TRGOP and TRGOM output signals are copies of the Trigger In+
and Trigger In- signals for daisy chaining the trigger input from
frame grabber to frame grabber.
Header P4 is located at the top left of the frame grabber to the
right of P3.
Signal | IN/ | Pin | Pin | IN/ | Signal |
Name | OUT | Number | Number | OUT | Name |
|
|||||
Ground | 1 | 2 | +12 VDC (fused at 0.75 A) | ||
|
|||||
Out 1 | Out | 3 | 4 | Ground | |
|
|||||
Out 2 | Out | 5 | 6 | Ground | |
|
|||||
In 2 | In | 7 | 8 | Ground | |
|
|||||
In 1 | In | 9 | 10 | Ground |
Pin 1 of P4 is in the upper left position.
Pin 1 is ground.
Pin 2 is +12 volts thru a 0.75 ampere thermal fuse. Pin 2 is in the upper right position.
Pin 3, OUT1, is a general purpose TTL output. It is not buffered and should be used only to drive other devices internal to the enclosure.
Pin 4 is ground.
Pin 5, OUT2, is a general purpose TTL output. It is not buffered and should be used only to drive other devices internal to the enclosure.
Pin 6 is ground.
Pin 7, IN1, is a general purpose TTL input. It is not buffered and should be used only to receive signals from other devices internal to the enclosure. IN1 is pulled up to 3.3 volts.
Pin 8 is ground.
Pin 9, IN2, is a general purpose TTL input. It is not buffered and should be used only to receive signals from other devices internal to the enclosure. IN2 is pulled up to 3.3 volts.
Pin 10 is ground.
XCAP-Plus, XCAP-Std, XCAP-Ltd, and XCAP-Lite are easy to install by following the instructions below.
Administrator privileges are required to complete the installation procedure.
> Z:SETUP (replace Z with drive letter for your CD/DVD)
orftp.epixinc.com/software/xcap_v38/XCAPWIN32.EXE (for 32-bit XCAP for Windows)
from the EPIX, Inc. ftp site.ftp.epixinc.com/software/xcap_v38/XCAPWIN64.EXE (for 64-bit XCAP for Windows)
or> XCAPWIN32.EXE (for 32-bit XCAP for Windows)
> XCAPWIN64.EXE (for 64-bit XCAP for Windows)
PCITIPS.TXT
file provides
the PCI Configuration Tips, with tips for resolving
hardware and software conflicts. The installation procedure also,
optionally, creates a desktop shortcut for XCAP.The Blue (older) or Green (newer) authorization USB key has the size and shape of a USB thumb drive (4 to 6×1.6×0.8 cm) with a standard USB-A 4-pin connector. If provided, connect the authorization key to a USB port.
The authorization key must remain attached, to the USB port while XCAP is running. If the authorization key is missing, or disconnected while XCAP is running, then XCAP-Plus, XCAP-Std or XCAP-Ltd, will behave similar to the XCAP-Lite version; selected image processing and analysis tools will not be operational.
Subsequently, use Change Setup under Utility, Program Setup within XCAP, to change XCAP's configuration as per the authorization key or the software Activation ID Code.
XCAPWIN32.EXE
or XCAPWIN64.EXE
installer). Or may be installed by the
Driver Assistant feature within XCAP.
Alternately, the PIXCI® frame grabber's driver can be installed as follows.
EPIXXCW2.INF
within Drivers\Win8 or
Drivers\Win10 for Windows 8/10 32-Bit, or highlight file
EPIXXCW6.INF
within Drivers\Win8x64,
Drivers\Win10x64, or Drivers\Win11x64 for
Windows 8/10 64-Bit and 11 64-Bit, within the chosen
installation directory, right-click and select ''Install'', and
restart Windows.The PIXCI® frame grabber's driver consists of files:
for Windows 8/10 32-Bit, or files:EPIXXCW2.INF EPIXXCW2.CAT EPIXXCW2.SYS
for Windows 8/10/11 64-Bit. Driver files for different versions of Windows, although with the same file name, may have different digital signatures as required by each version of Windows.EPIXXCW6.INF EPIXXCW6.CAT EPIXXCW6.SYS
The PIXCI® frame grabber driver is installed by the Windows Device Manager, or by Driver Assistant within XCAP.
Installation copies the driver files and creates registry entry:
for Windows 8/10 32-Bit, orHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\EPIXXCW2
for Windows 8/10/11 64-Bit. Most values within the registry entry are set by the Device Manager and should not be modified. The value:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\EPIXXCW6
may be created upon installation, added or modified by XCAP, or can be added or modified manually (i.e. via the Registry Editor (REGEDIT)); its component value(s) are Driver Configuration Parameters, as described below.PIXCI = -IM <memorysize> ...
Under Windows 8/10 32/64-Bit and 11 64-Bit, frame buffer memory must be allocated during Windows' initialization.
Use of the Driver Assistant within XCAP, provides convenient configuration of frame buffer memory allocation. The following information allows manual configuration, correcting problems, or integration with an OEM's procedures.
The requested frame buffer memory size must be specified in the Registry entry described above, using an entry named ''PIXCI'', such as:
replacing the ''<memorysize>'' with the desired memory size in KiBytes. If no frame buffer memory size is specified, a default size of 32768 KiBytes is used. Windows must be restarted for the new specification to take effect. Note that using Windows' Shutdown instead of Restart may delay Windows' recognition of these changes until the second subsequent shutdown!PIXCI = "-IM <memorysize>"
Optionally,
specifies that the requested"-MB <memory_partition_size>"
is to be allocated in blocks or partitions of the stated size. Requesting memory partitioned into blocks may allow receiving more memory that would be available as a single block. However, (a) Each frame buffer must be completely contained within a partition, and (b) The maximum number of partitions is 256 under 32 bit operating systems, the maximum number of partitions is 256 under 64 bit operating systems. Systems with very high resolution cameras using large frame buffers should choose the partition size carefully, so as to minimize the unusable memory remaining, smaller than a frame buffer, at the end of each partition."-IM <memorysize>"
For the PIXCI® CL3SD and SI2, which have on-board frame buffer memory, memory reserved by the -IM parameter is needed as a DMA buffer (approximately 1 MiByte) and optionally for support of time stamping of captured frames as specified by the ''-MU'' parameter (see PIXCI® Driver Esoterica) specifies use of frame buffer memory for that purpose. Currently, 64 bytes are needed for each frame buffer's capture status.
Windows 8/10 32/64-Bit and 11 64-Bit limits the maximum amount of allocatable frame buffer memory, dependent upon what other devices are installed, the total computer memory size, and other factors. Under Windows 8/10/11 32-Bit, the amount of memory that Windows may grant during startup is typically limited to 1024 MiByte, but not more than half of the computer memory size. Under Windows 8/10/11 64-Bit, the amount of memory that Windows may grant during startup has not yet been determined, but is probably similar to the limit for Windows Vista 64-Bit: the smaller of 6 GiByte or one half of the computer memory size.
Windows may provide less frame buffer memory than was requested. If no memory could be allocated, the PIXCI® frame grabber will not be available, stating ''Can't allocate frame buffer memory''. Otherwise, within XCAP, the number of available frame buffers can be checked under PIXCI®, PIXCI® Video Setup, Resolution. As the frame buffer memory is allocated once during Windows initialization; the contents of frame buffers are retained as XCAP is closed and restarted, but lost if Windows is restarted.
As described above, frame buffer memory allocated by EPIXXCW2.SYS for Windows 8/10 32-Bit, or EPIXXCW6.SYS for Windows 8/10/11 64-Bit, during Windows startup may be limited to a small percentage of total computer memory. Under Windows 8/10 32-Bit, the amount of memory that Windows may grant during startup is typically limited to 1024 MiByte, but not more than half of the computer memory size. Under Windows 8/10/11 64-Bit, the amount of memory that Windows may grant during startup has not yet been determined, but is probably similar to the limit for Windows Vista 64-Bit: the smaller of 6 GiByte or one half of the computer memory size. Some computer and/or Windows configurations may have lower limits.
A larger frame buffer memory can be obtained by limiting the amount of memory recognized by Windows, and then instructing EPIXXCW2.SYS for Windows 8/10 32-Bit, or EPIXXCW6.SYS for Windows 8/10/11 64-Bit, to explicitly use a section of memory without allocating it from Windows.
Use of the Driver Assistant within XCAP, provides convenient configuration of forceful frame buffer memory allocation. The following information allows manual configuration, correcting problems, or integration with an OEM's procedures.
BCDEDIT
utility to
create a copy of the ''{CURRENT}'' boot entry, set the new entry
use limit memory usage via ''truncatememory'', and changing the new
entry's description.
Typical commands are:
to list current entries and obtain the current entry's description,BCDEDIT /enum
to create a new entry with modified description and boot prompt including a reminder of the amount of memory provided to Windows and to the PIXCI® imaging card,BCDEDIT /copy {current} /d "CURRENT_ENTRY_DESCRIPTION [PIXCI=##M NT=##M"
to get the ID of the new entry, and:BCDEDIT /enum /v
to limit the Windows memory size to <memory_size>, in bytes.BCDEDIT /set <new_entry_id> truncatememory <memory_size>
Also using BCDEDIT
change the timeout
selection to be greater than 0:
Otherwise the boot configuration options will not be shown when Windows starts.BCDEDIT /timeout 30
for Windows 8/10 32-Bit, orHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\EPIXXCW2
for Windows 8/10/11 64-Bit. On the ''PIXCI'' field add:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\EPIXXCW6
In practice, all four fields are on the same line.-IA <image_memory_adrs_in_KiByte> -IM <size_of_image_memory_in_KiByte> -MB <image_memory_partition_size_in_KiByte> -BH <size_of_BIOS_hole_below_4GiB_in_KiByte>
The -MB partition size specifies the size into which image memory is partitioned for the sake of virtual memory management: (a) Each frame buffer must be completely contained within a partition, (b) A value of 0 specifies that the entire image memory is to be handled as one partition, and (c) The maximum number of partitions is 256 under 32 bit operating systems, the maximum number of partitions is 256 under 64 bit operating systems. For most systems, a value of 8192 or 16384 is suggested; though the value need not be a power of two. Systems with very high resolution cameras using large frame buffers should choose the partition size carefully, so as to minimize the unusable memory remaining, smaller than a frame buffer, at the end of each partition.
When using more than 1 or 2 GiBytes of image memory, it may be necessary to append:
to the ''PIXCI'' field, conserving system memory mapping resources by not mapping the image memory directly into the application program's space. It may also be necessary to append:-MU 0x01
which additionally conserves system resources by mapping memory only on demand.-MU 0x03
Be careful that the -IA address is equal to (or above) the specified ''truncatememory'' limit - including exact base2 to base10 conversions! Likewise, be certain that the -IA plus -IM values do not exceed the amount of memory available!
On a computer populated with 4 or more GiBytes of memory, some of the memory directly below the 4 GiByte address overlaps other hardware resources such as BIOS, memory mapped I/O, PCI configuration space, etc.[1] and is unavailable to either the operating system or for use as frame buffers. The usable frame buffer memory is therefore reduced by the amount by which the -IA address up to the -IA address plus -IM size overlap the 4 GiByte address minus -BH size up to the 4 GiByte address. The -BH size may be set to 0 (or not specified) if the computer has significantly less than 4 GiBytes of memory.
On computers with Intel vPro Technology, computer memory between the 768 MiByte and 1024 MiByte addresses may be reserved; the -IA address should not be lower than the 1024 MiByte address.
For example, for a computer with 1 GiByte of memory, allocating 256 MiByte for Windows and the remainder for frame buffer memory, use:
and use:BCDEDIT /set NEW_ENTRY_ID truncatememory 268435456
in the registry entry. Note that 262144 is 256×1024, and 786432 is (1024-256)×1024.PIXCI = -IA 262144 -IM 786432 -MB 8192
Note that if this memory allocation method is used, program access to image data may be slower. Thus, the video display rate (and image processing) may be slower, but the video capture rate (such as sequence capture) is not adversely affected. This method of memory allocation is primarily used for video rate acquisition of long sequences, followed by off-line analysis or saving of the sequence.
Use of the Driver Assistant within XCAP, provides convenient installation of the authorization key's driver(s).
The following information allows manual installation, correcting problems, or integration with an OEM's procedures.
Run the authorization key utility program provided with XCAP from the chosen installation directory:
as:> C:\Program Files\EPIX\XCAP
orHARDLOCK\Win7+\HASPDINST -install
for additional options. The authorization key's vendor does not provide detailed information regarding installation of drivers for USB port authorization keys.HARDLOCK\Win7+\HASPDINST -help
Attach the USB green key. Run the Windows Device Manager, look for the ''USBKEY'', ''USBKEY64'', or ''Keylok 2'' device, ask the Device Manager to install or update the driver for the device, pointing the Device Manager to XCAP's chosen installation directory:
and subdirectory:> C:\Program Files\EPIX\XCAP
for 32-Bit Windows, or subdirectory:Keylok\i386\WinXP+
for 64-Bit Windows.Keylok\x86_64\Win10+
Administrator privileges are required to complete the installation procedure.
> Z:SETUP (replace Z with drive letter for your CD/DVD)
orftp.epixinc.com/software/xcap_v38/XCAPWIN32.EXE (for 32-bit XCAP for Windows)
from the EPIX, Inc. ftp site.ftp.epixinc.com/software/xcap_v38/XCAPWIN64.EXE (for 64-bit XCAP for Windows)
or> XCAPWIN32.EXE (for 32-bit XCAP for Windows)
> XCAPWIN64.EXE (for 64-bit XCAP for Windows)
PCITIPS.TXT
file provides
the PCI Configuration Tips, with tips for resolving
hardware and software conflicts. The installation procedure also,
optionally, creates a desktop shortcut for XCAP.The Blue (older) or Green (newer) authorization USB key has the size and shape of a USB thumb drive (4 to 6×1.6×0.8 cm) with a standard USB-A 4-pin connector. If provided, connect the authorization key to a USB port.
The authorization key must remain attached, to the USB port while XCAP is running. If the authorization key is missing, or disconnected while XCAP is running, then XCAP-Plus, XCAP-Std or XCAP-Ltd, will behave similar to the XCAP-Lite version; selected image processing and analysis tools will not be operational.
Subsequently, use Change Setup under Utility, Program Setup within XCAP, to change XCAP's configuration as per the authorization key or the software Activation ID Code.
XCAPWIN32.EXE
or XCAPWIN64.EXE
installer), or may be
installed by the Driver Assistant feature
within XCAP.
Alternately, the PIXCI® frame grabber's driver can be installed as follows.
The PIXCI® frame grabber's driver consists of files:
for Windows 7 32-Bit, or files:EPIXXCW2.INF EPIXXCW2.CAT EPIXXCW2.SYS
for Windows 7 64-Bit. Driver files for different versions of Windows, although with the same file name, may have different digital signatures as required by each version of Windows.EPIXXCW6.INF EPIXXCW6.CAT EPIXXCW6.SYS
The PIXCI® frame grabber driver is installed by the Windows Device Manager, or by Driver Assistant within XCAP.
Installation copies the driver files and creates registry entry:
for Windows 7 32-Bit, orHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\EPIXXCW2
for Windows 7 64-Bit. Most values within the registry entry are set by the Device Manager and should not be modified. The value:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\EPIXXCW6
may be created upon installation, added or modified by XCAP, or can be added or modified manually (i.e. via the Registry Editor (REGEDIT)); its component value(s) are Driver Configuration Parameters, as described below.PIXCI = -IM <memorysize> ...
Under Windows 7 32/64-Bit, frame buffer memory must be allocated during Windows' initialization.
Use of the Driver Assistant within XCAP, provides convenient configuration of frame buffer memory allocation. The following information allows manual configuration, correcting problems, or integration with an OEM's procedures.
The requested frame buffer memory size must be specified in the Registry entry described above, using an entry named ''PIXCI'', such as:
replacing the ''<memorysize>'' with the desired memory size in KiBytes. If no frame buffer memory size is specified, a default size of 32768 KiBytes is used. Windows must be restarted for the new specification to take effect.PIXCI = "-IM <memorysize>"
Optionally,
specifies that the requested"-MB <memory_partition_size>"
is to be allocated in blocks or partitions of the stated size. Requesting memory partitioned into blocks may allow receiving more memory that would be available as a single block. However, (a) Each frame buffer must be completely contained within a partition, and (b) The maximum number of partitions is 256 under 32 bit operating systems, the maximum number of partitions is 256 under 64 bit operating systems. Systems with very high resolution cameras using large frame buffers should choose the partition size carefully, so as to minimize the unusable memory remaining, smaller than a frame buffer, at the end of each partition."-IM <memorysize>"
For the PIXCI® CL3SD and SI2, which have on-board frame buffer memory, memory reserved by the -IM parameter is needed as a DMA buffer (approximately 1 MiByte) and optionally for support of time stamping of captured frames as specified by the ''-MU'' parameter (see PIXCI® Driver Esoterica) specifies use of frame buffer memory for that purpose. Currently, 64 bytes are needed for each frame buffer's capture status.
Windows 7 32/64-Bit limits the maximum amount of allocatable frame buffer memory, dependent upon what other devices are installed, the total computer memory size, and other factors. Under Windows 7 32-Bit, the amount of memory that Windows may grant during startup is typically limited to 1024 MiByte, but not more than half of the computer memory size. Under Windows 7 64-Bit, the amount of memory that Windows may grant during startup has not yet been determined, but is probably similar to the limit for Windows Vista 64-Bit: the smaller of 6 GiByte or one half of the computer memory size.
Windows may provide less frame buffer memory than was requested. If no memory could be allocated, the PIXCI® frame grabber will not be available, stating ''Can't allocate frame buffer memory''. Otherwise, within XCAP, the number of available frame buffers can be checked under PIXCI®, PIXCI® Video Setup, Resolution. As the frame buffer memory is allocated once during Windows initialization; the contents of frame buffers are retained as XCAP is closed and restarted, but lost if Windows is restarted.
As described above, frame buffer memory allocated by EPIXXCW2.SYS for Windows 7 32-Bit, or EPIXXCW6.SYS for Windows 7 64-Bit, during Windows startup may be limited to a small percentage of total computer memory. Under Windows 7 32-Bit, the amount of memory that Windows may grant during startup is typically limited to 1024 MiByte, but not more than half of the computer memory size. Under Windows 7 64-Bit, the amount of memory that Windows may grant during startup has not yet been determined, but is probably similar to the limit for Windows Vista 64-Bit: the smaller of 6 GiByte or one half of the computer memory size. Some computer and/or Windows configurations may have lower limits.
A larger frame buffer memory can be obtained by limiting the amount of memory recognized by Windows, and then instructing EPIXXCW2.SYS for Windows 7 32-Bit, or EPIXXCW6.SYS for Windows 7 64-Bit, to explicitly use a section of memory without allocating it from Windows.
Use of the Driver Assistant within XCAP, provides convenient configuration of forceful frame buffer memory allocation. The following information allows manual configuration, correcting problems, or integration with an OEM's procedures.
BCDEDIT
utility to
create a copy of the ''{CURRENT}'' boot entry, set the new entry
use limit memory usage via ''truncatememory'', and changing the new
entry's description.
Typical commands are:
to list current entries and obtain the current entry's description,BCDEDIT /enum
to create a new entry with modified description and boot prompt including a reminder of the amount of memory provided to Windows and to the PIXCI® imaging card,BCDEDIT /copy {current} /d "CURRENT_ENTRY_DESCRIPTION [PIXCI=##M NT=##M"
to get the ID of the new entry, and:BCDEDIT /enum /v
to limit the Windows memory size to <memory_size>, in bytes.BCDEDIT /set <new_entry_id> truncatememory <memory_size>
Also using BCDEDIT
change the timeout
selection to be greater than 0:
Otherwise the boot configuration options will not be shown when Windows starts.BCDEDIT /timeout 30
for Windows 7 32-Bit, orHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\EPIXXCW2
for Windows 7 64-Bit. On the ''PIXCI'' field add:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\EPIXXCW6
In practice, all four fields are on the same line.-IA <image_memory_adrs_in_KiByte> -IM <size_of_image_memory_in_KiByte> -MB <image_memory_partition_size_in_KiByte> -BH <size_of_BIOS_hole_below_4GiB_in_KiByte>
The -MB partition size specifies the size into which image memory is partitioned for the sake of virtual memory management: (a) Each frame buffer must be completely contained within a partition, (b) A value of 0 specifies that the entire image memory is to be handled as one partition, and (c) The maximum number of partitions is 256 under 32 bit operating systems, the maximum number of partitions is 256 under 64 bit operating systems. For most systems, a value of 8192 or 16384 is suggested; though the value need not be a power of two. Systems with very high resolution cameras using large frame buffers should choose the partition size carefully, so as to minimize the unusable memory remaining, smaller than a frame buffer, at the end of each partition.
When using more than 1 or 2 GiBytes of image memory, it may be necessary to append:
to the ''PIXCI'' field, conserving system memory mapping resources by not mapping the image memory directly into the application program's space. It may also be necessary to append:-MU 0x01
which additionally conserves system resources by mapping memory only on demand.-MU 0x03
Be careful that the -IA address is equal to (or above) the specified ''truncatememory'' limit - including exact base2 to base10 conversions! Likewise, be certain that the -IA plus -IM values do not exceed the amount of memory available!
On a computer populated with 4 or more GiBytes of memory, some of the memory directly below the 4 GiByte address overlaps other hardware resources such as BIOS, memory mapped I/O, PCI configuration space, etc.[2] and is unavailable to either the operating system or for use as frame buffers. The usable frame buffer memory is therefore reduced by the amount by which the -IA address up to the -IA address plus -IM size overlap the 4 GiByte address minus -BH size up to the 4 GiByte address. The -BH size may be set to 0 (or not specified) if the computer has significantly less than 4 GiBytes of memory.
On computers with Intel vPro Technology, computer memory between the 768 MiByte and 1024 MiByte addresses may be reserved; the -IA address should not be lower than the 1024 MiByte address.
For example, for a computer with 1 GiByte of memory, allocating 256 MiByte for Windows and the remainder for frame buffer memory, use:
and use:BCDEDIT /set NEW_ENTRY_ID truncatememory 268435456
in the registry entry. Note that 262144 is 256×1024, and 786432 is (1024-256)×1024.PIXCI = -IA 262144 -IM 786432 -MB 8192
Note that if this memory allocation method is used, program access to image data may be slower. Thus, the video display rate (and image processing) may be slower, but the video capture rate (such as sequence capture) is not adversely affected. This method of memory allocation is primarily used for video rate acquisition of long sequences, followed by off-line analysis or saving of the sequence.
Use of the Driver Assistant within XCAP, provides convenient installation of the authorization key's driver(s).
The following information allows manual installation, correcting problems, or integration with an OEM's procedures.
Run the authorization key utility program provided with XCAP from the chosen installation directory:
as:> C:\Program Files\EPIX\XCAP
orHARDLOCK\Win7+\HASPDINST -install
for additional options. The authorization key's vendor does not provide detailed information regarding installation of drivers for USB port authorization keys.HARDLOCK\Win7+\HASPDINST -help
Attach the USB green key. Run the Windows Device Manager, look for the ''USBKEY'', ''USBKEY64'', or ''Keylok 2'' device, ask the Device Manager to install or update the driver for the device, pointing the Device Manager to XCAP's chosen installation directory:
and subdirectory:> C:\Program Files\EPIX\XCAP
for 32-Bit Windows, or subdirectory:Keylok\i386\WinXP+
for 64-Bit Windows.Keylok\x86_64\WinXP+
Super user privileges are required to complete the installation procedure.
for 32-bit Linux, or:/media/.../PIXCI(R)/XCAP/xcaplnx_i386.bin
for 64-bit Linux. Some systems mount the CD/DVD under/media/.../PIXCI(R)/XCAP/xcaplnx_x86_64.bin
/mnt/cdrom
instead of /media/{loginname}.
/usr/local/xcap
, or /usr/local/xcap32
for 32 bit XCAP on an x86-64
platform.for 32-bit Linux and Intel i386; orftp.epixinc.com/software/xcap_v38/xcaplnx_i386.bin
for 64-bit Linux and Intel x86-64; orftp.epixinc.com/software/xcap_v38/xcaplnx_x86_64.bin
for 32-bit Linux and nVidia TK1 (ARM A15) or Boundary Devices NITROGEN6 (ARM imx6); orftp.epixinc.com/software/xcap_v38/xcaplnx_armv7l.bin ftp.epixinc.com/software/xcap_v38/xcaplnx_armv7l.bin
for 64-bit Linux & nVidia TX1, TX2, Xavier, Xavier NX, Nano, Orin (ARM A57); from the EPIX, Inc. ftp site, or via theftp.epixinc.com/software/xcap_v38/xcaplnx_aarch64.bin
website.www.epixinc.com
and execute the downloaded program:chmod 755 xcaplnx_i386.bin chmod 755 xcaplnx_x86_64.bin chmod 755 xcaplnx_armv7l.bin chmod 755 xcaplnx_aarch64.bin
./xcaplnx_i386.bin ./xcaplnx_x86_64.bin ./xcaplnx_armv7l.bin ./xcaplnx_aarch64.bin
/usr/local/xcap
, or /usr/local/xcap32
for 32 bit XCAP on an x86-64
platform./usr/local/bin
, /usr/bin
, or /bin
directories,
which should already be in the user's execution ''PATH''. Several
.txt
files are installed under help
in the installation directory containing these
installation instructions, a list of distributed files, corrections
or additions to this manual, or other up-to-date information. The
pcitips.txt
file provides the PCI Configuration Tips, with tips for resolving
hardware and software conflicts./usr/share/applications/xcap.desktop
onto the
desktop.For other platforms, XCAP expects a JRE to have been installed from the Linux distribution. Typically, using:
See a platform specific application note:apt-get update apt-get install openjdk-8-jre
for tips on installing the Java JRE and other platform specific idiosyncrasies.
- Installation: Boundary Devices NITROGEN6 (ARM imx6)
- Installation: nVidia Nano (ARM Cortex-A57)
- Installation: nVidia TK1 (ARM Cortex-A15)
- Installation: nVidia TX1 (ARM Cortex-A57)
- Installation: nVidia TX2 (ARM Cortex-A57)
- Installation: nVidia Xavier (ARM Cortex-A57)
- Installation: nVidia Xavier NX (ARM Cortex-A57)
The printer port authorization key is black and approximately the size and shape of a printer's parallel port connector (5.5×4.5×1.6 cm), but with two 25-pin connectors. If provided, connect the authorization key to any printer port. If a printer cable was attached to the printer port, reconnect the printer cable to the back of the authorization key; the authorization key will not affect normal printer operation.
Do not connect the printer port authorization key to a 25-pin serial (RS-232) port, or to any other interface that happens to use the same style connector; the authorization key will not function, might be permanently damaged, and the warranty will be void!
The Blue (older) or Green (newer) authorization USB key has the size and shape of a USB thumb drive (4 to 6×1.6×0.8 cm), with a standard USB-A 4-pin connector. If provided, connect the authorization key to a USB port.
The authorization key must remain attached, to the printer port or USB port as appropriate, while XCAP is running. If the authorization key is missing, or disconnected while XCAP is running, then XCAP-Plus, XCAP-Std or XCAP-Ltd, will behave similar to the XCAP-Lite version; selected image processing and analysis tools will not be operational.
XCAP and its printer port authorization key is supported on Intel i386 platforms. XCAP and its Blue USB authorization key is supported on Intel i386 and x86-64 platforms. XCAP and its Green USB authorization key are supported on Intel i386 and x86-64 platforms as well as ARM aarch64 and armv7l platforms.
Subsequently, use Change Setup under Utility, Program Setup within XCAP, to change XCAP's configuration as per the authorization key or the software Activation ID Code.
Within XCAP, the current graphics display configuration can be checked under Utility, Linux Info, X11.
Use of the Driver Assistant within XCAP provides convenient installation of the:
drivers in most circumstances. The following information allows manual installation, correcting problems, or integration with an OEM's procedures.pixci_i386.ko (32 bit driver for Intel i386) pixci_x86_64.ko (64 bit driver for Intel x86-64 pixci_armv7l.ko (32 bit driver for ARM armv7l) pixci_aarch64.ko (64 bit driver for ARM aarch64)
pixci.sh
(and the pixci.rc
implied by pixci.sh
)
files to install the required pixci_i386.ko
, pixci_x86_64.ko
,
pixci_armv7l.ko
, or pixci_aarch64.ko
driver, configuring Linux to
automatically load the driver upon execution and during subsequent
reboots:
Thepixci.sh install <absolute path of directory containing pixci.rc> <absolute path of directory containing pixci*.ko>
pixci.rc
loads pixci_i386.ko
, pixci_x86_64.ko
,
pixci_armv7l.ko
, or pixci_aarch64.ko
with Driver Configuration Parameters
taken from /etc/default/pixci
(re-read each
time the driver is loaded).pixcitty_i386.ko
, pixcitty_x86_64.ko
, pixcitty_armv7l.ko
, or pixcitty_aarch64.ko
drivers can be installed with:
and its impliedpixcitty.sh install <absolute path of directory containing pixcitty.rc> <absolute path of directory containing pixcitty*.ko>
pixcitty.rc
.
The optional pixcitty_*.ko
is NOT needed
for access to the Camera Link serial port via XCLIB's proprietary
API, nor is it needed by XCAP.
pixciv4l_i386.ko
, pixciv4l_x86_64.ko
, pixciv4l_armv7l.ko
, or pixciv4l_aarch64.ko
drivers can be installed with:
and its impliedpixciv4l.sh install <absolute path of directory containing pixciv4l.rc> <absolute path of directory containing pixciv4l*.ko>
pixciv4l.rc
, with ''V4L2''
configuration parameters taken from /etc/default/pixciv4l
(re-read each time the driver is
loaded).
The optional pixciv4l_*.ko
is NOT needed
for access to captured images or video via XCLIB's proprietary API,
nor is it needed by XCAP.
In some circumstances, it may be necessary to avoid use of
pixci.sh
and pixci.rc
(and the implied use of Linux' /etc/rc
for automatically loading of drivers during
boot), and instead manually load the driver when needed.
using PIXCIPARM= to specify any optional Driver Configuration Parameters described below. For example:insmod pixci_i386.ko [ "PIXCIPARM=<driver_config_parameters>" ] insmod pixci_x86_64.ko [ "PIXCIPARM=<driver_config_parameters>" ] insmod pixci_armv7l.ko [ "PIXCIPARM=<driver_config_parameters>" ] insmod pixci_aarch64.ko [ "PIXCIPARM=<driver_config_parameters>" ]
Some versions of insmod do not accept quoted spaces in the Driver Configuration Parameters; an underscore (i.e. ''_'') may be used instead of a space. For example:insmod pixci_i386.ko "PIXCIPARM=-IM 8192 -DM 1" insmod pixci_x86_64.ko "PIXCIPARM=-IM 8192 -DM 1" insmod pixci_armv7l.ko "PIXCIPARM=-IM 8192 -DM 1" insmod pixci_aarch64.ko "PIXCIPARM=-IM 8192 -DM 1"
insmod pixci_i386.ko PIXCIPARM=-IM_8192_-DM_1
To use the Driver Configuration Parameters as last set by XCAP's
Driver Assistant and stored in /etc/default/pixci
:
insmod pixci_i386.ko PIXCIPARM=$(grep pixci.driver.parm= < /etc/default/pixci | sed -e "s/driver.pixci.parm=//" -e "y/ \\\/__/")
and note the major device number which is assigned to thecat /proc/devices
pixci
block device. Run:
If embedding these commands into a shell script:rm -f /dev/pixci mknod /dev/pixci c <major_device_number> 0 chmod 666 /dev/pixci
automatically ''reads'' and incorporates the major device number.rm -f /dev/pixci mknod /dev/pixci c $(awk "\\$2==\"PIXCI(R)\" {print \\$1}" /proc/devices) 0 chmod 666 /dev/pixci
Theinsmod pixcitty_i386.ko [ <tty_config_parameters> ] insmod pixcitty_x86_64.ko [ <tty_config_parameters> ] insmod pixcitty_armv7l.ko [ <tty_config_parameters> ] insmod pixcitty_aarch64.ko [ <tty_config_parameters> ]
nodes for the first, second, etc. cards are created automatically./dev/ttySPIXCI0 /dev/ttySPIXCI1 ...
The ''tty'' configuration parameters are described in
pixcitty.df
. For example:
insmod pixcitty_i386.ko DEFAULT_BAUDRATE=9600 insmod pixcitty_x86_64.ko DEFAULT_BAUDRATE=9600 insmod pixcitty_armv7l.ko DEFAULT_BAUDRATE=9600 insmod pixcitty_aarch64.ko DEFAULT_BAUDRATE=9600
The optional pixcitty_*.ko
driver is
used in addition to, and installed after, the corresponding
pixci_*.ko
driver. The optional
pixcitty_*.ko
is NOT needed for access to
the Camera Link serial port via XCLIB's proprietary API, nor is it
needed by XCAP.
The:insmod pixciv4l_i386.ko [ <v4l_config_parameters> ] insmod pixciv4l_x86_64.ko [ <v4l_config_parameters> ] insmod pixciv4l_armv7l.ko [ <v4l_config_parameters> ] insmod pixciv4l_aarch64.ko [ <v4l_config_parameters> ]
nodes for the first, second, etc. cards are created automatically./dev/video* ...
The ''V4L2'' configuration parameters are described in
pixciv4l.df
. For example:
insmod pixciv4l_i386.ko STREAM_MODE=1 STREAM_BUFFERS=12 insmod pixciv4l_x86_64.ko STREAM_MODE=1 STREAM_BUFFERS=12 insmod pixciv4l_armv7l.ko STREAM_MODE=1 STREAM_BUFFERS=12 insmod pixciv4l_aarch64.ko STREAM_MODE=1 STREAM_BUFFERS=12
The optional pixciv4l_*.ko
driver is
used in addition to, and installed after, the corresponding
pixci_*.ko
driver. The optional
pixciv4l_*.ko
is NOT needed for access to
captured images or video via XCLIB's proprietary API, nor is it
needed by XCAP.
for a list of currently installed modules and remove any named videodev, i2c, i2c-char, tuner, msp3400, bt878, or bttv by using rmmod.lsmod
Under Linux, frame buffer memory must be allocated during the driver's installation.
Use of the Driver Assistant within XCAP, provides convenient configuration of frame buffer memory allocation. The following information allows manual configuration, correcting problems, or integration with an OEM's procedures.
The requested frame buffer memory size must be specified in the Driver Configuration Parameters, described above, using parameter
replacing the ''<memorysize>'' with the desired memory size in KiBytes. If no frame buffer memory size is specified, a default size of 4096 KiBytes is used under 32 bit Linux. 32768 KiBytes is used under 64 bit Linux."-IM <memorysize>"
Optionally,
specifies that the requested"-MB <memory_partition_size>"
is to be allocated in blocks or partitions of the stated size. Requesting memory partitioned into blocks may allow receiving more memory that would be available as a single block. However, (a) Each frame buffer must be completely contained within a partition, and (b) The maximum number of partitions is 256 under 32 bit operating systems, the maximum number of partitions is 256 under 64 bit operating systems. Systems with very high resolution cameras using large frame buffers should choose the partition size carefully, so as to minimize the unusable memory remaining, smaller than a frame buffer, at the end of each partition."-IM <memorysize>"
For the PIXCI® CL3SD and SI2, which have on-board frame buffer memory, memory reserved by the -IM parameter is needed as a DMA buffer (approximately 1 MiByte) and optionally for support of time stamping of captured frames as specified by the ''-MU'' parameter (see PIXCI® Driver Esoterica) specifies use of frame buffer memory for that purpose. Currently, 64 bytes are needed for each frame buffer's capture status.
Linux limits the maximum amount of allocatable frame buffer memory, dependent upon what other devices are installed, the computer's total memory size, and other factors. Installing the driver immediately after booting Linux improves the likelihood of being able to allocate large amounts of memory.
Linux may provide less frame buffer memory than was requested. If no memory could be allocated, the PIXCI® frame grabber will not be available, stating ''Can't allocate frame buffer memory''. Otherwise, within XCAP, the number of available frame buffers can be checked under PIXCI®, PIXCI® Video Setup, Resolution. As the frame buffer memory is allocated once during the driver's initialization; the contents of frame buffers are retained as XCAP is closed and restarted, but lost if the driver is uninstalled or Linux is restarted.
For the nVidia TK1 (ARM Cortex-A15), the nVidia TX1/TX2 (ARM
Cortex-A57), the nVidia Nano (ARM Cortex-A57) and the Boundary
Devices NITROGEN6 (ARM imx6) (but not the nVidia Xavier or Xavier
NX), the amount of frame buffer memory that can be allocated is
limited by the kernel's ''coherent pool'' size. For these embedded
systems, the memory is split into various special purpose pools -
unlike a typical desktop system. For the TK1, TX1, TX2, increasing
the ''coherent pool'' size requires editing the /boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf
file and setting the
''vmalloc'', ''CMA'', and ''coherent-pool'' parameters. For the
NITROGEN6, increasing the ''coherent pool'' size requires editing
the /6x_bootscript.txt
file and setting the
''coherent-pool'' parameter, followed by compilation of
/6x_bootscript.txt
via a Boundary Devices
tool, and replacement of the /6x_bootscript
file. Values for ''coherent-pool'' and other parameters must take
into account all devices and requirements of the system.
As described above, frame buffer memory allocated by
pixci_i386.ko
or pixci_x86_64.ko
during its installation may be limited
to a small percentage of the computer's total memory.
A larger frame buffer memory can be obtained by limiting the
amount of memory recognized by Linux, and then instructing
pixci_i386.ko
or pixci_x86_64.ko
to explicitly use a section of memory
without allocating it from Linux.
Use of the Driver Assistant within XCAP, provides convenient configuration of frame buffer memory allocation. The following information allows manual configuration, correcting problems, or integration with an OEM's procedures.
/boot/grub/grub.conf
(renamed to
/boot/grub/menu.lst
on some systems),
restricting Linux to use no more than a set amount of memory: by
copying an existing configuration group, adding mem=XXM (where XX
is the memory size in MiByte) to the ''kernel'' line, and changing
the prompt name. For example, changing:
totitle Fedora Core (2.6.5-1.358) root (hd0,0) kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.5-1.358 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet initrd /initrd-2.6.5-1.358.img
When booting, the modified ''title'' provides a reminder of the modified configuration being selected.title Fedora Core (2.6.5-1.358) + PIXCI root (hd0,0) kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.5-1.358 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet mem=64M initrd /initrd-2.6.5-1.358.img
In practice, all four fields are on the same line.-IA <image_memory_adrs_in_KiByte> -IM <size_of_image_memory_in_KiByte> -MB <image_memory_partition_size_in_KiByte> -BH <size_of_BIOS_hole_below_4GiB_in_KiByte>
The -MB partition size specifies the size into which image memory is partitioned for the sake of virtual memory management: (a) Each frame buffer must be completely contained within a partition, (b) A value of 0 specifies that the entire image memory is to be handled as one partition, and (c) The maximum number of partitions is 256 under 32 bit operating systems, the maximum number of partitions is 256 under 64 bit operating systems. For most systems, a value of 8192 or 16384 is suggested; though the value need not be a power of two. Systems with very high resolution cameras using large frame buffers should choose the partition size carefully, so as to minimize the unusable memory remaining, smaller than a frame buffer, at the end of each partition.
Be careful that the -IA address is equal to (or above) the specified ''mem='' limit - including exact base2 to base10 conversions! (i.e. for mem=64M, the smallest valid value of -IA is 65536, not 64000!). Likewise, be certain that the -IA plus -IM values do not exceed the amount of memory available!
On a computer populated with 4 or more GiBytes of memory, some of the memory directly below the 4 GiByte address overlaps other hardware resources such as BIOS, memory mapped I/O, PCI configuration space, etc.[4] and is unavailable to either the operating system or for use as frame buffers. The usable frame buffer memory is therefore reduced by the amount by which the -IA address up to the -IA address plus -IM size overlap the 4 GiByte address minus -BH size up to the 4 GiByte address. The -BH size may be set to 0 (or not specified) if the computer has significantly less than 4 GiBytes of memory.
On computers with Intel vPro Technology, computer memory between the 768 MiByte and 1024 MiByte addresses may be reserved; the -IA address should not be lower than the 1024 MiByte address.
For example, for a computer with 1 GiByte of memory, allocating 256 MiByte for Linux and the remainder for frame buffer memory, use:
inmem=256M
grub.conf
(or menu.lst
), and use:
in the Driver Configuration Parameters. Note that 262144 is 256×1024, and 786432 is (1024-256)×1024.-IA 262144 -IM 786432 -MB 8192
Forceful frame buffer memory allocation is not available for
pixci_aarch64.ko
on the nVidia/ARM
TX/TX21/Cortex-A57.
Forceful frame buffer memory allocation is not available for
pixci_armv7l.ko
on the nVidia/ARM
TK1/Cortex-A15.
Forceful frame buffer memory allocation is not available for
pixci_armv7l.ko
on the Boundary Devices/ARM
NITROGEN6/imx6.
Use of the Driver Assistant within XCAP, provides convenient installation of the authorization key's driver(s).
The following information allows manual installation, correcting problems, or integration with an OEM's procedures.
For manual installation, correcting problems, or integration
with an OEM's procedures, installation instructions are provided in
text file hardlock/INSTALL
within the XCAP
installation directory. Alternately, see the hardlock/drv/src_i386/Makefile
for compiling the
parallel port key driver under the current kernel, the hardlock/drv/pinst
shell file for installing the
parallel port key driver, and the hardlock/sbin/dinst
shell file for installing the USB
key daemon, all within the XCAP installation directory.
The parallel port key driver is needed under 2.4.x, 2.6.x, 3.x,
4.x, and 5.x i386 kernels even if the parallel port version of the
key isn't used. Parallel port keys are not supported under newer
x86-64 kernels; the hardlock/drv/src_x86_64/Makefile
and related files are
provided for legacy systems.
The printer port and Blue USB authorization key and drivers are not supported on ARM platforms.
From the XCAP chosen installation directory:
copy the:> /usr/local/xcap
or:keylok/i386/z95_keylok.rules
file to:keylok/x86_64/z95_keylok.rules
Or, execute:/etc/udev/rules.d/
orkeylok/klinst keylok/i386
Reboot Linux.keylok/klinst keylok/x86_64
The various Driver Configuration Parameters for all operating systems are summarized below.
The Driver Configuration Parameter string may contain any of the following parameters, separated by spaces, in any order. Each parameter's flag is followed by a number, whose value is interpreted as hexadecimal if preceded by ''0x'' or ''0X'', octal if preceded by ''0o'' or ''0O'', binary if preceded by ''0b'' or ''0B'', and is otherwise interpreted as decimal.
For example, 0x01 selects the first board, 0x04 selects the third board, and 0b1001 selects the first and fourth board.
For the PIXCI® E1DB, E4DB, E4G2-2F, E4TX2-2F, E8CAM, E8DB, e104x4-2f, ECB2, EL1DB, ELS2, SI2, and SV7 frame grabbers which contain two independent functional units within a single physical board, and for the PIXCI® E4G2-F2B, E4TX2-F2B, and e104x4-f2b frame grabbers which contains three independent functional units within a single physical board, and for the PIXCI® E4G2-4B, E4TX2-4B, e104x4-4b, and SI4 frame grabbers which contain four independent functional units within a single physical board: Under Windows 2000, XP, XP(x64), Vista 32/64-Bit, 7 32/64-Bit, 8/10 32/64-Bit, 11 64-Bit, Linux 32 Bit, and Linux 64 Bit, each functional unit is handled as an independent frame grabber and may be opened and closed independently. Under other operating systems, the first functional unit (i.e. half, third, or quarter) must be opened before latter functional units of the same physical board. A bit map of 0b1101 selects the first half of the first physical PIXCI® E1DB, E4DB, E4G2-2F, E4TX2-2F, E8CAM, E8DB, e104x4-2f, EL1DB, ECB2, ELS2, SI2, or SV7 frame grabber and both halves of the second physical PIXCI® E1DB, E4DB, E4G2-2F, E4TX2-2F, E8CAM, E8DB, e104x4-2f, EL1DB, ECB2, ELS2, SI2, or SV7; 0b11111001 selects the first and fourth quarter of the first physical PIXCI® E4G2-4B, E4TX2-4B, e104x4-4b, or SI4 frame grabber and all quarters of the second physical PIXCI® E4G2-4B, E4TX2-4B, e104x4-4b, or SI4. Default: 0x01, except under a Windows Plug & Play O.S. where the default is a bitmap of all functional units of the first physical board.
For the PIXCI® CL3SD and SI2 which have on-board frame buffer memory, memory reserved by this parameter is needed for DMA buffers (approximately 1 MiByte). Memory reserved by this parameter is also, optionally, used for support of recording per-frame buffer capture status, as specified by the ''-MU'' parameter. Currently, 64 bytes are needed for each frame buffer's capture status. Default: 4096 KiByte.
Particularly useful for use with SILICON VIDEO® 10C6, 10M6, 1281M, 1281C, 1310, 1310C, 15C5, 1C45, 1M45 2112, 2112C, 2KS-C, 2KS-M, 5C10, 5M10, 642M, 642C, 643M, 643C, 9C10, 9M001, 9M001C, 9T001C, WGA-C, and WGA-M cameras; these SILICON VIDEO® camera heads use a I2C or similar two wire serial bus to control camera head features.
Does not affect the serial baud rate of Camera Link compatible frame grabbers.
Default: 0.
If bit 0x80 is set with non forceful memory allocation, frame buffer memory below 4 GiByte is requested; on 64 bit systems with more than 4 GiByte of memory, this allows allows use of 32 bit PCI cards. Option is quietly ignored for kernels that don't support the necessary feature(s).
Only used under Linux. Other bits to be described. Default: 0.
If bit 0x04 is not set, the frame buffer memory is not cleared after allocation, minimizing delay, particularly when using several GiBytes of frame buffer memory.
If bit 0x08 is not set, a portion of frame buffer memory is reserved for recording each per-frame buffer's capture status, such as stamping the time of capture. Use of frame buffer memory for capture status may not be supported when using forceful image frame buffer allocation. If bit 0x08 is set, memory is allocated dynamically from the operating system for recording each frame buffer's capture status. The amount of space reserved, or the amount of space allocated, is proportional to the number of frame buffers. The dynamic memory allocation option is not available under Windows 95, 98, or ME; and the per-frame buffer status is discarded upon closing the PIXCI® frame grabber(s).
If bit 0x20 is not set, a portion of frame buffer memory is reserved for serial data buffers used in conjunction with Camera Link serial communication. (For the PIXCI® CL3SD which has on-board frame buffer memory, a small static buffer is used in place of frame buffer memory). If bit 0x20 is set, memory is allocated dynamically from the operating system for serial data buffers. The dynamic memory allocation option is not available under Windows 95, 98, or ME.
If bit 0x40 is set, the frame buffer memory and memory used for recording per frame buffer's capture status is cleared (i.e. set to zero) whenever the capture format resolution, bit depth, bit packing, or color space options are changed. This is intended so that display of the contents of the frame buffer(s), under the new format but before a new image is captured, will show a black image (or green for YUYV formats) rather than ''garbled'' pixel data. This option is ignored when using forceful image frame buffer allocation, or for frame grabbers with on-board frame buffer memory.
Default: 0x01 under Windows 95, 98, ME. 0x28 under Linux 32 Bit and Linux 64 Bit prior to kernel 4.x; 0x29 for kernel 4.x and later. 0x29 under Windows NT, 2000, XP, XP(x64), Vista 32/64-Bit, 7 32/64-Bit, 8/10 32/64-Bit, 11 64-Bit.
Default: 0.
Under Linux: If n=1, the ''jiffies'' and ''HZ'' are used for time stamping video events. If n=2, the high resolution kernel timer (i.e. ''do_gettimeofday'' for earlier kernels or ''do_getnstimeofday'' for kernel 5.x and later) is used for time stamping video events. If n=3, the ''get_jiffies_64'' is used for time stamping video events.
Under Windows 95, 98, and ME: If n=1, the ''Get_Last_Updated_System_Time'' is used for time stamping video events.
Under Windows NT: If n=1, the ''KeQuerySystemTime'' is used for time stamping video events.
Under Windows 2000, XP, XP(x64), Vista 32/64-Bit, 7 32/64-Bit: If n=1, the ''KeQuerySystemTime'' is used for time stamping video events. If n=2, the ''KeQueryPerformanceCounter'' is used for time stamping video events. If n=3, the ''KeQueryInterruptTime'' is used for time stamping video events. If n=4, the ''KeQueryTickCount'' is used for time stamping video events.
Under Windows 8/10 32/64-Bit and 11 64-Bit: If n=1, the ''KeQuerySystemTime'' is used for time stamping video events. If n=2, the ''KeQueryPerformanceCounter'' is used for time stamping video events. If n=3, the ''KeQueryInterruptTime'' is used for time stamping video events. If n=4, the ''KeQueryTickCount'' is used for time stamping video events. If n=5, the ''KeQuerySystemTimePrecise'' is used for time stamping video events.
Each option has various advantages and disadvantages, as described by the operating system's documentation. Default: For backward compatibility, time stamping as per -WT or -LX is used.
If bit 0x20 is set, a high resolution kernel timer is used for time stamping video events. Windows documentation states that use of this timer incurs additional overhead. Only used with Window NT, 2000, XP, XP(x64), Vista 32/64-Bit, 7 32/64-Bit, 8/10 32/64-Bit, and 11 64-Bit. The new -TI option supersedes this option.
If bit 0x80 is set, frame buffer memory below 4 GiByte is requested; on 64 bit systems with more than 4 GiByte of memory, this allows allows use of 32 bit PCI cards, and/or allows allows use of 32 bit applications. Only used with Window XP, XP(x64), Vista 64-Bit, 7 64-Bit, 8/10 64-Bit, and 11 64-Bit.
if bit 0x100 is set, the driver applies a patch so that the frame grabber can be opened after Windows awakes from sleep or hibernation modes. Only used with Vista 32/64-Bit, 7 32/64-Bit, 8/10 32/64-Bit, and 11 64-Bit.
If bit 0x200 is set, the driver does not use IOCTL ''DIRECT'' mode.
If bit 0x1000 is set, the driver implements a work-around so that Windows sleep or hibernation does not adversely affect the operation of older PIXCI® frame grabbers
Only used under Windows. Other bits to be described. Default: 0x20.
This chapter will guide the user through the initial steps common to most applications using the PIXCI® frame grabber: capturing, viewing, examining, and saving images. This guide is not intended to discuss every feature of every window in XCAP, only the most important features to ''get up and running''.
Following the previous instructions:
Under Windows, start XCAP by clicking:
Under Linux, start XCAP by executing:Start (on the Windows Taskbar) All Programs (skip for Windows Vista & earlier) XCAP Imaging XCAP for Windows
Or, start XCAP via its desktop shortcut.xcap
The XCAP Main Window appears.
XCAP is normally configured to automatically open the PIXCI® frame grabber for use and show the PIXCI® Image Viewer window.
Alternately, in the XCAP Main Window, click:
A dialog window appears.PIXCI® PIXCI® Open/Close
Clicking:
opens the PIXCI® frame grabber for use, removes the Open/Close dialog.Open
Upon opening selected PIXCI® frame grabbers, XCAP may display a Camera & Format dialog listing various compatible cameras. Simply click:
.. select camera from list .. OK Open
Opening the PIXCI® frame grabber creates a PIXCI® Image Viewer window showing the first PIXCI® frame buffer, creates a Capture & Adjust dialog with commonly used camera and video capture adjustments, and creates a Shortcuts Toolbar for accessing the most commonly needed features.
The following windows are now active:
XCAP may have been configured for one or more variations, such as, (a) Automatically opening, or not opening, the PIXCI® frame grabber and displaying the PIXCI® Image Viewer, (b) Eliminating the Main Window with its menus integrated into the PIXCI® Image Viewer window, (c) Configuring the Shortcuts and/or Capture & Adjust features to be attached to the PIXCI® Image Viewer window rather than detached in their own windows, (d) Selecting whether the Shortcuts and/or Capture & Adjust features appear automatically, or only when:
orCapture Shortcuts
are clicked, or (e) Removing the status bar to increase the screen area available for image display. These variations allow custom configuration of XCAP, but do not affect the functionality of the Shortcuts or Adjustments features.Capture Adjustments
XCAP selects the camera for which the current PIXCI® CL2 frame grabber is intended, as coded into the frame grabber's EEPROM, and typically defaults, for area scan cameras, to capturing full video resolution from the specified camera. Or, if the frame grabber's EEPROM is coded for ''Generic Camera Link'' the capture resolution is initially set to 888×888 and easily customized, as described below.
To select a different camera from XCAP's list of predefined camera configuration files, or to select Generic Camera Link mode, from the Main window, click:
PIXCI® PIXCI® Open/Close Close (if open) Camera & Format .. select camera from list .. OK Open
Once the PIXCI® frame grabber is opened for use, images can be captured from the PIXCI® Image Viewer, by clicking:
orCapture Snap
The Snap captures a single image into the current frame buffer, while Live continuously captures images into the current frame buffer and continuously updating the image shown on the graphics display.Capture Live
The Live mode can be used to adjust the camera's focus, aperture, and position. The Live mode can be halted by clicking:
A Live followed immediately by Unlive has the same effect as Snap, assuming the camera is in the most-common, free-run mode.Capture UnLive
If the current video resolution and frame buffer memory size allows more than one frame buffer, clicking:
provides the:Capture Adjustments
which may be incremented or decremented at any time, whether in Live or UnLive mode. The window reached by clicking:Current (Frame) Buffer: 0
has convenient buttons that duplicate the Snap, Live, and UnLive features.Capture Adjustments
As three of the most commonly used operations, the Snap, Live, and UnLive are also available in the Shortcuts Toolbar, as two shortcuts with a graphic of camera; one for snap and the other for live/unlive. The Shortcuts also allow changing the current frame buffer, as four shortcuts with the graphic of a book's pages; switch to the first frame buffer, to the next frame buffer (e.g. current buffer +1), to the previous frame buffer (e.g. current buffer -1), and to the last frame buffer. The relative position of these shortcuts changes depending on whether the Shortcuts Toolbar is standalone window or within the PIXCI® Image Viewer window, and depending on the graphic display resolution and size of the windows; hovering the mouse over the shortcuts will explain the use of each.
The PIXCI® Image Viewer can be moved and resized, using standard techniques (drag the window's title bar, drag the window's corner, etc). By default, the captured image is displayed with resizing, so that the entire image fits within the Image Viewer.
For many engineering and scientific applications, examination of individual pixel values is critically important. Resizing the image may ''hide'' defective pixels; resizing an image with interlace jitter may turn odd/even line striping into bars of striping.
To view pixels without resizing artifacts, from the PIXCI® Image Viewer, click:
Each image pixel is now displayed as exactly one graphics display pixel. Of course, depending upon the image resolution, graphics display resolution, and window size, the entire image may not fit. If the image doesn't fit, then (a) Scroll bars appear, allowing the viewed portion of the image to be panned and scrolled throughout the entire image, and (b) Moving the mouse with right button held over the displayed image causes panning or scrolling (if there is more image to be seen in the direction the mouse is moving).View Display Resize: None (Image Pixel = Display Pixel)
For high resolution displays and lower resolution images, using:
will provide a more pleasing display; duplicating pixel values to fill the display while still avoiding resizing artifacts.Resize: Pixel Replication/Decimation
For cameras that don't have square pixels (i.e. aspect ratio), after selecting:
orResize: None (Image Pixel = Display Pixel)
the displayed image's aspect ratio may not appear correct; the aspect ratio can't be corrected without some form of resizing or resampling! To display the image with the correct aspect ratio, choose:Resize: Pixel Replication/Decimation
Resize: To Window & Aspect Ratio
To magnify the displayed image, from the PIXCI® Image Viewer, click:
View Zoom, Pan, Scroll Zoom On
Or, ifZoom Ratio
is enabled, magnification can be increased or decreased by clicking on the image. When magnified, only a portion of the image is visible. As described above, the viewed portion may be panned and scrolled through the entire image with the scroll bars, or by moving the mouse over the image with right button held.Zoom Interact
Alternately, to use ''spot'' magnification in XCAP-Plus, XCAP-Std, or XCAP-Ltd, from the PIXCI® Image Viewer, click:
The magnification factor can be adjusted with:Examine Pixel Magnifier
The ''spot'' size and shape can be adjusted with:Magnification
The ''spot'' position can be moved interactively by clicking:Magnifier Size Square vs Circle
A cursor now appears over the image window; clicking the mouse on the image window moves the cursor to that position, and spot magnifier to be centered on that position.Coord<=>Cursor
To re-orient the displayed image on to its side or top, or to mirror the displayed image, from the PIXCI® Image Viewer, click:
and select an up, down, left or right orientation and select one of two mirror options.View Flip & Mirror
To examine numeric values of pixels as a table, from the PIXCI® Image Viewer, click:
A table of pixel values for a portion of the image appears, showing pixel values in the neighborhood of the displayed X and Y coordinates. The portion of the image numerically displayed can be moved by using the scroll bars, or by entering new X and Y coordinates.Examine Pixel Peek
The portion of the image which is numerically displayed can also be moved interactively by clicking:
A cursor now appears over the image window (the Pixel Peek window may have to be moved to the side so that both the pixel peek window and the image viewer window can be seen); clicking the mouse on the image viewer window moves the cursor to that position, and repositions the numerically displayed portion of the image to be centered at that position.Coord<=>Cursor
To examine pixel values as a two-dimensional graph, click:
andExamine Pixel Plot
Controls Where and Plot Row or Plot Column
A cursor now appears over the image window; clicking the mouse on the image window moves the cursor to that position, and repositions the displayed line (column) to that Y (X) coordinate.Coord<=>Cursor
For area scan cameras, reducing the video resolution (the number of pixels captured per line and column) allows capturing more video frames in a given size of frame buffer memory. From the PIXCI® Image Viewer, click:
Click:Capture Adjustments Res(olution)
and draw the new desired area to be captured by left clicking and dragging over the displayed image. Click:Set Video Window
to accept the new capture resolution. Note: Changing the capture resolution will destroy any images previously captured in the frame buffers!OK
For line scan cameras, the number of scanned lines which compose each two-dimensional image can be set: From the PIXCI® Image Viewer, click:
Set the:Capture Adjustments Res(olution)
to the desired number.Lines per Field
The
shows the number of frame buffers available with the current selections.Capt(ure) Frame Buffers
The selections under the PIXCI® Image Viewer:
are automatically saved when the PIXCI® frame grabber is closed, and/or XCAP is exited. When the PIXCI® frame grabber is next opened, clicking (from the XCAP Main Window):Adjustments
Choose:PIXCI® PIXCI® Open/Close Camera & Format
to use the previous video setup, or choose:Open w. last used Video Setup
to start afresh with the default video format and resolution.Open w. default Video Setup
Most of the supported cameras provide controls and features above and beyond sending imagery to the PIXCI® frame grabber. For most cameras, these controls are either switches on or within the camera, commands sent through an RS-232 port, or commands sent through Camera Link serial.
For selected cameras, XCAP provides convenient, camera specific, integrated, controls.
XCAP integrates controls within the Capture & Adjust window. The left side of the Capture & Adjust window contains controls for the PIXCI® frame grabber. The right side of the Capture & Adjust window provides camera specific controls; these utilize the same concepts and terminology as specified by the camera's manufacturer, so that the camera manufacturer's documentation can be directly applied to these features and controls.
For cameras with switches, the camera's settings can neither be set nor sensed by XCAP! Instead, the Capture & Adjust window shows a sketch of the camera's controls. After selecting a camera operating mode by setting the camera's switches, adjust the sketch's controls to match those of the camera. This convenient technique advises XCAP of the camera's configuration, and allows automatically setting the PIXCI® frame grabber's configuration to match.
For cameras with RS-232 controls, connect the camera's RS-232 connector to the computer's RS-232 (aka ''COM'') port. In the Capture & Adjust window, use:
to select the connected ''COM'' port (under Windows) or ''ttyS'' device (under Linux). Thereafter, any change of the camera's controls shown in the Capture & Adjust window simultaneously programs the camera and automatically sets the PIXCI® frame grabber's configuration to match! There is no need to run the camera manufacturer's separate RS-232 control program.RS-232 Port
For cameras Camera Link serial controls, the serial commands are sent via the same Camera Link cable used for image data. As for cameras with RS-232 controls, any change of the camera's controls shown in the Capture & Adjust window simultaneously programs the camera and automatically sets the PIXCI® frame grabber's configuration to match. There is no need to connect a second cable, nor any need to run the camera manufacturer's separate control program.
For other cameras, XCAP offers generic controls. The camera should be configured by following the camera manufacturer's instructions, typically using a ''Control Panel'' application supplied by the camera manufacturer.
XCAP provides generic controls within the Capture & Adjust window. The right side of the Capture & Adjust window provides Camera Link specification controls, using standard Camera Link terminology; these controls allow configuring the PIXCI® frame grabber's video resolution, trigger modes, bit depth, color space, etc. so as to be consistent with the camera. The left side of the Capture & Adjust window provides the remaining controls for the PIXCI® frame grabber.
For most common conditions:Capture Adjustments Color (or Clr)
Cover the camera's lens and click:Customize
Finally point the camera at a white target (but preferably not a target using fluorescent brighteners) and click:Black Balance
White Balance
To save a captured image, from the PIXCI® Image Viewer, click:
Choose a file format, such as:File Save Image
The JPEG/JFIF and Windows BMP formats have near-universal support among graphics and imaging applications, with support for 8 bit monochrome and 24 bit RGB color; JPEG/JFIF provides ''lossy'' compression, with adjustment for image quality versus file size. The TIFF format has near-universal support among imaging applications supporting a wide variety of pixel formats and bit depth; TIFF is suggested for saving and reloading an image into XCAP, and suggested for exporting images to other applications. The BigTIFF format is variation of TIFF allowing file sizes larger than 4 Gbyte; however it is not commonly supported. Both TIFF and BigTIFF offer options for lossless compression. The FITS format is commonly used within the astronomy community.TIFF BigTIFF BMP FITS JPEG/JFIF Portable Map X/Y Binary X/Y ASCII
The X/Y Binary and X/Y ASCII export raw pixels, left to right, top to bottom, with no excess information such as dimensions, bit depth, date, format, etc; these are useful for exporting images to a spreadsheet (X/Y ASCII), or to your own program in which the image's dimensions are assumed and can simply read a 2-D array of values. The Portable Map also exports raw binary pixels, left to right, top to bottom, but with minimal information, such as dimensions, at the start of the file.
After selecting a file format, enter a file name:
and clickFile Name: xx.tif
to save the image. Or, use the:OK
button to access the standard Windows or Linux File Dialog, clickBrowse
to accept the filename selected by browsing, and clickAccept
to save the image.OK
To capture an image sequence into the frame buffers:
select:Capture Sequence Capture Video to Frame Buffers
to capture into all of the frame buffer memory,Start/End All Buffers
to capture each video frame (rather than intentionally skipping frames),Capture Video Fastest
to capture into each frame buffer once, then stop (rather than capturing continuously, reusing frame buffers until explicitly stopped),Linear Sequence
to capture without waiting for additional events, and and click:Event Free
Record
The VideotoFrameBuffers captures into frame buffer memory; to request more frame buffer memory and a thereby a longer sequence use the
Driver Assistant
A variety of Sequence Capture features are available, providing tradeoffs between capture rate vs. convenience vs. total number of images captured. The Video to Frame Buffers captures sequences directly into pre-configured frame buffer memory, and can support the maximum frame rate. The Video to Virtual Memory captures and copies sequences into host computer (virtual) memory which is conveniently allocated as-needed, but may not support maximum frame rate capture for all cameras on all computers. The Video to Disk File captures and copies sequences into a disk file in an efficient, internal format (after capture the sequence can be saved in a standard format), but frame rate is limited by the bandwidth of the computer and disk subsystem.
The Video to Image Files captures and copies sequences directly into standard format image files, but with more overhead than the Video to Disk File feature. Optionally, each captured image can also be saved offsite directly to an FTP URL. Optionally, the HTTP server (i.e. web server) feature of XCAP allows access to the sequence of images - as they are being captured - via an internet web browser.
To save a captured image sequence, from the PIXCI® Image Viewer, click:
Choose a file format, such as:File Save Image Sequence
The One TIFF, One BigTIFF, One FITS, One Portable Map One X/Y Binary, and One X/Y ASCII w. Sequence save the entire image sequence into a single file, with similar utility as described above for the corresponding file format.One TIFF w. Sequence One AVI/DIB w. Sequence One AVI/MJPG w. Sequence One BigTIFF w. Sequence One FITS w. Sequence One Portable Map w. Sequence One X/Y Binary w. Sequence One X/Y ASCII w. Sequence Sequence of BMP's Sequence of BigTIFF's Sequence of FITS's Sequence of JPEG/JFIF's Sequence of TIFF's Sequence of Portable Map's Sequence of X/Y Binary's Sequence of X/Y ASCII's
The One AVI/DIB and One AVI/MJPG w. Sequence save the entire image sequence as one Windows AVI file using a ''DIB'' or a ''MJPG'' codec, respectively; essentially multiple BMP or multiple JPEG/JFIF formated images, respectively, with the same supported bit depth and compression options described above.
The other options save each image as an individual file.
Only the One TIFF q. Sequence format and the Sequence of ... formats are available in XCAP-Lite.
After selecting any of the ''One .. w. Sequence'', file formats, enter a file name:
and click:File Name: xx.tif
to save the image(s). Or, use the:OK
button to access the standard Windows or Linux File Dialog, click:Browse
to accept the filename selected by browsing, and click:Accept
to save the image(s).OK
If using any of the ''Sequence of ..'' file formats, enter a file name pattern:
where the ''?'' characters will be replaced by a numerical index, (enter sufficient ''?'' characters as per sequence length; three ''?'''s are sufficient for 1000 images) and click:File Name: xx???.tif
to save the image(s).OK
For additional guidance in using XCAP, click
to browse the full manual.Help XCAP Reference Manual
XCAP is a family of sophisticated, interactive, imaging programs specifically designed to support the PIXCI® series of frame grabbers, but also able to process and analyze images from other imaging sources. Several versions of XCAP are available: XCAP-Plus, XCAP-Std, XCAP-Ltd, XCAP-Lite, and XCAP-Viewer. All versions share the same user interface and menu structure, but selected features in XCAP-Std, XCAP-Ltd, XCAP-Lite, and XCAP-Viewer are not operational. XCAP is distributed on CD/DVD, or downloadable from the EPIX, Inc. website. After installation, a 12 character activation or ID code[6] is entered to configure XCAP as either XCAP-Plus, XCAP-Std, XCAP-Ltd,[7] or XCAP-Lite; or, lacking a valid activation or ID code, configured as XCAP-Viewer.
XCAP-Std is an interactive, imaging program designed for scientific, industrial, and machine vision applications. XCAP-Std supports the PIXCI® frame grabber, providing video format and resolution configuration; continuous (live), video rate sequence, and triggered capture; and single or sequence, zoomed or resized, display. The image frame buffers of PIXCI® frame grabbers can be loaded, examined, processed, analyzed, measured, printed, annotated, and saved.
XCAP-Std also allows loading, analyzing, modifying, and saving a pre-existing image or image sequence with size, pixel depth, and color space independent of the PIXCI® frame grabber's configuration; XCAP-Std can be used with pre-existing images even when the PIXCI® frame grabber is not present. XCAP-Std can also acquire images from TWAIN compliant devices.
XCAP-Plus provides extra, advanced, features in addition to all of the capabilities of the XCAP-Std, such as support for specialized, optional, hardware.
XCAP-Ltd is a simplified version of XCAP-Std. XCAP-Ltd provides the same image acquisition and PIXCI® frame grabber control capabilities, the same image display features, and the same image loading, examining, printing, and saving of single image or sequences of images. Only minimal image processing, measurement, analysis, and scripting features are functional. XCAP-Ltd can be used with pre-existing images even when the PIXCI® frame grabber is not present.
XCAP-Lite is a much simplified version of XCAP-Std. XCAP-Lite provides similar image acquisition and PIXCI® frame grabber control capabilities, video format and resolution configuration; continuous (live), video rate sequence, and triggered capture; and single or sequence, zoomed or resized, display. XCAP-Lite also provides some of the image loading, examining, printing, and saving features, but minimal processing, measurement, analysis, and scripting features are functional. XCAP-Lite allows loading and saving single images, as well as image sequences in TIFF format.
XCAP-Viewer allows browsing through the dozens of processing, measurement, analysis, and graphics features provided in XCAP-Plus, XCAP-Std, XCAP-Ltd, or XCAP-Lite. XCAP-Viewer can load and display pre-existing single images. The PIXCI® frame grabber can't be operated with the XCAP-Viewer version.
As XCAP-Plus, XCAP-Std, XCAP-Ltd, XCAP-Lite, and XCAP-Viewer share many common features, this manual typically refers to all versions as XCAP, except where explicitly differentiated.
The XCAP features are organized into two major types of windows, the Main Window and one or more Image Viewer Windows.
For each image, or sequence of images, an Image Viewer Window shows that image, or a selected image of that sequence, and via its menu bar allows viewing, examining, processing, analyzing, or drawing upon that image (sequence). The Image Viewer Window associated with the PIXCI® frame grabber's frame buffers also provides features for capturing new images. There can be multiple Image Viewer Windows for the same image (sequence), allowing, for example, viewing the image both magnified (i.e. zoom) and unmagnified, or simultaneous viewing of different images of a sequence.
The Main Window allows creating new image (sequences), and thus new Image Viewer Windows, either by loading a new image from file, explicit specification of the new image's dimensions, or by opening the PIXCI® frame grabber for use. Video setup for the PIXCI® frame grabber, such as modifying the video resolution or color space, are also in the Main Window; these features may close and re-create the PIXCI® frame grabber's Image Viewer Window. The Main Window also provides features not directly associated with an image (sequence), such as scripts, RS-232 device control, and features to customize XCAP.
The XCAP main window provides a menu bar with File, Images, Scripts, Utility, PIXCI®, and Help features.
The main window's File allows loading of pre-existing images into new image buffers, displaying attributes about pre-existing images, and acquiring images from TWAIN compliant devices.
The Load New Image and Load New Image Sequence creates a new image buffer (sequence) with dimensions, pixel depth, and color space matching a specified AVI (Audio Video Interleaved), BigTIFF (Tagged Image File Format extended for large file sizes), BMP (Bitmap), FITS (Flexible Image Transport System), JPEG (Joint Photographic Exports Group), PBM/PGM/PBM (Portable Bit/Gray/Pixel Map), TIFF (Tagged Image File Format), VIF (Video Frame Files - Video to Disk) or multimedia format file(s), and loads the image(s) from the file(s). This feature, and the image buffer (sequence) created, is unrelated to the PIXCI® frame grabber's frame buffers. After creation and loading, the new image (sequence) is displayed, processed, and analyzed in a new instance of The Image Viewer Window, described below. Using wild cards, the Load New Image can also load multiple image files - each to their own new image buffer.
The Image File Info displays information about a specified AVI, BigTIFF, BMP, FITS, JPEG, PBM/PGM/PPM, TIFF, or VIF format file without loading the image. The information displayed includes the image's dimensions, pixel depth, color space, palette option, and other file format specific information.
The TWAIN Select Source and TWAIN New Acquire allow using XCAP as a TWAIN Application, acquiring images from TWAIN compliant imaging devices (TWAIN Sources). The TWAIN Select Source allows selecting which TWAIN Source is to be used, and the TWAIN New Acquire allows acquiring one image from the TWAIN Source.
The Window List displays a list of active windows belonging to XCAP; selecting a window causes that window to appear, if previously hidden, and/or to appear over other windows (subject to the priority of selected windows to always appear ''on top'').
The main window's Images allows creating new image buffers and activating any existing image windows that may not be on-screen.
The New Image creates a new image buffer, or sequence of image buffers, with specified dimensions, pixel depth, color space, and palette. This feature, and the image buffer created, is unrelated to the PIXCI® frame grabber's frame buffers. After creation, the new image is displayed in a new instance of The Image Viewer Window, as described below.
Underneath New Image are listed all existing image windows, whether for PIXCI® frame grabber frame buffers, or for independent image buffers. (The image window for PIXCI® frame grabber frame buffers appears only after the PIXCI® frame grabber has been opened for use, see below). An image window which has been closed and is thereby off-screen can be reactivated by clicking the image window's name.
The main window's Scripts provides features for recording and playing scripts. A script recording contains most of the user's interactions with the windows of XCAP; playing the script duplicates the original actions.
Some user actions are not recorded. Using the mouse to drag the cursor or other graphic across an image is not recorded as these actions are highly dependent upon image content (such as the typical scenario of dragging the cursor until it is positioned next to an artifact in a captured image), would likely be inappropriate to other captured images, and recording each mouse ''step'' would consume a significant amount of disk space. Instead, after positioning the cursor interactively the user can record the final position by clicking the appropriate numeric cursor coordinates. Similarly, the activation of a feature with shortcut keys or shortcut icons is not recorded; instead features can be activated via the non-shortcut alternative, which is recorded.
A recorded script is in a human readable form and can be altered with any common editor capable of handling ASCII text, allowing scripts to be modified or combined. A selected script may be executed automatically after XCAP starts, this feature is set in Utility, Program Setup, Startup Script.
The Load Tool Bar provides one or more user-defined tool bars of shortcuts, each shortcut represented by an icon which, when clicked, executes a user-specified script. Each shortcut may also specify an optional keyboard key which, when pressed, also executes the user-specified script.
The Script Remote Control allows using XCAP as a hidden, off-screen, ''black box''; any end-user application that can manipulate text files, can also remotely control XCAP.
The main window's Utility provides an assortment of features that are of secondary importance; features that allow fine tuning of XCAP, or features needed in relatively few circumstances.
The Black Board allows customizing XCAP, creating non-procedural programs, and collecting data. The black board allows inter-connecting the numeric and text field of other windows; computed results, such as center-of-mass, may be written onto the black board - parameters for other features, such as the coordinates of a displayed grid, may be extracted from the black board - combining these automatically repositions the grid as the center of mass is recomputed! Other features allow computed values (similar to a spreadsheet), ''push''ing buttons, timed updates, creating a report to file or an RS-232 port, collecting data, and graphing the black board's contents.
A Message Log window lists warnings and errors that arise from performing various operations. By default, the message log window appears automatically when a message is added, and disappears a few seconds later. Auto appearance, auto hide, and audible clicks can be disabled (from the message log window's menu bar). The menu-bar's Message Log allows explicit activation of the message log window.
The Program Setup shows information about the installed XCAP components, such as their revision level, and sets various configuration options. For versions of XCAP that require an authorization key, it also shows the ID of the key required by the instant copy of XCAP.
The Program Setup allows specifying the name of a script to be executed when XCAP starts, whether warning pop-up windows (if any) are to be shown, whether previously saved settings are to be loaded, and other similar initial or terminal conditions.
The Program Setup also enables user-defined translation of XCAP labels and messages for use in non-English speaking countries.
The Windows Info displays information about the current Windows environment, such as memory usage and the graphics display system's features, as reported by Windows.
The Window Style allows setting some characteristics of XCAP windows, such as color or character size and font. Some characteristics of window style are instead controlled by the Windows Control Panel.
The Audio Clip (only under Windows) allows recording and playing short audio ''clips''.
The RS-232 Terminal allows ''raw'' communication with a camera or other device connected via the computer's RS-232 port. The RS-232 Terminal is designed specifically for device control, including options to communicate with byte values, rather than as a common ''terminal emulator''. XCAP may also provide more convenient, camera-specific ''smart'' controls, provided after a camera-specific frame grabber is opened, via the Capture - Adjustments.
The I/O Port Peek & Poke allows controlling arbitrary devices accessible via I/O port peeks and pokes. This feature must be used with caution; peeking or poking arbitrary ports will cause computer malfunction! This feature is only available under Windows 95, 98, and ME.
The Screen Capture allows capturing the current graphics display screen, saving the graphics to a file, or printing the graphics. The Screen Capture also allows capturing numeric and textual parameters into a text file, suitable for loading into a spreadsheet or other programs.
The Volpi intralux dc-1100 and Illumination Technologies 3900 provide support for controlling these light sources through their RS-232 ports.
The Birger EF232 provides support for controlling the Birger EF232 RS-232 Lens Mount.
The Fujinon CCTV Lens provides support for controlling Fujinon CCTV Lenses that follow the Fujinon C10 Protocol.
The Directed Perception Pan-Tilt Unit provides support for controlling the Directed Perception Pan-Tilt Units.
The Sagebrush Pan-Tilt Gimbal provides support for controlling the Sagebrush Pan-Tilt Gimbals that follow the Sagebrush 2.0 Protocol.
The EPIX® SILICON VIDEO® 20C-CL, EPIX® SILICON VIDEO® 20M-CL, EPIX® SILICON VIDEO® 1514CL, and EPIX® SILICON VIDEO® 1820CL provide support for configuring the EPIX® SILICON VIDEO® 10C-CL, SILICON VIDEO® 10M-CL, SILICON VIDEO® 20C-CL, SILICON VIDEO® 20M-CL, SILICON VIDEO® 1514CL, and SILICON VIDEO® 1820CL cameras via a virtual ''COM'' port (under Windows), a virtual ''ttyS'' device (under Linux), or a Camera Link Serial API DLL (i.e. a clserXXX.DLL, under Windows). These are provided for configuring the camera when using a frame grabber other than an PIXCI® frame grabber, leaving configuration of the frame grabber to its software. When using a PIXCI® frame grabber, the alternative PIXCI® - Open/Close is recommended as it provides integrated controls for both camera and frame grabber.
The main window's PIXCI® allows initiating access to the PIXCI® frame grabber and provides configuration options. Actual operation of the PIXCI® frame grabber is performed through the PIXCI® image viewer window's menu-bar.
The PIXCI® Open/Close allows opening access to, or closing access to, the PIXCI® frame grabber. Once open, the model, and submodel or preset camera & format selection, as appropriate, of the PIXCI® frame grabber is available via the Board Info button. After opening, the contents of the PIXCI® frame grabber's image frame buffer(s) are displayed in a new instance of The Image Viewer Window, along with a tool bar of PIXCI® Image Viewer - Capture - Shortcuts and a status bar of Image Viewer - View - Status Bar are shown as described below.
The PIXCI® Video Setup allows configuring the video format, video resolution and other, model specific, video characteristics. For the PIXCI® SV2, SV3, SV4, SV5, SV5A, SV5B, and SV5L models, the PIXCI® Video Setup allows selecting NTSC, RS-170, NTSC/S-VIDEO, CCIR, PAL, or PAL/S-Video formats, allows selecting the video window size, capture resolution, and other video acquisition characteristics.
For the PIXCI® SV7 models, the PIXCI® Video Setup allows selecting NTSC, RS-170, CCIR, or PAL formats , allows selecting the video window size, capture resolution, and other video acquisition characteristics.
For the PIXCI® SV8 models, the PIXCI® Video Setup allows selecting NTSC, RS-170, NTSC/S-VIDEO, CCIR, PAL, or PAL/S-Video formats, allows selecting the video window size, capture resolution, and other video acquisition characteristics.
For the PIXCI® A310 model, the PIXCI® Video Setup allows selecting Video 720x480i 60Hz (RS-170), Video 720x480i 60Hz RGB, Video 720x576i 50Hz (CCIR), Video 720x576i 50Hz RGB, Video 1920x1080i 60Hz, Video 1920x1080i 60Hz RGB, Video 1920x1080i 50Hz, Video 1920x1080i 50Hz RGB, Video 1920x1080p 60Hz, Video 1920x1080p 60Hz RGB, Video 1920x1080p 50Hz, Video 1920x1080p 50Hz RGB, Video 1280x720p 50Hz, Video 1280x720p 50Hz RGB, Video 1280x720p 60Hz, Video 1280x720p 60Hz RGB, RS330 720x480i 60Hz, RS343 875i 60Hz, RS343 875i 60Hz RGB, SVGA 800x600 60Hz, SVGA 800x600 60Hz RGB, SXGA 1280x1024 60Hz, SXGA 1280x1024 60Hz RGB, VGA 640x480 60Hz, VGA 640x480 60Hz RGB, XGA 1024x768 60Hz or XGA 1024x768 60Hz RGB formats, allows modifying the PLL, A/D, and sync processor parameters to accommodate other video formats, allows selecting the capture resolution, and selecting other video acquisition characteristics. For the PIXCI® A110 model, the PIXCI® Video Setup is similar, but does not allow selecting RGB formats.
For the PIXCI® CL1, CL3SD, D, D24, D32, D2X, D3X, and D3XE models, fewer options are provided, as these frame grabbers are each customized to specifically support one camera, or a related group if cameras. For the PIXCI® CL2, E1, E1DB, E4, E4DB, E4G2-2F, E4G2-4B, E4G2-F2B, E4TX2-2F, E4TX2-4B, E4TX2-F2B, E8, E8DB, e104x4-2f, e104x4-4b, e104x4-f2b, EB1, EB1G2, EB1-PoCL, EB1G2-PoCL, EB1mini, miniH2B, miniH2F, miniH2x4F, mf2280, EC1, ECB1, ECB1-34, ECB2, EL1, and EL1DB models, which provide universal support for Camera Link cameras, fewer options are provided. For the PIXCI® E8CAM, ELS2, SI, SI1, SI2, and SI4 models, which support SILICON VIDEO® cameras, fewer options are provided. For all of these, a different camera can be selected, if available, via PIXCI® Open/Close, Camera & Format.
The current video setup is automatically saved when access to the PIXCI® frame grabber is closed, and reloaded when the PIXCI® frame grabber is later opened. The PIXCI® Export Video Setup and PIXCI® Import Video Setup may be used to explicitly save or reload the current video setup, such as to choose amongst several favorite setups, or to export the current video setup to the XCLIB library.
The PIXCI® Status shows the PIXCI® frame grabber's current status, such as the state of the general purpose (formerly referred to as an external TTL) trigger input(s) and output(s), the number of elapsed video fields, the board's model, submodel or preset camera & format selection, as appropriate, and configured image memory size.
The PIXCI® Serial Terminal allows ''raw'' communication with a camera connected to the serial port on selected models of the PIXCI® frame grabber. For many cameras, XCAP includes more convenient, camera-specific ''smart'' controls, provided after a camera-specific frame grabber is opened, via the Capture - Adjustments.
The PIXCI® Connections provides, as appropriate for the specific model of PIXCI® frame grabber, a map of the board's connections, connectors, option jumpers, and adjustments.
The PIXCI® Camera Info provides a list of cameras and video formats supported by XCAP and various PIXCI® frame grabbers. The PIXCI® Camera Info also allows viewing a non-operational Capture - Adjustments window (i.e. the ''Control Panel'', which provides integrated control of both frame grabber and any supported camera).
The PIXCI® TWAIN Sourcery (only under Windows) allows using XCAP, in conjunction with the ''XCAP Sourcery'' TWAIN driver, as a component of a ''smart'' TWAIN Source, allowing other applications to capture images from the PIXCI® frame grabber, while XCAP provides frame grabber controls, camera controls, and, optionally, image preprocessing.[8] The PIXCI® TWAIN Sourcery should not be confused with TWAIN New Acquire; the former allows XCAP to provide image data to other, TWAIN compliant applications; the latter allows XCAP to accept image data from other TWAIN compliant sources. The TWAIN New Acquire should never be used to attempt to acquire image data from the PIXCI® TWAIN Sourcery!
The PIXCI® Image-Pro Sourcery (only under Windows) allows using XCAP, in conjunction with the ''XCAP Sourcery'' Image-Pro driver, as a component of a ''smart'' video source, allowing Image-Pro to capture images from the PIXCI® frame grabber, while XCAP provides frame grabber, camera controls, and, optionally, image preprocessing.[8]
Each image buffer (sequence), or frame buffer (sequence), is displayed in an image viewer window, which is the focus of activity for examining, processing, or analyzing that image buffer (sequence). The image viewer window provides a menu bar with File, View, Examine, Modify, Measure, Draw, AOI, and Help features. The image viewer window associated with the PIXCI® frame grabber's frame buffer(s) also provides a Capture feature.
The image viewer window's File allows saving, loading, or printing the image, shows information about the image's dimensions, pixel depth and color space, and allows closing the image viewer window.
The Load Image and Save Image allow saving or loading the image in a variety of file formats. The Load Image, unlike the Load New Image described above, loads an image file into the current image buffer, resizing and/or color converting to fit the image buffer's existing dimensions, pixel depth, and color space. The Load Image can also load images directly from an Internet URL.
For image viewer windows associated with an image buffer sequence, the Save Image Sequence and Load Image Sequence allow saving or loading multiple images of the sequence as a numbered sequence of image files, or as a single AVI, BigTIFF, FITS, PBM/PGM/PPM, or TIFF format image file with multiple images. Save Image can also save images directly to an FTP URL.
The E-Mail Image allows directly e-mailing the image, in a variety of file formats, from within XCAP.
The Print Image allows printing the image; either via the operating system's built-in image printing feature(s) which typically supports a wide variety of printers, or via EPIX® imaging drivers which support only the most popular printers, but providing precise control of print options.
The Image Attributes shows the image's (or image sequence's) dimensions, pixel depth, and color space.
The Duplicate Image and Duplicate Image Sequence allows creating a new image buffer and copying the current image, or creating a new sequence of image buffers and copying the current image sequence, respectively, in one step. It optionally allows copying the image's (or image sequence's) current appearance, as modified by the palette and graphics, instead of the underlying image (or image sequence).
The BlackBoard Image allows copying the image's pixel values into the Black Board.
The Close Viewer closes the window, but does not destroy the image (sequence). The Close & Dispose of Image closes the window and destroys the image (sequence). The image viewer window associated with the PIXCI® frame grabber's frame buffer(s) does not provide a Close & Dispose of Image; an image viewer window is available whenever the PIXCI® frame grabber is open for use.
The image viewer window's View provides options governing the appearance of the displayed image.
The Shortcuts allows activating or deactivating a tool bar of icons providing shortcuts for accessing often used features, and is described under Image Viewer - View - Shortcuts.
The Status Bar allows activating or deactivating a small status bar with current information, and is described under Image Viewer - View - Status Bar.
The Menu Bar allows activating or deactivating the menu bar; when deactivated, clicking the mouse right-click button allows restoring the menu bar.
For image viewer windows associated with the PIXCI® frame grabber's image frame buffer(s), the Adjustments allows setting common adjustments, as suitable for the model of the PIXCI® frame grabber in use, and is described under PIXCI® Image Viewer - Capture.
The Full Screen allows displaying the image in the full graphics display screen without the menu bar, centered with black border (if needed), and with little or no window ''frame'' around the image. The previous display mode can be restored via a mouse right-click.
The Always-On-Top allows forcing the image viewer window, and its subwindows, to always be ''above'' other windows; subject to the other windows' also requesting Always-On-Top, and the whims of the host operating system. This option is typically useful only when XCAP is being used in combination with other applications, such as in conjunction with the PIXCI® TWAIN Sourcery or PIXCI® Image-Pro Sourcery feature. The Always-On-Top feature is only supported under Windows.
The Refresh forces the displayed image to be redrawn once; normally manual refresh is not needed, but occasionally, when the image was (partly) covered and uncovered by other window(s), the displayed image might ''forget'' to be updated.
For images composed of index pixels and palette, the Image's Palette allows manipulating the image's attached palette; for images of other types, the Image's Palette is not selectable. For all images, the Viewer's Palette allows manipulating a palette which is not attached to the image. Either can be used for contrast enhancement, adjustment of black level and gain, or, for monochrome images, false coloring. Either, or neither, of the palettes can be selected for use under Display.
For image sequences, the Sequence Play allows ''playing'' the sequence, image by image, at a selected rate.
The Cursor allows activating a cursor over the image, which may be positioned via coordinates, or by left clicking the mouse on an image feature.
The Display allows selecting how the image is displayed: (a) No resizing so there is a one to one relationship between an image pixel and a displayed graphics display pixel and is the quickest, although the entire image may not fit within the window and must therefore be panned and scrolled, (b) Resize by nearest neighbor which is relatively quick, or (c) Resize by bilinear interpolation which may produce better results for continuous tone images, but is slower. For the resize modes, the aspect ratio can also be modified. The Display allows selecting which palette, if any, is to be used during display and during file loads and saves. An option to display only even lines, or only odd image lines, allows avoiding interlace artifacts during display. For the image viewer window associated with the PIXCI® frame grabber's frame buffer(s), the Display provides additional features, identical to the Live Options described below.
The Zoom, Pan, Scroll allows magnifying the displayed image, panning and scrolling to view different portions of the image under magnification. For image sequences, a specific image of the sequence can be selected for display. In addition to panning and scrolling via explicit coordinates and via scrollbars, holding the right mouse button and moving the mouse over the image also implements panning and scrolling. Optionally, the left or right mouse button can be used to increase magnification (i.e. zoom-in) or decrease magnification (i.e. zoom-out).
The Flip & Mirror allows flipping and mirroring the displayed image so that the top is displayed to the top, left, right, or bottom.
Each image buffer (sequence) may have several simultaneously active viewers, allowing, for example, viewing the same image buffer both magnified and unmagnified. The Launch 2nd Viewer creates a second image viewer window into the same image buffer (sequence), with the same features as the original image viewer window.
The image viewer window's Examine provides options to examine the image.
The Pixel Peek allows numeric display of the pixel values in the vicinity of the image cursor — within a single image, or across a sequence of images, or of a multi-image stack. The feature also graphically displays each pixel's value or trends.
The Pixel Peek & Poke allows numeric display and modification of individual pixel values. The Pixel Peek & Poke also allows precise, single pixel, image editing.
The Pixel Plot displays a two-dimensional graph of pixels values along a selected image line or column, of all image lines or columns, of an image pixel as it varies across an image sequence, of rows or columns as they vary across an image sequence, or of a multi-image stack. The recent trends of pixel values can also be shown, as an fading ''echo,'' to help visually evaluate the fluctuations of live video or the effects of camera adjustments. Features attached to the graph show specific pixel values and descriptive statistics such as lowest value, highest value, mean value, and standard deviation.
The Pixel Plot 3D displays the numeric values of pixels as as a three-dimensional graph — from a single image or from a multi-image ''stack'' — with the image X and Y coordinates composing two dimensions, and the pixel values composing the third dimension.
The Pixel Magnifier allows enlarging an area of the displayed image, with an effect similar to using a magnifying lens. Optionally, contrast and other enhancements can be applied to the magnified area.
The SMPTE VITC allows searching the image for valid SMPTE Vertical Interval Time Codes and displaying the decoded codes.
The image viewer window's Modify provides image processing operations which modify the image, modify each image (independently) in a sequence (typically named ''Sequence ...'') or modify one or more images in a sequence by combining data from across multiple images (typically named ''... Sequence ).''
The Patterns draws various test patterns in the image. The Sequence Patterns does the same on each image of a sequence.
The Set sets image pixels to a specified value. The Sequence Set does the same on each image of a sequence.
The Arithmetic provides pixel arithmetic, such as adding a constant value or multiplying by a constant value. The Sequence Arithmetic does the same on each image of a sequence. The Src+Dst Arithmetic does the same with distinct source and destination images.
The Binning provides averaging or integrating pixel values in ''bins'' of a checkerboard. The Sequence Binning does the same on each image of a sequence. The Src+Dst Binning does the same with distinct source and destination images.
The Contrast Modification allows modifying the image's contrast. The Sequence Contrast Modification does the same on each image of a sequence. The Src+Dst Contrast Modification does the same with distinct source and destination images.
The Convolution allows convolving the image with user-defined kernels. The Sequence Convolution does the same on each image of a sequence. The Src+Dst Convolution does the same with distinct source and destination images.
The Correlation Map allows correlating, or matching, a kernel image over a larger image, resulting in a profile image whose intensity, at each location, varies in proportion to the degree of match at that location. The Sequence Correlation Map does the same on each image of a sequence. The Src+Dst Correlation Map does the same with distinct source and destination images.
The Edge Detection provides Kirsch, Sobel, and other standard edge detectors. The Sequence Edge Detection does the same on each image of a sequence. The Src+Dst Edge Detection does the same with distinct source and destination images.
The FFT provides Fast Fourier Transforms and Discrete Fourier Transforms. The Sequence FFT does the same on each image of a sequence. The Src+Dst FFT does the same with distinct source and destination images.
The HSB Tweak provides hue, saturation, and brightness adjustments within the HSB color space. While Arithmetic and other operations can optionally use the HSB color space to, for example, multiply all saturation values by a constant, the HSB Tweak allows adjusting selected portions of the HSB space, such as adjusting the brightness of red pixels with high saturation. The Sequence HSB Tweak does the same on each image of a sequence. The Src+Dst HSB Tweak does the same with distinct source and destination images.
The Interlace & Flicker provides line and pixel shuffling operations. The Sequence Interlace & Flicker does the same on each image of a sequence. The Src+Dst Interlace & Flicker does the same with distinct source and destination images.
The Morphology provides morphological operations with user-defined kernels. The Sequence Morphology does the same on each image of a sequence. The Src+Dst Morphology does the same with distinct source and destination images.
The Noise Generator allows adding pseudo-random noise with uniform and other distributions to an image. The Sequence Noise Generator does the same on each image of a sequence. The Src+Dst Noise Generator does the same with distinct source and destination images.
The Normalization provides intensity normalizations based upon a single image. The Sequence Normalization does the same on each image of a sequence. The Src+Dst Normalization does the same with distinct source and destination images.
The Rotation & Shift provides image rotations and shifts. The Sequence Rotation & Shift does the same on each image of a sequence. The Src+Dst Rotation & Shift does the same with distinct source and destination images.
The Spatial Filtering provides low pass, high pass, and other filters. The Sequence Spatial Filtering does the same on each image of a sequence. The Src+Dst Spatial Filtering does the same with distinct source and destination images.
The Spatial Normalization provides spatial normalizations based upon a single image. The Sequence Spatial Normalization does the same on each image of a sequence. The Src+Dst Spatial Normalization does the same with distinct source and destination images.
The Threshold allows thresholding an image against user-defined, fixed, boundary values. The Sequence Threshold does the same on each image of a sequence. The Src+Dst Threshold does the same with distinct source and destination images.
The Threshold Adaptive allows thresholding an image against boundary values that are automatically adjusted. The Sequence Threshold Adaptive does the same on each image of a sequence. The Src+Dst Threshold Adaptive does the same with distinct source and destination images.
The Warping allows ''rubber-sheet'' transformations governed by a list of initial and final fiducial locations, governed by pincushion/barrel lens distortion, or specified by mathematical expressions. The Sequence Warping does the same on each image of a sequence. The Src+Dst Warping does the same with distinct source and destination images.
The Copy & Resize allows copying and resizing an image from one image buffer to another. The Sequence Copy & Resize does the same on each image of a sequence.
The Pair Arithmetic provides pixel arithmetic, such as summation, between one image buffer and another. The Src+Dst Arithmetic does the same with distinct source and destination images.
The Pair Normalization allows normalizing various intensity based attributes of an image, based upon a second reference, or background, image. The Src+Dst Pair Normalization does the same with distinct source and destination images.
The Triplet Normalization allows normalizing various intensity based attributes of an image, based upon two other reference, or background, images. The Src+Dst Triplet Normalization does the same with distinct source and destination images.
The Average Sequence allows forming the average or sum of an image sequence.
The Difference Sequence allows forming the difference of each pair of images of an image sequence.
The Tile Sequence allows forming a grid of reduced images from an image sequence.
For image copy and other image processing operations utilizing a distinct source and destination, the image viewer window from which the operation is selected is always the modified destination; an image (or sequence) associated with a different image viewer window can be selected as the unmodified source.
The image viewer window's Measure provides features for image measurement and analysis, including user-defined coordinate systems and mapping intensities into user-defined units.
The Intensity Calibration allows creating a mapping (correspondence) from monochrome image pixel values into user-defined units, for example from grey level into brightness, or grey level into density of material.
The Spatial Calibration allows creating a mapping (correspondence) from pixel X,Y coordinates into a user-defined H,V coordinate system. The H,V coordinates may be translated, scaled, and/or rotated with respect to X,Y coordinates.
The Histogram computes and displays a graph of an image's histogram.
The Histogram Pair computes and displays a graph of the histogram of difference of a pair of images.
The Mass & Moments computes and displays various moments of an image.
The Line Profile displays a two-dimensional graph of pixels values along an arbitrary oriented line, arc, polyline, Bezier, and other curves.
The Radial Mass Plot displays a two-dimensional graph of the sum of pixel values versus the pixels' distance from an origin.
The Ruler overlays a ruler on the image, with user-defined length, width, and tick marks, all based on the H,V coordinate system. Multiple rulers can be overlaid on each image.
The Protractor overlays a protractor on the image, with user-defined radius, arc, and tick marks, all based on the H,V coordinate system. Multiple protractors can be overlaid on each image.
The Cartesian Reticle overlays a Cartesian coordinate reticle on the image, based on the H,V coordinate system. Multiple Cartesian reticles can be overlaid on each image.
The Polar Reticle overlays a polar coordinate reticle on the image, based on the H,V coordinate system. Multiple polar reticles can be overlaid on each image.
The Distance & Angle Crosshairs provides spatial calibration and measurement of absolute position, relative position, length and angles. While these capabilities are also available elsewhere in Image Viewer - Measure and Image Viewer - Draw, the Distance & Angle Crosshairs collects chosen features to provide a single window with the equivalent of a so-called ''Video Crosshair Overlay & Measurement'' system.
The Shape Analysis provides descriptive statistics about the shape of elliptical, rectangular, or polygonal regions.
The Blob Analysis identifies image blobs, based upon thresholding the image into foreground and background, and provides descriptive statistics about the blobs found.
The Particle Tracking provides identification and tracking of particles (blobs) over a sequence of images. Individual particles are detected based upon a thresholded (bi-level) image. In one method, multiple image occurrences of a common particle are identified across a sequence of images by position extrapolation and verification. In a second method, vectors of particles that are close together are compared and expected to yield consistent magnitude and direction. In a third method, which requires the fewest setup parameters, common particles are grouped by nearest neighbor. For any method, the particle's trajectories are displayed and reported.
The SubPixel Edger overlays a line or curve tool on the image, analyzes the pixel values under the line or curve finding edges or lines to subpixel accuracy, and displays the position of the edges or lines both graphically, on the image, and numerically.
The Ellipse Fitter overlays an elliptical pattern of subpixel edger tools on the image, and computes a best-fit elliptical curve from the edges found.
The Correlation Finder correlates, or matches, a kernel image over a larger image, showing the coordinates of, and displaying a box around, the best match(es).
The image viewer window's Draw provides features for drawing graphics and text over the image. One or more of: line, circle with aspect ratio correction, rotated rectangle, rotated ellipse, arc of circle with aspect ratio correction, arc of rotated ellipse, annulus, arc of annulus, rectangular frame, list of points, polygon, polyline (connected line segments not closed into a polygon), Bezier curve, or Bezier region (Bezier curve closed to form region), rotated text, and arrow may be overlaid over the image (non destructive) or written into the image. The individual menu items such as Text, Line, Rectangle, etc. allow quick drawing of graphics or text. The Graphic Manager permits drawing the same graphics or text, but in addition manages a list of graphic or text objects, including loading and saving of the graphic or text objects.
The Image Overlay feature allows overlaying a second image, containing graphics on a ''transparent'' background, over the current image.
The Paint Brush feature allows interactive ''painting'' onto the image with selectable color, patterns, and ''brush'' shapes.
The Paint Fill feature allows filling (flooding) an image region with ''paint'' of selectable color and patterns, using specified pixel values as the boundary terminating the ''filling''.
The image viewer window's Aoi allows defining areas of interest (AOI) and regions of interest (ROI) upon which future image processing, measurement, analysis, print, load, and save features will operate. As used in XCAP, an ''AOI'' is a rectangular area with sides parallel to the image axis, while an ''ROI'' is of arbitrary shape, such as an ellipse or rectangle which may be rotated with respect to the image axis, or an arbitrary path or polygon. The image print, load, save, and many other features only allow use of an AOI; selected image processing, measurement, analysis and other features also allow use of an ROI.
The Set AOI defines the default area of interest and color space upon which future image processing, printing, load, and save features will operate.
The Set ROI defines the default region of interest and color space upon which future image measurement, analysis, and other selected features which accept an ROI will operate.
The Set Full Image quickly sets the default area of interest and region of interest to the image's full dimensions, and the default color space to the image buffer's natural color space, without entering the Set AOI or Set ROI window.
The AOI/ROI Manager maintains a list of often used areas of interest (AOI) and regions of interest (ROI).
Within each of the image processing, measurement, analysis, print, load, and save features a different AOI (or ROI, if applicable) can be selected, temporarily overriding the default AOI (or ROI). Within the feature, the new AOI (or ROI) can be specified numerically or interactively drawn, or an AOI (ROI) previously defined within the AOI/ROI Manager can be selected.
A tool bar of icons provides shortcuts for accessing often used features of The Image Viewer Window. Selected shortcuts can also be activated by key clicks when the tool bar window has the ''input focus'' (i.e. that window's title bar is highlighted). The shortcuts provided are:
The shortcuts may either be attached and part of The Image Viewer Window, or may be detached into its own window, as set by Display under Image Viewer - View.
A status bar provides information about the image resolution, current cursor coordinates, current buffer of a sequence, and other similar information. The information to be shown can be selected by Display under Image Viewer - View.
The image viewer window associated with the PIXCI® frame grabber's image frame buffer(s) has Capture which provides for capturing images from the PIXCI® frame grabber and other features associated with the PIXCI® frame grabber. Any additional image viewer windows created by Launch 2nd Viewer do not provide Capture, but only view, modify, examine, and/or draw the frame buffers.
The Snap captures and displays a single image. The Live continuously captures and displays images; the UnLive terminates the Live mode, displaying the last captured image.
The First Buffer switches to the first buffer of the frame buffer sequence, the Last Buffer switches to the last buffer of the frame buffer sequence, the Next Buffer switches to the next buffer of the frame buffer sequence, and the Previous Buffer switches to the previous buffer of the frame buffer sequence.
The Adjustments allows setting common adjustments, as suitable for the model of the PIXCI® frame grabber in use. For the PIXCI® SV2, SV3, SV4, SV5, SV5A, SV5B, and SV5L models, the Adjustments allows selecting the video input connection (N/A for PIXCI® SV5B) and adjusting the gain, black level, hue, and saturation.
For the PIXCI® SV7 model, the Adjustments allows selecting AGC and adjusting the gain, black level, hue, and saturation.
For the PIXCI® SV8 model, the Adjustments allows selecting AGC and adjusting the gain, black level, hue, saturation, and sharpness.
For the PIXCI® A110 and A310 models, the Adjustments allows adjusting the analog gain and offset, and the digital gain and offset. Less frequently used, and more esoteric, adjustments may be found under PIXCI® Video Setup, described above. For the PIXCI® CL1, CL3SD, D, D24, D32, D2X, D3X, and D3XE models, the Adjustments provide camera specific controls.
For the PIXCI® CL2, E1, E1DB, E4, E4DB, E4G2-2F, E4G2-4B, E4G2-F2B, E4TX2-2F, E4TX2-4B, E4TX2-F2B, E8, E8DB, e104x4-2f, e104x4-4b, e104x4-f2b, EB1, EB1G2, EB1-PoCL, EB1G2-PoCL, EB1mini, miniH2B, miniH2F, miniH2x4F, mf2280, EC1, ECB1, ECB1-34, ECB2, EL1, and EL1DB models, the Adjustments provide camera specific controls. Or, for ''Generic Camera Link'' mode, the Adjustments allow configuring the PIXCI® frame grabber's video resolution, trigger modes, bit depth, color space, etc. so as to be consistent with the camera.
For the PIXCI® E8CAM, ELS2, SI, SI1, SI2, and SI4 models, the Adjustments provide camera specific controls.
The Adjustments also provide duplicate features to Snap, Live, UnLive, select the frame buffer, and set the video window size. A duplicate menu item to access Adjustments is provided under Image Viewer - View.
The Shortcuts activates or deactivates the PIXCI® Image Viewer - Capture - Shortcuts, described below. A duplicate menu item to access Shortcuts is provided under Image Viewer - View.
The GIO Event Capture provides single or sequence image capture, each image triggered in conjunction with the frame grabber's general purpose (formerly referred to as an external TTL) input and output signals.
The Sequence Capture features allow capturing a timed sequence of images. The Sequence Capture features may be started by an event (trigger), run continuously until stopped by an event, or each individual image may be captured in response to an event. Events include mouse clicks, time of day, and the frame grabber's general purpose (formerly referred to as external TTL) inputs; when used with general purpose input events the Sequence Capture differs from GIO Event Capture in that the latter provides more options and higher accuracy and repeatability for the manipulation of the general purpose inputs and outputs in response to video timing. A time stamp feature allows recording the time that each image was captured, and either overlaying the time nondestructively or permanently marking the image with the time.
A variety of Sequence Capture features provide tradeoffs between capture rate vs. convenience vs. total number of images captured.
The Waterfall Display displays a chosen line of the frame buffer, in a ''waterfall'' fashion, updating the screen once per field, or as often as the host computer's speed allows. This feature is primarily intended for adjusting line scan type cameras. The waterfall display is intended only for viewing; it can't be analyzed, and can be saved only as a side effect of Screen Capture.
The Video to StreamStor (only under Windows) allows recording and playing video to and from Boulder Instruments StreamStor High-Speed Disk Recorders, allowing recording at video rate with almost all cameras and resolutions. The Video to StreamStor is provided only in the XCAP-Plus version.
The RGB Merge allows interpreting and viewing three monochromatic frame buffers as a single color (e.g. RGB) image, with adjustments for registration and coloring.
The Quad Pixel Merge allows interpreting and viewing four monochromatic frame buffers, each one captured after shifting the image sensor by ½ pixel horizontally and vertically, as a single high resolution image.
The Frame Average allows performing recursive, continuous, averaging of live video frames (or fields) and viewing the live result.
The Live Options combines the View - Display options, above, with additional choices governing Live mode. During Live mode, the PIXCI® frame grabber can: (a) Capture continuously into the specified frame buffer, however the image shown on the graphics display may contain portions from different video frames, (b) Snap, display on the graphics display, and repeat, however the image capture and display rate will be slower, or (c) Alternate capturing into the specified frame buffer and the last frame buffer (dual buffering). On host computers with insufficient PCI bandwidth to simultaneously capture into host computer memory and display from host computer memory to the graphics display, option (b) reduces the required bandwidth by approximately half.
The Lens Control - Birger EF232 allows controlling the aperture and focus of a compatible lens via a Birger EF232 Lens Mount. Both manual aperture and focus control, through the GUI, as well as automatic aperture and focus control, in response to the image intensity and sharpness, are provided.
A tool bar of icons provides shortcuts for accessing often used features of the PIXCI® frame grabber, and is an extension of the Image Viewer - View - Shortcuts described above. Selected shortcuts can also be activated by key clicks when the tool bar window has the ''input focus'' (i.e. that window's title bar is highlighted). The shortcuts provided are:
The shortcuts may either be attached and part of The Image Viewer Window, or may be detached into its own window, as set by Display under Image Viewer - View.
Other useful features of XCAP are associated with many, or all, of its windows.
Most windows of XCAP provide fields for numeric entry. Typically, to the right of the numeric entry field are two up/down or left/right buttons. Left clicking a button allows incrementing or decrementing the numeric value. Left clicking within a button's shaded area yields larger increment or decrement values, depending on the distance from the opposite button.
Right clicking the numeric field, either button, or the area between buttons, yields an options menu. The options menu typically provides the following:
Some numeric fields may have an associated, explicit, ''slider'' control in addition to the implicit ScrollPad. Right clicking the slider allows enlarging a portion of the slider's range for finer control.
Various windows of XCAP provide fields for entry of text, or file and path names. Right clicking the field yields an options menu. The options menu typically provides the following:
Various windows of XCAP provide fields for entry of pixel colors. Typically, the color can be entered numerically, and a small color ''swatch'' appears next to the color entry field, showing the selected color. Right clicking the swatch activates a color cylinder from which new colors may be selected by mouse clicks.
Various windows of XCAP provide a drop-down list selection field. Right clicking the selection field yields an options menu which in turn provides a Search feature. The Search allows convenient searching through a long list of selections. Selected drop-down list selection fields may have an explicit, adjacent, Search button to access the same service.
For drop-down list selection fields used to select a serial ''COM'' port (for Windows) or ''ttyS'' device (for Linux), right clicking the selection field yields an options menu which in turn provides a Refresh feature which updates the list based on the operating system's currently installed ports or devices.
Editing of numeric and text fields follows standard conventions. In brief, mouse click once or use left/right arrow keys to position the caret - characters are inserted at the caret as typed. Double mouse click to highlight all text or single click and drag to highlight a portion of text - a Delete or Backspace removes the highlighted text, a character replaces the highlighted text, and the left/right arrow keys cancel the highlight mode.
Hovering the mouse over a numeric, text, list selection, checkbox, radio button, button, or other control will cause the associated Tool Tip, if any, to pop-up; the Tool Tip will automatically disappear. The Tool Tip can also be displayed by right-clicking on the control for its options menu, which in turn provides a Tool Tip feature; the Tool Tip must be explicitly closed. The Big Field, Expression, and Search features also display the Tool Tip.
The user interface can be navigated without a mouse by using Tab and Shift-Tab to shift input focus, arrow keys and PgUp/PgDn to scroll, arrow keys to select tabs and list items, Enter to select choices and push buttons, and Alt-Tab (under Windows) or Ctrl-Alt-Tab (under Linux) to select a Window.
Main Window
File Load New Image Load New Image Sequence AVI BigTIFF BMP FITS JPEG/JFIF TIFF Portable Map VIF (Video Frame Files - Video to Disk) Multimedia Image File Info TWAIN Select Source TWAIN New Acquire TWAIN Source Info Window List -- List of current windows Exit
Images New Image -- List of current images
Scripts Script Record Script Play Script Remote Control Script Edit Script Tools Load Tool Bar Freeze Display Thaw & Refresh Display
Utility Black Board Message Log Audio Clip (Windows only) RS-232 Terminal Screen Capture I/O Port Peek & Poke (Windows 95, 98, ME only) Program Setup Windows Info (Windows only) Linux Info (Linux only) Window Style Java Info Devices Birger EF232 Directed Perception Pan-Tilt Unit EPIX® SILICON VIDEO® 10C-CL EPIX® SILICON VIDEO® 10M-CL EPIX® SILICON VIDEO® 20C-CL EPIX® SILICON VIDEO® 20M-CL EPIX® SILICON VIDEO® 1514CL EPIX® SILICON VIDEO® 1820CL Fujinon CCTV Lens Illumination Technologies 3900 Sagebrush Pan-Tilt Gimbal Volpi intralux dc-1100
PIXCI® PIXCI® Open/Close Multiple Devices Camera & Format Driver Assistant Advanced Board Info PIXCI® Video Setup Format (dependent on frame grabber) Resolution Sync Custom
PIXCI® Export Video Setup PIXCI® Import Video Setup PIXCI® TWAIN Sourcery (Windows only) PIXCI® Image-Pro Sourcery (Windows only) PIXCI® Status PIXCI® Serial Terminal PIXCI® Connections PIXCI® Camera Info
Help About License XCAP Release Notes XCAP Reference Manual PCI Configuration Tips Getting Started w. XCAP (via Web) for PIXCI® A110 for PIXCI® A310 for PIXCI® CL1 ... for SILICON VIDEO® 10M6 for SILICON VIDEO® 10C6 ...
PIXCI® Image Viewer Window
File Save Image BigTIFF BMP FITS JPEG/JFIF Portable Map TIFF X/Y Binary X/Y ASCII
Load Image TIFF BigTIFF JPEG/JFIF BMP FITS Portable Map X/Y Binary X/Y ASCII
Save Image Sequence One AVI/DIB w. Sequence One AVI/MJPG w. Sequence One BigTIFF w. Sequence One FITS w. Sequence One Portable Map w. Sequence One TIFF w. Sequence One X/Y Binary w. Sequence One X/Y ASCII w. Sequence Sequence of BigTIFF Sequence of BMP Sequence of FITS Sequence of JPEG/JFIF Sequence of TIFF Sequence of Portable Map Sequence of X/Y Binary Sequence of X/Y ASCII
Load Image Sequence One AVI w. Sequence One BigTIFF w. Sequence One FITS w. Sequence One TIFF w. Sequence One Portable Map w. Sequence One X/Y Binary w. Sequence One X/Y ASCII w. Sequence Sequence of BigTIFF Sequence of BMP Sequence of FITS Sequence of JPEG/JFIF Sequence of TIFF Sequence of Portable Map Sequence of X/Y Binary Sequence of X/Y ASCII
E-Mail Image Save Frame Buffer Memory Load Frame Buffer Memory Print Image Duplicate Image Duplicate Image Sequence BlackBoard Image Image Attributes Close Viewer
View Shortcuts Adjustments Status Bar Menu Bar Full Screen Always-On-Top Refresh Image's Palette Viewer's Palette Black & Gain Numerically Band Coloring Bit Slice Bit Transposition White Balance
Sequence Play Sequence Thumbnails Cursor Display Zoom, Pan, Scroll Flip & Mirror Launch 2nd Viewer
Examine Pixel Peek Peek X/Y Peek X/B Peek Y/B Pixel Peek & Poke Pixel Plot Plot Row Plot Column Plot Buffer Plot All Rows
Pixel Plot 3D Pixel Magnifier SMPTE VITC
Modify Patterns [Sequence Patterns] Set [Sequence Set] Arithmetic [Sequence Arithmetic] [Src+Dst Arithmetic] Complement Pixels Bit Wise Logical AND Pixels w. Mask Bit Wise Logical XOR Pixels w. Mask Bit Wise Logical OR Pixels w. Mask Bit Shift Left Bit Shift Right Bit Rotate Left Bit Rotate Right Bit Gray Code Bit Gray Decode Bit Reverse Add Constant with Pixels Multiply Constant with Pixels Add Uniform Random Dither to Pixels Add Gaussian Random Dither to Pixels Halftone, Threshold & Carry Halftone, Dot Construction Gamma Correction Pixie Minimum Pixie Maximum Pixie Mean Pixie Copy
Binning [Sequence Binning] [Src_Dst Binning] Average Integrate
Contrast Modification [Sequence Contrast Modification] [Src+Dst Contrast Modification] Stretch Contrast, Pixel Value Endpoints Stretch Contrast, Histogram Percentile Endpoints Invert Contrast Histogram Modification
Convolution [Sequence Convolution] [Src+Dst Convolution] Convolve: Convolve(PixelValue) Convolve: Abs(Convolve(PixelValue)) Convolve: PixelValue Convolve(PixelValue) Convolve: PixelValue Abs(Convolve(PixelValue))
Correlation Map [Sequence Correlation Map] [Src+Dst Correlation Map] Edge Detection [Sequence Edge Detection] [Src+Dst Edge Detection] Edge Magnitude: Laplacian Edge Magnitude: Vertical Edge Magnitude: Horizontal Edge Magnitude: Sobel Edge Magnitude: Kirsch Edge Magnitude: Roberts Edge Gradient: Log Sobel Edge Gradient: Log Sobel Absolute Edge Gradient: Log Kirsch Edge Gradient: Log Roberts Edge Gradient: Thin, Minimal Effect Edge Gradient: Thin, Maximal Effect
FFT [Sequence FFT] [Src+Dst FFT] FFT to Log Magnitude Root Filter Gaussian Filter Inverse Gaussian Filter
HSB Tweak Interlace & Flicker [Sequence Interlace & Flicker] [Src+Dst Interlace & Flicker] Shuffle Line Order to Field Order Shuffle Field Order to Line Order Transpose Line Pairs Transpose Column Pairs Shuffle Line Pairs to Pixel Pairs Shuffle Pixel Pairs to Line Pairs Shuffle Column Order to Even-Odd Halves Shuffle Even-Odd Halves to Column Order Shuffle Column Order to N Section Order Shuffle N Section Order to Column Order Deflicker: Average Line Pairs Deflicker: Filter Singularity Shift Half-Line Down Shift Half-Line Up Tap Correction: User Defined f(X,Y)
Morphology [Sequence Morphology] [Src+Dst Morphology] Erode Dilate Open Close Boundary Hit Miss Medial Axis Thin Skeleton Thin
Noise Generator [Sequence Noise Generator] [Src+Dst Noise Generator] Uniform Noise Gaussian Noise Rayleigh Noise Negative Exponential Noise Salt & Pepper Noise
Normalization [Sequence Normalization] [Src+Dst Normalization] Normalize Intensity, Blobs & Background Normalize Row Mean Normalize Column Mean
Rotation & Shift [Sequence Rotation & Shift] [Src+Dst Rotation & Shift] X, Y Shift Flip Skew Left/Right Skew Up/Down Rotate Rotate w. Offset
Spatial Filtering [Sequence Spatial Filtering] [Src+Dst Spatial Filtering] Low Pass Filter Sharpen Filter Median Filter Rank Low (Erode) Filter Rank High (Dilate) Filter Edge Enhance: Sobel Edge Enhance: Sobel Absolute Edge Enhance: Kirsch Edge Enhance: Roberts Horizontal Sharpen Filter Vertical Sharpen Filter Embossed Edges Emboss Enhance
Spatial Normalization [Sequence Spatial Normalization] [Src+Dst Spatial Normalization] Shift Center of Mass to Center
Threshold [Sequence Threshold] [Src+Dst Threshold] Threshold Adaptive [Sequence Threshold Adaptive] [Src+Dst Threshold Adaptive] Warping [Sequence Warping] [Src+Dst Warping] Warp: Src => Dst Fiducials Warp: Pincushion Distortion Warp: Barrel Distortion Warp: Pincushion Distortion, 1-D Warp: Barrel Distortion, 1-D Warp: Fisheye Lens Distortion Warp: Fisheye Lens Correction Warp: User Defined f(X,Y) Copy & Resize [Sequence Copy & Resize] Copy Copy & Resize Copy & Flip Copy & Overlay Copy & Retype Copy & Reorder Copy & Tile Pair Arithmetic [Sequence Pair Arithmetic] [Src+Dst Pair Arithmetic] Add: Dst+Src Modulo PixelSize Add: Min(Dst+Src, MaxPixValue) Subtract: (MaxPixValue+(Dst Src))/2 Subtract: (MaxPixValue+(Src Dst))/2 Subtract: (Dst Src)Modulo PixelSize Subtract: (Src Dst)Modulo PixelSize Subtract: (Src Dst)Modulo PixelSize Subtract: Max(Dst Src, 0) Subtract: Max(Src Dst, 0) Subtract: Abs(Dst Src) Bit Wise AND: Dst & Src Bit Wise XOR: Dst ^ Src Bit Wise OR: Dst | Src Average: (Src+Dst)/2 Product: (c0*Src+c1)*(c2*Dst+c3)/c4 Product: (c0*Dst+c1)/(c2*Src+c3) Ratio: (c0*Dst+c1)/(c2*Src+c3) User-Defined f(PixA, PixB)
Pair Normalization [Sequence Pair Normalization] [Src+Dst Pair Normalization] Contrast Modify & Match Background Correction, Subtractive Background Correction, Ratio Spot Mask Correction
Triplet Normalization [Sequence Triplet Normalization] [Src+Dst Triplet Normalization] Gain & Offset Normalization: MeanSrcB*(Dst-SrcA)/(SrcB-SrcA) Gain & Offset Normalization: MaxSrcB*(Dst-SrcA)/(SrcB-SrcA) Gain & Offset Normalization: MinSrcB*(Dst-SrcA)/(SrcB-SrcA)
Average Sequence Average Sequence Integrate Sequence Pixel Mean of Sequence Pixel Std. Dev. of Sequence Pixel Variance of Sequence Difference Sequence Tile Sequence
Measure Intensity Calibration Spatial Calibration Histogram Histogram Pair Mass & Moments Center of Mass Center of Mass, Binary Moments
Line Profile Radial Mass Plot Ruler Protractor Cartesian Reticle Polar Reticle Distance & Angle Crosshairs Shape Analysis Blob Analysis Particle Tracking SubPixel Edger Ellipse Fitter Correlation Finder
Draw Arrow Text Point Points Bezier Curve Circle Circle Arc Ellipse Ellipse Arc Line Parallel Lines Path Curve Polyline Rectangle Window Annulus Annulus Arc Bezier Region Elliptical Annulus Elliptical Annulus Arc Rectangle Array Path Enclosed Polygon Rectangular Frame Graphic Manager Image Overlay Paint Brush Paint Fill
AOI Set AOI Set ROI Set Full Image AOI/ROI Manager
Capture Adjustments Shortcuts Snap Live UnLive First Buffer Last Buffer Next Buffer Previous Buffer Sequence Capture Video to Frame Buffers - Single Sequence Video to Frame Buffers - Single Sequence w. Event Start Video to Frame Buffers - Single Sequence w. Event per Image Video to Frame Buffers - Continuous Sequence Video to Frame Buffers - Continuous Sequence w. Event Stop Video to Frame Buffers - Continuous Sequence w. Event per Image Video to Virtual Memory - Single Sequence Video to Virtual Memory - Single Sequence w. Event Start Video to Virtual Memory - Single Sequence w. Event per Image Video to Virtual Memory - Continuous Sequence Video to Virtual Memory - Continuous Sequence w. Event Stop Video to Virtual Memory - Continuous Sequence w. Event per Image Video to Disk File - Single Sequence Video to Disk File - Single Sequence w. Event Start Video to Disk File - Single Sequence w. Event per Image Video to Disk File - Continuous Sequence Video to Disk File - Continuous Sequence w. Event Stop Video to Disk File - Continuous Sequence w. Event per Image Video to Image Files - Single Sequence Video to Image Files - Single Sequence w. Event Start Video to Image Files - Single Sequence w. Event per Image Video to Image Files - Continuous Sequence Video to Image Files - Continuous Sequence w. Event Stop Video to Image Files - Continuous Sequence w. Event per Image Video to StreamStor (Windows only) GIO Event Capture
Waterfall Display Video to Disk RGB Merge Quad Pixel Merge Frame Average Lens Control Birger EF232 Live Options
Help Vis-a-Vis PIXCI® --- User's Manual (via Web) (for specific PIXCIXCAP in use) SILICON VIDEO® --- User's Manual (via Web) (for specific SILICON VIDEOXCAP in use, if any)
Optionally, the Main Window and the PIXCI® Image Viewer Window's may be combined (see Utilities - Program Setup) with the following features of the Main Window added to the PIXCI® Image Viewer Window:
File Window List -- List of current windows Image List -- List of current images Exit Utility Message Log Program Setup Windows Info (Windows only) Linux Info (Linux only) Window Style Java Info
PIXCI® PIXCI® Open/Close PIXCI® TWAIN Sourcery (Windows only) PIXCI® Image-Pro Sourcery (Windows only) PIXCI® Connections PIXCI® Video Setup PIXCI® Serial Terminal
Help XCAP Release Notes XCAP Reference Manual PCI Configuration Tips License About
Optionally, if XCAP is intended to be used solely in conjunction with a TWAIN compliant application or with Image-Pro, many of the menu features of the Main Window and the PIXCI® Image Viewer Window may be removed so as to provide a simplified appearance (see Utilities - Program Setup). The same option also removes several PIXCI® Image Viewer - Capture - Shortcuts and adds shortcuts duplicating features of the PIXCI® - TWAIN Sourcery and Image-Pro Sourcery.
Feature | XCAP-Plus | XCAP-Std | XCAP-Ltd | XCAP-Lite | XCAP-Viewer |
(A) | (A) | (A) | (A) | (A) | |
|
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File - | |||||
- Load New Image | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (C) | Yes (C) |
- Load New Image Sequence | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (C) | Yes (C) |
- Image File Info | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- TWAIN Select Source (Win) | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- TWAIN New Acquire (Win) | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
|
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Images - | |||||
- New Image (Workspace) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
|
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Scripts - | |||||
- Record | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Play | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
- Remote Control | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Load Tool Bar | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
|
|||||
Utility - | |||||
- Black Board | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Message Log | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- Audio Clip (Win) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
- RS-232 Terminal | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- Screen Capture | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- I/O Port Peek & Poke (W95) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Devices - | |||||
- Birger EF232 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- Directed Perception Pan-Tilt Unit | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- EPIX® SILICON VIDEO® 10C-CL | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- EPIX® SILICON VIDEO® 10M-CL | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- EPIX® SILICON VIDEO® 20C-CL | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- EPIX® SILICON VIDEO® 20M-CL | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- EPIX® SILICON VIDEO® 1514CL | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- EPIX® SILICON VIDEO® 1820CL | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- Fujinon CCTV Lens | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- Illumination Technologies 3900 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- Sagebrush Pan-Tilt Gimbal | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- Volpi intralux dc-1100 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
|
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PIXCI® - | |||||
- Open/Close - | |||||
- Single Board | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
- Multiple Identical Boards | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
- Multiple Different Boards | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Frame Buffer Memory Limit - | |||||
w. PIXCI® CL3SD | None (E) | None (E) | None (E) | None | N/A |
w. PCI 32 bit | None (E) | None (E) | 4 GiByte (E) | 256 MiByte(E) | N/A |
w. PCI 64 bit | None (E) | None (E) | 4 GiByte (E) | 256 MiByte(E) | N/A |
w. PCI Express & 32 bit O.S. | None (E) | None (E) | 4 GiByte (E) | 256 MiByte(E) | N/A |
w. PCI Express & 64 bit O.S. | None (E) | None (E) | 8 GiByte (E) | 256 MiByte(E) | N/A |
w. ExpressCard/54 & 32 bit O.S. | None (E) | None (E) | 4 GiByte (E) | 256 MiByte(E) | N/A |
w. ExpressCard/54 & 64 bit O.S. | None (E) | None (E) | 8 GiByte (E) | 256 MiByte(E) | N/A |
w. mini PCIe & 32 bit O.S. | None (E) | None (E) | 4 GiByte (E) | 256 MiByte(E) | N/A |
w. mini PCIe & 64 bit O.S. | None (E) | None (E) | 8 GiByte (E) | 256 MiByte(E) | N/A |
w. M.2 & 32 bit O.S. | None (E) | None (E) | 4 GiByte (E) | 256 MiByte(E) | N/A |
w. M.2 & 64 bit O.S. | None (E) | None (E) | 8 GiByte (E) | 256 MiByte(E) | N/A |
- Driver Assistant/Wizard | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
- Video Setup | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
- Export Video Setup | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
- Import Video Setup | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
- TWAIN Sourcery (Win) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
- Image-Pro Sourcery (Win) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
- Status | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
- Serial Terminal | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
- Connections Info | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- Camera Info | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- Camera Specific Controls | Yes (F) | Yes (F) | Yes (F) | Yes (F) | No |
|
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Help - | |||||
- XCAP Release Notes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- XCAP Reference Manual | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- PCI Configuration Tips | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- Getting Started w. XCAP (via Web) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
|
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File - | |||||
- Save Image | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (C) | No |
- Load Image | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (C) | Yes (C) |
- Save Image Sequence | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (C) | No |
- Load Image Sequence | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (C) | Yes (C) |
- E-Mail Image | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- Print Image | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (R) | No |
- Duplicate Image | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- Duplicate Image Sequence | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- BlackBoard Image | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
|
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View - | |||||
- Full Screen | Yes (W) | Yes (W) | Yes (W) | Yes (W) | Yes (W) |
- Frame-Less Full Screen | Yes (W) | Yes (W) | Yes (W) | No | No |
- Palette | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (G) | Yes (G) |
- Sequence Play | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- Sequence Thumbnails | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- Cursor | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- Zoom, Pan, Scroll | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- Flip & Mirror | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- Multi-thread/CPU rendering | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- Launch 2nd Viewer | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
|
|||||
Examine - | |||||
- Pixel Peek X vs Y | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (H) |
- Pixel Peek X vs B | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (H) |
- Pixel Peek B vs Y | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (H) |
- Pixel Peek & Poke | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- Pixel Plot Row | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (I)(Y) | Yes (I)(Y) |
- Pixel Plot Column | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (I)(Y) | Yes (I)(Y) |
- Pixel Plot Pixel × B | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (I)(Y) | Yes (I)(Y) |
- Pixel Plot Rows × Y | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- Pixel Plot Rows × B | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- Pixel Plot Cols × X | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- Pixel Plot Cols × B | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- Pixel Plot 3D | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (S) | Yes (S) |
- Pixel Magnifier | Yes | Yes | Yes (Z) | No | No |
- SMPTE VITC | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
|
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Modify - | |||||
- Patterns | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- Set | Yes | Yes | Yes (J) | Yes (J) | Yes (J) |
- Arithmetic | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Binning | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Contrast Modification | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Convolution | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Correlation Map | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Edge Detection | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- FFT | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- HSB Tweak | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Interlace & Flicker | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Morphology | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Noise Generator | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Normalization | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Rotation & Shift | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Spatial Filtering | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Spatial Normalization | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Threshold | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Threshold Adaptive | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Warping | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Copy & Resize | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Pair Arithmetic | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Pair Normalization | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Triplet Normalization | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Average Sequence | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Difference Sequence | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Tile Sequence | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
|
|||||
Measure - | |||||
- Intensity Calibration | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Spatial Calibration | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Histogram | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Histogram Pair | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Mass & Moments | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Line Profile | Yes | Yes | Yes (K,L) | Yes (I,K,L) | Yes (I,K,L) |
- Radial Mass Plot | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Ruler | Yes | Yes | Yes (K) | Yes (K) | Yes (K) |
- Protractor | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Cartesian Reticle | Yes | Yes | Yes (K) | Yes (K) | Yes (K) |
- Polar Reticle | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Dist. & Angle Crosshairs | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Shape Analysis | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Blob Analysis | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Particle Tracking | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- SubPixel Edger | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Ellipse Fitter | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Correlation Finder | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
|
|||||
Draw - | |||||
- Arrow | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- Text | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- Point | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- Points | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- Bezier Curve | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- Circle | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- Circle Arc | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- Diamond | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- Ellipse | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- Ellipse Arc | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- Line | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- Parallel Lines | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- Path Curve | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- Polyline | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- Rectangle | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- Window | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- Annulus | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- Annulus Arc | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- Bezier Region | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- Elliptical Annulus | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- Elliptical Annulus Arc | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- Rectangle Array | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- Path Enclosed | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- Polygon | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- Rectangular Frame | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- Graphic Manager | Yes | Yes | Yes (B) | Yes (B) | Yes (B) |
- Paint Brush | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- Paint Fill | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- Image Overlay | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
|
|||||
Capture - | |||||
- Snap (Video) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
- Live (Video) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
- Frame Date&Time Stamp | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
- First Buffer | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
- Next Buffer | Yes (M) | Yes (M) | Yes (M) | Yes (M) | No |
- Previous Buffer | Yes (M) | Yes (M) | Yes (M) | Yes (M) | No |
- Last Buffer | Yes (M) | Yes (M) | Yes (M) | Yes (M) | No |
- Adjustments - | |||||
- Snap/Live Buffer Number | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
- Resolution (video window) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
- Camera Specific Controls | Yes (F) | Yes (F) | Yes (F) | Yes (F) | No |
- Color & White Balance | Yes (N) | Yes (N) | Yes (N) | Yes (N) | No |
- SILICON VIDEO(R) AWB | Yes (N) | Yes (N) | Yes (N) | Yes (N) | No |
- Auto Gain/Exposure Control | Yes (O) | Yes (O) | Yes (O) | No (O) | No |
- SILICON VIDEO(R) AGC/AEC | Yes (O) | Yes (O) | Yes (O) | Yes (O) | No |
- Pixel Normalization (FFC) | Yes (V) | Yes (V) | Yes (V) | Yes (V) | No |
- Auto Contrast Enhancement | Yes (X) | Yes (X) | Yes (X) | No (X) | No | |
- Manual Contrast Enhancement | Yes (X) | Yes (X) | Yes (X) | Yes (X) | No | |
- Load & Save Presets | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- Shortcuts | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
- GIO Event Capture Single | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
- GIO Event Capture Sequence | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- Waterfall Display | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
- RGB Merge | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- Frame Average | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Quad Pixel Merge | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- Lens Control - | |||||
- Birger EF232 | Yes | Yes | Yes(U) | Yes(U) | No |
|
|||||
Sequence Capture (Single Sequence and Continuous Sequence) - | |||||
- to Frame Buffers | Yes (E) | Yes (E) | Yes (E) | Yes (P)(E) | No |
- to Frame Buffers at Event | Yes | Yes | Yes | No (Q) | No |
- to Virtual Memory | Yes | Yes | Yes (T) | Yes (P)(T) | No |
- to Virtual Memory at Event | Yes | Yes | Yes (T) | No (Q) | No |
- to Image Files | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (D) | No |
- to Image Files at Event | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- to Image Files - FTP Copy | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- to Image Files - HTTP Server | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- to Disk File | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- to Disk File at Event | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
- to StreamStor (Win) | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Notes: (A) For XCAP-Lite, the PIXCI® frame grabber is
assumed installed and open for use, otherwise XCAP-Lite provides
the same features as XCAP-Viewer. Use of XCAP-Plus, XCAP-Std, or
XCAP-Ltd with missing authorization key provides the same features
as XCAP-Lite. Use of XCAP without activation code, or never having
been configured for an authorization key, provides the features of
XCAP-Viewer.
(B) The Save, Import, and Export Graphic features are not
available in XCAP-Viewer, XCAP-Lite, or XCAP-Ltd.
(C) For XCAP-Viewer, images may not be saved; images may not
be loaded directly from an Internet URL. For XCAP-Lite, Save Image
Sequence is only available in TIFF format; images may not be loaded
directly from, or saved to, an Internet URL; and does not support
image ''stack'' options.
(D) For XCAP-Lite, the Sequence Capture to Image Files only
supports TIFF format.
(E) The maximum amount of frame buffer memory is dependent on
a the characteristics of the PIXCI® imaging card, the operating
system, and of XCAP software. The PIXCI® CL3SD and SI2 have
on-board frame buffer memory, other PIXCI® imaging cards use
computer based frame buffer memory. The PIXCI® CL1, CL2, D,
D24, D32, D2X, D3X, SI, SV2, SV3, SV4, and SV5 are designed to
access up to 4 GB of computer memory. The PIXCI® A110,
A310, D3XE, E1, E1DB, E4, E4DB, E4G2-2F, E4G2-4B, E4G2-F2B,
E4TX2-2F, E4TX2-4B, E4TX2-F2B, E8, E8CAM, E8DB, e104x4-2f,
e104x4-4b, e104x4-f2b, EB1, EB1G2, EB1-PoCL, EB1G2-PoCL, EB1mini,
miniH2B, miniH2F, miniH2x4F, mf2280, EC1, ECB1, ECB1-34, ECB2, EL1,
EL1DB, ELS2, SI1, SI4, SV7, and SV8 are designed to access up to
16 EiByte of computer memory (a theoretical limit, as no
currently available computer system provides 16 EiByte of
memory). For XCAP-Lite, a maximum of 256 MiByte of computer
based frame buffer memory is supported (but allows one full
resolution image buffer w/out size restriction). On 32 bit systems,
XCAP-Plus, XCAP-Std, and XCAP-Ltd support up to 4 GiBytes of
computer based frame buffer memory. On 64 bit systems, XCAP-Plus
and XCAP-Std supports up to 16 EiByte of computer based frame
buffer memory; XCAP-Ltd supports up to 8 GiByte of computer
based frame buffer memory. The maximum available computer based
frame buffer memory is also limited by the computer hardware,
configuration, and memory used by the operating system and other
applications.
(F) Camera specific controls provided for cameras supported by
PIXCI® E8CAM, ELS2, SI, SI1, SI2, and SI4, and for many digital
cameras supported by PIXCI® CL1, CL2, CL3SD, D, D24, D32, D2X,
D3X, D3XE, E1, E1DB, E4, E4DB, E4G2-2F, E4G2-4B, E4G2-F2B,
E4TX2-2F, E4TX2-4B, E4TX2-F2B, E8, E8DB, e104x4-2f, e104x4-4b,
e104x4-f2b, EB1, EB1G2, EB1-PoCL, EB1G2-PoCL, EB1mini, miniH2B,
miniH2F, miniH2x4F, mf2280, EC1, ECB1, ECB1-34, ECB2, EL1, and
EL1DB; the 'PIXCI® Camera Info' feature shows the specific,
customized, support provided for each camera.
(G) For XCAP-Lite and XCAP-Viewer, the Palette feature does
not include save, load, import, or export, nor the ''Extract
Bright/Dark Reference'' features.
(H) The Save Data feature is not available in XCAP-Viewer.
(I) For XCAP-Lite and XCAP-Viewer, the Pixel Plot feature does
not include statistics, save, export, or multi-image ''stack'' or
''plank'' options. For XCAP-Viewer, the Pixel Plot feature does not
include printing.
(J) For XCAP-Ltd, XCAP-Lite, and XCAP-Viewer, the Modify, Set
feature does not include non-rectangular regions.
(K) For XCAP-Ltd, XCAP-Lite, and XCAP-Viewer, the Measure
features do not include calibration.
(L) For XCAP-Ltd, XCAP-Lite, and XCAP-Viewer, the Line Profile
is limited to straight lines.
(M) Subject to the amount of frame buffer memory versus image
resolution yielding more than one frame buffer.
(N) Software implemented White Balance and Color Corrections
(in contrast to a camera's feature) is provided for SILICON
VIDEO® and other selected cameras; XCAP-Lite provides
automatic, continuous, white balance (AWB) only for SILICON
VIDEO® cameras. The XCAP-Lite does not provide custom color
calibration from a Macbeth chart or other color reference.
(O) Software implemented AGC/AEC (in contrast to a camera's
feature) is provided for selected cameras; of those, XCAP-Lite
provides AGC/AEC only for SILICON VIDEO® cameras.
(P) For XCAP-Lite, the Sequence Capture does not include the
graphic overlay of time stamp features, nor the strobe features
added by software (as selected in the Sequence Capture dialog); any
strobe features provided by the PIXCI® frame grabber or camera
(either inherent or selected in the Capture & Adjust dialog)
are available.
(Q) For XCAP-Lite, ''triggered'' sequence capture is provided
when the camera is, itself, triggered (often referred to as ''Async
Reset Mode''); sequence capture from a free-running camera where
the trigger or event is handled separately is not provided.
(R) For XCAP-Lite, the image printing feature only supports
use of the operating system's image printing feature(s), not
printing via EPIX® imaging drivers.
(S) The Save Graphics, Save Data, Export Data, or multi-image
''stack'' features are not available in XCAP-Viewer or XCAP-Lite.
The Print feature is not available in XCAP-Viewer.
(T) For XCAP-Lite, the sequence capture to virtual memory is
limited to using 1 GiByte of virtual memory For XCAP-Ltd, the
sequence capture to virtual memory is limited to using
4 GiByte of virtual memory. The operating system's
configuration may impose additional limitations.
(U) Interactive control of the lens is provided, but not
automatic aperture or automatic focus features in XCAP-Viewer or
XCAP-Lite.
(V) Software implemented Pixel Normalization or Flat Field
Correction (in contrast to a camera's feature) is provided for
SILICON VIDEO® and other selected cameras; of those, XCAP-Lite
does not provide Pixel Normalization in generic Camera Link
mode.
(W) Frame-less full screen is not available in XCAP-Lite,
XCAP-Viewer, or under Linux.
(X) Software implemented Contrast Enhancement (in contrast to
a camera's feature) is provided for selected cameras; of those,
XCAP-Lite provides manual, but not automatic contrast
enhancement.
(Y) The Save Graphics, Save Data, Copy Data, and Descriptive
Statistics features are not available in XCAP-Viewer or
XCAP-Lite.
(Z) The Contrast and other enhancements of the magnified area
not available in XCAP-Ltd.
(W95) Feature available only under Windows 95, 98, and ME.
(Win) Feature available only under Windows.
The optional XCLIB C/C++ library allows controlling the PIXCI® frame grabber from ''C/C++'' programs. Under Windows, the XCLIB library can also be accessed by any programming environment able to call functions within a DLL; such as VB.NET, C#, LabView, Matlab, and Python. Under Linux, the XCLIB library can also be accessed by any programming environment able to call functions within a Shared Object (SO); such as LabView, Matlab, and Python.
The XCLIB library is designed to be a component which is called by the user's application, rather than an application template with pre-selected and limited customizability. In other words, the XCLIB library forces the fewest possible architectural choices upon the user's application. Under Windows the XCLIB library is composed of ''C'' functions within a DLL and can be used from non-MFC, MFC, C#, or even ''console'' applications. With one optional exception, the XCLIB library does not create any windows or dialogs of its own; rather it allows displaying imagery into a window provided by the user.
This quick introduction focuses primarily on XCLIB library functions themselves; programming environment, operating system issues, and compilation instructions are addressed in the XCLIB Reference Manual and in the example programs provided with the XCLIB library. Nor is this introduction intended to cover every XCLIB library function or to provide complete programs; rather it is intended to provide the ''feel'' of XCLIB library programming, without the complications of user interfaces and application specific functionality.
Alternatives to use of XCLIB are available. The Media Foundation
Frame Server (DirectShow) driver for PIXCI® frame grabbers
provides a Windows Media Foundation, Media Source driver to control
PIXCI® frame grabbers and retrieve video and image data. The
Video for Linux Driver (V4L2) for PIXCI® frame grabbers
provides a Linux standard V4L2 API to control PIXCI® frame
grabbers and retrieve video and image data.
The XCLIB library has two series of functions. The Simple C Functions (SCF), whose names start with pxd_, suffice for most application programs. This introduction only discusses the SCF functions.
Frame buffers are preallocated by the library, and selected by ordinals 1, 2, etc. The number of frame buffers is dependent on the camera resolution and the total memory size reserved for frame buffers. Under Windows and Linux, the reserved memory size can easily be set in XCAP application's Driver Assistant, or by following the installation instructions.
For cameras with raw Bayer output, the XCLIB library automatically provides processed RGB pixel values. For multi-tap cameras with pixels output in an order other than left-to-right, top-to-bottom, the XCLIB library automatically provides pixels in the correct order.
Functions to snap a video field (such as pxd_goSnap, discussed below) capture the next video
field following its invocation. In other words, the function
''arms'' the PIXCI® frame grabber to capture the next video
field into a frame buffer. This is in contrast to having the frame
grabber consume resources continuously capturing everything, and
having a hypothetical snap function retrieve the last field
captured. This hypothetical behavior can be
obtained in XCLIB using pxd_goLivePair
(also discussed below) or similar functions, but it is not the
behavior of the snap function.
The following code captures an image into the first frame buffer with the frame grabber and camera in the default mode:
For a shorter program, under Windows and Linux (but not DOS) the:#include "xcliball.h" ... pxd_PIXCIopen("", // driver configuration parameters: use default "Default", // video format name: use default as per specific frame grabber ""); // video setup file exported by XCAP: none pxd_doSnap(0x1, // select PIXCI(R) unit 1 1, // select frame buffer 1 0); // default timeout pxd_PIXCIclose();
may be eliminated, but for the sake of robustness and portability including the pxd_PIXCIclose is recommended.pxd_PIXCIclose();
A note on syntax for users of languages other than C/C++. A string of characters in C/C++ is denoted by " characters; a "" represents the empty string. XCLIB doesn't expect the " characters. Use whatever syntax is required by the current language to provide the characters shown within the "" characters.
For PIXCI® CL2 frame grabbers, the pxd_PIXCIopen parameter ''Default'' selects the camera for which the current PIXCI® frame grabber is intended, as coded into the PIXCI® frame grabber's EEPROM. If no selection is coded, or ''Generic Camera Link'' is coded (image resolution, pxd_imageXdim() and pxd_imageYdim(), of 888×888), after configuring the XCAP application to the desired camera and format, a video setup file can be exported and its path name specified as the third parameter to pxd_PIXCIopen.
A slightly longer program that does something useful with the captured image:
which saves the captured image to a file. Or:#include "xcliball.h" ... pxd_PIXCIopen("", "Default", ""); pxd_doSnap(0x1, 1, 0); pxd_saveTiff(0x1, // select PIXCI(R) unit 1 "image.tif", // pathname 1, // select frame buffer 1 0, 0, // upper left X, Y AOI of buffer -1, -1, // lower right X, Y AOI of buffer, // -1 is an abbreviation for the maximum X or Y 0, 0); // reserved pxd_PIXCIclose();
which copies the captured image into a program buffer. Both pxd_saveTiff and pxd_readushort allow saving or reading from an area of interest (AOI) of the captured image. The latter example also shows use of a video setup file exported by the XCAP application. (Use of a solidus (''/'') instead of reverse solidus (''\'') is allowed by all operating systems and avoids any complications of C/C++ treating the latter as a special character).#include "xcliball.h" ... pxd_PIXCIopen("", "", "/user/application/myVideoSetup.fmt"); pxd_doSnap(0x1, 1, 0); { void *buf = malloc( pxd_imageXdim() // horizontal resolution * pxd_imageYdim() // vertical resolution * sizeof(short));
pxd_readushort(0x1, // select PIXCI(R) unit 1 1, // select frame buffer 1 0, 0, // upper left X, Y AOI of buffer -1, -1, // lower right X, Y AOI of buffer, // -1 is an abbreviation for the maximum X or Y buf, // program buffer to be filled pxd_imageXdim() * pxd_imageYdim(), // size of program buffer in short's "Grey"); // color space to access .. process data .. free(buf); } pxd_PIXCIclose();
The XCLIB library provides data conversions, ''unsigned char'' versus ''unsigned short'', as necessary, as well as color space conversions. Thus, pxd_readushort will work with 8, 10, or 12 bit pixels, enlarging 8 bit pixels to unsigned shorts (right justified). And the similar pxd_readuchar also works with 8, 10, or 12 bit pixels, truncating 10 or 12 bit pixels to unsigned chars (keeping the most significant bits).
Similarly, these functions convert color spaces as needed; in the example above, correct grey level data is provided regardless of whether the captured image is monochrome, RGB, BGR, or Bayer.
The XCLIB-Lite library does not provide data size or color space conversions. For data size and color space dependent access to pixel data the pixel size, resolution and color space can be queried:
In practice, most application programs are designed for a specific camera and resolution, and the above code can be simplified by using only the relevant pxd_readuchar or pxd_readushort... pxd_doSnap(0x1, 1, 0); { void *buf = malloc( pxd_imageXdim() // horizontal resolution * pxd_imageYdim() // vertical resolution * (pxd_imageBdim()>8? sizeof(short): sizeof(char)) // bit depth * pxd_imageCdim()); // number of color components
if (pxd_imageBdim() <= 8) pxd_readuchar(0x1, 1, 0, 0, -1, -1, buf, pxd_imageXdim() * pxd_imageYdim() * pxd_imageCdim(), pxd_imageCdim()==1? "Grey": "RGB"); else pxd_readushort(0x1, 1, 0, 0, -1, -1, buf, pxd_imageXdim() * pxd_imageYdim() * pxd_imageCdim(), pxd_imageCdim()==1? "Grey": "RGB"); .. process data .. free(buf); }
For Bayer output cameras, the pxd_imageCdim() is the number of effective and useful
color components, namely 3, not the number of raw values per
pixel!
Every real application should check for errors. Most XCLIB library functions return an integer value, with values less than 0 indicating an error. The pxd_mesgErrorCode function provides a textual description for each error:
In addition, the pxd_mesgFault provides a detailed report for errors occurring during pxd_PIXCIopen and video capture functions.int r; r = pxd_saveTiff(0x1, "image.tif", 1, 0, 0, -1, -1, 0, 0); if (r < 0) { // For Windows GUI MessageBox(NULL, pxd_mesgErrorCode(r)), "XCLIB Error", MB_OK|MB_TASKMODAL); // For Windows Console, DOS, Linux printf("XCLIB Error: %s\n", pxd_mesgErrorCode(r)); }
Under Windows, the pxd_mesgFault pops up a dialog. Under DOS or Linux it displays error information to ''stderr''.int r; r = pxd_PIXCIopen("", "Default", ""); if (r < 0) pxd_mesgFault(0x1); // select PIXCI(R) unit 1
Hereafter, for the sake of brevity and clarity, error checking
will not be shown.
The PIXCI® CL2 video setup defaults to match the camera's default configuration. For most cameras the default configuration is full resolution, free-running.
To change the video setup, such as to select a camera trigger mode (if available on the camera used) or to reduce resolution so as to obtain more frame buffers within a given amount of memory:
PIXCI® PIXCI® Export Video Setupto save the video setup to a specified file name.
to open XCLIB with the same video setup. The third parameter can be a fully qualified path name or a file name; if the latter, the standard operating system default determines what directory (folder) is expected to contain the file name. (Use of a solidus (''/'') instead of reverse solidus (''\'') is allowed by all operating systems, and avoids any complications of C/C++ treating the latter as a special character).pxd_PIXCIopen("", "", "/user/application/myVideoSetup.fmt");
Alternately, the pxd_videoFormatAsIncluded allow switching the video setup without re-opening XCLIB, as well as compiling the video setup file into the application. See the XCLIB Reference Manual for more information.
For many Camera Link cameras, the exported video setup file also includes the RS-232-like Camera Link serial commands to setup the camera; these commands are automatically sent to the camera by pxd_PIXCIopen or pxd_videoFormatAsIncluded.
For other cameras, the camera's default configuration can be
changed using the manufacturer's software. Alternately, an
application note in the XCLIB Reference
Manual describes how to explicitly send serial commands to
re-configure the camera via XCLIB. In all cases, it is important
that the camera's configuration, such as trigger mode versus
free-run mode, match the PIXCI® frame grabber's
configuration.
The:
is the easiest function for capturing single images; the programmer specifies the buffer and the function returns when the capture is completed.pxd_doSnap(...);
Other capture functions return immediately, allowing the application to proceed with other tasks without having to utilize multiple execution threads. The:
initiates capture of a single video field into the specified buffer, the:pxd_goSnap(0x1, // select PIXCI(R) unit 1 1); // select frame buffer 1
initiates continuous capture of each video field into the specified buffer, the:pxd_goLive(0x1, // select PIXCI(R) unit 1 1); // select frame buffer 1
initiates continuous captured of each video field into alternate buffers, the:pxd_goLivePair(0x1, // select PIXCI(R) unit 1 1, // select frame buffer 1 2); // select frame buffer 2
initiates capture at video rate of ten fields into ten buffers, and finally the:pxd_goLiveSeq(0x1 // select PIXCI(R) unit 1 1, // select start frame buffer 1 pxd_imageZdim(), // select end as last frame buffer 1, // incrementing by one buffer pxd_imageZdim(), // once per buffer 1); // advancing to the next buffer after each frame
initiates continuous capturing of video fields at video rate into a ''ring'' composed of all frame buffers.pxd_goLiveSeq(0x1 // select PIXCI(R) unit 1 1, // select start frame buffer 1 pxd_imageZdim(), // select end as last frame buffer 1, // incrementing by one buffer 0, // for ever 1); // advancing to next buffer after each 1 frame
For use along with capture functions that run in the ''background'' are functions to monitor their progress. For example:
is one method of checking whether the previous pxd_goSnap is done. Or,pxd_goSnap(0x1, 1); for (;;) { if (!pxd_goneLive(0x1, 0)) break; .. do some useful work while waiting.. }
continuously captures into a pair of buffers, processing each video field as the next is being captured and can also be used with pxd_goLiveSeq().pxbuffer_t last = -1;
pxd_goLivePair(0x1, 1, 2); for (;;) { if (pxd_capturedBuffer(0x1) == last) continue; // nothing new captured yet last = pxd_capturedBuffer(0x1); .. process last captured image .. }
Of course, many applications prefer to avoid ''polling'' for status within a loop. The XCLIB library also provides asynchronous notification of both:
HANDLE event = pxd_eventCapturedFieldCreate(0x1); // select PIXCI(R) unit 1Thereafter, any thread waiting upon the event will be notified whenever a field has been captured by pxd_goSnap, pxd_goLive, pxd_goLivePair, pxd_goLiveSeq, or by the pxd_goLiveTrig discussed below.
The pxd_goLivePair or pxd_goLiveSeq start the video engine to continuously and automatically fill the ring of frame buffers; the application monitors progress and must read data from a frame buffer before being overwritten by the video engine. An alternative approach is to queue empty frame buffers which are to be filled by the DMA engine:
The application monitors progress and must read data and re-queue each frame buffer; if no frame buffer is queued the video engine skips capture of a frame. Both approaches share the same performance - video, bus, and CPU efficiency; they differ as to what is captured when the application falls behind its processing of image data.pxbuffer_t last = -1; pxd_quLive(0x1, 1); // add buffer 1 to video engine queue pxd_quLive(0x1, 2); // add buffer 2 to video engine queue for (;;) { if (pxd_capturedBuffer(0x1) == last) continue; // nothing new captured yet last = pxd_capturedBuffer(0x1); .. process last captured image .. pxd_quLive(0x1, last); // re-add buffer to video engine queue }
Cameras used with the PIXCI® CL2 frame grabber typically have a free-run mode; continuously exposing and sending fields or frames to the frame grabber. Some may also have a asynchronous trigger mode; where the camera exposure and video is quiescent until arrival of a trigger, upon which the sensor is exposed once and a single image sent to the frame grabber.
When combined with the capabilities of the PIXCI® frame
grabber, the camera may be in asynchronous trigger mode but with
the frame grabber generating periodic triggers (in XCAP this is
usually governed by the Controlled Frame Rate).
For the purposes of this discussion on XCLIB triggered capture,
this combination is effectively the same as if the camera were in a
free-run mode.
For a camera and frame grabber combination in free-run mode, triggering consists of selecting a field or frame to capture.
A simple trigger example using the general purpose level sensitive input, is:
which waits until any of the general purpose input(s) have changed, then snaps the next field or frame arriving from the camera.int odata; odata = pxd_getGPIn(0x1, // select PIXCI(R) unit 1 0); // reserved while (odata == pxd_getGPIn(0x1, 0)) ; pxd_doSnap(0x1, 1, 0);
Or,
This variation captures the field or frame which was being sent while the trigger was received; the former example captures the field or frame following the trigger. It also demonstrates use of the general purpose output for ''handshaking'' with the external equipment.int odata = pxd_getGPIn(0x1, 0); // save current G.P inputs pxd_goLive(0x1, 1); // capture continuously pxd_setGPout(0x1, 0x01); // set output flag that we are ready while (odata == pxd_getGPIn(0x1, 0)) ; // wait for trigger pxd_setGPout(0x1, 0x00); // set output flag that we saw the trigger pxd_goUnLive(0x1); // terminate continuous capture while pxd_goneLive(0x1, 0)) // wait for capture to cease ; pxd_setGPout(0x1, 0x01); // set output flag that we are done
Both of these examples depend on the application responding to the general purpose input in a timely manner, and both consume time in wait loops. Neither is a significant problem under single-tasking DOS, but can be a problem under multi-tasking Windows or Linux depending upon how much latency the application allows and what other tasks are running.
Alternately, the pxd_goLiveTrig described in the XCLIB Reference Manual performs the same function as the latter example including use of general purpose output ''strobes'', but returns immediately leaving the trigger capture running in the ''background''. It also provides minimal latency and additional options for delaying the capture following the trigger by a specified number of fields or frames.
Triggering can also be done using the general purpose edge sensitive trigger:
orint ocnt = pxd_getGPTrigger(0x1, 0); // save current trigger count while (ocnt == pxd_getGPTrigger(0x1, 0)) // wait for change ; pxd_doSnap(0x1, 1, 0); // snap
For applications which prefer to avoid ''polling'' for status within a loop, XCLIB also provides asynchronous notification of the general purpose trigger. As for video field notifications, in Windows these notifications take the form of an ''Event'', in DOS these notifications take the form of a callback function, and in Linux these notifications take the form of a ''signal''. For example, under Windows:int ocnt = pxd_getGPTrigger(0x1, 0); // save current trigger count pxd_goLive(0x1, 1); // capture continuously while (ocnt == pxd_getGPTrigger(0x1, 0)) // wait for change ; pxd_goUnLive(0x1); // terminate continuous capture while pxd_goneLive(0x1, 0)) // wait for capture to cease ;
HANDLE event = pxd_eventGPTriggerCreate(0x1, 0, 0); // select PIXCI(R) unit 1Thereafter, any thread waiting upon the event will be notified upon the general purpose trigger, and can then do a pxd_goSnap or pxd_goUnLive, as appropriate.
For a camera in asynchronous trigger mode, there are two possible submodes. In one submode, the trigger is external. An example of capturing a single triggered image is:
The pxd_doSnap should not be used, unless its timeout parameter adjusted to accommodate the delay before the trigger arrives. The pxd_goLive, pxd_goLivePair, and pxd_goLiveSeq can also be used to continuously capture triggered images, or to capture a sequence of triggered images. Neither pxd_getGPTrigger nor its asynchronous notification (e.g. pxd_eventGPTriggerCreate) need be used.pxd_goSnap(0x1, 1); // call BEFORE trigger is expected while pxd_goneLive(0x1, 0)) // wait for trigger then ; // wait for capture to cease
In the second submode, the PIXCI® frame grabber automatically issues a single trigger pulse (in XCAP this is described as the ''Button'' or ''Snap Button'' trigger selection.) In XCLIB, the equivalent is simply:
orpxd_doSnap(0x01, 1);
which both ''arm'' the PIXCI® frame grabber to capture an image and trigger the camera. Neither pxd_getGPTrigger nor its asynchronous notification (e.g. pxd_eventGPTriggerCreate) need be used. The pxd_goLive, pxd_goLivePair, and pxd_goLiveSeq are not appropriate for this mode.pxd_goSnap(0x01, 1, 0);
For a camera and frame grabber combination in free-run mode, triggering consists of selecting a field or frame on which to start or end capture. For example:
which waits until any of the general purpose inputs have changed, then fills the frame buffers with fields or frames at video rate.int odata; odata = pxd_getGPIn(0x1, // select PIXCI(R) unit 1 0); // reserved while (odata == pxd_getGPIn(0x1, 0)) ; pxd_goLiveSeq(0x1 // select PIXCI(R) unit 1 1, // select start frame buffer 1 pxd_imageZdim(), // select end as last frame buffer 1, // incrementing by one buffer pxd_imageZdim(), // for this many captures 1); // advancing to next buffer after each 1 frame while pxd_goneLive(0x1, 0)) // wait for capture to cease ;
Or,
which continuously captures until the general purpose trigger arrives, leaving the frame buffers filled with video fields or frames that predate the trigger.int ocnt = pxd_getGPTrigger(0x1, 0); pxd_goLiveSeq(0x1 // select PIXCI(R) unit 1 1, // select start frame buffer 1 pxd_imageZdim(), // select end as last frame buffer 1, // incrementing by one buffer 0, // for ever 1); // advancing to next buffer after each 1 frame while (ocnt == pxd_getGPTrigger(0x1, 0)) ; pxd_goUnlive(0x1); while pxd_goneLive(0x1, 0)) // wait for capture to cease ; printf("Most recent captured buffer: %d\n", pxd_capturedBuffer(0x1);
Or,
which continuously captures until the trigger arrives, waits for half of the frame buffers to be filled following the trigger, then terminates capture. The captured result is half of the frame buffers predate the trigger and half postdate the trigger.int odata = pxd_getGPIn(0x1, 0); pxvbtime_t fieldcount; pxd_goLiveSeq(0x1 // select PIXCI(R) unit 1 1, // select start frame buffer 1 pxd_imageZdim(), // select end as last frame buffer 1, // incrementing by one buffer 0, // for ever 1); // advancing to next buffer after each 1 frame while (odata == pxd_getGPIn(0x1, 0)) ; fieldcount = pxd_videoFieldCount(0x1); // get current value of field counter while (pxd_videoFieldCount(0x1) < fieldcount+(pxd_imageZdim()/2)*pxd_imageIdim()) ; pxd_goUnlive(0x1); while pxd_goneLive(0x1, 0)) // wait for capture to cease ; printf("Most recent captured buffer: %d\n", pxd_capturedBuffer(0x1);
As for single image trigger capture, polling on the pxd_getGPTrigger can be avoided by using asynchronous notifications (e.g. pxd_eventGPTriggerCreate). Alternately, the pxd_goLiveSeqTrig described in the XCLIB Reference Manual performs the same function as the last three examples, but returns immediately leaving the trigger capture running in the ''background'' and provides minimal latency.
For a camera in asynchronous trigger mode, with an external trigger, sequence capture is simply:
pxd_goLiveSeq(0x1 // select PIXCI(R) unit 1 1, // select start frame buffer 1 pxd_imageZdim(), // select end as last frame buffer 1, // incrementing by one buffer pxd_imageZdim(), // for this many captures 1); // advancing to next buffer after each 1 frame while pxd_goneLive(0x1, 0)) // wait for capture to cease ;
In the second trigger submode, where the PIXCI® frame grabber automatically issues a single trigger pulse (in XCAP this is described as the ''Button'' or ''Snap Button'' trigger selection), sequence capture is simply:
As before, the polling can be avoided by using asynchronous event notifications.int i; for (i = 1; i <= pxd_imageZdim(); i++) { pxd_goSnap(0x1, i); while pxd_goneLive(0x1, 0)) // wait for capture to cease ; }
For additional guidance in using the XCLIB library, consult the XCLIB Reference Manual and the example programs provided with the XCLIB library.
National Semiconductor DS90LV047A Driver and DS90LV048
Receiver.
Voltage Output Low Minimum: 0.9 Volts.
Voltage Output High Maximum: 1.6 Volts.
Absolute Maximum Output Voltage Range: -0.3 volts to +3.6
volts.
Voltage Input Low Maximum: 0.8 Volts
Voltage Input High Minimum: 2.0 Volts
Absolute Maximum Input Voltage Range: -0.3 volts to +3.6 volts.
Specifications subject to change without notice.
This version of the manual is a ''generic'' version that discusses triggering and camera integration control for most cameras. Note that some cameras use unique control signals which are not described here. Contact EPIX if detailed programming information is required for a specific camera.
The trigger and camera integration control registers generate the CC1 signal to the camera via the Camera Link cable. The CC1 signal can be generated in response to an external rising or falling edge trigger input, in response to a write to the EXSYNC register, or can be continuously running.
Two 16 bit counters and a pixel clock divider determine the
timing of the CC1 signal. The EXSYNC counter determines the width
of CC1 while the PRIN counter determines the time from the end of
CC1 to the start of the next CC1. EXSYNC is used to program the
exposure width, while PRIN is used to program the time for readout
of the sensor. Some camera modes do not use the width of the CC1
signal, instead they use the edge of CC1 to start an exposure and
readout with the exposure controlled internally by the
camera.
Exposure is determined by the formula:
Exsync = (Camera_clock x Exposure) / (4 x
2N )
Prin = Camera_clock x (Frame_time - Exposure_time - 2 x
10-6 ) / (4 x
2N)
Note that the value of the pixel clock divider, N, must be the same for both Exsync and Prin calculations. The Exsync and Prin counters are 16 bits and the value of Exsync and Prin must be less than 65535 (decimal) and greater than 0.
In this example, the Basler A504k camera clock of 67.58 MHz is used.
The results of the examples that follow are rounded to the
nearest whole number.
The EXSYNC and PRIN are set by loading a video configuration format file previously saved by XCAP, via
orpxd_PIXCIopen(...)
pxd_videoFormatAsIncluded(...);
The EXSYNC and PRIN 16 bit count values, which are the upper 16 of the 32 bit registers, can set and queried in the XCLIB library with functions:
int pxd_setExsyncPrin(int unitmap, uint exsync, uint prin); uint pxd_getExsync(int unitmap); uint pxd_getPrin(int unitmap);
The lower 16 bits of these registers can be queried and set in the XCLIB library with functions:
Only those bits which control the scaling of EXSYNC and/or PRIN values, or similar features should be changed by using pxd_setExsyncPrincMode. Other features, such as a change to resolution, or trigger mode also require a change to the video format configuration, which this function does not automatically perform. Use of pxd_PIXCIopen or pxd_videoFormatAsIncluded with a video format configuration exported by XCAP should be used to effect change to all EXSYNC and PRINC values and bits.int pxd_setExsyncPrincMode(int unitmap, uint exsyncbits, uint princbits); uint pxd_getExsyncMode(int unitmap) uint pxd_getPrincMode(int unitmap);
See the XCLIB Reference Manual for
additional information.
Third party applications using XCLIB may choose not to display
error messages. So as to assist providing technical support, error
messages describing a fault on open of the PIXCI® frame grabber
are automatically logged to the Windows Event Log (for Windows 2000
and later) or the Linux syslog
.
Below are listed all of the potential errors that may be encountered, along with a brief description of the error and brief summary of how to resolve the error condition.
For DOS. Contact EPIX, Inc. Technical Support.
Using ''forceful'' frame buffer memory allocation, the specified frame buffer memory overlaps memory owned by Linux. Either the -IA Driver Configuration Parameter is invalid, or the Linux configuration via lilo or grub is invalid, or the option to reserve memory for frame buffers was not selected when Linux booted.
For Linux. Contact EPIX, Inc. Technical Support.
For Windows 95, 98, ME. Contact EPIX, Inc. Technical Support.
For Windows NT, 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, 11. Contact EPIX, Inc. Technical Support.
For Windows NT. Contact EPIX, Inc. Technical Support.
For Linux. Linux refuses to grant access to the PIXCI® frame grabber's registers. Can occur when another driver already has exclusive access to the registers. Contact EPIX, Inc. Technical Support.
For Windows NT, 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, 11. Using ''forceful'' frame buffer memory allocation, the specified frame buffer memory overlaps memory owned by Windows. Either the -IA Driver Configuration Parameter is invalid, or the Windows configuration via boot.ini or bcdedit is invalid, or the option to reserve memory for frame buffers was not selected when Windows booted.
For Windows 95, 98, ME. Using forceful memory allocation, either the -IA Driver Configuration Parameter is invalid, or the Windows configuration via MaxPhysPage is invalid, as the specified frame buffer memory overlaps memory used by Windows.
Contact EPIX, Inc. Technical Support.
Possible hardware fault. Contact EPIX, Inc. Technical Support.
The Driver Configuration Parameters do not specify a sufficiently large memory size. Or, the operating system is unable to provide sufficient memory.
The operating system is unable to provide sufficient memory for serial data buffers.
Deprecated, see ''Can't identify frame grabber model! (NN/NN/NN)!''.
The PIXCI® driver and/or library predates the installed PIXCI® frame grabber. Contact EPIX, Inc. for newer drivers and software.
For Windows 95, 98, ME. Contact EPIX, Inc. Technical Support.
A format (video setup) file specified in pxd_PIXCIopen or xclib_open does not exist or can't be opened.
Possible hardware fault in PIXCI® frame grabber or computer's motherboard. Try a different slot on motherboard, or a different motherboard. With some PIXCI® frame grabbers, can also occur if Windows entered sleep or hibernation mode; newer drivers provide a ''hibernate compatibility patch'' enabled via registry (reboot to take effect), to resolve the problem. With some PIXCI® frame grabbers and motherboards, can occur if Windows' ''Fast Startup'' option is enabled; disable the ''Fast Startup'' option.
The camera did not respond, or did not respond as expected, to one or more serial commands contained in the video setup (video format). Check that the camera is connected and powered on. For most cameras, inclusion of serial commands in the video setup is optional.
Only occurs under DOS.
The specified DPMI operation code failed. Only occurs under DOS.
Contact EPIX, Inc. Technical Support.
For Linux. The driver module appears to be installed (and is
listed by ''lsmod''), but the /dev/pixci
node may not exist, have the wrong major or minor numbers, or have
the wrong permissions. Generally, occurs only when alternate
methods or scripts (other than those provided by EPIX, Inc.) have
been used to install the driver.
Self explanatory.
Deprecated. Self explanatory.
Generally self explanatory.
Note that on Windows systems supporting Plug & Play (i.e. other than Windows NT), the driver will only be installed if a PIXCI® frame grabber is detected. Use the Windows' Device Manager (run ''devmgmt.msc'') to distinguish whether a PIXCI® frame grabber isn't installed versus the driver not installed. Error can also occur on Windows 2K and later if using a newer V3.8.1 driver with an older DLL, as the driver was modified to pass Microsoft's ''style'' checks; a driver registry option provides for backward compatibility.
On Linux, the driver is installed during boot. When compiled with current default options, the driver remains installed regardless of whether the PIXCI® frame grabber is detected. Compiled with backward-compatible options, the driver will remain installed only if a PIXCI® frame grabber is detected; run ''lspci'' to distinguish whether the driver wasn't installed upon boot versus a PIXCI® frame grabber isn't installed.[8]
For Linux. Contact EPIX, Inc. Technical Support.
The EEPROM used to specify the PIXCI® frame grabber's default configuration can't be accessed or has been overwritten. Contact EPIX, Inc. Technical Support.
An error occurred while initializing the library and the video setup. Contact EPIX, Inc. Technical Support.
An error occurred while initializing the library and the video setup for the named video format. Contact EPIX, Inc. Technical Support.
The specified video format name is not recognized in conjunction with the current PIXCI® frame grabber.
An error occurred while initializing the library and the video setup for the named video format. Contact EPIX, Inc. Technical Support.
The specified video format file can't be found or opened.
An error occurred while initializing the library and the video setup for the specified video format file.
On a 64 bit computer with more than 4 GB of memory, set the ''Restrict Non-Forceful Memory to be below 4 GiByte'' (in PIXCI®, PIXCI® Open/Close, Advanced) option.
The PIXCI® frame grabber is already open, and was opened for exclusive use rather than for shared use.
For Windows NT. Contact EPIX, Inc. Technical Support.
For Windows NT. Contact EPIX, Inc. Technical Support.
For Windows 95, 98, ME. Windows Plug & Play configuration of the PIXCI® frame grabber and driver is incorrect.
The Driver Configuration Parameters (in the Windows registry entry of the PIXCI® driver, appended to the Linux insmod command, in the first parameter to pxd_PIXCIopen, or in the third parameter to xclib_open) are invalid, such as an undefined flag, or a numeric value containing invalid characters.
With some PIXCI® frame grabbers, can occur if Windows entered sleep or hibernation mode; newer drivers provide a ''hibernate compatibility patch'' enabled via registry, reboot Windows to resolve the problem. Otherwise, contact EPIX, Inc. Technical Support.
Deprecated, see ''Multiple frame grabbers not identical!''.
Multiple PIXCI® frame grabbers opened ''as a group'' (i.e. with one instance of XCLIB, or under XCAP with ''Common Controls'') must be of identical models. Depending on the model and revision(s), some different revisions of a given model are transparent to the PIXCI® imaging board driver, for others, the revisions must also be identical.
Deprecated, see ''Multiple frame grabber revisions not identical!''.
Multiple PIXCI® frame grabbers opened ''as a group'' (i.e. with one instance of XCLIB, or under XCAP with ''Common Controls'') must be of identical models. Depending on the model and revision(s), some different revisions of a given model are transparent to the PIXCI® imaging board driver, for others, the revisions must also be identical.
Deprecated, see ''No frame grabber installed!''.
No PIXCI® frame grabber is installed; check if the PIXCI® frame grabber is properly seated or try a different slot.
Deprecated, see ''No frame grabber selected!''.
No PIXCI® frame grabbers are installed.
XCAP's Multiple Devices selection (PIXCI®, PIXCI® Open/Close, Multiple Devices), or XCLIB's Driver Configuration Parameters, does not select use of any PIXCI® frame grabber.
The PIXCI® driver and/or library predates the current operating system. Contact EPIX, Inc. for newer drivers and software.
For DOS.
Deprecated, see ''Selected frame grabbers not installed! (Select=NN Install=NN)''.
XCAP's Multiple Devices selection (PIXCI®, PIXCI® Open/Close, Multiple Devices), or XCLIB's Driver Configuration Parameters, selects use of the N'th PIXCI® frame grabber, but there are fewer PIXCI® frame grabber's installed.
Deprecated, see ''Unable to access frame grabber registers! (DDK MapPhysToLinear)!''.
For Windows 95, 98, ME. Contact EPIX, Inc. Technical Support.
Deprecated, see ''Unable to access frame grabber registers! (DDK MmMapIoSpace)!''.
For Windows NT, 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, 11. Contact EPIX, Inc. Technical Support.
Deprecated, see ''Unable to access frame grabber registers! (DD ioremap)!''.
For Linux. Contact EPIX, Inc. Technical Support.
For Windows 95, 98, ME. Contact EPIX, Inc. Technical Support.
For Linux. Contact EPIX, Inc. Technical Support.
For Linux. Contact EPIX, Inc. Technical Support.
For Windows 95, 98, ME. Contact EPIX, Inc. Technical Support.
For Windows NT, 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, 11. Contact EPIX, Inc. Technical Support.
For Windows NT, 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, 11. Contact EPIX, Inc. Technical Support.
For Windows NT, 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, 11. Contact EPIX, Inc. Technical Support.
For Windows NT, 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, 11. Contact EPIX, Inc. Technical Support.
The named video format, specified in pxd_PIXCIopen or xclib_open, does not match any predefined video format for the current PIXCI® frame grabber.
The named video format, specified in pxd_PIXCIopen or xclib_open, is not supported by the current PIXCI® frame grabber.
Deprecated, see ''XCLIB-Lite does not support multiple frame grabbers!''.
Self explanatory.
Self explanatory.
A frame buffer number, larger than the current number of frame buffers, was specified for capture. Most likely an error by application software.
The camera sent a ''break'' signal, or the camera held the serial transmit line low during reset or while power is cycled.
May also occur if the camera power is cycled, or if cables are removed or attached, while the PIXCI® frame grabber is in use.
PIXCI® driver and/or application software could not process serial data from the camera quickly enough. Typically occurs when use of IRQ's are disabled (PIXCI®, PIXCI® Open/Close, Advanced).
May also occur if the camera power is cycled, or if cables are removed or attached, while the PIXCI® frame grabber is in use.
The frame buffer memory is not writable from the interrupt handler. Typically occurs when using forceful memory allocation. Set the ''Per Frame-Buffer Status: Use System Memory'' (in PIXCI®, PIXCI® Open/Close, Advanced) option.
Contact EPIX, Inc. Technical Support.
During video capture via DMA, the PCI bus logged an error. Contact EPIX, Inc. Technical Support.
The bandwidth provided by the PCI bus is insufficient for capturing video-rate data. Updating the computer's firmware and BIOS, trying a different PCI slot, and disabling power conservation features in BIOS may increase the bandwidth provided by the bus. Reduce the camera's horizontal resolution, reduce the camera's bit depth, reduce the camera's pixel clock, or enable camera binning (subsampling), or, if capturing 10 or 12 bits per pixel enable use of bit-packing, to decrease the bandwidth required. Can also be caused by excessive cable length (relative to the camera's pixel clock frequency), causing the clock to be garbled.
By analogy, the term may be used with digital video signals: the portion of signal(s) containing useful pixel values as indicated by the ''Line Valid'' and ''Frame Valid'' signals.
An AOI is sometimes referred to as a ''window'' within the image, but is not to be confused with a ''window'' or ''dialog'' of a Graphical User Interface, such as Windowstm, Javatm, or GTK.
In contrast to ''Digital Gain'', use of analog gain on dim pixel intensities will, typically, produce an image with both greater contrast and greater continuous tonality, albeit with increased levels of random noise.
which cover the photosites of some CCD or CMOS image sensors. There are four possible alignments of the mosaic with the image's upper left photosite; a particular alignment is often referred to as ''Bayer Phase''. A color RGB image is constructed by interpolating the pixel values derived from photosites under the various filters.. . . . ... R G R G ... ... G B G B ... ... R G R G ... ... G B G B ... . . . .
For color pixels, the number of bits may refer to the number of bits per color component, or to the total number of bits for all components; ''16 bit RGB'' may refer to an older S/VGA standard that provides low quality color by using 5 or 6 bits for red, blue, and green, or may refer to high quality color using a total 48 bits per pixel and providing 65536 intensity levels for each of red, green, and blue.
Sensor formats and suggested lens formats for SILICON VIDEO® cameras are:
Camera | Sensor Format | Suggested Lens | Pixel Size |
or Size | Format | or Pitch(p), | |
micrometer | |||
|
|||
10C-CL and 10M-CL | 1/2.3 in. | 1/2 in. C-Mount | 1.67×1.67 |
10C6 and 10M6 | 1/2.3 in. | 1/2 in. C-Mount | 1.67×1.67 |
1281M and 1281C | 2/3 in. | 2/3 in. C-Mount | 7.0×7.0 |
1310 and 1310C | 1/2 in. | 1/2 in. C-Mount | 6.0×6.0 (p) |
15C5 and 15M5 | 1/2.3 in. | 1/2 in. C-Mount | 1.4×1.4 |
1514CL | 1/2.3 in. | 1/2 in. C-Mount | 1.4×1.4 |
1820CL | 1/2.3 in. | 1/2 in. C-Mount | 1.25×1.25 |
1C45 and 1M45 | 1/3 in. | 1/3 in. C-Mount | 3.75×3.75 (p) |
20C-CL and 20M-CL | 32.77×24.58mm2 | F-Mount | 6.4×6.4 |
2112 and 2112C | 1 in. | 1 in. C-Mount | 7.5×7.5 (p) |
2KS-C and 2KS-M | 2/3 in. | 2/3 in. C-Mount | 5.5×5.5 |
5M10 and 5C10 | 1/2.5 in. | 1/2 in. C-Mount | 2.2×2.2 |
642M and 642C | 1/2 in. | 1/2 in. C-Mount | 9.9×9.9 |
643M and 643C | 1/2 in. | 1/2 in. C-Mount | 9.9×9.9 |
9C10 | 1/2.3 in. | 1/2 in. C-Mount | 1.75×1.75 |
9M001 and 9M001C | 1/2 in. | 1/2 in. C-Mount | 5.2×5.2 |
9T001C | 1/2 in. | 1/2 in. C-Mount | 3.2×3.2 |
WGA-M and WGA-C | 1/3 in. | 1/3 in. C-Mount | 6.0×6.0 |
The Base Configuration uses one Channel Link chip, one MDR or SDR 26-pin connector, and can transfer 24 pixel bits per clock, such as 8×1, 8×2, 8×3, 10×1, 10×2, 12×1, 12×2, 14×1, 16×1 monochrome or Bayer color, and 8×3 RGB color. The Medium Configuration uses two Channel Link chips, two MDR or SDR 26-pin connectors and can transfer 48 pixel bits per clock, such as 8×4, 10×3, 10×4, 12×3, 12×4 monochrome or Bayer color, and 10×3, 12×3 RGB color. The Full Configuration uses three Channel Link chips, two MDR or SDR 26-pin connectors and can transfer 64 pixel bits per clock, such as 8×8 monochrome or Bayer color. The 80-Bit Configuration (formerly referred to as Expanded Configuration, Extended Configuration, Full Plus Configuration or Deca Configuration), uses three Channel Link chips, two MDR or SDR 26-pin connectors and can transfer 80 pixel bits per clock, such as 8×10 or 10×8 monochrome or Bayer color.
The standard provides for four trigger/control signals, ''CC1'', ''CC2'', ''CC3'', and ''CC4''.
clserXXX.DLL
names, where
''XXX'' is a unique frame grabber identifier or frame grabber
manufacturer identifier. The Camera Link DLL for PIXCI® frame
grabbers is named clserEPX.DLL
.Instead of multiplying pixel values (V) by a constant (C):
which leaves the 0 value pixel unchanged, image processing algorithms may instead use:V*C
where (M) is the maximum pixel value and leaves mid-value pixels unchanged. In this context, the former equation may be referred to as ''Gain'' and the latter as ''Contrast''. In other contexts, ''Gain'' and ''Contrast'' are synonyms.(V-(M/2))*C + (M/2)
In ''Controlled (Video) Mode'' some cameras can overlap exposure of the next frame with output of the current frame, yielding the same frame rate as in free-run mode (assuming that the exposure period isn't longer than the output period). In other cameras, the exposure and output are sequential; the frame rate decreases as the exposure increases, and a frame rate near that of free-run mode is achieved only as the exposure period approaches zero.
Different camera manufacturers use various synonyms, such as ''Frame on Demand Mode'', ''Triggered (Video) Mode'', ''External Triggered (Video) Mode'', ''External Sync (Video) Mode'', ''Single Shot (Video) Mode'', ''Controlled (Video) Mode'', or ''Async Shutter (Video) Mode''.
Digital gain can make a dim image more pleasant to view, but can't introduce additional grey levels or colors. For example (assuming 8 bit pixels), a very dim grey level image whose pixel values range from zero through four can be scaled by 64. The result will have high contrast - both dark and bright pixels - but still have only 5 different grey levels and lack continuous tonality.
Contrast to ''Analog Gain''.
Actual throughput on most computers is approximately 190 MByte/sec.
The PIXCI® ECB1-34 is an ExpressCard/34 card, using the PCIExpress x1 interface.
Actual throughput on most computers is approximately 190 MByte/sec.
An ExpressCard/54 host accepts both ExpressCard/54 and ExpressCard/34 cards.
The PIXCI® EC1, ECB1, and ECB2 are ExpressCard/54 cards, using the PCIExpress x1 interface.
File System | Max # of Files | Max File Size (bytes) |
|
||
Windows FAT16 | 512 per folder | 232-1 |
|
||
Windows FAT16 w. | 512 per folder | 231-1 |
DOS, Win 95/98/ME | ||
|
||
Windows FAT32 | 65534 per folder | 232-1 |
|
||
Windows NTFS | 232-1 per volume | 244 - 64*1024 |
Under Linux, there are 10 or more varieties of file systems, each with unique limits.
The maximum number of files is significant when capturing video to multiple files, one per image. The maximum file size is significant when capturing video with multiple images in a single file.
Different camera manufacturers use various synonyms, such as ''Continuous (Video) Mode'', ''Internal Sync (Video) Mode'', ''Auto (Video) Mode'', or ''Live (Video) Mode''.
Typically, a camera in genlock video mode can only operate at, or near, a specific frame rate; a slower external signal or video waveform ''genlock input'' will either be ignored or corrupt the video output. In contrast, a camera in ''Controlled (Video) Mode'' can operate at various frame rates, from zero up to the camera's designed maximum rate.
Different camera manufacturers use various synonyms, such as ''Free-Run Shutter'' (but is not to be confused with ''Free-Run (Video) Mode'').
By analogy, the term may be used with digital video signals as a synonym for the complement of ''Line Valid''.
By analogy, the term may be used with digital video signals as a synonym for the complement of ''Line Valid''.
Some cameras are designed to expose all scan lines of the sensor at the same time, eliminating temporal shifts between fields, but output the scan lines in interlace format so as to maintain compatibility with display and capture devices, these are often called ''Progressive Exposure and interlaced Output''.
Some cameras contain a built-in (perhaps removable) IR-cut filter between the sensor and the lens. Other cameras do not contain an IR-cut filter, allowing a filter, if desired, to be attached to the end of the lens farthest from the sensor.
Most SILICON VIDEO® color cameras contain an optional IR-cut filter between the sensor and the lens - within the back focus adjustment ring. The filter can be removed by replacing one back focus adjustment ring with another.
A ''grey level image'' is monochrome.
An image composed of RGB pixels, each pixel having identical red, green, and blue values, can be referred to as a monochrome image or a ''colorless color'' image. As can an image using any other color space (such as ''HSB Color'' or ''YCrCb Color'') in which each pixel value resolves to black, white, or a shade of grey.
The PIXCI® A, CL1, CL3SD, D, D24, D32, D2X, D3X, SI, SV2, SV3, SV4, SV5, SV5A, SV5B, and SV5L are 32 bit PCI cards. The PIXCI® CL2 is a 64 bit PCI card.
Approximate Throughput (Gbits per Second) | |||
|
|||
Lane Width | Payload size (bytes) | ||
16 | 128 | 256 | |
|
|||
x1 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 2.0 |
x4 | 6.8 | 7.0 | 7.8 |
x8 | 13.7 | 14.0 | 15.7 |
x16 | 27.4 | 28.0 | 31.4 |
Also referred to as ''PCI-Express Gen 1'' or ''PCIe Gen 1''.
Actual throughput on most computers is approximately 190 MByte/sec. for PCI-Express 1.1 x1 cards, approximately 777 MByte/sec. for PCI-Express 1.1 x4 cards, and approximately 1600 MByte/sec. for PCI-Express 1.1 x8 cards.
The PCI-Express Interface specification allows operating a card using a lower lane width in a slot supporting a higher lane width, such as using a x1 card in a x4 slot, resulting in x1 bandwidth. However, the higher lane width slot need not support all lower lane bandwidths; for example, typical computers (circa 2008) with x16 slots might operate a x4 card but only provide x1 bandwidth, not the desired x4 bandwidth.
The PIXCI® A110, D3XE, E1, E1DB, EB1, EB1-PoCL, EL1 (Rev. 6 and earlier), EL1DB (Rev. 6 and earlier), ELS2, SI1, SI2, SV7, and SV8 are PCI-Express 1.1 x1 cards. The PIXCI® A310, E4, E4DB, and SI4 are PCI-Express 1.1 x4 cards. The PIXCI® E8, E8CAM, and E8DB are PCI-Express 1.1 x8 cards.
Also referred to as ''PCI-Express Gen 2'' or ''PCIe Gen 2''.
Actual throughput on most computers is approximately 448 MByte/sec. for PCI-Express 2.0 x1 cards, and approximately 1011 MByte/sec. for PCI-Express 2.0 x4 cards.
The PCI-Express Interface specification allows operating a card using a lower lane width in a slot supporting a higher lane width, such as using a x1 card in a x4 slot, resulting in x1 bandwidth. The specification also allows operating a card designed for PCI-Express 1.x in a slot supporting PCI-Express 2.0, and vice versa, resulting in the lower of the two bandwidths.
The PIXCI® E4G2-2F, E4G2-4B, E4G2-F2B, e104x4-2f, e104x4-4b, e104x4-f2b, EL1 (Rev. 7 and later), and EL1DB (Rev. 7 and later) are PCI-Express 2.0 x4 cards. The PIXCI® EB1G2 and EB1G2-PoCL PCI-Express 2.0 x1 cards. The PIXCI® E4TX2-2F, E4TX2-4B, E4TX2-F2B, miniH2x4F, and mf2280 are PCI-Express 2.0 x4 devices. The PIXCI® miniH2B and miniH2F are PCI-Express 2.0 x1 cards or M.2 E-Key/M-Key PCIe x1 gen2 cards. The PIXCI® miniH2x4F and mf2280 are M.2 M-Key PCIe x4 gen2 cards.
Separately, a pixel clock is used to control the timing and readout within cameras using digital sensors. For some cameras the pixel clock frequency is adjustable; a higher or lower pixel clock frequency provides faster or slower frame rates with corresponding side effects, such as shorter or longer exposure limits, greater or lesser levels of fixed pattern noise, photo response non-uniformity, and random noise. For cameras with an adjustable pixel clock outputting digital signals, a higher or lower pixel clock frequency also affects the maximum length of the electrical cable connecting the camera and frame grabber.
Contrast to
However, many digital cameras may serialize the light sensor's photosites in other than left-to-right and top-to-bottom order. For example, a camera might output the left-most pixel of a row followed by the middle pixel of a row, continue with each pair of neighboring pixels within the row, and continue in the same fashion with each row. Or a camera might output a pixel of the top row, a pixel of the bottom row, continue with each pair of neighboring pixels within those rows, and continue with each pair of rows inward toward the middle. The number of possible serialization order permutations is quite large. With such cameras, the term ''Scan Line'' may either refer to pixel values from one line of the sensor, or to a ''line'' of values output by the camera during one ''Line Valid''.
Some cameras may have a mechanical shutter or electronic shutter (e.g. LCD) mechanism passing light for a ''Shutter (Period)'', separate from the sensor's integration control. The sensor's integration control (if any) may then be distinguished as ''Exposure (Period)''.
By analogy, the term may be used with digital video signals as a synonym for the complement of ''Frame Valid''.
By analogy, the term may be used with digital video signals as a synonym for the complement of ''Frame Valid''.
For analog video, the specifications include voltage levels, blanking times, width of sync pulses, lines per frame, and frames per second. Examples of common standard analog video formats are: NTSC, CCIR, PAL, RS-170, RS-330, and RS-343.
For digital video, the Camera Link specification provides part of the video format, such as the signals used and their relationship; additional specifications are provided by individual cameras using the Camera Link standard, such as resolution, bit depth, pixel clock frequency, and frame rate.
A ''Video Format (File)'' is also used as a synonym for ''Video Setup (File)''.
The PIXCI® CL2 frame grabber has been tested per EMC directive 89/336/EEC and has met the following test requirements:
These tests are more commonly known as the ''CE'' test. The testing was performed to class B which has a more restrictive emission limit than the FCC class B limit.
If you find that the computer system in which the PIXCI® frame grabber is installed is causing interference with other devices, try increasing the distance between the devices, reorienting (turning) the devices, or using additional shielding on the computer system (such as placing covers on the computer and installing metal shields in unused slots or over unused drive slots).
It may be that the camera connected to the PIXCI® frame grabber is the source of radiation. To determine if the camera is the source of interference, remove power to the camera or reorient the camera. If a shielded camera cable is not being used, use a shielded cable. If the camera is the source of interference, contact the camera manufacturer.
EPIX® imaging products are not authorized for use as
critical components in life support devices or systems without the
express written approval of the president of EPIX, Inc.