Chapter 1
Introduction
©
National Instruments Corporation
1-3
These variable parameters are defined on a per-camera basis in a camera
file (
camera_model.icd
) supplied by National Instruments. The
NI-IMAQ driver software uses the information in this camera file to
program the PCI-1428 to acquire images from a specific camera. Without
this camera file, the driver does not have the information necessary to
configure the PCI-1428 for acquisition.
Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX), the National Instruments
configuration utility, provides a simple interface for associating a camera
file with the PCI-1428. Use the following guidelines to access the camera
file in MAX:
1.
Launch MAX, and expand the
Devices and Interfaces
branch of the
configuration tree.
2.
Expand the
IMAQ PCI-1428
branch.
3.
Right-click
Channel 0
, and select
Camera
.
4.
Select your camera from the pop-up menu. If your camera is not in
the pop-up menu, verify that the camera file is installed in the
NI-IMAQ/Data
directory.
Many camera files are installed on your computer when you install
NI-IMAQ, and many more are available for download from the National
Instruments Camera Advisor at
ni.com\camera
. When installing new
camera files, save them to the
Data
folder located at
Program Files\
National Instruments\NI-IMAQ\Data
.
Contact National Instruments technical support to request camera files not
available in the Camera Advisor. See Appendix C,
, for information on National Instruments technical support.
Software Programming Choices
Use NI-IMAQ, the National Instruments image acquisition driver software,
to program your IMAQ device to acquire, display, and save images. You
can use NI-IMAQ with other National Instruments software for a complete
image acquisition and analysis solution, as shown in Figure 1-1.
NI-IMAQ works with LabVIEW, LabWindows/CVI, Visual C++, and
Visual Basic. National Instruments IMAQ Vision adds powerful image
processing and analysis to these programming environments. You can also
use IMAQ Vision Builder to quickly and easily prototype your IMAQ
image analysis applications.
