vision builder question

[winterfresh11]

Hi everyone,

I am brand new to vision builder and have a question regarding its functionality. I've gone through some tutorials but still don't understand how to use the software to its fullest capability. What I'm using it for is to take pictures of my laser spot (glowing on an IR detector card) via a gig e camera. After I take the picture I then look at line profiles of it, and a 3D image of it. I can't figure out how to make vision builder do this automatically for me which is where my problem is. Also, I'm wondering if this software can analyze the images from the camera in real time instead of one picture at a time?

Any help or suggestions would be great, I'm very new to vision builder.

Thanks!

[j_bou]

Hello winterfresh11,

I know that you have already gone through some tutorial material but I wanted to direct you to the document linked below in case you have not seen it yet. It is very comprehensive and should answer any question you might have.

NI Vision Builder for Automated Inspection Tutorial:

https://www.ni.com/docs/en-US/bundle/373379h/resource/373379h.pdf

Based on your problem description, it seems like you would like to run a VBAI inspection continually over an extended period of time without having to manually click run to start the inspection each time.  If this is correct, then chapter 6 and 7 in the article linked above will be of particular interest to you. These sections explain how to create an inspection state diagram\machine to drive your inspection. Chapter 7 explains how to create a looping inspection.

Best Regards, 

j_bou

[winterfresh11]

What I can't seem to figure out is how to add the line profile step from the vision assistant into the inspection. I can take a line profle jsut fine but I don't see how to make it part of the inspection

[omarbedair]

Hello winterfresh11,

I can see you would like to analyse your laser line profile to detect triangulation, and consequently predict the 3D profile of your object.

If this is true, then using the line profile in vision assistant will not help. I suggest you lookup the documentation explaining the different vision assistant tools, and this will tell you that line profile tool analyzes pixels placed on a line that you choose, and NOT the profile of a line imaged in the 2D space.

My understanding is that triangulation techniques and 3D vision are not possible in VBAI, but rather in the more advanced Vision Development Module and LabVIEW.

Good luck 🙂

[winterfresh11]

Hi omarbedair, thank you for your reply!

Please correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't the line profile feature graph based on pixel intensity? So if the graph comes out fairly flat we can assume the pixels are roughly the same intensity. My thinking is that this IR detector card which is sensitive to heat and changes color based on temperature will show the laser spot and it's intensity based on the darkness and the camera can take a picture of it and then the line profile example can graph the intensity of the spot that is on the IR detector card. So if the laser profile was gaussian we would expect a peak in the line profile in the middle of the spot, if the profile is a flat top which we are hoping for the line profle should be flat across the laser spot.

Let me know if I am thinking about this incorectly, but it this is correct than we would like to be able to do this in real time instead of one picture at a time

[Brad]

A new feature which may be of interest in Vision Builder AI 2015 is the Measure Intensity step now supports recording the pixel values along a line, so now you can get the Line Profile for your pixels.

The Inspect Contours step may be very helpful for analyzing the laser line where you can log all the edges of your line, compare it to a golden template and measure differences from template, and measure the max curvature of the line.

Something else that might be helpful is to use the Detect Object step to find your laser line and you can get measurements about this line like how straight it is using the "Select Parameters" button to select the parameters of interest you want.

To automate your inspection, use the IMAQdx Acquisition step to acquire live images instead of reading static images from disk. Once your inspection is complete, you can run it in Inspection mode using Vision Builder AI, or control Vision Builder form a programming language like LabVIEW or Visual C using the Vision Builder API. Here's a video on how to use the API to control a Vision Builder inspection:

https://www.ni.com/en/shop/electronic-test-instrumentation/application-software-for-electronic-test-...

If you need to do something else to analyze your images, please include your images with details of what you are looking for.

Hope this helps,

Brad