OmniView 5.0 Release Notes
Copyright (c) 2010 Cognex Corporation
September 2010
This release note lists the supported features and known limitations of OmniView® 5.0, including software and user documentation. Product features not listed in the OmniView user documentation or in this release note are not supported in version 5.0.
In cases where a known limitation has been filed as a Change Request (CR), its 5-digit identification number is included for reference.
You should be aware of features that are new or changed in OmniView 5.0 since the previous release:
Support for GigE Vision Cameras
This release has been tested against a set of cameras manufactured by Basler, which must be configured according to the detailed instructions provided in the OmniView Getting Started, available from the installation DVD or installed when you install the software.
Support for color cameras
This release allows you to capture, unwrap and analyze color images of containers under inspection.
Support for heterogeneous 5th camera
The 5th camera you use to acquire images of the top of the container can be a different camera format than the 4 side-view cameras.
This release specifically drops support for the following:
FireWire 'B' and analog cameras
This release supports only GigE Vision cameras.
OmniView Software Development Kit (SDK)
This release drops support for a sophisticated C++ programming interface that provided access to the camera calibration, acquisition, training, fixturing, and unwrapping capabilities of OmniView. OmniView SDK is intended for use in conjunction with Cognex CVL.
Windows XP 32-bit
This release requires Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
CVL/C++ APIs and sample code
External Control Interface C++ API
Legacy inspection mode
Cognex supports OmniView systems that use specific configurations for PCs, cameras, and operating system.
This release supports the following GigE Vision cameras:
Basler Scout scA1600-14gm (1628 x 1236)
Basler Pilot piA2400-17gm (2448 x 2050)
Basler Scout scA1600-14gc (1628 x 1236)
Cognex has tested OmniView on two different configurations of the Dell Precision T5500:
Intel dual processor Xeon Six Core, 2.66 GHz, 12GB physical memory
Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
512 MB NVIDIA Quadro FX 580 graphics card
Intel Xeon Quad Core, 2.66 GHz, 6GB physical memory
Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
512 MB NVIDIA Quadro FX 580 graphics card
See the OmniView Getting Started for a full list of minimum PC requirements.
Although the system is designed to operate successfully in countries outside the US and Canada, only 120V 60Hz North American equipment configurations have been fully validated at the time of this release.
Be aware of the following issues with this OmniView release:
To enable the OmniView Model Viewer, which can animate the OmniView shape model in 3D space, you need to edit a configuration file and restart OmniView. If you close the model viewer window, you can not display it again until you restart OmniView. Cognex recommends that you use a second monitor to display the model viewer for best results. You can change the viewer settings by clicking the "Options" button. Note this is a demo feature that should not be used for production. See the OmniView User's Guide for details. (CR63323)
The statistics in OmniView Operator Panel are not updated in real time, as the display thread is running at a lower priority than the inspection thread. The statistics shown should only be used as a guideline on how system performs statistically and not as a real time indicator. (CR59137)
When you increase the resolution of the unwrapped image by modifying the Parameters in UNWRAP TRAINING PANEL, make sure to adjust the region of interest of the inspection tools to fit inside the new unwrapped image. Otherwise the jobs saved after the resolution change may not be loaded. (CR63258)
In Calibration, the color of "Camera X, Step Y" is red until that step is complete. If you acquire a new image for an already completed step, that step's color remains green even while the new image is being processed. The color is updated to indicate success or failure when the processing is complete. (CR63288)
The Image Database Archiving option allows you to enter the name of the archive directory directly into the dialog box. Be aware to enter a valid and correct name for the directory or OmniView cannot perform the archive operation (CR54789).
As you enable the GigE Vision performance drivers through the GigE Vision Configuration Utility, your PC might display an informational message claiming that a device driver was not successfully installed. Ignore this message, which will not occur again after the PC is rebooted. (CR68458).
When using VisionPro in conjunction with a custom job editor, the Cognex.VisionPro.*.dll assemblies do not appear in the .NET tab when you try to add an assembly to your project in the Add References dialog box.(CR68961)
Workaround
Use the Browse tab and navigate to the ...\VisionPro\ReferencedAssemblies directory and select the necessary assemblies there.
After uninstalling the GigE Vision performance drivers, the IP address and DHCP settings of one or more GigE Vision network adapters can change. (CR68646)
Workaround
Use the GigE Vision Configuration Tool to reset the IP address.
After using the GigE Vision Configuration Tool to enable the set of custom GigE Vision performance drivers and rebooting your PC, the network connection can become disabled on some local area network (LAN) adapters. (CR68610)
Cognex recommends you reboot the PC and see if that restores the LAN connection. If not, the following procedure will recover the network connection for many corporate network environments, but you may want to contact your network administrator for assistance or for guidance in choosing the appropriate network options:
Open Control Panel->Network and Sharing Center and select Change adapter settings.
Right-click on the network connection which hosts the LAN network adapter and choose Properties.
Select the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) item and click Properties.
Enable the options Obtain an IP address automatically and Obtain DNS server address automatically and close all the open dialog boxes.
Alternatively, you might use the following procedure to reinstall the LAN network adapter:
Right-click on the My Computer icon and choose Manage.
Click Device Manager.
Click the "+" symbol next to Network Adapters.
Right-click the LAN adapter which hosts your LAN connection and choose Uninstall. Do not select Remove Drivers from Cache if prompted.
Choose Action->Scan for Hardware Changes from the Device Manager menu.
The LAN adapter should be detected, installed and functioning.
Perform the following steps to migrate from OmniView 4.x to this release:
Refer to the OmniView Getting Started for detailed instructions on installing the OmniView software and configuring the GigE Vision cameras supported in this release.
Use the Setup Wizard to specify the same physical units (inches or millimeters) used in the existing application.
Launch OmniView 5.0 and load your existing application, which will include the existing model and nominal pose.
Adjust the nominal pose using the Set Alignment Parameters screen from the Supervisor Panel.
See the OmniView User's Guide for details. In addition, refer to the following sections for other recommendations on adjusting your existing application based on the new cameras supported in this release.
If you are using a custom job editor, recompile your custom job editor application to run under the Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit operating system.
Refer to the following table for recommendations on how to migrate your existing application based on the new features and cameras supported in this release:
| Change | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| Color Images | If you want to analyze color images using greyscale vision toolos, use the VisionPro Image Convert tool to accept a color input image and generate a greyscale output image, and then use the output image as the input image to your existing vision tools. See the OmniView User's Guide and the VisionPro online documentation for details on the Image Convert tool. |
| Decreased field of view | Make the following adjustments to your existing application:
|
| Increased camera resolution but nearly the same field of view | No changes should be required. You may want to reconfigure the user selected pixel size used for your unwrapped image, however, to take advantage of the increase in camera resolution, which will require you to reconfigure the vision tools you use to verify each container. From the Supervisor Panel, click Train Unwrap Regions, click Parameters and change the value for user selected pixel size. |
Decreased camera resolution but nearly the same field of view | Check the quality of the unwrapped image the new cameras generate as this can impact the accuracy of the vision tools you use to verify each container. |
| An increased field of view | No changes unless the increase in field of view adversely affects the resolution of features on the container, which will require a reconfiguration of existing vision tools you use to verify each container. |
Before beginning to use OmniView, review the OmniView Getting Started and the OmniView User's Guide. You can view these documents from the Start menu (Start->All Programs->Cognex->OmniView).
You can also view the documents on the DVD media at:
\OmniView\documentation\OMNIVIEW-GettingStarted.pdf
\OmniView\documentation\OMNIVIEW-UsersGuide.pdf
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