OmniView 4.0 CR1 Release Notes Copyright (c) 2009 Cognex Corporation November 2009 This release note lists the supported features and known limitations of OmniView 4.0 CR1, including software and user documentation. Product features not listed in the OmniView user documentation or in this release note are not supported in version 4.0 CR1. In cases where a known limitation has been filed as a Change Request (CR), its 5-digit identification number is included for reference. 1. NEW FEATURES 1.1 Robustness and Usability Improvements This release includes robustness improvements that should result in fewer false rejects and less frequent camera recalibration. Improvements to the training interface include the ability to adjust the nominal part pose using intuitive interactive graphics. This makes it easier to re-use shape models after recalibrating cameras or when setting up similar production lines. Run-time parameters are now accessible through the OmniView interface, making it easy to set up applications with immediate feedback. Model masking is now available for parts that have sections not suitable for OmniView alignment. 1.2 New features since 4.0: Secondary regions may be used to assist in the unwrapping process when the container contains multiple instances of the same feature. The unwrapping process allows you to generate an unwrapped image containing more than 360 degrees of image information about the container. The change in position and angle of each container is available to the vision tools you use for each inspection. The choice of using OmniBuild or a custom Job Editor can be done within the OmniView interactive user interface. 1.3 New Calibration Plates and Procedures New high-precision checkerboard calibration plates are now available for purchase from Cognex in three grid sizes: 1/4", 1/8", and 1/16". The new plates are of a much more rugged design than the plates provided with earlier versions. A new calibration procedure is included that improves camera calibration accuracy and contributes to robustness improvements. A camera validation feature is provided for easy diagnosis of system performance degradation due to camera mis-calibration. 1.4 Custom OmniBuild Job Editor Support This release allows OmniView integrators to override the OmniBuild interface with a customized tool group editor providing for an easier system configuration interface for end users. 1.5 Analog Camera Kits OmniView 4.0 product kits now include MVS-8504/8504e configurations for users wishing to use analog cameras in place of FireWire direct-connect cameras. 1.6 Animated 3D OmniView Model Viewer OmniView includes an animated 3D model viewer that provides an animated 3D view of the unwrapped part. 1.6 New C++ SDK Interface with CVL Integration In addition to the application-specific turnkey package (the traditional interface), OmniView also provides a CVL C++ API that OEMs can use to create custom OmniView applications. 2. CONFIGURATION 2.1 Camera Selection The OmniView Wizard supports the use of the following FireWire 'B' or analog cameras: i) Point Grey Scorpion at 1628x1228 resolution ii) Point Grey Flea2 at 1024x770 and 1624x1224 resolutions iii) Basler Scout at 1032x778 and 1624x1236 resolutions iv) Sony XC-HR70 at 1020x768 resolution The use of cameras other than those listed above is not supported, although OmniView will not prevent the use of other cameras. 2.2 Operating System Cognex has tested OmniView on the Dell Precision 490 (2/4 CPUs), the Dell Optiplex 745 (2 CPUs), and the Dell T5400 (8 CPUs) running Windows XP Professional SP3, 32-bit edition. Although the systems are 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. Dell OptiPlex systems offer SATA disk drive power connectors only. In this case the user must supply a SATA to Molex power adapter for the +12V feed to the FireWire adaptor boards. Cognex recommends you select a quad-core PC with 4GB memory for most applications. 2.3 Microsoft Security Patch You must install a Microsoft security patch (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS09-035.mspx) if you plan to debug your SDK application with this release. 3. KNOWN LIMITATIONS 3.1 When training inspection vision tools via "Train Inspections" in Supervisor panel, an OmniBuild window is displayed that allows you to add and configure any vision tool from the VisionPro tool set. While editing this tool group, you must not delete the "OmniView Images" that is created by OmniBuild. Running OmniView after deleting "OmniView Images" can cause "invalid reference" exceptions and thus undetermined system behavior. (CR54735) 3.2 When exiting OmniView or its Setup Wizard, allow a few seconds for the application to exit completely. If you attempt to launch another instance of the same program or a different OmniView application (such as the Setup Wizard), you might receive an error message and the new instance of the program will terminate itself. (CR54762) 3.3 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 Chapter 9 of the OmniView User's Guide for details. (CR63323) 3.4 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) 3.5 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) 3.6 When setting up the cameras, make sure the parameters CameraTriggerPolarity and CameraStrobePolarity in Configuration file (config.xml) match your camera type and your lighting design. If the OmniView camera trigger output is used to control other components in your system, make sure the other components respect OmniView's trigger polarity. See Chapter 9 of the OmniView User's Guide for details. (CR59238) 3.7 When exiting OmniView, Windows may display an error message stating that OmniView encountered a problem and terminated. This error message can safely be ignored as it does not affect inspection results or persistence of application setup. (CR63615) 3.8 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) 3.9 If you use Windows Remote Desktop to connect to a PC running OmniView, the OmniView window does not display its title bar. Also, if OmniView is already running on the remote PC when you connect, you will not see images being updated unless you stop and then restart OmniView while you are connected remotely. (CR63663) 3.10 If you start OmniView while your production line is already moving (that is, OmniView is receiving part trigger signals), OmniView may hang during startup and never display its main window. You can recover from this error by using the Windows Task Manager to terminate the OmniView and OmniBuild processes. Right-click in the Windows Task Bar, then select "Task Manager". Click on the "Processes" tab, select the OmniView.exe process and click "End Process", then select the OmniBuild.exe process and click "End Process" again. Restart OmniView. You may need to repeat these steps if OmniView hangs again when you restart it. (CR63686) 3.11 If live video is enabled in Supervisor mode and you switch between configuration screens, the OmniView controls may unexpectedly become disabled. You can prevent this problem from happening by making sure that live video is off before you change screens. You can recover from this problem by exiting from OmniView, then restartig OmniView. (CR63700) 4. COMPATIBILITY WITH PREVIOUS RELEASES 4.1 OmniView 4.0 CR1 should be used when the project requires the new features listed in section 1.2. It is significantly more robust than OmniView 3.0, and it has several enhancements and bug fixes that make it easier for you to develop and deploy a robust application. OmniView 4.0 should also be installed at existing sites where customers are experiencing reliability problems (frequent downtime for retraining, too many false rejects, etc.), or where the customer wants to take advantage of new features such as custom training GUIs supplied by their PSI. Customers who are satisfied with OmniView 3.0 do not need to update their systems to 4.0 CR1. 4.2 To migrate from previous OmniView releases to this release, follow the steps below: 4.2.1 Contact Cognex customer support to upgrade your security bits. 4.2.2 Contact Cognex sales to purchase new calibration plates. 4.2.3 Back up your existing %omniview_data% directory. OmniView 4.0 CR1 will overwrite files in this directory. Making a backup allows you to revert to OmniView 3.0 if needed. Note that you may be asked to send a copy of the contents of your %omniview_data% directory to Cognex when reporting problems to customer support. 4.2.4 Uninstall OmniView 3.0, VisionPro 5.0PR1, and Cognex Drivers. 4.2.5 Reboot your PC. 4.2.6 Insert the OmniView 4.0 CR1 DVD in your PC and use the links on the installation screen to install VisionPro 5.2 SR1 (including drivers) and OmniView. 4.2.7 If your cameras and mechanical and optical configuration are unchanged, then you do not need to enter the OmniView Setup Wizard. If any of your cameras or mechanical or optical configuration have changed, enter your camera configuration and calibration plate information using the OmniView Setup Wizard. Many items in the wizard have been moved to the main OmniView program (such as logging), have been modified and moved to the main OmniView program (part and label alignment parameters), or have become obsolete due to robustness improvement (calibration feature extraction parameters) and have been removed. Note that a few camera properties may need to be adjusted for DCAM cameras. Such parameters include CameraStrobePolarity, CameraTriggerPolarity, and CameraBandwidth. Modify them in Configuration file to match your camera type and FireWire card capacity. See Chapter 9 of the OmniView User's Guide for details. 4.2.8 Calibrate your system with the new calibration plates using the new procedure described in Chapter 2 of the OmniView User's Guide. Make sure to select the unit and the pitch properly in the OmniView Setup Wizard. If you do not recalibrate the system using the new procedure and calibration plates, OmniView will continue to use its existing calibration data. Using the existing calibration data will not allow OmniView to benefit from the improved calibration accuracy in version 4.0 CR1 and will not permit the use of the camera calibration validation tool. 4.2.9 Start OmniView. You can safely load your existing job, which will include the existing model and nominal pose. You may need to adjust the nominal pose. Open the OmniView Supervisor Panel and use the Set Alignment Parameters screen. See Chapters 3 and 4 of the OmniView User's Guide for more information. For best results, Cognex recommends that you retrain the unwrap regions and inspection tools used in your application. 5. GETTING MORE INFORMATION Before beginning to use OmniView, review the OmniView Getting Started manual and the OmniView User's Guide. You can view these documents from the Start menu (Start->All Programs->Cognex->OmniView) or you can open them from their installed locations: %OMNIVIEW_ROOT%\doc\OMNIVIEW-GettingStarted.pdf %OMNIVIEW_ROOT%\doc\OMNIVIEW-UsersGuide.pdf Before beginning to develop your OmniView SDK application, review the OmniView SDK Programmer's Guide and Reference. You can view this document from the Start menu (Start->All Programs->Cognex->OmniView SDK) or you can open it from its installed location: %VISION_ROOT%\Doc\OmniView_SDK_Guide.pdf You can also view the documents on the DVD media at: \OmniView\documentation\OMNIVIEW-GettingStarted.pdf \OmniView\documentation\OMNIVIEW-UsersGuide.pdf \SDK\doc\OmniView_SDK_Guide.pdf