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pco.camware user's manual

1. LC Auto Sequential f Ext falling Edge 0050 000 WW Est rising Edge 1000 000 oag DUU 0500 000 apod O00 0700 000 0100 000 0650 000 1000 000 1000 000 oaoa DUU 0100 000 apod O00 OO00 O00 OOOO DUU OOOO 000 E Options Double Short 9 DUU DUU DUU 000 OOOO og DUU 000 EE EE Analog Gain Ce Gainnomal Y Gain EdB Information SensiCam Typ 37ULD Fast Shutter BAw 128051024 Info Del Exp Time With the sensicam double shutter the delay and exposure time settings are not accessible in the camera control win dow so the corresponding input fieldS appear in gray color The exposure time can only be controlled via external input signal which must be supplied at the BNC socket TRIG IN at the frame grabber PCI board For more detailed information on the TRIG IN input please see the sensicam double shutter sensicam ge double shut ter manual Trigger The user may select the trigger edge by using the radio but tons The image recording sequence can be started by an additional external trigger signal Ext falling Edge means trailing edge or Ext rising Edge at the BNC socket of the PCI frame grabber board Binning A super pixel is generated when rows vertically and col umns horizontally are combined Please note the resolution will be reduced and the frame rate will be increased by ver tical binning only Horizontal Binning factor 1
2. The unused lines will be read out approximately four times faster thus increasing the frame rate while decreasing the amount of image data Analog Gain A normal Gain normal and a high gain Gain 6dB set ting is available This influences the integrated gain and therefore the conversion factor which describes how many charges are necessary to generate one count in the digital image The higher gain is only useful if the Camera is oper ated in binning mode Info This status window provides information about the con nected camera including type of dicam pro this code is im portant in case of support questions sensor type b w VGA SVGA CCD and electronics temperature delay exposure times readout time frame rate fps and trigger options The information can be reviewed by pressing the Info button Camera Control Fhozphor WCF Binning Multi Trigger Decay ms E 1i ei e Auto C Estem Gan L lt 99 5 Vert 1 Del ZE up Time Region of Interest Delay Exposure HH S S EH E me ns me ns oga 1000000 1000 000300 oga 1000000 1000 000000 000 1000000 ooo 1000000 000 1000000 ooo 7000000 000 1000000 ooo 1000000 Loops 1 256 WE 1 1280 Analog Gain e Gainnomal C Gain 6db Information DicamPro SupervGA BAY HVPSX 3 1290x1024 Into user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Camera Control Page 42 JE Mode The drop down list offers three operations modes Single Trigger
3. Analog Gain e Gain nomal C Gain 6db Information DicamPro SupervGA BAY HVPSX 3 1290x1024 Into Mode Three operations modes are available with the drop down list Single Trigger Multi Trigger and Double Shutter In Double Shutter mode one trigger starts the exposure of two images first image to A and second image to B The minimum and maximum values of delay and exposure times depend on the high voltage pulse unit used in the camera Phosphor MCP The phosphor Decay time of the image intensifier s phos phor screen is given in ms Each phosphor has a specific decay time depending on the applied dye material This set ting does not change the specific decay time of the inte grated image intensifier but it extends the CCD image sen sor integration time To select the Gain enter the Gain field and type in the desired value The accepted values range from 0 0 to 100 0 For optimal operation the gain should be set at 80 to 100 Using an intensifier gain of less than 50 is similar to the sensitivity already available in state of the art CCD camera systems The image intensifier is the most delicate and sensitive part of the entire Camera system Its lifetime is decisively influ enced by the photocathode current photo effect The best way to preserve the photocathode is by setting a high Gain in Phosphor MCP Gain as a small amount of input light generates a low photocathode current but p
4. Multi Trigger and Double Shutter In Multi Trigger Mode it is possible to take multi exposures each started with one trigger This can be repeated from one to 256 times as chosen in the Loops field After completing all the loops one image is read out from the CCD The mini mum and maximum values of delay and exposure times de pend on the high voltage pulse unit used in the camera sys tem There are a variety of options available The trigger mode can be selected either for software trigger Auto or external hardware trigger Extern For detailed trigger information please see the separate Camera system manual Phosphor MCP The phosphor Decay time of the image intensifiers phos phor screen is given in ms Each phosphor has a specific decay time depending on the applied dye material This set ting does not change the specific decay time of the inte grated image intensifier but it extends the integrations time of the CCD image sensor To select the Gain enter the Gain field and type in the desired value The accepted values range from 0 0 to 100 0 For optimal operation the gain should be set at 80 to 100 Using an intensifier gain of less than 50 is similar to the sensitivity already available in state of the art CCD camera systems The image intensifier is the most delicate and sensitive part of the whole camera system Its lifetime is decisively influ enced by the photocathode current photo
5. oooo oo0 Tweete Information SensiCam Typ 360KF FastExposure BAw 640x480 Del Exp Time Only one exposure field is available in this mode This field sets the integration time during which modulation is ac cepted So it defines the master integration time window The integration time ranges from 100us to 1s in steps of 1 us The modulation signal must be connected via the BNC socket MOD IN at the rear panel of the camera The integration time window is available as an output signal via the BNC socket TRIG IN at the frame grabber PCI board While this signal is HIGH the camera will accept a modulation signal Outside of this time window any signal pulses which are fed to the MOD IN input will not generate any exposure or clearing processes However they may in terfere with the CCD image sensor readout and cause distor tions and disturbances Therefore these signals should be prevented user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Camera Control Page 33 TRIG IN P NN LU 77 Sat H PCl Interface Board The BNC socket TRIG IN at the frame grabber PCI board only has output functionality for this camera system and no input functionality MOD IN The BNC socket MOD IN at the rear panel of the camera represents the input for external modulation signals based on TTL level Therefore e OV gt exposure e 5V gt clear The input itself is internally secured with a 1kQ pul
6. for example on the connected computer s hard disk The recorder function records of image sequences and dis plays them as movies This function allocates a memory space in the computer s RAM memory into which the images are transferred The maximum memory space for recorded images depends solely on the available RAM size of the computer When camware is started it automatically recognizes the camera type which is connected to the computer and switched on Before starting camware make certain that the frame grab ber or an appropriate standard interface such as IEEE1394 firewire or camera link the corresponding driver the camera system and the camware must have been installed according to the camera manual instructions When camweare is installed the default directory location is Programs Digital Camera ToolBox After starting camware the following main window should be visible ra See Beer Ree ae ieee Hjerm Rha KRN EB Te Zeen egi Zeen daz Camila Daa E brar iting Bapa Ti tiima D H lad Pie Si E 1 Signs and Symbols The following signs and symbols are used throughout this manual user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Camware Page 7 Disregarding this symbol and the accompanying text warn ing notices may result in the risk of death Disregarding this symbol and the accompanying text warn ing notices may result in system damage and data loss IEY This symbol and the accompan
7. ooo O00 1000 000 Cycles 0000 Joor DUU O000 000 Exposure 1 delay 800ns exposure 1ms cycles 12 EE Exposure 2 delay 2us exposure 500Ous cycles 1 Exposure 3 delay 400ns exposure 6Ous cycles 3 Exposure 4 delay 1us exposure 1ms cycles 5 Exposure 5 delay O exposure O cycles O Hints amp Notes e Each cycle must be triggered separately e At exposure 1 there are 12 exposures with an 800ns de lay time and a 1ms exposure time for each e Then there is one exposure with a delay of Zus and an exposure time of 500us e At exposure 3 there are 3 exposures with 400ns delay and 6Ous exposure time e At exposure 4 there are 5 exposures with 1us delay and ms exposure time e Finally the last block is ignored since the cycle number is set to O Trigger The user may select the trigger edge by using the radio but tons The image recording sequence can be started by an additional external trigger signal Ext falling Edge means trailing edge or Ext rising Edge at the BNC socket of the PCI frame grabber board Binning A super pixel is generated when rows vertically and col umns horizontally are combined Please note the resolution will be reduced and the frame rate will be increased by ver tical binning only Horizontal Binning factor 1 2 4 8 Vertical Binning factor 1 2 4 8 16 32 user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Camera Control Page 26
8. sss ss ss s e s s c lt c ec c ee eee 70 Start aaas TTT 70 Play IRGC ONG EE 70 SLOD RECON O MEN 70 DELUD Recorder TTT 70 Replay Navigation a 70 Image ge E EE 71 MUIE VINGO code caceceteceectescdcteddodetendecusercess 71 camRAM Level Indicator NEEN eree er s 71 PROC Ta e SE 71 CUES EE 71 LOCAL MENU RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON72 wlfelte le ln WE 72 Camera CON Ol TTT 72 Convert Control DAN EE EEN 72 Convert Control CGolor sss ss sss ss ses eee eee eee 72 Zoom Key x0O 125 x8 0 72 Auto Range Peak cs ces es eee ee ee ee ee 72 Auto Range CTOD een 73 Auto Balance e e EE 73 Auto EXDOSUNC EEN 73 PUNO GEN 73 Vulle e ele 73 ADDITIONAL FEATUREG sss s esse eee ee 74 Setting Contrast Area by Mouse 74 Setting a new ROI by Mouse ae EE 74 Command Line Argument ss ss ss sss es es es c lt 74 Embedded Image Info sss sss es esse sese esse ees 74 Time Elapse WiInNndoOW ae s scs ces s eee eee eee 75 wll KEE 76 Image File Formate ss ss sss ec ec ee eee ee eee e 76 Camware Page 6 1 1 1 Camware Camware is a 32bit Windows application for the Windows 2000 with service pack gt 4 and Windows XP with service pack gt 1 operating systems Camware is a control application for the PCO camera sys tems pco camera sensicam family pixelfly and dicam pro Using camware all Camera parameters are user selectable Recorded images are displayed on the monitor and can be saved
9. 2 4 8 Vertical Binning factor 1 2 4 8 16 32 Region of Interest ROI The ROI selects only a part of the total CCD image sensor to be read out The minimum is 32 pixels x 32 pixels The area can be adjusted either by using the mouse clicking into the ROI field and drawing an appropriate rectangle or by select ing values from the drop down lists to determine the corner points For a further method see section 7 2 The unused lines will be read out approximately four times faster thus increasing the frame rate while the amount of im age data is decreased Options The sensicam fast shutter Standard mode or the Fast Cy cles mode may be selected from the drop down list Analog Gain A normal and a high gain 6dB setting are available This in fluences the integrated gain and the conversion factor which describes how many charges are necessary to generate one count in the digital image The higher gain is only useful if the camera is operated in binning mode Info This status window gives information about the connected camera including type of sensicam this code is important in case of support questions sensor type b w color VGA SVGA CCD and electronics temperature delay exposure times readout time frame rate fps and trigger options The information can be reviewed by pressing the Info button user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Camera Control Page 24 sensicam fast shutter fast cycles
10. 2 4 8 Vertical Binning factor 1 2 4 8 16 32 Region of Interest ROI user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Camera Control Page 28 The ROI selects only a part of the total CCD image sensor to be read out The minimum is 32 pixels x 32 pixels The area can be adjusted either by using the mouse clicking into the ROI field and drawing an appropriate rectangle or by select ing values from the drop down lists to determine the corner points For a further method see section 7 2 The unused lines will be read out approximately four times faster thus increasing the frame rate while decreasing the amount of image data Options This drop down list offers two double shutter operation modes e Double Short dead time 200ns e Double Long dead time TUS and two fast shutter operations modes e Standard e Fast Cycles Analog Gain A normal and a high gain 6dB setting are available This in fluences the integrated gain and the conversion factor which describes how many charges are necessary to generate one count in the digital image The higher gain is only useful if the camera is operated in binning mode Info This status window gives information about the connected camera including type of sensicam this code is important in case of support questions sensor type b w color VGA SVGA CCD and electronics temperature delay exposure times readout time frame rate fps and trigger options The information
11. Record button to enable the recording Then single images can be acquired by pressing the Single Trigger button see 5 13 and 5 17 with the yellow flash next to the Start Record button If External Exp Start is selected the image acquisition is triggered by an external signal It is also possible to force a software trigger with the Single Trigger flash button If External Exp Ctrl is selected an external signal which is applied to the trigger input at the pco power controls the start and the duration of the exposure Timing The timing values exposure and delay times can be ad justed in various ways It is possible to click onto the red tri angles and move them with the mouse or to change the val ues using the edit control Here the values can be edited di rectly by clicking into the edit control or by using the up down control or the slider on the right The slider and the up down control refer to the blue highlighted unit Within the Sensor Size sheet it is possible to adjust the sensor format the binning and the region of interest ROI user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Camera Control Page 14 Sensor Misc CameraControl Sensor Misc CamFtam Recording Binning Region of interest horizontal x B T6001 200 vertikal Sensor format standard 1600x1200 1200 extended em S 164841214 1 lt gt lv 1600 gt lvl peo 1600 1600 1200 b w doubleshu
12. Sensitivity an i Default Offset Control S P d oi auto D off poo 1600 16001200 bzw doubleshutter E P Pixelclock The Pixelclock sets the clock frequency and therefore the image sensor readout speed The lower the pixelclock is set the higher the image quality will be At lower pixelclock set tings it is sufficient to read out at a lower bandwidth which results in lower readout noise The higher the pixelclock is set the faster the image sensor is read out by the camera achieving higher frame rates ADC Converter Using two analog to digital converters ADC rather than one will decrease the readout time Using two ADCs will force the ROI to be symmetrical in the horizontal direction With two ADCs the left half of the image is converted by the first ADC and the right half of the image is simultaneously converted by the second ADC The readout time will be shortened by half Double Image These radio buttons select the camera s double shutter ex posure function such that the readout time of the first image can be used to record a second subsequent image This fea ture is widely used for particle image velocimetry piv meas urements IR Sensitivity If available these buttons use a special image sensor control method allowing greater sensitivity in the near infrared spec tral range in most cases at the expense of decreased anti blooming performance Offset Control To deliver all im
13. White or Color Window depending on the Camera system image sensor The Browser window can show up to 40 pictures allowing easy Browser window printing If more than 40 images have been recorded further pages are added The user can switch between the individual pages by double clicking in side the Browser window or by using the local menu right mouse button Double clicking into the upper half of the window will step one page back Double clicking into the lower half of the window will step one page forward If the Browser window is printed out only the content that is ac tually displayed inside the window will be sent to the printer This button opens the multi frame window With the Multi Frame Window it is possible to view all active camera im ages in one window The user might select between time oriented or Camera number oriented order Time ori ented means that the sequence of images depends on the individual time stamp of each image Camera number ori ented means that the first image shown is from camera 1 then camera 2 and so on 5 24 camRAM Level Indicator amb arm Level Indicator 5 25 Rec Info Rec me 5 26 Cursor BAw v 20T v 167 value 3925 This status display shows the amount of the selected mem ory segment that has already been used if images are re corded to the camRAM in the pco camera systems Future feature In future versions of camware this status display w
14. adapts to the camera type connected For pco camera the camera control settings are spread over five property sheets The most important change in the use of the camera control for the pco camera system is that changes that have been made within the camera control window must be sent to the camera to be acknowledged Therefore after changes in each sheet the visible accept button must be pressed After that the changes will be sent to the camera A green lamp in the lower right corner of the control window indi cates that the changes have been acknowledged and made A red lamp signals an error If the accept button were not pressed the user would continue recording with previous or unknown settings The Camera control dialog does not revert to previously ac cepted settings The Timing sheet enables the control of delay and expo sure time as well as the Trigger Mode user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Sensor Size Camera Control Page 13 CameraControl Delay 0 000ms Exposure 1 025m6 Owe 20006 Trigger Mode Timing LS Auto Sequence L 7 Soft Trigger External Exp Start C 7 External Exp Ctrl Trigger Mode If Auto Sequence is selected press the Start Record but ton to begin recording The camera will optimize the image recording to achieve the best possible frame rate Use the Soft Trigger if single images need to be recorded with GUI control The user must press the Start
15. effect The best way to preserve the photocathode is by setting a high Gain in Phosphor MCP Gain as a small amount of input light generates a low photocathode current but produces a high light Output to achieve a high dynamic image on the CCD image sensor The lifetime also depends on the number of exposures and the intensifier s repetition rate If the image is overexposed do not lower the image intensi fier gain Instead attenuate the light incident on the photo cathode by e g closing the aperture or adding a neutral gray filter to the optical input Del Exp Time The delay and exposure time pairs can be adjusted by enter ing the appropriate values into the corresponding number fields e delay time range O to 1000s e exposure time range 3ns to 1000s the shortest exposure time depends on the camera system specifications e loop 1 to 256 The delay and exposure time value are a combination of the values in the ms and the ns field user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Camera Control Page 43 Binning A super pixel is generated when rows vertically and col umns horizontally are combined Please note the resolution will be reduced and the frame rate will be increased by ver tical binning only Horizontal Binning factor 1 2 4 8 Vertical Binning factor 1 2 4 8 16 32 Region of Interest ROI The ROI selects only a part of the total CCD image sensor to be read out The minimum is
16. image file that was made using the reloaded camera settings 4 2 3 Save Camera Settings This command saves the actual camera settings of all pre sent cameras that have been recognized by camware 4 2 4 Create Hot Pixel List This command should be used to create a Hotpixel List in a file Some pixels tend to become very bright during a long exposure These pixels are called hotpixels To remove hot pixels from the image it is necessary to first create a hotpixel list in a file If there has already been a hotpixel file created the user only needs to enable the hotpixel correction feature The new replacement hotpixel value will be calculated by us ing an average of the neighboring pixel values A hotpixel list file only can only be created if the last expo sure time was longer than 5s The command opens the hotpixel list dialog box user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Menu Bar Page 56 a Hi lf Mr of hot Lomp Close pisels in list E chuai eel Average Val i 6 31 Save HOT File Please verity that the aperture is closed rou can press aquire to get a new image Exposure time must be longer than 5s SL zl Vale dS J E The user must first define and type in the desired amount of acceptable hotpixels Then the Get Hotpixel button has to be pressed Afterwards the hotpixel list will be created us ing the last acquired image Now it is possible to save the hotpixel list for later use A
17. mode iol xi Del E gp Time Trigger Delay ps Exposure ps Cycles om2 0000 800 fi 000 000 Cycles oon 002 000 0500 000 Cycles OOS C Auto Sequential f Est falling Edge Est rising Edge 0000 400 0060 00 Cycles 0005 ooo O00 li 000 000 E 9 Brz E Cycles UNION Options org HOT 0000 000 Fast Cycles 9 Analog Gain Ce Gainnomal Y Gain EdB Information SensiCam Typ 370LD Fast Shutter BAw 128051024 Into Del Exp Time Delay times range from O to 1ms and are selectable in steps of 100 ns To enter and adjust the values select the corre sponding number field and type in the value Exposure times range from 100ns to 1ms and are selectable in steps of 100 ns To enter and adjust the values select the corresponding number field and type in the value Within each cycle block the corresponding delay exposure time pair is repeated according to the cycle number which can be typed in if the corresponding number field is se lected Then the next cycle block begins The cycles range from O to 1000 If the number of cycles is equal to O the block is ignored and skipped A single delay exposure time pair may not be smaller than 1ps user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Camera Control Page 25 Del Exp Time Delay ps Exposure lus Cycles om2 ooo 800 i 000 000 Cycles ngn oc 000 0500 000 Cycles OO 0000 400 O060 000 Cycles 0005
18. 10bit values can easily be reconstructed by a simple division by 64 for each pixel No image information is lost distorted or changed by the MSB alignment 1 3 2 LSB Least Significant Bit Alignment In earlier versions of Ccamware image data was stored using LSB alignment However this method had shortcomings and is no longer used in camware Using LSB alignment the pixel values are stored as they are recorded Since there are no 10 or 12 or 14bit image formats only 8bit and 16bit all image types must be stored as 16bit images user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Camware Page 9 LSB alignment is also called right aligned The disadvantage of some image processing software packages is that they open images and display them simply minimum maximum scaled to the data format instead of the image content Therefore a maximum exposed 10bit image 1024 counts will appear totally black when stored as 16bit image data The software scales from O 65536 for display of 0 255 grey values resulting in the darkest grey level step of 8192 counts which is larger than 1024 As a result no image can be seen To solve this problem now camware stores images MSB aligned 1 4 If no camera is connected Demo Mode Setup Error on startup No camera detected or no board found Starting without camera functions Please select color and resolution for demo mode x 30 om Double Shutter Mode Alignment LS ba color lower uppe
19. 32 pixels x 32 pixels The area can be adjusted either by using the mouse clicking into the ROI field and drawing an appropriate rectangle or by select ing values from the drop down lists to determine the corner points For a further method see section 7 2 The unused lines will be read out approximately four times faster thus increasing the frame rate while decreasing the amount of image data Analog Gain A normal Gain normal and a high gain Gain 6dB set ting is available This influences the integrated gain and therefore the conversion factor which describes how many charges are necessary to generate one count in the digital image The higher gain is only useful if the Camera is oper ated in binning mode Info This status window provides information about the con nected camera including type of dicam pro this code is im portant in case of support questions sensor type b w VGA SVGA CCD and electronics temperature delay exposure times readout time frame rate fps and trigger options The information can be reviewed by pressing the Info button user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Camera Control Page 44 Double Shutter Camera Control PhosphorMCP Binning Decay me Hor 1 Wert Double Shutter e Auto C Extern Gain LS 99 5 Del ZE up Time Region of Interest Delay Exposure HF S S BER E me Ins me ns 000 1000200 ooo 1000200 ooo o00500 ooo 1000200 E 1280
20. 55 gray levels for display to the minimum and maximum image intensity values See Section 4 4 3 histogram window for further ex planation user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Local Menu Page 73 Auto Range Crop This command forces camware to scale the 255 gray levels for display to the minimum and maximum image intensity values while ignoring extreme intensities dark or bright like light spots reflections See Section 4 4 3 histogram win dow for further explanation Auto Balance Color Auto Exposure 6 7 6 8 6 9 6 10 Flip 6 11 Mirror This command activates the auto balance color The White Balance for color images is obtained by averaging the red pixels in the center of the image The same method is used for the green and blue pixels in this area Afterwards the gain of the three colors is assimilated to get a gray level image Thus one has to shoot or import an image with a white object in its center e g a piece of white paper before activating the auto balance color feature This command starts Ccamware s auto exposure routine of camware which determines an optimum exposure time See Section 4 2 6 auto exposure for further explanation If this option is selected the image will be flipped before it is shown in the image window If this option is selected a checkbox will appear to the left of the word in the menu Af ter exiting camware this option is saved as default setting If thi
21. Camera IS connected eene esse ee 9 QUICK OVERVIEW cccccceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 11 CAMERA CONTROL annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn 12 pco camera family sss s e c c c e c c lt e c c e e c e e e ee eee e 12 SENSICAM Family 2 2 00 c e c c e c c e c c e e e ee eee eee 19 sensicam Jong eXpOSUre sees ee e e c e c eee ee ee eee 19 sensicam fast butter eene EEN 21 sensicam double butter aen 27 SENSIGAIN e LE 29 SENSICAM sSenSiMod EE 32 SENSICAIN CUM EE 34 pixelfly family be c c c cee x eens eee een K ee eee ee 37 GIG ATION e EN 39 MENG BAF ER 46 Mend EE 46 OPEN EE 46 ODEN EE 46 ODEN RECOrdO EE 47 EE 47 SAV SSC eer oan ee ee ees cto eee ee ec 47 Save leese ee ees 48 Print SC EE 48 Si gland EE 48 Si dia LEE 48 ODUOMS genee Eesen 49 Load Lookup Table een 53 Direct Record To File EE 54 Record with Flowfile EE 54 EEN 54 VIENU Te ug WER 55 Camera e d e e EE 55 Load Camera Gettinmge een 55 Save Camera SettingS ccc ecce c c c c ce ee eee 55 Table of Contents Page 4 4 2 4 4 2 5 4 2 6 4 3 4 3 1 4 3 2 4 3 3 4 3 4 4 3 5 4 4 4 4 1 4 4 2 4 4 3 4 4 4 4 4 5 4 4 6 4 4 7 4 4 8 4 5 4 5 1 4 5 2 4 5 3 4 5 4 4 6 4 6 1 4 6 2 4 6 3 5 1 5 2 5 3 5 4 5 5 5 6 5 7 5 8 5 9 5 10 5 11 5 12 5 13 5 14 Create Hot Pixel ELISE cc cce 55 Hot Pixel Correction cc c x eee eee 56 Auto EEXDOSUFC cx e c c x e ee eee eee 56 Menu ACQUISITION s ue 57 Keser sea c
22. Live Previews ENTER Acquire Sequence L Recorder Settings The Live Preview is useful for fast and easy camera focus and adjustment The active window will be updated If an other window needs to be opened simply click on the win dow The option is not available in double shutter mode Shortcut Toolbar Button ENTER key The Acquire Picture command starts single image re cording Shortcut Toolbar Button SPACE bar In case a pco camera is connected the position of this but ton has been moved to the recorder section of the main toolbar CIE During recording the camera controls are locked It is possi ble to stop recording by selecting the Acquire Picture command again or by pressing the ESC key 4 3 3 Acquire Sequence 6 619 When using a sensicam or pixelfly camera system the Ac quire Sequence command starts recording images into the system memory beginning at buffer number first image set in setup recorder up to buffer number last image For a pco camera system the Acquire Sequence com mand starts recording images into the camera s built in memory camRAM During recording the camera controls are locked Before camera or converter settings can be changed recording must be stopped Shortcut Toolbar Button user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Menu Bar Page 58 4 3 4 Rec Memory Settings This command should be used to open the recorder memory settings dialog window Mem
23. Region of Interest ROI The ROI selects only a part of the total CCD image sensor to be read out The minimum is 32 pixels x 32 pixels The area can be adjusted either by using the mouse clicking into the ROI field and drawing an appropriate rectangle or by select ing values from the drop down lists to determine the corner points For a further method see section 7 2 The unused lines will be read out approximately four times faster thus increasing the frame rate while the amount of im age data is decreased Options The sensicam fast shutter Standard mode or the Fast Cy cles mode may be selected from the drop down list Analog Gain A normal and a high gain 6dB setting are available This in fluences the integrated gain and the conversion factor which describes how many charges are necessary to generate one count in the digital image The higher gain is only useful if the camera is operated in binning mode Info This status window gives information about the connected camera including type of sensicam this code is important in case of support questions sensor type b w color VGA SVGA CCD and electronics temperature delay exposure times readout time frame rate fps and trigger options The information can be reviewed by pressing the Info button user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Camera Control Page 27 3 2 3 sensicam double shutter 2101 xi Del E gp Time Trigger Delay ps Exposure ps
24. This command opens the Options dialog allowing special settings File settings HE TIFF Bit Al t View settings L Angnmen Toolbar T Align to MSB Mise ASCII fle separator TAB Ke Cancel TIFF Bit Alignment Align to MSB The alignment of the pixel values can be selected here If the item is checked off each pixel value is for example shifted from bit 12 1 to bit16 5 This removes the dark image ef fect inside other image processing and displaying applica tions Check the item if the camware generated tiff files should be used by other applications Users should note that the alignment is a binary shift opera tion and is not performing a scaling operation ASCII file separator The drop down list allows the user to select the appropriate separator for the image storage in ASCII format user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Menu Bar Page 50 Image Browser e color L bew Misc Color Conversion Marker _ Smooth View Marker Min Max Length Automatic Select Color Double huther Paint both images Image Browser color or b w The user can select whether all of the image tiles inside the browser window are displayed in either black white or in color The b w setting results in a faster screen refresh This feature is only available for cameras with a color CCD image sensor Color Conversion Smooth If the Smooth option is checked off an alternative color conversion algori
25. adio but tons to make a selection If a subsequent image recording is started this segment will be used camRAM Settings The amount of memory for the active memory can be ad justed by using the number boxes sliders activated by pressing the arrow down buttons or by clicking on one of the pie limiting lines and moving the mouse while holding the mouse button down Neighboring memory segments will be adapted The resulting memory sizes in MB are displayed in the status windows Recording The Recording sheet gives memory operation control re corder mode an additional external control signal acquire mode and an optional image integrated time stamp for bet ter image sequence management user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Camera Control Page 18 CameraControl Recorder Mode Timestamp Sequence L 7 No stamp L 7 Binary Ring Buffer Binary ASCII Acquire Mode Auto External pco 1600 160027200 Bw doubleshutber Recorder Mode In sequence mode the camera will stop after the active memory segment of the camRAM is filled once The cam RAM level indicator See 5 24 displays the memory segment fill level In ring buffer mode the camera will record continu ously into the memory segment If the end of the segment is reached the oldest images are overwritten achieving a cy clical recording until recording is stopped Acquire Mode The acquire mode enables or disables recording by a
26. age evaluation information it is necessary to add a certain signal level to the real signal to enable the measurement of the total noise floor if the offset would be zero an unknown amount of noise would be cut off since a negative light signal is not possible The stability of this off set is usually guaranteed by a proper temperature control and a software control which uses the information of dark user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Camera Control Page 16 pixel information from the sensor limits Further algorithms must be applied to match the sensor performance if 2 ADCs are used for readout All this can be done automatically Off set Control Auto or can be switched off Offset Control Off for total user control The addition of an offset level is not influenced by these radio buttons but rather through software control Conversion Factor Using the values from the dropdown list the corresponding conversion factor can be selected The conversion factor de fines how many charges electrons which have been gener ated by light in the image sensor in each pixel are necessary to generate one count one intensity level in the digital im age Therefore the conversion factor describes the gain that is applied to the signal before it is converted into a digital value Cooling Setpoint The cooling setpoint if available adjusts the temperature that should be reached by the camera system The user should not set
27. ailable This influences the integrated gain and the conversion factor which describes how many charges are necessary to generate one count in the digital image The higher gain is only useful if the camera is operated in binning mode Info This status window provides information about the con nected camera including type of dicam pro this code is im portant in case of support questions sensor type b w VGA SVGA CCD and electronics temperature delay exposure times readout time frame rate fps and trigger options The information can be reviewed by pressing the Info button user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Menu Bar Page 46 4 Menu Bar In this chapter the functionality and commands of the differ ent menus in the main menu bar are explained in detail 4 1 Menu File Camera Acquisition View Wi Open CTRL Open Recorder LTH Ab Save CTAL E Save Recorder CTAL P Print Setup Print Preview s Prnt CTAL F Options Load Lookup T able Record with Elowle Eat 4 1 1 Open This command should be used to import an image into the currently active image window Only files with the extension and format of b16 and tif can be imported b16 PCO proprietary binary image format tif TIFF image format If the recorder is enabled each imported image will be trans ferred to the buffer shown in the picture number The image itself will be fitted to the current image size If the record
28. amR am Recording Delay 0 000Mms Expoeure 1171 000m6 200m Trigger Mode Timing Gei Auto Sequence Exposure 00 00 111 000 E B Soft Trigger mins mug External Exp Start Delay D 000 000 000 B O External Exp Ctrl RE pco 000 120499 20491 brw doubleshutber 1 3 Image Data Alignment 1 3 1 MSB Most Significant Bit Alignment With the new pco camera system Camware was converted to an MSB image data alignment This change was in re sponse to customer comments that only black images could be seen when the image files were opened with image proc essing software This happened because the 16bit values were filled with real intensity values for example a maximum of 4096 counts for a 12bit camera If a 16bit image was opened in most cases the displayed image would be scaled to the absolute maximum of 65536 of which 4096 is only a small amount AS a consequence the displayed image ap peared black and seemed to be empty For all image data it doesn t matter which dynamic 1 Obit 12bit or 14bit are MSB or left aligned This means that all corresponding data are shifted or multiplied and that the maximum possible value is stored as the maximum 16bit number 65536 As a result even 10bit data appears larger because a full range pixel value of 1024 for 10bit would be stored as 65536 Every pixel value has been multiplied by 64 2 to achieve the MSB alignment If necessary for image processing purposes the original
29. amera This is because each color pixel is the result of a calculation based on four base pixels The small font is not readable as it cov ers fewer base pixels 4 5 Menu Window 4 5 1 Cascade 4 5 2 Tile 4 5 3 Arrange Icons Wmdoua H Cascade Tile Arrange Icons Close Al 1 BW Window 2 Histogram The Cascade command displays all open image windows overlapped This command tiles all open image windows vertically or horizontally This Command rearranges all minimized topic icons on the desktop user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Menu Bar Page 66 4 5 4 Close All This command closes all open image windows 4 6 Menu H Search for Help on About 4 6 1 Contents This command opens the main page of the online program help 4 6 2 Search for Help on This command opens a help index list 4 6 3 About This command opens an information window and returns version information which the user might send to PCO sup port via email with or without service information About CamWare Yer Build Nr ACEN camware Support Mail only zupportiapco de Support Mail with support files zupportpeoa de Visit out homepage http va poo de Warning This program i protected by copyright law and international treaties Unauthorized reproduction of this program or any portion of it may result in Severe civil and criminal penalties and will be prosecuted to the maximum etend possib
30. ample Del Exp time Delay p Exposure ps 0020 000 0005 000 1000 000 Jong omg 1000 000 1000 000 000 000 1000 000 0000 000 0100 000 0000 000 Jong omg 0000 000 0000 000 0000 000 Jong omg 0000 000 0000 000 0000 000 Jong omg EEEEEEEEEL Exposure 1 delay 20us exposure 5us Exposure 2 delay 1ms exposure O Exposure 3 delay 1ms exposure 1ms Exposure 4 delay 1us exposure 1ms Exposure 5 delay O exposure 100us Hints amp Notes e For exposure 2 the exposure time has been set to O This results in a delay of 1ms e Exposure 4 has a true duration of 1 1ms since the delay of exposure 5 is O Le exposure 5 follows directly expo sure 4 This results in an exposure time larger than 1ms Trigger Here the trigger operation mode can be selected by these radio buttons The image recording sequence can either be started internally Auto Sequential which is only available in sensicam fast shutter Standard Mode or by an additional external trigger signal Ext falling Edge means trailing edge or Ext rising Edge at the BNC socket of the PCI frame grabber board Binning A super pixel is generated when rows vertically and col umns horizontally are combined Please note the resolution will be reduced and the frame rate will be increased by ver tical binning only user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Camera Control Page 23 Horizontal Binning factor 1
31. button opens the recorder settings window where various parameters can be adjusted as described in Section 4 3 5 recorder settings Replay Navigation aaa 30 R Sp These recorder bar buttons and controls navigate the re corder and choose the image to be viewed Camware can record up to 9999 images The gt forward and lt rewind buttons select the next and preceding im age respectively The gt gt fast forward and lt lt fast re wind buttons switch multi images forward and rewind multi images respectively in 10 steps The gt I last image and I lt first image buttons jump to the last and the first image respectively If there are more than 50 recorded images it is also possible to slide through the images by clicking and holding the left user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Buttons amp Status Windows Page 71 mouse button inside the image number edit control Once in side the edit control use the mouse whell to step through images The status window gives the position number of the dis played image within the recorded sequence 5 22 Image Browser n 5 23 Multi Window S This button starts the Recorder Browser which giving an overview of the images in the recorder and allows the user to easily select a new current image The user simply clicks on the desired image to change the focus to this image it becomes the active window Then it may be viewed in ei ther the Black
32. c or linear if gamma is set to 1 Conversion The gamma value can be changed by right clicking the red square or by directly editing the gamma text box See the histogram 4 4 3 to understand the values at the left and right triangle a Shortcut Toolbar Button 4 4 5 Convert Control Color This command should be used to open the camera convert control color window which is accessible for all camera sys tems with color image sensors Camera Convert Control Color User LUT s The most important feature of the Camera Convert Control Color is a diagram which graphically displays the conver sion method for the three colors red green and blue from maximum intensity values x axis into 8 bit values y axis It is possible to manipulate the diagrams by selecting the color and then dragging the little arrowheads or squares using the rocker switches or by directly typing in the values in the text boxes The color can be selected by clicking the correspond ing button or by a mouse click on the upper end of the cor responding curve The result can also be viewed in form of a color wedge at the bottom of the convert control window A gamma value can be set which enables the user to set a logarithmic or linear if gamma is set to 1 Conversion The gamma value can be changed by right clicking the red square or directly by editing the value in the gamma text box A gain button allows the user to change the color specific gain gradie
33. can be reviewed by pressing the Info button user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Camera Control Page 29 3 2 4 sensicam ge Is Delay 0 010 Exposure 0 050 Del Exp Time Delay z 000 07 U Exposure ls 000 050 Binning Git 9 Ver 1 Frame Control Auto Start LongExp Sequential Busy Out _Sst Trigger Analog Gain Low Light Mode f Normal T High Ge Default C On Information Del Exp Time The delay and exposure time range depends on the opera tion mode setting LongExp The delay time ranges from O to 1000s and can be selected in steps of 1 ms Fast The delay time ranges from O to 10ms and can be se lected in steps of 100 ns The green bar indicates the delay time The mouse can be used to adjust the delay time by shifting the red arrowhead up pointing or by clicking on the green symbols Alter natively it is possible to type the value into the number field beside Delay s LongExp The exposure time ranges from 1ms to 1000s and can be selected in steps of 1 ms Fast The exposure time ranges from 500ns to 10ms and can be selected in steps of 100 ns Double The exposure of two separate full frame images It is controlled via the external trigger input signal at the frame grabber PCI board The blue bar indicates the exposure time The mouse can be used to adjust the exposure time by shifting the red arrow head down pointing or by c
34. cket of the PCI frame grabber board Frame Start The image recording or exposure will be started in Sequen tial or Simultaneous mode or by an external trigger signal Triggered For more detailed information on triggering please see the camera system manual Trigger Edge The user may select a rising or falling trailing edge to repre sent the external trigger signal user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Camera Control Page 31 Signal Out The BNC socket at the frame grabber PCI board can also be used as an output channel For more information on output signals please see the camera system manual Region of Interest ROI The ROI selects only a part of the total CCD image sensor to be read out The minimum is 32 pixels x 32 pixels The area can be adjusted either by using the mouse clicking into the ROI field and drawing an appropriate rectangle or by select ing values from the drop down lists to determine the corner points For a further method see section 7 2 The unused lines will be read out approximately four times faster increasing the frame rate while decreasing the amount of image data Analog Gain A normal and a high gain 6dB setting are available This in fluences the integrated gain and the conversion factor which describes how many charges are necessary to generate one count in the digital image The higher gain is only useful if the camera is operated in binning mode Low Light Mode Two m
35. cted in steps of 75 us The blue bar indicates the exposure time The mouse can be used to adjust the exposure time by shifting the red arrow head down pointing or by clicking on the blue sym bols Alternatively it is possible to type the value into the number field beside Exposure s Binning A super pixel is generated when rows vertically and col umns horizontally are combined Please note the resolution will be reduced and the frame rate will be increased by ver tical binning only Horizontal Binning factor 1 2 4 8 Vertical Binning factor 1 2 4 8 16 32 for 992pixel reso lution Frame Control Operation and trigger modes can be selected here Operation Mode The drop down list offers the selection of e LongExp exposure time range 1ms to 3600s e Fast exposure time range 75us to 15ms Set Trigger The Set Trigger button opens an additional window where the different trigger modes of the camera system can be se lected sequence Start Frame Start S Auto f Sequential L Triggered Simultaneous Cancel f Triggered Trigger Edge Signal Dut CG Falling C Rising Busy Exposure Sequence Start The image recording sequence is either started internally Auto or by an additional external trigger signal Trig gered at the BNC socket of the PCI frame grabber board Frame Start user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Camera Control Page 36 The image r
36. display does not interfere with the record proc ess For current Computers an approximate rate of 4 5 frames per second fps is typical 4 1 13 Record with Flowfile 4 1 14 Exit This command should be used to load a flow file A flow file contains lines with a delay and an exposure time Each line corresponds to one image to be acquired If the flow file has 15 delay and exposure times then 15 images will be ac quired Before the image is snapped the corresponding time values will be sent to the camera This affects the possible image frame rate as additional time is required for setting the values between two images Please see the sample flow files in the application directory e g flow txt Selecting the Exit Command exits the program and closes all camera dialog windows The PCl interface card if pre sent and the camera will be reset Window positions set tings and sizes are stored in the Windows registry and will be loaded again the next time Camware is started user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Menu Bar Page 55 4 2 Menu Camera Camera Acquisition View Load Camera Settings Save Camera Settings Create Hot Fisel List Hotpisel Correction 4 2 1 Camera Control This command should be used to open the Camera Con trol window See chapter 2 E Shortcut Toolbar Button 4 2 2 Load Camera Settings With this command previously saved camera settings can be reloaded The user can only open an
37. dow Color Window ia Histograrn Window 7 Convert Control BY DN Convert Control Color Browser This command should be used to open a b w display win dow If the camera is switched to double shutter trigger mode a popup menu will be shown In this menu the user may select either image A first or image B Second user s manual pco camware 12 2004 at 4 4 2 Color Window EI Menu Bar Page 61 Select image A B menu Image A Image B Image A AP This menu will appear if a b w or color window is opened and the camera is set to double shutter For each activated command the user must select the executable image A B A B Shortcut Toolbar Button This command should be used to open a color display win dow If the camera is switched to double shutter trigger mode a popup menu will be shown In this menu it is possi ble to select between image A first and image B Second Select image A B menu Image A Image B Image A B This menu will appear if a b w or color window is opened and the camera is set to double shutter For each activated command the user must select the executable image A B A B Shortcut Toolbar Button 4 4 3 Histogram Window This command should be used to open a histogram window m Histogram Silks The Histogram Window displays an intensity histogram of the current image The amount of pixels is shown for each in tensity value Two green lines with ar
38. e mouse button the rubber band window coordinates are used to de fine a new region of interest ROI To reset the ROI to maxi mum the user simply has to presses the CTRL Strg key and double clicks into the image window This feature is not available for the pixelfly camera system 7 3 Command Line Argument If the user does not want the splash screen displayed at startup nosplash can be used as a command line argu ment 7 4 Embedded Image Info If this command is used an embedded text will be shown in side the image See Section 4 1 10 Options Misc user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Additional Features Page 75 Embedded Image Info The embedded image info field over writes image data IF you do not want image data to be overwritten do not SE use this feature See Options dialog Settings Use big font In case of color CCD Show date big font is standard Wo Show Camera Number jw Show time Image Info Text max 30 Characters Application Test Mr O01 This feature should be used if a comment and or the time date the image was acquired and or the camera num ber should be stored as visible information in the image The text directly placed into the image will Overwrite a part of the image This information cannot be lost as the informa tion will be saved with the image in every format Only the large font can be used with a color camera This is because each color pixel is the resu
39. ecording or exposure will be started in Sequen tial or Simultaneous mode or by an external trigger signal Triggered For more detailed information on triggering please see the camera system manual Trigger Edge The user may select a rising or falling trailing edge to repre sent the external trigger signal Signal Out The BNC socket at the frame grabber PCI board can also be used as an output channel For more information on output signals please see the camera system manual Region of Interest ROI The ROI selects only a part of the total CCD image sensor to be read out The minimum is 32 pixels x 32 pixels The area can be adjusted either by using the mouse clicking into the ROI field and drawing an appropriate rectangle or by select ing values from the drop down lists to determine the corner points For a further method see section 7 2 The unused lines will be read out approximately four times faster thus increasing the frame rate while decreasing the amount of image data Electron Multiplying Gain The drop down list allows the user to set the electron multi plying gain of the emCCD image sensor The following Gain Values can be selected x2 x5 x10 x20 x50 x100 x200 x500 x1000 It should be kept in mind that with increasing gain the exist ing photon noise in low level signals is also amplified while the readout noise stays constant Info This status window gives information about the con
40. ed in steps of 1 ms The blue bar indicates the exposure time The mouse can be used to adjust the exposure time by shifting the red arrowhead down pointing or by clicking on the blue symbols Alternatively it is possible to type the value into the number field beside Exposure s Binning A super pixel is formed when rows vertically and columns horizontally are combined Please note the resolution will be reduced and the frame rate will be increased by vertical binning only user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Camera Control Page 20 Frame Control Horizontal Binning factor 1 2 4 8 Vertical Binning factor 1 2 4 8 16 32 Region of Interest ROI The ROI selects only a part of the total CCD image sensor to be read out The minimum is 32 pixels x 32 pixels The area can be adjusted either by using the mouse clicking into the ROI field and drawing an appropriate rectangle or by select ing values from the drop down lists to determine the corner points For another method see section 7 2 The unused lines will be read out approximately four times faster thus increasing the frame rate while decreasing the amount of image data Analog Gain A normal and a high gain 6dB setting are available This in fluences the integrated gain and the conversion factor which describes how many charges are necessary to generate one count in the digital image The higher gain is only useful if the camera is
41. ee EE e 57 Acgu ire PIGCUNG socnco cece eter aioe aa 57 ee Ree Uer EE 57 Rec Memory Settings ccc ccc ccc cc c c c c c eee eee 58 RECOrder SetuP cies a ee ee ees 59 MENU TT 60 B N VIN GOW sacs het esd eee ees 60 Color de fe e TEEN 61 Histogram WiINdoOW ee c cce eee eee eee 61 Convert Control BW 62 Convert Control Goler 63 Recorder Browser 64 NIGER GO contd teal edt tous tile 64 Embedded Image Info 64 Menu WINCGOW AAA 65 Gs La 6s E EEN 65 MNCS a E AE E A E 65 Arange een 65 67 e EE TTT 66 Ve E WEE EE 66 CONTENTS oa sce ee EE 66 e TR neide eaa 66 PA DOU EE 66 BUTTONS amp STATUS WINDOWS 68 Print Active WINCGOW cccceeeeecccneccuucecenenaes 68 VIEW ATTEN 68 VIEW ae aT TT 68 Open Histogram VWWIndOW ENEE 68 Gamera e Tu d ge EEN 68 Convert Control B W ENEE 68 Convert Control Color ccccceeeeeeeeeneeceeess 68 Auto Range Peak cs ss ses es eee eee eee eee 69 Auto Range CLrop lt s ss ss ses es ee ee eee eee eee 69 Auto Balance CoOlOr ccceeeeeceeeceeeneueeeeenues 69 AUTO EXDOSUNC eege 69 Live PreViGW TTT 69 AGGUIFEG Ten a eege Ee 69 Master Gain 2B ss sese es eee eee eee e 69 user s manual pco camware 12 2004 5 15 5 16 5 17 5 18 5 19 5 20 5 21 5 22 5 23 5 24 5 25 5 26 6 1 6 2 6 3 6 4 6 5 6 6 6 7 6 8 6 9 6 10 6 11 7 1 7 2 7 3 7 4 7 9 user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Table of Contents Page 5 Pixel V AUC E 69 Continuous Auto Range
42. een checkmark the Math Functions can be disabled but the corresponding toolbar remains visible If the Math Functions are disabled but they had previously been en abled a toolbar button with a red cross is displayed By pressing the red cross button the Math Functions can be enabled again Replay Speed Bar Show Speed Bar obja Z Mad PpeW EP E 7 A reply speed bar feature may be selected which is dis played just below the replay control buttons The speed bar allows the user to adjust the replay speed from very slow turtle to very fast rabbit The faster replay speed is useful if large sets of image data need to be scanned Options File settings View settings Toolbar due Embedded Image Info _ view Image Info select Info Mult Wm Picture Order Gei Camera order Image time stamp Intotext Scroll Mode Show At Startup Synchronous Logfile Application Logfile Clear Logfiles Driver Logfile Infotext Show At Startup If the Show At Startup box is checked the startup informa tion dialog box will be displayed when camware is started Scroll Mode Synchronous If Scroll Mode box is checked all opened image windows are scrolled simultaneously and in the same way user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Menu Bar Page 53 Embedded Image Info View Image Info Select Info If View Image Info is checked an embedded text will be shown inside the image window If
43. epends on the number of exposures and the image intensifier s repetition rate If the image is overexposed do not lower the image intensi fier gain Instead attenuate the light impinging on the photo cathode by e g closing the aperture or adding a neutral gray filter to the optical input Del Exp Time The delay and exposure time pairs can be adjusted by enter ing the appropriate values into the corresponding number fields e delay time range O to 1000s e exposure time range 3ns to 1000s the shortest exposure time depends on the camera system specifications e loop 1 to256 The delay and exposure time value are a combination of the values in the ms and the ns field Binning A super pixel is generated when rows vertically and col umns horizontally are combined Please note the resolution will be reduced and the frame rate will be increased by ver tical binning only Horizontal Binning factor 1 2 4 8 Vertical Binning factor 1 2 4 8 16 32 Region of Interest ROI The ROI selects only a part of the total CCD image sensor to be read out The minimum is 32 pixels x 32 pixels The area can be adjusted either by using the mouse clicking into the ROI field and drawing an appropriate rectangle or by select user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Multi Trigger Camera Control Page 41 ing values from the drop down lists to determine the corner points For a further method see section 7 2
44. er is disabled the current image sizes will be set to the parame ters of the imported image 4 1 2 Open Set The Open Set command should be used to import a set of images The corresponding windows will be opened auto matically A comment window will also be opened showing the camera settings with a comment This command opens the Open file dialog box Only files with the extension set can be imported The filename of the images is gen erated by using the following Convention set name plus a number and the extension b16 user s manual pco camware 12 2004 4 1 3 Open Recorder 4 1 4 Save 4 1 55 Save Set Menu Bar Page 47 In recorder mode the Open Set command is automati cally disabled This command is used to import a sequence of images If more than one camera is connected and an image window is Currently open the sequence will be loaded to the window that has received the input focus the active window If no image window is open the images will be loaded to camera 1 This command opens the Open file dialog box Only files with the extension and the format of b16 and tif TIFF 16 can be imported The Save command should be used to save or export the image which is displayed in the active window The com mand opens the Save file dialog box The image file can only be saved in b16 fts tif bmp or ASCII for mat Note be aware of the different storage abilities o
45. f the for mats for example bmp the bitmap format only allows for 8bit values to be stored and therefore the image content of a 12 or 14bit image is reduced if stored as bitmap If more than one camera is connected it is possible to save all current images by selecting Export all images in the Save file dialog box With this feature it is possible to save one image of each active camera within one process step it is not necessary to repeat the save process for each cam era The Save command will not be available if there is no im age window open The Save Set command should be used to save or export the image which is displayed in the currently active window The command opens the Save file dialog box The image file can only be saved in b16 format The naming conven tion is image file name set name plus a number and the b16 extension After the Save file dialog the user will be prompted to type in a comment experimental conditions or the like if desired user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Menu Bar Page 48 4 1 6 Save Recorder 4 1 7 Print Setup 4 1 8 Print Preview 4 1 9 Print Comment for set Application test image set canos This comment is added to the information text file which in cludes the actual camera settings Later if the set is opened again for processing purposes or the like a text window is displayed which shows all the mentioned information includ ing
46. ill show the number of images that can be re corded This status display gives the same information as described in Section 5 15 pixel value For the selected pixel it dis plays the pixel position and intensity value user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Local Menu Page 72 6 Local Menu Right Mouse Button If you right click the mouse on the image window it opens up a local menu Histogram Camera Control Convert Control DV Convert Control Color oom oom Zoom 0 125 Zoom 0 25 Zoom 0 5 oom 1 0 Zoom N 2 0 Auto Range Peak Auto Range Crop Auto Balance Color Auto Exposure oom N 4 0 Flip oom N 6 0 Mirror 6 1 Histogram This command opens the histogram windows as described in Section 4 4 3 6 2 Camera Control This command opens the camera control window as de scribed in Section 3 6 3 Convert Control BW This command opens the convert control bw window as de scribed in Section 4 4 4 6 4 Convert Control Color This command opens the convert control bw window as de scribed in Section 4 4 5 6 5 Zoom Key x0 125 x8 0 These commands change the zoom used to display the im age The image window size adapts to a smaller size auto matically Scrollbars will be shown if the image is larger than the current window size The current zoom factor is denoted by a checkmark 6 6 Auto Range Peak This command forces camware to scale the 2
47. image intensity values and scales the display in a smaller range Thus dark or bright light spots reflections etc are cut off See chapter 4 1 8 Auto Range Peak and 4 1 9 Auto Range Crop for more information my Shortcut Toolbar Button 4 4 4 Convert Control BW This command should be used to open the camera convert control b w window Camera Convert Control BW The Camera Convert Control B W consists of a diagram which graphically displays the conversion method for the black white image s maximum intensity values x axis into 8 bit values y axis The 8 bit value O corresponds to the 12 bit value at the left triangle The 8 bit value 255 corre sponds to the maximum value at the right trian gle arrowhead Values which are smaller than the left trian gle are displayed as black 0 Values which are bigger than the right triangle are displayed as white 255 The values in user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Menu Bar Page 63 between are scaled into a grayscale value between O and 295 It is possible to manipulate the diagram by directly dragging the little arrowheads or square by using the rocker switches or by directly typing the values into the text boxes The result can also be seen in the form of a gray wedge at the bottom of the convert control window Additionally it is possible to invert the conversion with the inv check box A gamma value can be set which enables the user to set a logarithmi
48. ing chapters denoted by brackets for further explanations Print 4 1 9 B w window 4 4 1 color window 4 4 2 histogram 4 4 3 Ae Si g W Y Camera Control 8 convert control b w 4 4 4 convert aw Y control color 4 4 5 Auto range peak 5 8 auto range crop 5 9 auto balance Ke R color 5 10 s Auto exposure 4 2 6 a E Live preview 4 3 1 acquire picture 4 3 2 en db Master gain 5 14 BAM wi 271 y 167 Value 3925 Pixel value 5 15 eo p Start record 5 17 play record 5 18 stop record 5 19 ag Setup recorder 4 3 5 Mad 290 N oh N Replay navigation 5 21 r Ein Recorder browser 4 4 6 Ki Multi window 4 4 7 acte gt es S lt Mathematical functions 4 1 10 user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Camera Control Page 12 3 Camera Control The camera control window is the main interface for all camera settings Here camera delay and exposure times are adjusted vertical and horizontal binning can be selected the Camera can be set to various trigger modes a region of in terest ROI can be selected and information about the cam era is displayed The camera control window can be started by selecting the proper command in the Camera Menu or by pressing the following button E Camware automatically detects the camera type 3 1 pco camera family Timing This section describes the settings for the pco camera sys tem The camera control dialog always
49. ion you agree that any copy of these documents which you make shall re tain all copyright and other proprietary notices contained herein Each individual document published by pCO may contain other proprietary notices and copyright information relating to that individual document Nothing contained herein shall be construed as conferring by implication or oth erwise any license or right under any patent or trademark of pco or any third party Except as expressly provided above nothing contained herein shall be construed as conferring any license or right under any pco copyright Note that any product process or technology in this document may be the subject of other intellectual property rights reserved by pco and may not be licensed hereunder Table of Contents ol wh sch h wh sll sch sch h N h bbw NM S N 3 1 3 2 3 2 1 3 2 2 3 2 3 3 2 4 3 2 5 3 2 6 3 3 3 4 4 4 1 4 1 1 4 1 2 4 1 3 4 1 4 4 1 5 4 1 6 4 1 7 4 1 8 4 1 9 4 1 10 4 1 11 4 1 12 4 1 13 4 1 14 4 2 4 2 1 4 2 2 4 2 3 user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Table of Contents Page 3 GRIVIVV AHE csxe cce eee hee Kee 6 SIGNS and Symbols ccsececnneenceneeseenneneennes 6 New Features of pCo camera seeseesee0 7 ACCEPTE BUTON eg 7 Image Data Alignment ee es ce c e c e c ee ee eee 8 MSB Most Significant Bit Alignment 8 LSB Least Significant Bit Alignment 8 If NO
50. l down re sistor i e an exposure is made while no external signal is applied The characteristic time conditions are e time off gt 500ns e time on gt 500ns e maximum frequency 1MHz There is an intrinsic delay of approximately 30ns between the trigger signal at the MOD IN input and the optical reaction Trigger Auto Sequential operation mode is only available for this Camera model It is directly triggered by the modulation input signal Binning A super pixel is generated when rows vertically and col umns horizontally are combined Please note the resolution will be reduced and the frame rate will be increased by ver tical binning only Horizontal Binning factor 1 2 4 8 Vertical Binning factor 1 2 4 8 16 Region of Interest ROI The ROI selects only a part of the total CCD image sensor to be read out The minimum is 32 pixels x 32 pixels The area can be adjusted either by using the mouse clicking into the ROI field and drawing an appropriate rectangle or by select ing values from the drop down lists to determine the corner points For a further method see section 7 2 user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Camera Control Page 34 3 2 6 sensicam em The unused lines will be read out approximately four times faster thus increasing the frame rate while decreasing the amount of image data Options The Modulate option is only available here Info This status window gives inf
51. le under law This window shows some program information By clicking the e mail tag the standard installed email program will be automatically started conveniently allowing the user to write an email In the event that a problem occurs with one of the PCO camera systems support files may be generated which will be automatically attached to the email Those support files contain relevant hardware information the logfiles and the PCO related registry entries These files are moved into a zip archive called CWSupport zip which can be found in the user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Menu Bar Page 67 application folder It is also possible to initiate the standard browser with PCO s website by clicking the homepage tag user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Buttons amp Status Windows Page 68 5 Buttons amp Status Windows The toolbar allows easy access to camera controls and dia logs Toolbar b ASD SG WW vi a S Ae Cursor readout window top BAw w Ari y 167 Value 3925 Record and replay toolbar rae A Had HO Kb SN SW K E 5 1 Print Active Window This button prints the currently displayed window must be an image window or the comment window See Section 4 1 9 print for further explanation L 5 2 View B W This button opens a b w display window for the camera i See Section 4 4 1 b w window for further explanation 5 3 View Color This button opens a color display window for the camera em
52. licking on the blue sym bols Alternatively it is possible to type in the value into the number field beside Exposure s IEY The selection of the exposure time is internally generated in steps of 156 25ns Therefore the real value for short expo sure times represents only an approximation of the selected exposure time value Binning user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Camera Control Page 30 Frame Control A super pixel is generated when rows vertically and col umns horizontally are combined Please note the resolution will be reduced and the frame rate will be increased by ver tical binning only Horizontal Binning factor 1 2 4 8 Vertical Binning factor 1 2 4 8 16 Here operation and trigger modes can be selected Operation Mode The dropdown list offers the selection of e LongExp exposure time range 1ms to 1000s e Fast exposure time range 500ns to 10ms e Double double shutter exposure of 2 images Set Trigger The Set Trigger button opens an additional window where the different trigger modes of the camera system can be se lected sequence Start Frame Start f Auto f Sequential C Triggered Simultaneous Cancel C Triggered Trigger Edge Signal Out CG Falling Rising Busy C Exposure Sequence Start The image recording sequence is either started internally Auto or by an additional external trigger signal Trig gered at the BNC so
53. linlog color LUT setting linear respect logarithmic O lin 1 log internal use 255 Comment file in ASCII characters with variable length of O XX The length of the comment filed must be documented in the header length field line 1 pixel 1 value of the first pixel line 1 pixel 2 value of the second pixel IEY We recommend that all images be saved exported first in the b16 or tiff 16 bit format The advantage is to have the b16 or tiff images available all the time You will always have the maximum 12 14 bit information Please note that not all image analysis programs can accomodate 16 bit data The 8 bit format saves only the information displayed on the moni tor screen The 12 14 bit information will be lost and cannot be displayed later user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Hints Page 78 user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Dear Customer We hope that camware will be an always valuable tool for your scientific day in day out work Your comments suggestions or new ideas regarding our software and Camera system are always welcome We are at your disposal at any time also after your buying of this camera system Your PCO Team pco maging PCO AG Donaupark 11 D 93309 Kelheim fon 49 0 9441 2005 O fax 49 0 9441 2005 20 eMail info pco de www pco de
54. ll of the checkmarked list box items will be saved to the hotpixel list file It is possible to select or deselect a group of items by highlighting the group and pressing the checkmark in front of one of the highlighted items A local menu can also be opened inside the list box by pressing the right mouse but ton The selection can be verified by scrolling through the list and compare it to the average value shown in the dialog box 4 2 5 Hot Pixel Correction 4 2 6 Auto Exposure e d Using this command the hotpixel correction feature can be enabled or disabled If hotpixel correction has been previ ously disabled an Open File dialog will be opened in which the appropriate hotpixel list file has to be selected for the corresponding camera If more than One camera is con nected the appropriate camera number has to be selected in advance using the camera select window vw Camera 1 Camera 2 This item is not available if the hotpixel correction has al ready been enabled The Auto Exposure command starts a couple of exposures and tries to figure out an exposure time that records images with average intensity values between 34 to 36 of full scale Once this has been achieved the look up tables are adjusted for optimal display Shortcut Toolbar Button user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Menu Bar Page 57 4 3 Menu Acquisition 4 3 1 Live Preview R 4 3 2 Acquire Picture Acquisition View Window 7 E
55. lt of a calculation based on four base pixels The small font covers fewer base pixels and is therefore not readable 7 5 Time Elapse Window If an image is recorded with an exposure time longer than 5s a time elapse window will appear to show the remaining time of the current exposure user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Hints Page 76 38 Hints 8 1 Image File Formats There are five available file formats for saving camera images with camware BMP Windows Bitmap Format b w or color 8 bit format images which have been saved in BMP format can later only be loaded as 8 bit images i e part of the original information 10bit 12bit or 14bit is lost TIFF Tag Image File Format version 6 0 and lower there is a 16bit monochrome and color image format FTS Flexible Image Transport System Version 3 1 there is a 16 bit image format The NASA Science Office of Standards and Technology NOST has defined this format Some programs use the FIT extension for this format ASCII 16 bit format some mathematical programs prefer ASCII data Listing of intensities 0 4095 of all pixels as follows x1 lt TAB gt x2 xn x12 xm with n number of columns image width m number of lines image height b16 The 616 16 bit format is similar to the bmp format How ever 16 bit pixel values are used instead of 8 bit pixel values The 16 bit pixel values represent unsigned integer values where the camera 12 bit values
56. m SeeSection 4 4 2 color window for further explanation 5 4 Open Histogram Window LA This button opens the histogram window for the camera See Section 4 4 3 histogram window for further explana tion 5 5 Camera Control E This button opens the camera control window See Section 3 camera control for further explanation 5 6 Convert Control B W t This button opens the convert control b w window See Section 4 4 4 convert control b w for further explanation 5 7 Convert Control Color a This button opens the convert control color window See Secion 4 4 5 convert control color for further explanation user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Buttons amp Status Windows Page 69 5 8 Auto Range Peak VK This button forces Ccamware to scale the 255 gray display levels to the minimum and maximum image intensity values of the image See Section 4 4 3 histogram window for fur ther explanation 5 9 Auto Range Crop L This button forces Ccamware to scale the 255 gray display levels to the minimum and maximum image intensity values of the image while ignoring extreme intensities dark or bright like light spots reflections See Section 4 4 3 histogram window for further explanation 5 10 Auto Balance Color 5 11 Auto Exposure e a lt 5 12 Live Preview 5 13 Acquire Picture E This button activates the auto balance color The White Balance for color images is obtained by ave
57. n ex ternal static signal If set to external the camera will only re cord images if the external signal is valid and therefore en ables recording Timestamp A timestamp can be placed into the upper left corner of each image This option which is selected using the radio buttons includes off binary or binary with text In binary mode the first 16 pixels of each image will be filled with the time stamp In binary and ASCII a timestamp text will be placed into the upper left corner of each image and as such the content of the image will be replaced by the text user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Camera Control Page 19 3 2 sensicam family 3 2 1 sensicam long exposure Camera Control Delay 0 050 Exposure 0 100 Del Exp Time Delay s fono 050 Exposure z 000 100 Binning Ho 1 ll Ver 1 9 Frame Control Auta 7 tart EE Sequential Cet Trigger BRR ERR RRR RRR RRR eee Busy Out T ei 128000 fan Information SensiCam Typ 375KL Long Esposure Color 128051024 Info a Del Exp Time The delay time ranges from O to 1000s and can be selected in steps of 1 ms The green bar indicates the delay time The mouse can be used to adjust the delay time by shifting the red arrowhead up pointing or by clicking on the green symbols Alternatively it is possible to type the value into the number field beside Delay s The exposure time ranges from O to 1000s and can be se lect
58. nected camera including type of sensicam this code is important in case of support questions sensor type b w color VGA SVGA CCD and electronics temperature delay exposure times readout time frame rate fps and trigger options The information can be reviewed by pressing the Info button user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Camera Control Page 37 3 3 pixelfly family IAM Exposure 0 17 rns 200s 400s Timing Camera Mode Trigger Mode Exposure rz 0 175 SS f Async Shutter Estem C Double Shutter ntem Auto E l uto Exposure C Video Exp Level 1 UU S Binning Analog Mode horiz i wert i Gain normal N Information Pinel ly YGA 129021024 black white Doubles hutter Info C Auto Exposure Timing The pixelfly s exposure time range depends on the camera mode selected e Async Shutter 10us to 10ms steps of 1 us e Double Shutter 1ms to 10s steps of 1 ms e Video 10uUs to 10ms steps of 1 us The blue bar indicates the exposure time The mouse can be used to adjust the exposure time by shifting the red arrow head down pointing or by clicking on the blue sym bols It is also possible to type in value into the number field beside Exposure ms Camera Mode Each Camera Mode can be controlled by an automatic soft ware trigger or by an external trigger signal Trigger Mode When using asynchronous shutter Async Shutter it is pos sible to set an expos
59. normal and a high gain 6dB setting are available This influences the integrated gain and the conver sion factor which describes how many charges are neces sary to generate one count in the digital image Info This status window gives information about the connected camera including type of pixelfly this code is important in case of support questions sensor type b w color VGA SVGA CCD and electronics temperature delay exposure times readout time frame rate fps and trigger options The information can be reviewed by pressing the Info button user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Camera Control Page 39 3 4 dicam pro pe Single Trigger Mode Camera Control PhosphorMCP Single Trigger Decay ms 2 e Auto C Estem Gan 73 EK Del ZE up Time Region of Interest Delay Iras m 0000 riz Exposure Iras ms 0020 ns Loops 1 256 l p e 1280 Analog Gain e Gain nomal C Gain 6db Information DicamPra Superv GA B W HV 2 128051024 Info Mode Three operation modes are available on the drop down list Single Trigger Multi Trigger and Double Shutter In Single Trigger Mode one delay and exposure time pair can be set which is released with a single trigger This can be repeated from 1 to 256 times as chosen in the Loops field After completing all the loops one image is read out from the CCD image sensor The minimum and maximum delay values and exposure times de
60. not responding to user interactions in this mode Options Toolbar Options File settings l l Toolb View settings Beene EI Misc Cursor Display Math Functions Recorder Replay Speed Bar Show Speed Bar Toolbar Main Cursor Display Math Functions Re corder If Main is checked the main toolbar is visible and accessi ble in camware amp 3S wv SW MN vii S OO SZ If Cursor Display is checked the cursor readout window is displayed and updated This cursor window shows the posi tion and intensity value of the cursor at the particular point in the image If Math Functions is checked the mathematics tool win dow will be displayed Ref Ac D ES 165 S e With the Math Functions feature it is possible to continu ously calculate and display the difference between a refer user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Menu Bar Page 52 Options Misc ence image and the actual image If the Math Functions feature is activated every new image will be subtracted from the reference image or vice versa Math can be activated by pressing the R button last acquired image will be copied to the reference buffer and taken as reference or the Flash R button a reference image will be acquired To avoid negative values which would not be visible it is possible to add an offset If Math Functions are enabled a toolbar button with a green checkmark will be visible By pressing the gr
61. nt of the graphs to achieve a user manipulated white balance user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Menu Bar Page 64 Y There is also an option to save and load lookup tables LUT There are various predefined LUTs for several color tempera tures These are selectable in the default LUT folder Shortcut Toolbar Button 4 4 6 Recorder Browser 2 4 4 7 Multi Window cr This command should be used to open the image browser window The Recorder Browser gives an overview of the existing recorded images and allows a new current image to be easily selected The user simply clicks on the desired image to change the focus to this image it becomes the active win dow It may then be viewed in either the Black White or Color Window depending on the image sensor in the cam era system The browser window can display up to 40 pictures The user can easily print out the browser window page If more than 40 pictures have been recorded further pages are added The user can switch between the single pages by double clicking inside the browser window or by using the local menu right mouse button Double clicking into the upper half of the window will step one page back Double click into the lower half of the window will step one page forward If the browser window is printed out only the content that is actually displayed inside the window will be sent to the printer Shortcut Toolbar Button The Multi Window command sh
62. oblems this feature should be acti vated in order to create a Support file which helps PCO to find a solution The Button Clear Logfiles deletes all information currently in the logfiles 4 1 11 Load Lookup Table Using this command loads a lookup table It offers a Pseudo Look Up Table feature With the Pseudo LUT feature any LUT can be loaded with one of four different formats and the result is displayed in the image windows The formats user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Menu Bar Page 54 1 File extension LT1 a file with 768 binary values con sisting of 256 x rgb rgb rgb rgb r red g green b blue 2 File extension LT2 a file with 3x 256 binary values consisting of 256 x red followed by 256 x green followed by 256 x blue values 3 File extension LT3 a file with 768 ASCII values con sisting of 256 x rgb rgb rgb rgb r red g green b blue 4 File extension LT4 a file with 3x 256 ASCII values consisting of 256 x red followed by 256 x green followed by 256 x blue Either the enclosed predefined LUTs or self defined LUTs can be used for pseudo coloring 4 1 12 Direct Record To File This command should be used to record images directly onto the computer s hard disk The command opens the Save file dialog box The user must set the number of im ages to be stored to the disk If the Camera captures images faster than the computer can write to the disk images will be lost Image
63. odes can be selected which differ in terms of camera system sensitivity in the near infrared and in anti blooming performance Default blue Curve this is the standard light mode which is useful for all exposure times up to 1000s The anti blooming performance is optimal On red curve this low light mode is useful for exposure times from ims 1000s The anti blooming performance is reduced to a factor of four for over exposure but the sensi tivity i e the quantum efficiency is maximized as can be seen in the quantum efficiency curves below Quantucn efficiency Sa Seri Siesin ep 2 GE 40 SC SEI SIE GU GA ZER BIR GE 190 II werh nm Info user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Camera Control Page 32 This status window gives information about the connected camera including type of sensicam this code is important in case of support questions sensor type b w color VGA SVGA CCD and electronics temperature delay exposure times readout time frame rate fps trigger options The in formation can be reviewed by pressing the Info button 3 2 5 sensicam sensimod CameraControl Del Exp Time Trigger Delay ps Exposure ps e Auto Sequential DUU UU O01 0000 S O000 000 O000 000 E Region of Interest SC Io 55555 a eeaeee 000 000 agga O00 000 000 DUU O00 000 000 DUU OU 000 000 DUU OU 15 000 000 DUU UU Can d OO00 000 OO00 000 Options oooo ooo
64. operated in binning mode Info This status window gives information about the connected camera including type of sensicam this code is important in case of support questions sensor type b w color VGA SVGA CCD and electronics temperature delay exposure times readout time frame rate fps trigger options The in formation can be reviewed by pressing the Info button Set Trigger The Set Trigger button opens an additional window where the different trigger modes of the camera system can be se lected Sequence Start Frame Start f Auto f Sequential C Triggered C Simultaneous Lancel C Triggered Trigger Edge Signal Wut CG Falling Rising Busy Exposure user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Camera Control Page 21 Sequence Start The image recording sequence is either started internally Auto or by an additional external trigger signal Trig gered at the BNC socket of the PCI frame grabber board Frame Start The image recording or exposure will be started in Sequen tial or Simultaneous mode or by an external trigger signal Triggered For more detailed information on triggering please see the camera system manual Trigger Edge The user may select a rising or falling trailing edge to repre sent the external trigger signal Signal Out The BNC socket at the frame grabber PCI board can also be used as an output channel For more information on output signals plea
65. or replay If the Set to all checkbox is checked the settings apply to all connected cameras ei Replay Speed we Global Settings The Global Settings are valid for all connected cameras Averaging If in the Avg dropdown list a value not equal to 1 is se lected the corresponding number of images is averaged in the buffer reducing the statistically independent noise An other option to reduce the noise is the activation of the IIR lowpass IIR filter Image act Image act 1 0 5 Image new 0 5 user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Menu Bar Page 60 4 4 4 4 1 2 Menu View B W Window Replay Speed Slider The slider can be used to adjust the sequence replay speed from slow turtle to fast rabbit There are two possible image record and replay modes Sequence Every single click onto the record play button starts the ex posures for the sequence defined in the first image last im age fields only one time Seq Wrap Rec and Seq Wrap Play have to be unchecked for this mode Seq Wrap Rec Seq Wrap Play If Seq Wrap Rec and Seq Wrap Play are checked the record play button starts the exposures for a sequence as defined by the first image last image fields and will loop until the stop button is pressed Reverse Play If the Reverse Play box is checked it is possible to play the recorded images in reverse Shortcut Toolbar Button View Window 7 DAN win
66. ormation about the connected camera including type of sensicam this code is important in case of support questions sensor type b w color VGA SVGA CCD and electronics temperature delay exposure times readout time frame rate fps and trigger options The information can be reviewed by pressing the Info button CameraControl Delay 0 0055 Orns s Del Exp Time Delay z Exposure 0 006 Se of Interest 000 005 i 000 006 A r ae WW Exposure z Binning A w Ver E K Frame Control Auto Stark Sequential Busy Out ee Electron Multioling Gain Gain Value Information SensiCam Typ BBOLX Long Exposure BAW 102441002 Del Exp Time The delay and exposure time range depends on the opera tion mode setting LongExp The delay time ranges from O to 3600s and can be selected in steps of 1 ms Fast The delay time ranges from O to 75ms and can be se lected in steps of 75 us The green bar indicates the delay time The mouse can be used to adjust the delay time by shifting the red arrowhead up pointing or by clicking on the green symbols Alter natively it is possible to type in the value into the number field beside Delay s user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Camera Control Page 35 LongExp The exposure time ranges from 1ms to 3600s and can be selected in steps of 1 ms Fast The exposure time ranges from 75us to 15ms and can be sele
67. ory Allocation Dialog for sensicam and pixelfly camera systems Memory Allocation Dialog Allocate vy of available memory sy RI et e See SE SEH DE UE E E ME allocated W Manual distribution Manual distribution of allocated memory mB c E Memory n KB No of Images E Se eee ca 13665 ca 18700 Baren es ma a Using this dialog box the user can determine and adjust the amount of memory which will be used for the recorder dur ing runtime Select the amount of memory in and press the Allocate button Use the Manual distribution feature if memory needs to be distributed according to user specified requirements See section 6 1 Memory and Speed for fur ther details If more than one camera is connected the memory can be distributed in two different ways Automatic Uncheck the Manual distribution checkbox and the mem ory will be automatically distributed between the connected cameras First the maximum equal image count is calcu lated Second the memory will be distributed according to the image resolution of each camera In automatic mode the pie chart control is not accessible and the pies are displayed in grey user s manual pco camware 12 2004 4 3 5 Recorder Setup Menu Bar Page 59 Manual Check the Manual distribution box Now the memory can be distributed according to user requirements In manual mode the memory for each camera can be increased or de creased This can be done by setting
68. ould be used to open the multi frame window With the Multi Frame Window it is possible to view the im ages of all active cameras in one window The user might se lect between Time oriented or Camera number oriented or der Time oriented means that the image sequence de pends on the individual time stamp of each image Camera number oriented means that the first image shown is from camera 1 then camera 2 and so on Shortcut Toolbar Button 4 4 8 Embedded Image Info If this item is checked an embedded text will be shown in side the image See Section 4 1 10 Options Misc for fur ther information user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Menu Bar Page 65 Embedded Image Info The embedded image info field ower writes image data IF you do not want Image data to be overwritten do not SEH Use this feature See Options dialog Settings Use big font In case of color CCO Show date big font is standard w Show Camera Number jw Show time Image Into Text max 30 Characters Application Test Mr O01 This feature should be used if a comment and or the time date the image was acquired and or the camera num ber should be stored as visible information on the image The text will be placed directly into the image and overwrites a part of the image This information cannot be lost because the information will be saved with the image in every format Only the large font can be used with a color c
69. pco maging pco camware User s Manual Se gre YT ee Fie Lees Apion View wien 7 l Dla b jy N Ow BO D 7 e db te wy vee 0 Ciera Suwa Pew BO TOW Window Laer med Tot Tama eer Bet Sen thine Leben Brea Baar iori fng terg sf ibiri E a A aa s AA K Eh lone Piel same srd Epia 09 261 0 2 el Daly 0000000000 Sify Hi Pinay Kec info Cum RI K Sy b Ye 8 www pco de Copyright 2004 pco AG called pco in the following text Kelheim Germany All rights reserved pCO assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions in these materials These materials are provided as is without warranty of any kind either expressed or implied including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability fitness for a par ticular purpose or non infringement pco further does not warrant the accuracy or completeness of the information text graphics links or other items contained within these materials pCO shall not be liable for any special indirect incidental or consequential damages including without limi tation lost revenues or lost profits which may result from the use of these materials The information is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of pco in the future pco hereby authorizes you to copy documents for non commercial use within your organi zation only In consideration of this authorizat
70. pend on the high voltage pulse unit which is used in the camera There are a variety of options available The trigger mode can be selected either for software trigger Auto or external hardware trigger Extern For detailed trigger information please see the separate Camera system manual user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Camera Control Page 40 Phosphor MCP The phosphor Decay time of the image intensifiers phos phor screen is given in ms Each phosphor has a specific decay time depending on the applied dye material This set ting does not change the specific decay time of the inte grated image intensifier but it extends the integration time of the CCD image sensor Select the Gain by entering the Gain field and typing in the value The accepted values range from 0 0 to 100 0 For optimal operation the gain should be set at 80 to 100 Using an intensifier gain of less than 50 is similar to the sensitivity already available in state of the art CCD cam era systems The image intensifier is the most delicate and sensitive part of the entire Camera system Its lifetime is decisively influ enced by the photocathode current photo effect The best way to preserve the photocathode is by setting a high Gain in Phosphor MCP Gain as a small amount of input light generates a low photocathode current but produces a high light Output to achieve a high dynamic image on the CCD image sensor The lifetime also d
71. r IF VOU LIKE TO CONTACT PCO PLEASE PRESS OF AND SELECT ABOUT AND SUPPORT Cancel If camware is started with no camera connected to the PC or with cameras switched off it starts in demo mode which means that all image processing features are available The user only has to tell Camware which type of images will be opened For that purpose the Demo Mode Setup window opens and asks for the corresponding input Resolution The drop down list offers the existing image sensor spatial resolutions of all PCO camera systems The user selects the resolution of the images to be opened Alternatively the spa tial resolution can be adjusted by activating the text fields and typing in the values X horizontal resolution Y vertical resolution The second drop down list 12bit offers the selection of the dynamic resolution number of grey values in the image Furthermore if double shutter images have been recorded and should be opened the corresponding checkbox should be checked Color user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Camware Page 10 With the radio buttons the user can specify whether the im age type is monochrome or color Alignment These two radio buttons adjust whether MSB aligned up per or LSB aligned lower images have been stored see chapter before user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Quick Overview Page 11 2 Quick Overview The toolbar buttons are pictured along with the correspond
72. raging the red pixels in the center of the image The same method is used for the green and blue pixels in this area Afterwards the gain of the three colors is assimilated to get a gray level im age Thus one has to shoot or import an image with a white object in its center e g a piece of white paper before acti vating the auto balance color feature This button starts the camware auto exposure routine which determines an optimum exposure time See Section 4 2 6 auto exposure for further explanation The live preview button is useful for fast and easy camera adjustment and focusing If active live preview disables the camera control window See Section 4 3 1 live preview for further explanation The acquire picture button records a single image See Section 4 3 2 acquire picture for further explanation 5 14 Master Gain 2dB en 5 15 Pixel Value BAw v 20T v 167 value 3925 These buttons change the scaling of the image intensity val ues for display and achieving therefore a virtual gain The button reduces the upper limit which represents 255 gray level white while the button increases the lower limit which represents O gray level black See Section 4 4 4 convert control for further information This toolbar window gives pixel position and intensity value information where the cursor is pointing to in the active im age window user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Buttons amp Statu
73. roduces a high light Output to achieve a high dynamic image on the CCD image sensor The lifetime also depends on the number of exposures and the intensifier s repetition rate user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Camera Control Page 45 IEY If the image is overexposed do not lower the image intensi fier gain Instead attenuate the light impinging on the photo cathode by e g closing the aperture or adding a neutral gray filter to the optical input Del Exp Time The delay and exposure time pairs can be adjusted by enter ing the appropriate values into the corresponding number fields e delay time range O to 1000s e exposure time range 3ns to 1000s the shortest exposure time depends on the specifications of the Camera sys tem IEY The delay and exposure time value are a combination of the values in the ms and the ns field Region of Interest ROI The ROI selects only a part of the total CCD image sensor to be read out The minimum is 32 pixels x 32 pixels The area can be adjusted either by using the mouse clicking into the ROI field and drawing an appropriate rectangle or by select ing values from the drop down lists to determine the corner points For a further method see section 7 2 The unused lines will be read out approximately four times faster thus increasing the frame rate while decreasing the amount of image data Analog Gain A normal Gain normal and a high gain Gain 6dB set ting is av
74. rows also display the minimum and the maximum value of the Convert Control Black White These two lines indicate which maximum dynamic intensity values counts are displayed in the 8 bit Black White Win dow display By clicking into the green triangle it is possible user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Menu Bar Page 62 to change the minimum or maximum value of the Convert Control B W The zoom feature allows the user to zoom in the visible range to explore values in more detail This can be done by press ing the Zoom Zoom buttons or pressing the button with the two green arrows Pressing the button with the two green arrows automatically zooms to the range spanned by the min and max Convert control position At this time the loupe button gets pressed If one wants to return to the complete range the loupe button should be pressed Re lease the loupe button to return to the zoomed view If the histogram has been zoomed it is possible to scroll the range by clicking the area above the x axis and moving it with the mouse The green lines which represent the range of image values scaled to display allow the user to visualize the affects of the two Auto Range functions see below Auto Range Peak searches for the minimum and maximum intensity value of the image Given these two values the converter scales this range to the 8 bit display 256 Auto Range Crop sets the converter to ignore the extreme
75. s Windows Page 70 5 16 Continuous Auto Range 5 17 5 18 5 19 5 20 5 21 ra Start Record 87 Play Record L Stop Record r If selected the continuous auto range button performs an auto range crop type scaling for every image displayed This applies to live preview replay and recording modes If the intensity between the images of a sequence changes the limits of the conversion are adapted to display a well balanced gray image continuously This button starts recording images into the system mem ory Recording begins at the buffer number first image as previously set up in setup recorder up to the buffer num ber last image The camera controls are locked during recording For a pco camera images will be recorded to the built in CamRAM The pco camera always starts recording with image number one Always stop recording before Changing camera or converter settings If a soft trigger is selected for a pco camera and the start record button is pressed it is possible to start single software triggered im ages while using the buttons shown in brackets This button starts the image playback in the recorder begin ning at buffer number first image set in setup recorder up to buffer number last image It is possible to control the playback speed with the slider described in Section 4 3 5 recorder settings This buttons stops recording or playback activities Setup Recorder 2 This
76. s option is selected the image will be mirrored before it is shown in the image window If this option is selected a checkbox will appear to the left of the word in the menu Af ter exiting camware this option is saved as default setting user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Additional Features Page 74 7 Additional Features 7 1 Setting Contrast Area by Mouse The mouse can be used to control the min and max values which are used to convert from maximum dynamic bit to 8 bit To accomplish this move the mouse cursor into a region which should be displayed at maximum contrast Then si multaneously press the shift key and the left mouse button Keep the mouse button down while increasing the size of the now displayed rubber band window which changes shape according to mouse movement After releasing the mouse button the the rubber band window coordinates act as an ROI limit which is used for the minimum maximum deter mination when doing a proper scaling 7 2 Setting a new ROI by Mouse In the same manner it is possible to select a new region of interest see ROI in Section 3 for the camera To accomplish this move the mouse cursor into a region which should be used to define a ROI Than simultaneously press the CTRL Strg key and the left mouse button Keep the mouse button down while increasing the size of the now displayed rubber band window which changes shape ac cording to mouse movement After releasing of th
77. se see the camera system manual 3 2 2 sensicam fast shutter The sensicam fast shutter can be operated in standard mode and in a fast cycle mode The desired mode can be selected from the drop down list Options Each mode has its own camera control window sensicam fast shutter standard mode x Del Exp Time Trigger Delay p Exposure ps Ce Auto Sequential T Eat falling Edge 0050 000 F C Est rising Edge 1000 000 O005 000 0500 000 DUU UU UU DUU 0100 000 0650 000 1000 000 1000 000 DUU UU 0100 000 O000 000 o000 000 OO00 000 OO00 000 DUU UU agi DUU EEEEEEEELE EEEEEEEEEE O000 000 agg agi Options Standard Analog Gain Ge Gainnomal Y Gain 6dB Information SensiCam Typ 27ULD Fast Shutter BAw 128081024 Info Del Exp Time user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Camera Control Page 22 Delay times range from O to 1ms and are selectable in steps of 100 ns To enter and adjust the values select the corre sponding number field and type in the value Exposure times range from 100ns to 1ms and are selectable in steps of 100 ns To enter and adjust the values select the corresponding number field and type in the value A maximum of 10 pairs delay exposure time can be de fined If only a single exposure or less than 10 pairs are re quired simply set the unused times to 0000 000 Multiple exposure operation ex
78. sets the higher 4 bits to zero The file format consists either of a Basic Header 6 Long parameter or of an Extended Header 32 Long parametern the latter of which is optionally for additional information There might follow a variable comment field ASCII code Fi nally there is the actual data set that is saved linearly as in the case of BMP files With the exception of the first value all parameters are Long Integers 4 Byte The first 6 parameters must always exist The rest of the parameters as well as the comment field are optional user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Hints Page 77 Parameter Function the first 4 byte are the characters PCO file size in byte 3 header header size comment filed in byte length image width in pixel 4 1280 G image image height in pixel 1 2048 height extended 1 true extended header follows header color mode O black white camera 1 color camera 8 b wmin _ black white LUT setting minimum value 0 4094 9 b wmax T black white LUT setting maximum value 1 4095 b w linlog black white LUT setting linear respect logarithmic O lin 1 log red LUT setting minimum value 0 4094 red max red LUT setting maximum value 1 4095 green LUT setting minimum value 0 4094 green LUT setting maximum value 1 4095 blue LUT setting minimum value 0 4094 16 blue LUT setting maximum value 1 4095 color
79. the Select Info button is clicked the following window opens Embedded Image Info vi x The embedded image info field ower writes image data IF uou do not want image data to be overwrithen do not panes Use this feature See Options dialog Settings Use big font ln case of color CCD Y Show date big font is standard Ie Show Camera Number jw Show time Image Info Text max 30 Characters Application Test Mr 001 Use this feature if a comment and or the time date the im age was acquired and or the camera number needs to be stored as visible information on the image The text will be placed directly into the image and will cover a part of the im age Since the information will be saved with the image in every format it cannot be lost Only the large font can be used with a color camera This is because each color pixel is the result of a calculation based on four base pixels As the small font covers fewer base pix els it would not be readable Multi Win Picture Order Camera order Image time stamp This option should be used to organise the images The im ages can be displayed according to the camera order or ac cording to the individual image time stamp See chapter 4 1 30 Multi Window Logfile Application Logfile Driver Logfile Clear Logfiles The Application Logfile and Driver Logfile options enable and disable error logging and system information If you ex perience performance pr
80. the comment If the recorder has been previously enabled the Save Set command is not available The Save Set command will not be available if there is no image window open The Save Recorder command should be used to save or export image records If more than one camera is connected and an image window is currently open the record of the ac tive window will be saved The command opens the Save file dialog box If another image format than b16 or tif 16bit is chosen image content will be lost and it will be im possible to reload the images The Save Recorder command will not be available if there is nO image window open The Print Setup command opens the Windows Print Setup dialog box for adjustments and settings of the con nected printer s The Print Preview command opens a Print Preview win dow The Print command should be used to begin printing the currently displayed image or comment display if activated When there are no image windows open and no comment windows open the printout will not be started The com mand opens the Windows Print dialog box where options such as number of copies destination printer and other op tions can be selected The printout will be formatted as specified by the Print Setup see section 4 1 7 user s manual pco camware 12 2004 4 1 10 Options Options File settings Options View Settings Menu Bar Page 49 Shortcut Toolbar Button
81. the cooling setpoint to the lowest possible temperature In case ambient temperature drifts the control ler will not have any overhead available for adjustment The window shows the readout temperature of the image sensor and the adjusted temperature The adjustment controls should be used to select an appropriate temperature The lower the temperature the less dark current is accumulated which is only important for longer exposure times If expo sure times are in the ms range or shorter the lower tempera ture has no major influence To keep the offset as constant as possible moderate cooling is sufficient When the Default button is pressed it sets the cooling temperature back to the default setting user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Camera Control Page 17 camRAM The camRAM tab gives control of three available memory segments of CamRAM the camera s built in memory CameraControl CamA am Settings m Segment Usagein Size in MB E w 0 lt voz E Ye wa p SR Select Active CamA am Segment No 1 Naz No3 pco 1600 160081200 bw doubleshutter F P Although the camera has four memory segments only three of them are accessible with camware because one very small memory segment is used for the live preview image handling Therefore nearly all camRAM space can be freely distributed between the three available memory segments Activating a camRAM Segment To activate a camRAM memory segment use the r
82. the input focus to the pie chart control and then either with the keyboard or with the mouse Using the keyboard select a camera by pressing the space bar If the correct camera is selected it is possible to move the complete pie with the left right arrow keys This function alters the memory for the clockwise next and previ ous camera If the up down keys are pressed the memory for the selected camera is increased or decreased by chang ing the memory of the clockwise next camera The same modifications can be done using the mouse too If one clicks On a pie chart it is possible to move the complete Chart clockwise back and forward If one clicks on a border line between two pie charts it is possible to move the border line The modifications can be reviewed as amount of mem ory and the resulting count of images This command should be used to open the Recorder Set tings dialog window Play settings i First Image pele Last Image Set to all Global Settings Averaging Seg wrap Rec Avg K Geo Arap Play L THB lowpass _ Reverse Play J The Camera Settings are referred to a camera If more than one camera is connected the camera number is retrieved from the image window that has recived the input focus is active If no image window is opened the dialog is referred to camera 1 The first and last image can be set to which the recorder copies acquired images with the pco camera sys tem this setting is only valid f
83. thm is used In default mode box un checked the color is calculated with minimum averaging resulting in images with high sharpness If a smoother image with softer edges is required this item should be selected by checking the box When the user exits Camware the Color Conversion settings are saved and become the de fault settings for the next time Camware is used This feature is only available for cameras with color CCD im age sensors Marker View Marker Length Select Color When View Marker is checked off a crosshair is displayed in the active window in the center of each image Length The user may select the length of the crosshair in pixels Select color This command opens a dialog box to allow changes to the crosshair color The appropriate color can be selected by clicking on the desired color field Once this is done the selection must be confirmed by clicking the OK button user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Menu Bar Page 51 Min Max Automatic This option activates an automatic Min Max scaling of the displayed images during record and replay This feature should be disabled if there are problems with the Camware response when the automatic scaling is enabled due to operating system capacity problems DoubleShutter Paint both images If checked this option enables the update of both double shutter exposure images during record and replay The checkbox should be disabled if camware is
84. tter Ca Binning Binning combines neighbouring pixels in either the horizon tal or vertical direction to form super pixels It increases the light signal of the remaining pixels and decreases the spatial resolution of the total image which is recorded To a certain extent it increases the frame rate ROI The ROI region of interest selects only a part of the sensor to be read out in order to speed up the frame rate and to save memory The ROI can be changed by clicking on the ROI window while selecting a new rectangle or by directly accessing one of the four ROI limiting values They can be edited within the edit box increased or decreased by the up down control or by using the slider Additionally the ROI setting can be reset to maximum extent by pressing the Set to max button Another option allows ROI mouse adjust ment as described in Section 7 2 Sensor format Some image sensors have the option to readout a standard size effective pixels recommended by the sensor manufac turer or an extended size which adds further exposed pix els which can be helpful for calibration or control purposes The Sensor Misc sheet offers options to control image quality and additional camera system parameters user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Camera Control Page 15 CameraControl ADC Converter Pixelclock Conversion Factor one two 1 0e 6 Pixels ef count Double Image Cooling Setpoint off ron Astin e IF
85. ure time ranging from 10us up to 10ms Only one exposure is started by an internal or external trigger signal First the exposure occurs and afterwards the CCD image sensor is read out user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Camera Control Page 38 In doubleshutter mode Double Shutter two exposures will be released by a trigger signal First the exposure of the first image occurs then the first image will be read out During the read out time of the first image the second exposure is done Then the second image will be read out The possible exposure times for the first double image range from 10us up to 10ms In video mode it is possible to adjust the exposure times from 1ms up to 10s A sequence is started by the first trigger signal No additional trigger signal is required The exposure and the readout of the CCD will be done simultaneously In auto exposure mode an exposure level must be set This exposure level can range from to 0 up to 255 100 means full range 4095 The exposure time is controlled automatically Only one exposure will be released by a trig ger signal Binning A super pixel is generated when rows vertically and col umns horizontally are combined Please note the resolution will be reduced and the frame rate will be increased by ver tical binning only Horizontal Binning factor 1 2 Vertical Binning factor 1 2 VGA CCD image sensors 1 2 4 Analog Mode In analog mode a
86. ying text point out tips hints and other useful information e These Symbols denote enumerations and listings Text which refers to software menus and re lated information is written in Courier type face with a fixed width 1 2 New Features of pco camera 1 2 1 Accept Button CameraControl Timing Sensor Size Sensor Misc CamR am Recording Delay 0 000 mS Exposure 111 000me ZUD mE Trigger Mode Timing Auto Sequence Exposure 00 00 111 000 lv Soft Trigger mins TnS HS External Exp Start Delay _00 000 000 000 B Ems US HS L 7 External Exp Ctrl Important changes in the general structure of the relationship between the camera and the computer for pco camera have resulted in the camera itself doing more guess work which had previously been done by the computer S Changes to the camera control sheets must be completed by pressing the Accept button in the lower right corner of the Camera Control window If the Accept button is not pressed these changes will be ignored and lost If the Changes are within the allowed condition limits of the cam era a message is sent to the computer the button disap pears and the green lamp will be highlighted If an illegal change was attempted the camera will not accept the Change and the red lamp will be highlighted user s manual pco camware 12 2004 Camware Page 8 CameraControl Timing Sensor Size Sensor Misc C

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