Common Vision Blox 15.0
GenICam Browser


What is the GenICam Browser?

The GenICam Browser is an easy to use application to detect devices in the network and to get a live view without programming. Further it offers an easy way to configure devices for further use in your own application with the CVB GenICam driver.

The main part of the GenICam Browser are the Available and Configured Devices:

  • The Available Devices list shows the complete structure, which is seen with the Transport Layer.
  • The Configured Devices view represents the way, how the device will be used with CVB GenICam driver. If there are already configured devices (see Configured Devices), then Configured Devices will already show some entries at startup of GenICam Browser.

With the GenICam Browser you can easily configure the devices, in order to use your application with the GenICam.vin driver located in %CVB%Drivers folder.

Please note, that opening and running a device in the GenICam Browser, does NOT use the GenICam.vin driver, but the transport layer. Therefore only Number of Buffers and Packet Size are considered at image acquisition with the GenICam Browser. Even when opening a device in Configured Devices the transport layer is used. To test the settings, any Image Manager application can be used by loading the GenICam.vin driver.

Quickstart Guide

How to Get a Live View?

This guide should help you to get a first image with your device.

Startup
Device Missing in Available Devices
Assign IP Address (GigE)
Open a Device for Live View
Next Steps

Startup

After starting GenICam Browser for the first time, the available transport layers (TL), available interfaces and devices are listed in a tree view. To search for available devices and to refresh the Available Devices tree use the Discover button. Available devices show up as green cameras.

Discover

Available device

Device Missing in Available Devices List

GigE devices do not show up at first startup, if they are in a different subnet. Therefore run the discover with ignore subnet option. Use the Ignore Subnet Discover button to search for all devices, which can be in another subnet too. Devices in another subnet will show up as yellow cameras.

Ignore Subnet Discover

Device is in another subnet

Assign IP Address (GigE)

To make the device available for usage, either doubleclick on the device (yellow camera) or press the Assign IP button, in order to change the IP address of the device.

Assign IP

Assign a temporary IP address:

1) To set a valid IP address you have 2 options:

  • Set the IP address manually, which you want to use (according to the network interface)
  • Use the Auto Select IP button

2) Use Set to save the IP address in the camera temporary.



Now the camera icon will get green and device is ready to be opened.

Open a Device for Live View

Double click on the device (use Filter Driver in Windows and Socket Driver in Linux), which has a green camera icon now, or use the Open Device button to get a live view and to configure the device.

Please note: Generally you should use the device with the siNetFilter Driver in Windows (Linux: Socket Driver) for GigE Vision as it is used to bypass the standard network stack (used by the operating system) for all data stream packets. It filters GigE Vision related data packets and transfers them directly to an application-provided data buffer. This greatly reduces the CPU load of the system. All non GigE Vision data stream related packets are unaffected.

Open device

The device will be opened in the Device View. On the left side a live image is shown, on the right side you will find the property grid to configure the device. In Available Devices the device shows up with an orange icon. In the Logging part of the application you get some detailed information.

Device is open

To get a single image use the Snap button, to start the acquisition press the Grab button and to stop the acquisition press the Stop button.

Acquire a single image (Snap)

Start the acquisition (Grab)

Stop the acquisition (Stop)

Next Steps

To work with Common Vision Blox applications and tutorials it is necessary to configure the devices. To do so, follow the instructions in chapters

Run the configuration with one of Common Vision Blox tutorials and create your own. The tutorials are located in %CVB%Tutorial folder.

In case of any problems in image acquisition, get additional information in chapter Statistics.

Icons Description

Discover Search for all available devices

Ignore Subnet Discover Search for all devices, which can be outside of the used subnet too

Assign IP Change the IP address of the device

Open device Live view and configuration

Open additional device Live view and configuration

Snap Acquire a single image / Acquire a single image on all open devices (F2)

Grab Start the acquisition / Start the acquisition on all open devices (F3)

Stop Stop the acquisition / Stop the acquisition on all open devices (F4)

Suspend Acquisition Suspends the acquisition thread

Options (Configuration) Driver options for the selected device

Add device Add device to the configuration file

Move device up To change the order in the configuration file

Move device down To change the order in the configuration file

Remove device Remove selected device from configuration file

Save Save configured devices

Save next consecutive image Save the next consecutive image manually

Configure save consecutive images... Configure the saving of consecutive images

Save image... Save the acquired image

Undock Undock the acquisition window

Dock Dock the acquisition window

Maximize Maximize the acquisition window (only available if window is undocked)

Minimize Minimize the acquisition window (only available if window is undocked)

Close Close the acquisition window / device; Exit the application

Close all Close all acquisition windows / devices; In Logging menu: Close the log window

Clear log window Clear the log window

Save log window entries Save the log window entries to file

Reload features Reload properties features (F5)

Properties menu Open properties menu

Max visibility Change the visibility of the properties (Beginner / Expert / Guru)

Selected NodeMap Change the NodeMap

Load device properties Load GenICam settings from a GenICam settings file (*.gcs) into the device

Save device properties Save GenICam settings from a device into a GenICam settings file (*.gcs)

Show / hide TLs Select the TLs (Transport Layers) to show / hide in Available Devices list

Display Engine Change the display engine (OpenGL = default / Raster)

Select plugins Select one or more GenICam Browser plugins. Please note that only loaded plugins (Configuration - Plugins...) can be used.

Statistics Shows statistical information of the device and hints for performance optimization

Fullscreen Shows the image in fullscreen mode

Synchronize Synchronize framegrabber and device

Available Device is available

Other subnet Device is in another subnet

Inactive Device is inactive

Already open Device is already open in another application

Open Device is open

Read only Device is read only

Undefined access status Device has no access status (none of above)

Attention An error has occurred. Click on the Attention sign to open the logging or open with View > Logging.

User Guide

Acquisition

Acquire Image(s)
Save Image
Save Consecutive Images
Frame Rate

Acquire Image(s)

To get a single image use the Snap button, to start the acquisition press the Grab button and to stop the acquisition press the Stop button.

Acquire a single image (Snap)

Start the acquisition (Grab)

Stop the acquisition (Stop)

Save Image

The Save image... button is available to store an image as BMP, PNG, TIF or JPG. Images higher 8 bit can only be stored as TIF. Please note that in Linux some formats are not available.

Save image...

Save Consecutive Images

It is also possible to save consecutive images. The folder, where the images should be saved, has to be configured with Configure save consecutive images. Then the buttons Save next consecutive image and AutoSave consecutive images will be enabled. While acquiring images, the images can be stored automatically in increasing order each time, when the button Save next consecutive image is pressed. In case of AutoSave consecutive images enabled, the storage of the images will start automatically at acquisition start. Additionally an emu file will be created in the predefined folder. This emu file can be loaded by any CVB example to play the consecutive images. A CVMock.ini will be created as well (which is using the emu file), in order to use the CVMock driver in CVB examples to replay the consecutive images.

Configure save consecutive images...

Save next consecutive image


Frame Rate

While acquiring images, the number of acquired frames as well as the frame rate in fps (frames per second) is shown below the image.


Troubleshooting and Hints

GUI is not Responsive with High Frame Rate
Multiple Cameras

GUI is not Responsive with High Frame Rate

If you encounter an unresponsive GUI, when the frame rate is high, you can either reduce the display refresh rate or disable the display, so only the frame counter and the frame rate are shown.

1. Reduce display refresh rate

Click on Display refresh of the device, of which you want to reduce the refresh rate. Disable the checkbox Use max. framerate (the display is refreshed as fast as possible then, but may lead to unresponsive GUI) and set the display refresh rate in milliseconds (ms). Confirm with OK.


2. Disable the display

Click on the checked Display of the device, of which you want to disable the display to increase performance.


Testing Multiple Cameras

For testing multiple devices, you might detach the Device Views, disable Properties (in Devices - Device Selection - Properties), so only the live images are shown and start the acquisition with Grab start all (Shortcut F3). You can stop all devices at the same time with Grab stop all (Shortcut F4) or you can acquire only a single image on all devices with Snap all (Shortcut F2).

In the Devices menu you can select, which devices or streams you want to acquire images from.



Acquire a single image on all open devices / Snap all (Shortcut F2)

Start the acquisition on all open devices / Grab start all (Shortcut F3)

Stop the acquisition on all open devices / Grab stop all (Shortcut F4)


Display Engine Type

By default the OpenGL engine type is used to display a live image, but you may also switch to engine type Raster. This might be necessary with old monitor drivers, in Linux or using a remote session.

Please note: You can only select the Display Engine, if no device is open. If the selection is disabled, close all devices first.


The settings in the View are saved automatically after leaving the application.

Acquire Image Immediately

  To acquire an image immediately when a device has been opened, the Acquire image immediately has to been checked in Devices menu (default), otherwise uncheck this setting.


The settings in the View are saved automatically after leaving the application.

Assign IP Address (GigE)

Assign IP provides the configuration of a GigE device with a valid IP address.

Assign a Temporary IP (Force)
Persistent IP (Static)
Enable DHCP

Either double click on the device or press the Assign IP button in the Available Devices view, in order to change the IP address of the device.

Assign IP

Assign a Temporary IP (Force)

1) Set a valid IP address:

  • Set the IP address, which you want to use (according to the network interface)
  • Use the Auto Select IP button

2) Use Set to configure the IP address in the camera



To set the IP persistent, you have to use the Auto Select IP button again on this device, then the Assign persistent IP (Static) option will be available.

Persistent IP (Static)

Setting an IP persistent (static) means that after powering the device, the IP address will be the persistent IP address and does not need to be set manually again.

After setting a temporary IP, you are asked, if you want to set the IP address persistent. You can do this later as well.


To set the IP address persistent, reopen the Assign IP dialog and select the Assign persistent IP option. Press Set to store this setting in your device.


Enable DHCP

To set the camera to DHCP Enable DHCP option and confirm with Set.


Available Devices

The view Available Devices shows a tree of available transport layers, its interfaces and the devices.

Show and Hide Transport Layers
Show all Interfaces
Find Devices
Detailed Information on Devices, Interfaces and Transport Layers
Open a Device For Live View and Configuration
Configure and Add Device to Configuration File
Show / Hide a View

Button Overview


Discover

Ignore Subnet Discover

Assign IP

Open device

Open additional device

Options (Configuration)

Add device (to the configuration file)

Transport Layer Standards

Some transport layer standards are listed here:

Camera Link

CoaXPress

FireWire / IEEE1394

GigE Vision

PCI Express

USB3 Vision

Show and Hide Transport Layers

If there are transport layers, which you do not need, you can hide them in this tree view. Select Show / hide TLs in the View menu:


All available transport layers are displayed with a check box. Deselect the transport layers, which you want to hide and confirm with the OK button.


The settings in the View are saved automatically after leaving the application.

Show all Interfaces

To avoid a long list of interfaces, which do not have devices attached, they are hidden. If you want to show all interfaces in the tree view, enable Show all interfaces in the Configuration menu. To save this setting permanently, select Save configuration in the Configuration menu.


Find Devices

See Find Devices.

Detailed Information on Devices, Interfaces and Transport Layers

To get some information on vendor, model, version etc. of transport layers, interfaces and devices either go to the according module and hover over its name or right click on the module and select Info.


Press and hold left mouse button


Right click


Open a Device for Live View and Configuration

See Open Device.

Configure and Add Device to Configuration File

With the Options button you can set the configuration, which is used in the configuration file.

Options (Configuration)

For a current acquisition only following parameters are set directly:

  • Number of Buffers
  • Packet Size

The parameters have to be set before opening the device, in order to be taken into consideration at current acquisition. For details see Configured Devices (Configuration).


If you want to quickly add a device to the configuration file, use the Add Device button. You can configure the device after that action too.

Add device (to the configuration file)

For details see Configured Devices (Configuration).

Show / Hide a View

To hide or show Configured Devices View or Available Devices View, uncheck or check it in the View menu. The settings in the View are saved automatically after leaving the application.


Configured Devices

The view Configured Devices shows a list of all configured devices, which are stored or should be stored in CVB configuration file. The configuration of the devices is necessary to run any Common Vision Blox application / tutorial by loading the GenICam.vin driver, which is located in the %CVB%Drivers folder.

Edit the Configured Devices
Open a Device For Live View and Configuration
Show / Hide a View
Testing the Configuration / Load driver

 

Button Overview

 


Move device up (to change the order in the configuration file)

Move device down (to change the order in the configuration file)

Remove selected device (from configuration file)

Options (Configuration)

Save configured devices

Open device

Open additional device

 

Edit the Configured Devices

  With the Move Up and Move Down buttons you can change the order of the devices in the CVB configuration file.

Move device up

Move device down

With the Remove button you can remove a device from the CVB configuration file.

Remove device

You can also configure a device within this view by selecting the device and pressing the Options button.

Options (Configuration)

Please note: Changes done with the Configured Devices buttons have to be saved manually with the Save button.

Save

Open a Device for Live View and Configuration

Double click on the device (use Filter Driver in Windows and Socket Driver in Linux), which has a green camera icon now, or use the Open Device button to get a live view and to configure the device.

Open device

If another device is already open, you will be asked, if you want to keep other devices open.


Confirm with Yes if you want to have multiple devices open. Pressing No closes all open devices and opens your selected device.   If you want to open multiple devices, you can also use the button Open additional device.

Open additional device

For further information on open devices see Device View.    

Show / Hide a View

  To hide or show Configured Devices View or Available Devices View, uncheck or check it in View menu. The settings in the View are saved automatically after leaving the application.


 

Testing the Configuration / Load driver

  To test the configured devices, open any Common Vision Blox tutorial:

  • File - Open - Select GenICam.vin from \CVB\Drivers folder
  • Start Acquisition   If the GenICam.vin driver cannot be loaded either the configuration is incorrect or the device is not available.

Device View

After opening a device you will get a live view.

Overview
Acquisition
Close Devices
Register Access

Button Overview

 



Start the acquisition

Acquire a single image

Stop the acquisition

Suspends the acquisition thread

Save as...

Save next consecutive image

Fullscreen

Statistics

Properties menu

Undock

Dock

Maximize

Minimize

Close

Overview

On the left side a live image is shown, on the right side you will find the property grid to configure the device. In Available Devices the device shows up with an orange icon. In the Logging part of the application you get some detailed information.

Device is open


The toolbar shows the name and serial number of the device for identification if multiple devices are open. If you have multiple devices open, the windows are tabbed, so you can select the device's live view with the tab.


To see the windows beside each other (and not tabbed), you can undock the window with the Undock button and dock it with the Dock button.

Undock

Dock


There is also the possibility to maximize and to minimize the undocked acquisition window with the Maximize and Minimize buttons.

Maximize

Minimize

Use the Close button to close the acquisition window and the device.

Close

When a device is open, you can access the buttons also from the main menu. You will find additional settings there:

  • Register Access
  • Display refresh
  • Enable / disable the display window
  • Enable / disable the properties window


Acquisition

See Acquisition.

Close Devices

To close the device and its live view, either close the device individually with the Close button

Close

or use Close all from the Devices menu to close all devices.

Close all

Register Access

See Register Access.

Find Devices

To search for available devices and to refresh the Available Devices tree use the Discover button. Available devices show up as green cameras.

Discover

Available device

GigE devices do not show up at first startup, if they are in a different subnet. Therefore run the discover with ignore subnet option. Use the Ignore Subnet Discover button to search for all devices, which can be in another subnet too. Devices in another subnet will show up as yellow cameras.

Ignore Subnet Discover

Device is in another subnet

The timeout for discovery is set to 200 ms (milliseconds) by default. If devices are not found, this timeout can be set to a higher value.



GigE devices in another subnet have to be configured to show up as available devices. To make the device available for usage, either doubleclick on the device (yellow camera) or press the Assign IP button, in order to change the IP address of the device. Please note, that the button is disabled, if the device is not detected as GigE device.

Assign IP

For more information see Assign IP Address.

Logging

A logging window on bottom of the GenICam Browser gives some additional information on the device, on the acquisition, but also error messages.

Log Messages
Clear Log Window
Save Log Window
Open and Close Log Window

Button Overview

 

Clear the log window

Save the log window entries to file

Close the log window

Log Messages

Log and error messages are shown in the log window. Messages of a specific device are logged with the device identifier as prefix.



See also Detailed Information on Devices, Interfaces and Transport Layers.

Clear Log Window

You can clear the log window to get an empty window with the Clear button.

Clear the log window

Save Log Window

To save the log window entries to a file, use the Save button.

Save the log window entries to file

Open and Close Log Window

To close the log window, use the Close button or disable the log window in the Configuration menu. You can enable the log window there again.

Close the log window


The settings in the View are saved automatically after leaving the application.

If the log window is closed and an error occurs and is logged, a blinking red exclamation mark appears. By clicking on the exclamation mark, the log window will open. The log messages are displayed there. The error log message has a red color.


Extended Logging (v4.4.0 and higher) since CVB 13.2

Only generate the extended log file if requested by STEMMER IMAGING support. The extended logging is started via LogGUI. For details see LogGUI User Guide. The logging within the LogGUI can be stored to a text or JSON (preferred) file.

  • Module = GenICamBrowser
  • Level = debug

Extended Logging (v4.3.x and earlier) until CVB 13.1

Generally the extended logging is not necessary as the log file will be large. Only generate the extended log file if requested by STEMMER IMAGING support. The extended logging can only be started via command line and supports following parameters (–debug or -d):

  • –debug | -d: Activates the extended debug logging with the default path (= application path) and  GenICamBrowser.log as filename.
  • –debug | -d path=[path]: Activates the extended debug logging with given path and GenICamBrowser.log as filename. Example: –debug path=W:/Tmp
  • –debug | -d file=[filename].log: Activates the extended debug logging with given filename and default path (= application path). Example: –debug file=Test.log
  • –debug | -d path=[path] file=[filename].log: Activates the extended debug logging with given path and given filename. Example: –debug path=W:/Tmp file=Test.log

Version Information

Additionally the version of GenICam Browser can be requested via command line:

  • –version: Returns the version of GenICam Browser

Open Device

Open Devices
Open Mode

Open Devices

Doubleclick on the device (for GigE devices use Filter Driver in Windows and Socket Driver in Linux), which has a green camera icon now, or use the Open Device button to get a live view and to configure the device.

Please note: Generally you should use the device with the siNetFilter Driver in Windows (Linux: Socket Driver) for GigE Vision as it is used to bypass the standard network stack (used by the operating system) for all data stream packets. It filters GigE Vision related data packets and transfers them directly to an application-provided data buffer. This greatly reduces the CPU load of the system. All non GigE Vision data stream related packets are unaffected.

Open device

If another device is already open, you will be asked, if you want to keep other devices open.


Confirm with Yes if you want to have multiple devices open. Pressing No closes all open devices and opens your selected device.

If you want to open multiple devices, you can also use the button Open additional device.

Open additional device

For further information on open devices see Device View.

Open Mode

It is possible to open the device in different modi:

  • ReadOnly
  • Control
  • Exclusive (default)


When opening the device in Control mode, Multicast... will be enabled and can be configured.


Properties

The device properties are displayed on the right side of the Device View, when the device is open.

Button Overview


Properties menu

The visibility, which can be set within the properties menu, changes the number of properties to be shown.

Search Property
Maximum Visibility
Selected NodeMap
Load Properties
Save Properties
Reload Features

Search Property

To find a property type the property name or a part of the property name into the search box and press Enter. The properties containing the search text will be shown and highlighted.


To remove the selection, remove the search text and press Enter.

Maximum Visibility

The default visibility is Beginner. By selecting Expert or Guru in Properties menu, you increase the number of properties to be displayed. The maximum number of properties is shown with Guru.

Max visibility


You can also set the visibility in the Properties menu of the main menu bar.


The settings in the View are saved automatically after leaving the application.

You can see the currently set visibility in the properties page.


Selected NodeMap

A NodeMap (port) selection allows to display different NodeMaps (ports). The Device Port is the default selection.

Selected NodeMap


Load Properties

Load device properties

Load GenICam settings from a GenICam settings file (*.gcs) into the device.

Save Properties

Save device properties

Save GenICam settings from a device into a GenICam settings file (*.gcs).

Reload Features

Some parameters marked with need to be reloaded at runtime, for example the statistics parameters. To update them during acquisition press the Reload features button in Properties menu or use the Shortcut F5.

Reload features (Shortcut F5)

You can find the statistics in DataStream port.



Register Access

To read and write registers of the device, you can call Register Access in Devices menu and the selected device.


The Register Access dialog provides a Nodemap selection, Register / Memory as well as Dec / Hex selection and the endianess. Enter the address to read and enter the address and value to write the device's register. A status line at the bottom informs about the result of the command (Success or error message).


Statistics

To get statistical information of the device, use the Statistics button from the Devices menu or from the Device View toolbar.

Statistics


The dialog shows statistical information during grabbing an image like the frame rate and the data rate. Further it shows the statistical values of the DataStream NodeMap as well as hints to optimize performance. As some parameters are not available for all devices, check the device's manual as well as CVB GenICam User Guide for other parameters to optimize.