Image Acquisition Toolbox Release Notes
The Image Acquisition Toolbox 1.1 Release Notes on page 1-1 describe enhancements and bug fixes included in the latest version of the Image Acquisition Toolbox. The Image Acquistion Toolbox 1.0 was released as a Web download after Release 13. The Image Acquisition Toolbox 1.0 Release Notes on page 2-1 discuss the following topics: Introduction to the Image Acquisition Toolbox on page 2-2 Known Software Problems on page 2-3
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Contents

Image Acquisition Toolbox 1.1 Release Notes
Enhancements. 1-2 Major Bug Fixes. 1-3
Image Acquisition Toolbox 1.0 Release Notes
Introduction to the Image Acquisition Toolbox. 2-2 Software and Hardware Requirements. 2-2 Known Software Problems. General Issues. Generic Windows Image Acquisition Devices. Matrox Devices. Data Translation Devices.

2-3 2-3 2-4 2-5 2-6

Enhancements
The Image Acquisition Toolbox, Version 4.1, includes the following enhancements. Region-of-Interest (ROI) configurations using the ROIPosition property are now supported for all hardware devices. A troubleshooting utility is now included in the MATLABROOT/toolbox/imaq/ imaq directory called AMCap.exe. This utility can be used to verify that Windows video devices are working properly. Enhanced memory management is now provided to optimize image frame storage efficiency. A warning is issued when accessing Windows video hardware using an incorrect DirectX version.

Major Bug Fixes

The Image Acquisition Toolbox 1.1 includes several bug fixes made since Version 1.0. This section describes the particularly important Version 1.1 bug fixes. A memory leak associated with running peekdata has been fixed. The toolbox now stops acquisition hardware when you use Ctrl-C to interrupt the getsnapshot function. When using Matrox DCF camera files, the toolbox now configures all video source objects according to the camera file settings. A MATLAB segmentation fault that occurred when using old versions of the Matrox MIL library has been fixed. The toolbox now displays a message instead. A segmentation fault associated with accessing the Data Translation 3157 frame grabber has been fixed.
Introduction to the Image Acquisition Toolbox. 2-2 Software and Hardware Requirements. 2-2 Known Software Problems. General Issues. Generic Windows Image Acquisition Devices Matrox Devices. Data Translation Devices. 2-3 2-3 2-4 2-5 2-6
Introduction to the Image Acquisition Toolbox
The Image Acquisition Toolbox 1.0 is a new product from The MathWorks that enables you to connect to an image acquisition device from within a MATLAB session. Based on MATLAB object technology, the Image Acquisition Toolbox provides functions for creating objects that represent the connection to the device. For example, the following command creates an object vid associated with a Matrox frame grabber. (Use the imaqhwinfo function to retrieve the object constructor syntax for the device installed on your system.)
vid = videoinput('matrox');
Using the properties of the vid object, you can control various aspects of the connection to the device. For more information about the capabilities of the Image Acquisition Toolbox, refer to the documentation.
Software and Hardware Requirements
The toolbox requires the device drivers for the installed image acquisition hardware. For the most up-to-date list of supported hardware, go to the Image Acquisition Toolbox product page (www.mathworks.com/product/imaq).

Known Software Problems

This section describes some known software problems with this release of the Image Acquisition Toolbox. General issues Issues with generic Windows image acquisition devices Issues with Matrox image acquisition devices Issues with Data Translation acquisition devices

General Issues

The preview window might distort displayed images when running MATLAB on a computer with an 8-bit display. Note, however, that the quality of the data logged is not affected. Warning messages indicating that the toolbox was unable to allocate memory may be displayed multiple times under the following scenario.

a Preview window is opened b The imaqmem function is used to limit memory to a very small amount c
Hardware trigger executes, initiating an acquisition
To prevent this problem, close the preview window. You might encounter a problem logging data to an AVI file. For example, the value of the DiskLoggerFrameCount property may remain at 0 (zero). To remedy this problem, try changing the value of the AVI file objects Compression property to 'none'.
Generic Windows Image Acquisition Devices
There are known issues with the USB Creative WebCam drivers that may lead to crashes and computer reboots. It is recommended that users only install one of these devices per system. Some device drivers, most commonly Video for Windows (VFW) drivers, might request a device to be selected via a dialog box. By choosing a device from the dialog box, you can associate an image acquisition object with an installed device.

TV Tuner Devices

The following list covers known issues with TV Tuner Devices (devices with an AnalogVideoFormat video source property). Video input objects associated with a TV tuner card like the ATI Rage Theater Video Capture card, may be created with an invalid analog format selected. To correct this, modify the value of the AnalogVideoFormat property on the currently selected video source object. (Use the getselectedsource function to retrieve the currently selected video source object.) Some TV tuner cards may not honor the value of the FrameGrabInterval property. The ATI TV Wonder VE card is known to have this problem. While accessing a TV tuner card, a blue screen crash may occur if the preview window is repeatedly opened and closed. Some TV tuner cards may not be able to access video formats such as YVU9 or YV12. Although theimaqhwinfo function may report these formats as supported, attempts to acquire from them may fail. The ATI TV Wonder VE card is known to have this problem. Previewing is known to max out the CPU, making MATLAB unresponsive. It is recommended that users use a low resolution to reduce the CPU load.

DV Devices

DV devices, such as camcorders, are limited to the default 'dvsd' format provided by the device. Additional formats will be made available in a future toolbox release.
When previewing DV devices, such as camcorders, a short lag may be visible between the preview window display, and what is actually captured by the device.

Matrox Devices

Matrox's MIL or MIL-Lite library is required and must be installed before using the toolbox. The Gencout program, which is related to the Genesis board, will start when you first try to use the toolbox. This causes MATLAB to lose focus. To work around this behavior, uninstall the Genesis Native Library. Gencout is not used by the Image Acquisition Toolbox, but it is installed by default by the installation program for the Genesis drivers. It is recommended that MIL's non-paged, reserved memory be greater than the size of 4 incoming images. This value can be changed using Matrox's MIL Configuration utility, provided with MIL. - For standard RS170 and CCIR monochrome formats, at least 2MB of non-paged memory is recommended. - For standard NTSC and PAL color formats, at least 8MB is recommended. Two- and four-band images are not supported. Dual-channel video, however, is supported via a DCF file if the resulting image is a single band. UARTs are not supported. Acquisition devices that support image scaling might not scale images correctly if a video source other than the first video source object is selected. The toolbox only honors the XScaleFactor and YScaleFactor properties of the first video source object. If the currently selected video source object is not the first video source object, the values of the parent video input objects ROIPosition and VideoResolution properties can be incorrect. If the device supports exposure timers, they are exposed as video source object properties using the prefix Timer. These properties are implemented using the manual bypass exposure model as described in the Matrox MIL Users Guide. Do not set these parameters while the object is previewing or running, to avoid invalid combinations of parameters while the object is accessing the device.
User digital inputs are not currently supported. User digital output values are exposed as video source object properties using the prefix UserOutputBit.

Data Translation Devices

Device drivers should be updated to Imaging Omni CD 2.2 drivers. These drivers are available from the support page at www.datatranslation.com. Data Translation drivers allow for the reservation of non-paged, non-volatile memory. This value should be set as follows:
Devices Reserved Memory Recommendations

3120, 313x, and 3152

Non-paged, reserved memory must be greater than the size of 4 incoming images. Recommended values: For standard RS170 and CCIR monochrome formats, at least 2MB of non-paged memory For standard NTSC and PAL color formats, at least 8MB This value can be changed in the DT driver properties; see the Data Translation Users Guide for your hardware for more information.
3152-LS, 3153, 3154, 3155, 3157
Non-paged, reserved memory must be greater than the size of the total number of frames provided by the hardware for a whole trigger. Use this equation to determine the size of the total number of frames:
total = FramesPerTrigger * FrameGrabInterval
where FramesPerTrigger and FrameGrabInterval are properties of the video input object. Refer to the Image Acquisition Toolbox documentation for more information on these properties. Line scan mode for the 3152-LS is not supported. For the 3152-LS, 3153, 3154, 3155, and 3157 devices in immediate trigger mode, the last image frame of a trigger and the first image frame of the next
trigger may not be adjacent frames in the incoming video; that is, one or more frames may be dropped between triggers. The 3152 may require certain color depths from your video card in order to fully function. To determine if the proper color depth is selected, start DTAcquire provided with your hardware and verify that both 'Passthru' and 'Single Frame Acquire' function properly. If 'Passthru' fails, try using a different color depth, e.g., 24-bit truecolor instead of 32-bit truecolor.

Image Acquisition Toolbox 3.2
Acquire images and video from industry-standard hardware
Image Acquisition Toolbox lets you acquire images and video directly into MATLAB and Simulink from PC-compatible imaging hardware. You can detect hardware automatically, configure hardware properties, preview an acquisition, and acquire images and video. With support for multiple hardware vendors, you can use a range of imaging devices, from inexpensive Web cameras or industrial frame grabbers to high-end scientific cameras that meet low-light, high-speed, and other challenging requirements. Together, MATLAB, Image Acquisition Toolbox, and Image Processing Toolbox provide a complete environment for developing customized imaging applications. You can acquire images and video, visualize data, develop processing algorithms and analysis techniques, and create graphical user interfaces. You can use Image Acquisition Toolbox with Simulink and Video and Image Processing Blockset to simulate and model real-time embedded imaging systems.

Key features

Automatically detects image and video acquisition devices anages device configurations M rovides live video previewing P Acquires static images and continuous video Enables in-the-loop image processing and analysis Provides graphical user interface for working with devices Supports devices for use with MATLAB and Simulink Supports multiple hardware vendors
An Image Acquisition Toolbox application that acquires and analyzes images of central synapses to monitor synaptic transmission over time. Graphical user interfaces (upper right and lower left) enable researchers to tune acquisition and processing parameters. Image courtesy of Polugruto, T.A., Tervo, D.G., and Svoboda, K., Howard Hughes Medical Institute/Cold Spring Harbor Labs.
Accelerating the pace of engineering and science
Working with Image Acquisition Toolbox
Image Acquisition Toolbox helps you connect to and configure your hardware, preview the acquisition, and acquire and visualize image data. You can use the toolbox from the Image Acquisition Tool, the MATLAB command line, or the From Video Device block within Simulink. This lets you control your image acquisition parameters and incorporate them into M-scripts, applications built within MATLAB, or Simulink models. Within the toolbox, the Image Acquisition Tool is a graphical user interface for working with image and video acquisition devices in MATLAB. With this tool, you can see all hardware available on your PC, change device settings, preview an acquisition, control acquisition parameters, and acquire image or video data. You can also record data directly to an AVI file or export hardware configuration settings to an M-file so that you can incorporate them into other MATLAB scripts.

Connecting to Hardware

Image Acquisition Toolbox automatically detects compatible image and video acquisition devices. The connection to your devices is encapsulated as an object, providing an interface for configuration and acquisition. You can create multiple connection objects for simultaneous acquisition from as many devices as your PC and imaging hardware support.
You can set base properties that are common to all supported hardware. These properties can include video format, resolution, region of interest (ROI), and returned color space. You can also set device-specific properties, such as hue, saturation, brightness, frame rate, contrast, and video sync, if your device supports these properties.

Configuring Hardware

The toolbox provides a consistent interface across multiple hardware devices and vendors, simplifying the configuration process. You configure your hardware by using the Image Acquisition Tool or by modifying the properties of the object associated with the hardware on the MATLAB command line. The toolbox also supports camera files from hardware vendors.

Previewing the Acquisition
The Image Acquisition Toolbox video preview window helps you verify and optimize your acquisition parameters. It instantly reflects any adjustments that you make to acquisition properties. The Image Acquisition Tool has a built-in preview window, and you can add one to any application built with MATLAB.
A typical session with the Image Acquisition Tool. You can use this tool instead of the MATLAB command line to set up and acquire images and video.
A scientific camera connected to a laptop using a FireWire connection. MATLAB interfaces with the camera using Image Acquisition Toolbox.

Acquiring Image Data

Image Acquisition Toolbox can continuously acquire image data while you are processing the acquired data in MATLAB or Simulink. The toolbox automatically buffers acquired data into memory, handles memory and buffer management, and enables acquisition from an ROI. Data can be acquired in a wide range of data types, including signed or unsigned 8-, 16-, and 32-bit integers and single- or double-precision floating point. The toolbox supports any color space provided by the image acquisition device, such as RGB, YUV, or grayscale. Raw sensor data in a Bayer pattern can be automatically converted into RGB data. The toolbox supports any frame rate and video resolution supported by your PC and imaging hardware.
Performing Image Acquisition in Simulink
Image Acquisition Toolbox provides a Simulink block that captures image or video data directly from any device supported by the toolbox. Using the toolbox with Video and Image Processing Blockset, you can perform simulation and verification of image or video processing system designs with live image or video data.
You can log data to disk, memory, or both simultaneously. Image Acquisition Toolbox lets you: og each image frame or log frames at L specified intervals og data to disk as compressed or uncomL pressed AVI streams xtract single images from a video stream E and store them in standard formats, including BMP, JPEG, and TIFF For advanced sequencing of your acquisition application, you can create callback functions that are automatically executed whenever events occur, such as acquisition started or stopped, trigger occurred, and a set number of frames acquired.
Advanced Acquisition Features
Image Acquisition Toolbox supports three trigger types: immediate, manual, and hardware. Hardware triggers, which are device-specific, let you synchronize your acquisition to an external signal.

A Simulink block diagram illustrating the use of the From Video Device block (in blue, above). The left image shows a video frame from a connected camera and the center image shows a histogram of the red, green, and blue channels of this input.
w w w. m a t h w o r k s. c o m
% Create a video input object to interface % with the Windows video camera with ID 1. vid = videoinput(winvideo, 1); % Configure the object to acquire 100 % video frames and open a preview window. preview(vid); vid.FramesPerTrigger = 100; % Acquire the video frames. start(vid); data = getdata(vid, 100, double); % Average the frames and apply a Sobel edge % enhancement filter to the red color band. ave = mean(data, 4); filtered = filter2(fspecial(sobel), ave(:, :, 1)); surf(filtered); shading(interp);colormap(hot);colorbar;
A script illustrating the three steps of a typical MATLAB image acquisition session: creation, configuration, and acquisition. A few lines of code let you acquire 100 video frames from a scientific camera, process the averaged frames with an edge-enhancement filter, and visualize the results as a 3-D surface.

Required Products

MATLAB Image Processing Toolbox
The toolbox also supports the following interfaces: ireWire imaging devices that adhere to F DCAM (IIDC 1394-based Digital Camera Specification) irectX-compatible devices that include a D Windows Driver Model (WDM) or Video for Windows (VFW) driver amera Link devices from the supported C hardware list In addition, the toolbox includes a C++ framework for adding support for other imaging hardware to the toolbox. For a complete list of supported hardware and driver requirements, visit www.mathworks.com/products/imaq

Related Products

Simulink Simulation and Model-Based Design MATLAB Compiler Build standalone executables and software components from MATLAB code Video and Image Processing Blockset Design and simulate video and image processing systems

Learn More

www.mathworks.com/products/imaq

Resources

visit www.mathworks.com Technical Support www.mathworks.com/support Online User Community www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral Demos www.mathworks.com/demos Training Services www.mathworks.com/training Third-Party Products and Services www.mathworks.com/connections Worldwide CONTACTS www.mathworks.com/contact e-mail info@mathworks.com

Supported Hardware

Image Acquisition Toolbox supports imaging hardware from: DALSA Coreco Data Translation Hamamatsu Matrox Imaging National Instruments QImaging
Platform and System Requirements
For platform and system requirements, visit www.mathworks.com/products/imaq

2008 The MathWorks, Inc. MATLAB and Simulink are registered trademarks of The MathWorks, Inc. See www.mathworks.com/trademarks for a list of additional trademarks. Other product or brand names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

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