Vision Acquisition Software (VAS) and Vision Development Module (VDM) Functions Palettes in NI LabVIEW?

Issue Details

I recently installed the NI Vision Acquisition Software (VAS) or Vision Development Module (VDM) but am unsure of what functions were installed with these products and how I can access them.

How can I access the function palettes installed by this software?

Solution

Both the NI Vision Acquisition Software (VAS) and NI Vision Development Module (VDM) will install multiple function palettes into the LabVIEW environment.

If the software has been installed correctly, these palettes will be accessible by Right Clicking on the Block Diagram and selecting the  Vision and Motion category of the function palette as shown below .

 

Note that the NI Vision Acquisition Software (VAS) and NI Vision Development Module (VDM) packages can be installed independently of one another and will add different function palettes to LabVIEW depending on which you have installed.

If you have installed either NI Vision Acquisition Software (VAS) or NI Vision Development Module (VDM) and are unable to locate the corresponding palettes in your LabVIEW environment, there was likely a problem with the installation. Note that both VAS and VDM must be installed after LabVIEW in order for the correct files to be created. If you have multiple versions of LabVIEW installed on the machine, be sure that your vision software has been installed for each version of LabVIEW. 

Note for users of Vision 7.0 and earlier: The vision functions installed by older legacy software may be located in other categories than those indicated here. Please consult the documentation included with your software for specific details.

Additional Information

The Vision Acquisition Software (VAS) software will install low-level NI-IMAQ and NI-IMAQdx driver functions used to communicate with and acquire from different camera types. VAS also includes the NI Vision RIO drivers for use with our R-Series vision cards. 

The Vision Development Module (VDM) includes several palettes containing functions used for advanced image processing and analysis. The Vision Builder palette contains VIs used to interact with the separate Vision Builder for Automated Inspection standalone application. The Vision Express palette contains express VIs which can be used with both VAS and VDM.