Why Are My Functions Grayed Out in Vision Builder AI or Vision Assistant?
Primary Software: Vision Builder for Automated Inspection
Primary Software Version: 2.6.1
Primary Software Fixed Version: N/A
Secondary Software: Vision Assistant
Problem: I have a monochrome image loaded in Vision Builder AI (2.6.1 or earlier) or Vision Assistant (7.1 or earlier), but some of the functions are greyed out, like in the Grayscale menu. Why are these functions greyed out and what can I do to get access to these functions?
Solution: Some of the functions in Vision Builder AI and Vision Assistant are image sensitive. Only the functions that are compatible with the currently loaded image will be visible. The other functions will be greyed out. Some of the algorithms used in Vision Builder AI and Vision Assistant require an 8-bit image. Likewise, other functions, like in the Color and Binary menus, will be greyed out unless the image is color or binary respectively.
There are a couple of reasons that you might not have the correct image representation for the function you would like to use.
- You might have acquired from a camera that is sending 10-bit images instead of 8-bit images, or the framegrabber is representing the image with 10 bits of resolution. There are a couple of ways to correct this.
- You can select the Conversion function from the Grayscale menu to convert the image to an 8-bit image. Use this option if you need to use the 10-bit version of the same image elsewhere in your processing.
- If you do not need the full 10 bits of resolution, a better solution is to open the Measurement & Automation Explorer and change the bit depth setting on the Acquisition Parameters page for your framegrabber. This method is much more efficient since you are transferring only half the image data over the PCI bus (1 byte per pixel vs. 2 bytes), and the conversion to 8 bits is handled on the framegrabber without any processor overhead.
- Another possibility is that you have a color image that just appears to be monochrome because it contains null values for the color information. You should change the image to a true grayscale image in order to access the Grayscale functions. To do this, select the Extract Color Planes function from the Color menu. Then select the HSL-Luminance Plane. You will now have access to the Grayscale functions.
Note: Vision Builder AI 3.0 (and later) and Vision Assistant 8.0 (and later) will not grey out functions based on the currently loaded image. Instead, if you try to select a function that does not work with the image, you will get a message giving you some reasons why, and some suggestions of what you should do to get the correct image representation.
Related Links:
KnowledgeBase 30UDI8A2: What's New in the NI Vision Development Module
Attachments:
Report Date: 07/26/2001
Last Updated: 05/11/2007
Document ID: 2BPFEO5T
