NI Vision Development Module 2014 Readme

June 2014

This file contains important information about National Instruments Vision Development Module, including installation instructions, new features, fixed issues, and known issues.

Overview
System Requirements
NI Application Software Support
New Features
Updates and Improvements
Installation Instructions
How to Activate the NI Vision License
Deploying Vision Applications
Automating the Installation of NI Products
Known Issues
Documentation and Examples
How to Use NI Software with Microsoft Windows 8.x
NI Software Support for Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003
Legal Information

Overview

The NI Vision Development Module provides hundreds of image processing and machine vision functions. Along with programming libraries, the NI Vision Development Module also includes NI Vision Assistant. Installing this software may remove previous versions of the NI Vision Development Module that are currently installed.

Note: The NI Vision Development Module overwrites existing NI Vision examples and NI Vision VIs. Move modified examples or VIs that you want to save to another directory before installing the NI Vision Development Module.

Refer to the NI Vision website at ni.com/vision for the latest information about the NI Vision Development Module.

System Requirements

The development computer must meet the following system requirements to run the NI Vision Development Module.

NI Application Software Support

The following table lists the NI application software versions, including service packs, supported by the NI Vision Development Module. The installer specifically allows side-by-side installations of Vision Development Module for each of the supported versions of LabVIEW, enabling you to use the NI Vision Development Module with multiple versions of LabVIEW. National Instruments recommends that you install LabVIEW, LabVIEW Real-Time, or any other supported development environment, before installing the NI Vision Development Module.

NI Vision Development Module .NET Support

NI Vision Development Module 2013 SP1 was the last version to release updated support for the .NET Framework 2.0, .NET Framework 3.5, and .NET language integration into Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008. Visual Studio 2010 and later are not supported.

New versions of NI Vision Development Module will not provide new .NET feature support or development. It is recommended that you begin new development in other supported development environments.

New Features

This release of the NI Vision Development Module includes the following new features:

• New Vision FPGA VIs for performing common image processing and analysis tasks on an FPGA target. These VIs require the LabVIEW FPGA Module 2014.
• Support for the NI CVS-1459RT and NI cRIO-903x
• Support for LabVIEW 2014 (32- and 64-bit)
• New IMAQ Read Barcode 2 VI, which automatically locates and reads 1D barcodes in images

NI Vision Assistant includes the following new features:

• New Vision FPGA steps for performing common image processing and analysis tasks on an FPGA target. You can migrate the FPGA steps to LabVIEW. Requires the LabVIEW FPGA Module 2014.
• Updated Barcode Reader step, which automatically locates and reads 1D barcodes in images

Updates and Improvements

The following list describes issues in previous versions of the NI Vision Development Module that are fixed in this release. If you have a CAR ID, you can search this list to validate that the issue has been fixed. This is not an exhaustive list of issues fixed in the current version of the NI Vision Development Module.

Installation Instructions

Installing from the LabVIEW Platform DVDs

If you purchased LabVIEW, you can install all of your LabVIEW products—including the NI Vision Development Module—using the LabVIEW Platform DVDs.

To request additional LabVIEW Platform DVDs, refer to the National Instruments Web site.

Installing from the NI Vision Development Module Installation Media

Complete the following steps to install the NI Vision Development Module from the NI Vision Development Module installation media.

1. Log on as an administrator or as a user with administrator privileges.
2. Insert the NI Vision Development Module installation media.
3. If you do not have autorun enabled, double-click autorun.exe. If you have autorun enabled, autorun.exe runs automatically.
4. Follow the onscreen instructions.
5. (Optional) Activate NI Vision Development Module when prompted by the installer, or activate at a later time using the NI License Manager.

Installing from an NI Software Suite or NI Product Bundle

If you purchased this product with an NI Software Suite or NI Product Bundle, use the installation media that shipped with your purchase to install this product.

How to Activate the NI Vision License

When you run an NI Vision application for the first time, it prompts you to activate a license for the product. If you do not activate a valid license, the NI Vision application will run in Evaluation Mode and continue to prompt you to activate a license on each subsequent launch.

Complete the following steps to activate the NI Vision license through an Internet connection.

1. Run the product you want to license.
2. Click Yes when prompted to interactively activate your product.
3. Ensure that Automatically activate through a secure Internet connection is selected, and click Next.
4. Enter the product serial number, and click Next.
5. Enter your registration information, and click Next.

Tip: Enter your email address to receive a copy of your activation code for your records.

Deploying Vision Applications

Deployment refers to developing an application so that it can be distributed, or deployed, on a different computer than the one on which the application was developed. The NI Vision Development Module provides everything you need to deploy custom NI Vision applications to target computers. The NI Vision Development Module provides the following options:

• The ability to create NI Vision Run-Time Engine installers, which integrate with the LabVIEW Application Builder, applications built in LabWindows/CVI, or a custom installer.
• The ability to install the NI Vision Run-Time Engine directly from the NI Vision Development Module installation media.
• One NI Vision Run-Time License, which allows you to install a custom application on a single machine.

The NI Vision Development Module installer contains the runtime engine installer for NI Vision. The runtime engine installer is installed at <Vision>\Run-Time Engine, where <Vision> is the location to which the NI Vision Development Module is installed. Visit the ni.com to download software upgrades for NI Vision and the NI Vision Run-Time installers.

Purchasing NI Vision Deployment Licenses

You must purchase an NI Vision Run-Time License (part number 778044-03) for each target machine onto which you want to install your custom NI Vision application, even if you install the NI Vision Run-Time Engine directly from the NI Vision Development Module installation media. The NI Vision Development Module ships with one runtime license. Contact a National Instruments sales representative or visit ni.com to purchase additional runtime licenses.

Note: Additional NI Vision Run-Time Licenses do not include installation media. To install additional licenses, use the original NI Vision Development Module installation media and the serial number provided by National Instruments.

You can call the NI Vision Run-Time Engine installer from the application installer. If you create the application installer with the LabVIEW Application Builder or with LabWindows/CVI, you can direct the installer to call the NI Vision Run-Time Engine installer.

Refer to the LabVIEW Help for more information about the LabVIEW Application Builder. Refer to the NI LabWindows/CVI Help for more information about building and distributing LabWindows/CVI applications.

You can also direct a custom application installer to call the NI Vision Run-Time Engine installer. This may be useful if you are creating an installer for applications created in other development environments. Refer to the documentation that came with the installer software to learn how to call executables from the custom installer. If you are using a custom installer, call the NI Vision Run-Time Engine installer at the end of the installation procedure because the installer may require the system to be restarted.

Unlike in previously released versions of The NI Vision Run-Time Engine, this installer cannot be invoked without an installer dialog prompt. Please contact National Instruments for a revised version which can be invoked silently. The NI Vision Run-Time Engine installer is located at <Vision>\Run-Time Engine\visionrte<version>.exe, where <Vision> is the location to which NI Vision is installed, and <version> is the version number of the NI Vision Run-Time Engine installed.

Distributing LabVIEW Applications

The NI Vision Run-Time Engine installer does not install LabVIEW VIs. If you use the LabVIEW Application Builder to create an application (EXE) or dynamic link library (DLL), the Application Builder automatically includes the VIs used by the application. If you distribute a VI, you must include all subVIs that comprise the top-level VI. You must include the appropriate LabVIEW Run-Time Engine as part of the installation.

Refer to the LabVIEW Help for more information about viewing the hierarchy of VIs and for more information about using the LabVIEW Run-Time Engine.

Distributing LabWindows/CVI Applications

In addition to including the NI Vision Run-Time Engine with the installer, you must include the appropriate LabWindows/CVI Run-Time Engine. Refer to the NI LabWindows/CVI Help for more information about creating an executable, creating a dynamic link library, and distributing applications.

Automating the Installation of NI Products

You can automate the installation of most NI products using command-line arguments to suppress some or all of the installer user interface and dialog boxes. However, starting with the August 2012 releases (products using NI Installers version 3.1 or later), you may need to perform additional steps before or during a silent installation of NI software.

If the NI product you are installing uses Microsoft .NET 4.0, the .NET installer may run before any NI software installs and may require a reboot before the installation of NI software begins. To avoid a .NET reboot, install .NET 4.0 separately before you install NI software.

For more information, refer to the following KnowledgeBase articles:

• For more information on silent installations of individual NI products, refer to KB 4CJDP38M, Automating the Installation of a Single Installer.
• For more information on silent installations of suited NI products, such as NI Developer Suite, refer to KB 4GGGDQH0, Automating the Installation of a Suited Installer.
• To determine what version of NI Installers your product contains, refer to KB 4CJDR18M, How Can I Determine the Type and Version of My National Instruments Installer?.

Known Issues

You can access the software and documentation known issues list online. Refer to the National Instruments Web site for an up-to-date list of known issues in the NI Vision Development Module.

National Instruments is aware of the following issues you may encounter while using NI Vision Development Module.

• On systems where the NI Vision Development Module license is expired or invalidly licensed, built Vision executables and DLLs will return licensing error -1074396157 regardless of whether the Vision Run-Time Engine is properly activated.
• The standalone NI Vision Run-Time Engine installer EXE cannot be invoked silently. Refer to the Using the NI Vision Run-Time Engine section for more information.
• Vision FPGA VIs may be broken when opened on one target after being used on another target. You can fix the broken VI by forcing LabVIEW to recompile it by pressing <Ctrl> + <Shift> + Run Button.
• The following updates and corrections to the IMAQ FPGA Convolute VI documentation:
  • The kernel buffer should be transposed and then converted to a 1D array before being passed to the Convolution Kernel parameter. For example:

    1	2	3
    4	5	6
    7	8	9

    Transpose to:

    
    

    1	4	7
    2	5	8
    3	6	9

    Convert to 1D array:

    
    

    1

    4

    7

    2

    5

    8

    3

    6

    9

  • The VI expects the inverse of the Divider Value input. For example, if the Divider Value is calculated to be 25, take the inverse (1/25 = 0.04) and pass the inverse value to the VI. Refer to the Convolution Kernels topic in the NI Vision Concepts Help for more information.
• The following updates and corrections to the IMAQ FPGA Binary Morphology VI and IMAQ FPGA Gray Morphology VI documentation:
  • The Structural Element matrix should be transposed and then converted to a 1D array before being passed to the VIs. Refer to the convolution example above for how to transpose and convert the matrix.
  • The VI documentation incorrectly states that "The connected source image for a morphological transformation must have been created with a border capable of supporting the size of the structuring element." The border for the source image is calculated by the VI.
  • For the Erosion and Dilation VI instances, use this formula to calculate the total latency.

    Total Latency = Minimum Latency + (Image Width + 1)((Kernel Size/2) - 0.5) + Kernel Size

    
    
  • For the Open and Close VI instances, use this formula to calculate the total latency.

    Total Latency = Minimum Latency + 2*((Image Width+2)((Kernel Size/2) - 0.5) + 3)

    
    
• In the Vision Assistant Filters step, the Smoothing - Low Pass filter allows even kernel sizes. Only use odd kernel sizes. If LabVIEW FPGA code is generated with an even kernel size, an error will occur.
• Vision FPGA Filter VIs with a mask using a 9x9 kernel support image widths up to 2,000 pixels.
• Specifying a negative angle in the IMAQ Learn Pattern 4 VI causes error -1074395249.
• The AVI2 VIs do not support writing extra data to AVIs.
• Japanese and Simplified Chinese for text overlays are not supported on NI Linux® Real-Time targets.
• The IMAQ Read QR Code VI may hang when the QR Code Cell Size has a minimum size of 2 or less. Setting the minimum size to 3 or higher will prevent this issue.
• The IMAQ Read Data Matrix Barcode 3 VI may hang on some I16 images.
• Zooming out on a large, 32-bit image in the Image Display in LabVIEW will cause the image to black out. Only the displayed image is affected. The image itself is not modified.
• To store error statistics on corrected images, you must run the IMAQ Get Calibration Info2 VI before correcting the calibration template image. The Return Error Information input must be set to TRUE.
• Vision Assistant cannot generate C code if a double-byte character exists in the path to Vision Assistant or in the destination path for the generated code.
• Some Vision Development Module .NET examples only work if Measurement Studio 8.6 or later is installed.
• The Visual Basic .NET Label example does not compile.
• There is no 64-bit Vision API for C or .NET.
• Installing the Vision Development Module on a Windows Vista 64-bit computer where Visual Studio 2005 has been recently installed causes compatibility warnings.
• On some systems, the Vision Development Module cannot open two of the installed AVI files, SideCrash1.avi and SideCrash2.avi, when running as a 64-bit application.

Documentation and Examples

Documentation is installed onto your hard drive with the NI Vision Development Module. To view the documentation, select Start»All Programs»National Instruments»Vision»Documentation»NI Vision. The NI Vision Development Module documentation set consists of the following documents:

• NI Vision Concepts Help—Describes the basic concepts of image analysis, image processing, and machine vision. This document also contains in-depth discussions about imaging functions for advanced users.

The following sections describe the documents available for each application development environment and where to find example programs.

NI Vision for LabVIEW Documentation

• NI Vision for LabVIEW Help—This document contains reference information about NI Vision VIs and details about how to use NI Vision with LabVIEW. It describes how to create machine vision and image processing applications in LabVIEW. It also describes how to create a real-time vision application using NI Vision and the LabVIEW Real-Time Module, and how to use the Vision FPGA VIs with an FPGA target and the LabVIEW FPGA Module. You can access this help in LabVIEW by selecting Help»NI Vision for LabVIEW Help.
• NI Vision for LabVIEW Examples—Illustrates common applications you can create with NI Vision. In LabVIEW, select Help»Find Examples. Click the Help button in the NI Example Finder to display the NI Example Finder Help. NI Vision examples for LabVIEW are installed to <LabVIEW>\examples\Vision and <LabVIEW>\examples\Vision FPGA, where <LabVIEW> is the location LabVIEW is installed.

NI Vision for LabWindows/CVI Documentation

• NI Vision for LabWindows/CVI User Manual—Describes how to create machine vision and image processing applications in LabWindows/CVI using the NI Vision Development Module.
• NI Vision for LabWindows/CVI Function Reference Help—Contains reference information about NI Vision for LabWindows/CVI functions.
• Function panel help within LabWindows/CVI—Allows you to right-click within each Vision function to access help for that function, control, function class, and function library. Function panels are installed at <CVI>\bin\NIVision.lfp, where <CVI> is the location to which LabWindows/CVI is installed.
• Example programs for specific applications are installed at <CVI>\Samples\Vision.

NI Vision Assistant Documentation

• NI Vision Assistant Tutorial—Describes the Vision Assistant software interface and guides you through creating example image processing and machine vision applications.
• NI Vision Assistant Help—Contains descriptions of Vision Assistant features and functions and provides instructions for using them. In Vision Assistant, select Help»Online Help.
• NI Classification Training Interface Help—Contains information about how to use the NI Classification Training Interface to classify binary samples. In the NI Classification Training Interface, select Help»Online Help.
• NI Color Classification Training Interface Help—Contains information about how to use the NI Color Classification Training Interface to classify color samples. In the NI Color Classification Training Interface, select Help»Online Help.
• NI OCR Training Interface Help—Contains information about how to use the NI OCR Training Interface to learn characters, save character sets, and verify characters by comparing them to a reference character. In the NI OCR Training Interface, select Help»Online Help.
• NI Texture Training Help—Contains information about how to use the NI Texture Training Interface to train a texture classifier file for use in texture defect detection applications. In the NI Texture Training Interface, select Help»Online Help.
• NI Calibration Training Help—Contains information about how to use the NI Calibration Training Interface to select and create a calibration for use in machine vision applications. In the NI Calibration Training Interface, select Help»Online Help.
• NI Vision Template Editor Help—Contains information about how to use the NI Vision Template Editor to learn and edit template images that you can use with pattern matching, geometric matching, and golden template comparison functions. In the NI Vision Template Editor, select Help»Online Help.

How to Use NI Software with Microsoft Windows 8.x

When you install National Instruments software on Microsoft Windows 8.x, you will notice a few additional tiles on the Start screen, including shortcuts to NI application software products such as NI LabVIEW, Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX), and the new NI Launcher.

Using NI Launcher

NI Launcher helps you find and launch installed NI products. It provides you with a method of finding NI products similar to the Start menu in previous versions of Microsoft Windows. To use NI Launcher, click the NI Launcher tile on the Start screen. NI Launcher launches the desktop and opens a menu containing a list of NI products. Double-click any NI product to launch it.

Pinning Frequently Used Applications

For convenience, you can pin your most-used NI applications, such as MAX, to either the Start screen or the Taskbar on the desktop, as necessary:

Finding All Programs

If you want to find a particular application or related files, such as documentation files, from the Start screen, you can access all installed files from the Apps view. To get to the Apps view, right-click anywhere on the Start screen and select All apps (Windows 8) or click the down arrow on the bottom left of the screen (Windows 8.1).

For more information about NI support for Windows 8.x, visit ni.com/windows8.

NI Vision Development Module Drops Support for Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 in 2016

NI Vision Development Module will drop support for Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 as of July 1, 2016. Versions of NI Vision Development Module that ship after July 1, 2016 will not install or run on Windows Vista, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003. For detailed information about NI application software product life cycles, visit ni.com/info and enter one of the following Info Codes:

Legal Information

Copyright

© 2014 National Instruments. All rights reserved.

Under the copyright laws, this publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storing in an information retrieval system, or translating, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of National Instruments Corporation.

National Instruments respects the intellectual property of others, and we ask our users to do the same. NI software is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. Where NI software may be used to reproduce software or other materials belonging to others, you may use NI software only to reproduce materials that you may reproduce in accordance with the terms of any applicable license or other legal restriction.

End-User License Agreements and Third-Party Legal Notices

You can find end-user license agreements (EULAs) and third-party legal notices in the following locations after installation:

• Notices are located in the <National Instruments>\_Legal Information and <National Instruments> directories.
• EULAs are located in the <National Instruments>\Shared\MDF\Legal\license directory.
• Review <National Instruments>\_Legal Information.txt for information on including legal information in installers built with NI products.

U.S. Government Restricted Rights

If you are an agency, department, or other entity of the United States Government ("Government"), the use, duplication, reproduction, release, modification, disclosure or transfer of the technical data included in this manual is governed by the Restricted Rights provisions under Federal Acquisition Regulation 52.227-14 for civilian agencies and Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement Section 252.227-7014 and 252.227-7015 for military agencies.

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Patents

For patents covering the National Instruments products/technology, refer to the appropriate location: Help»Patents in your software, the patents.txt file on your media, or the National Instruments Patent Notice at ni.com/patents.