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Compatibility Test for IEEE-1394 and GigE Cameras with NI-IMAQdx

Hardware: Image Acquisition (IMAQ)

Problem:
I work for a camera manufacturer, and I would like to test an IEEE-1394 camera and/or a GigE camera with National Instruments NI-IMAQdx driver. If it works, I would like our camera listed on the NI website as a supported camera. What should I do?

Solution:
Use the Camera Validator utility to test the compatibility of your IEEE-1394 and GigE camera with the NI-IMAQdx driver. This utility tests each attribute of the camera and generates a report. If you would like the camera added to the National Instruments website as a supported camera, send the test report generated by the utility to www.ni.com/ask .

The Camera Validator is an executable that began shipping with the Vision Acquisition Software 8.2.1. It installs to the National Instruments\ni-imaqdx\Utility directory. The Camera Validator is also available for download at National Instrument's FTP site under support/imag/camera_support/utilities.

To use this utility you must have the NI-IMAQdx driver version 3.0 or higher installed, and you need a camera plugged in, detected correctly in Measurement and Automation Explorer (MAX), and associated with the NI-IMAQdx driver.

To launch camera validator, complete the following steps:

Open the command prompt:
1. Go to Start»Run.
2. Type cmd then click OK.
Copy and paste the following line (including the quotation marks) at the prompt:

"C:\Program Files\National Instruments\NI-IMAQdx\Utility\CameraValidator.exe"

NOTE: Any attributes that you might want to use can be typed at the end of this line. For example, If you want to run the Camera Validator with the /ATTRIBUTES argument, insert a space and type /ATTRIBUTES. Your command will look like this:

"C:\Program Files\National Instruments\NI-IMAQdx\Utility\CameraValidator.exe" /ATTRIBUTES

By default, Camera Validator uses the first camera found and creates a test report in the following dirctory \Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\National Instruments\NI-IMAQdx\Compatibility Reports. You can specify a camera or a location to save the test results by passing command line arguments to the executable.

Camera Validator accepts the following arguments:

/ENUM
Enumerates all cameras connected to the computer that are managed by NI-IMAQdx. If you can see your camera in MAX, you should see it with this attribute.

/IID:<camera name>, where camera name is the name of the camera.
By default, Camera Validator grabs the first available camera and tests that. If more cameras are in the system, use this tag to choose another camera to test.
Example: CameraValidator.exe /iid:cam1

/ATTRIBUTES
Enables attribute debugging. The Camera Validator gets/sets every attribute value and calculates the range of the values. Use this argument to debug the "0xBFF69012 Attribute value is out of range" error.
Example: CameraValidator.exe /ATTRIBUTES

/OUT:<report name>, where report name is the desired report name.
By default, Camera Validator generates the name for the compatibility report. If you wish to override the filename for the report, use this tag to specify a different report file.
Example: CameraValidator.exe /OUT:MyCameraReport.htm

/TIME:<acquisition time>, where acquisition time is the desired acquisition time in ms.
By default, Camera Validator acquires for 5000 ms before switching to the next video mode. If you wish to override the acquisition time, use this tag to specify the desired duration to acquire.
Example: CameraValidator.exe /TIME:1000

/DISPLAY
By default, Camera Validator acquires images without displaying them. If you wish to override the display behavior, use this tag to enable image display.
Example: CameraValidator.exe /DISPLAY

/LOG
By default, Camera Validator acquires images without saving them. If you wish to override the logging behavior, use this tag to enable image logging.
Example: CameraValidator.exe /LOG

/TEST_NETWORK (only for GigE cameras)
Calculates maximum paxket size allowable by the network interface.
Example: CameraValidator.exe /TEST_NETWORK

Report Date: 11/13/2006
Last Updated: 02/20/2009
Document ID: 43CDBB0F

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