March 24, 2009 - Cognex expanded the toolset of its hardware-independent VisionPro software. The VisionPro 5.2 release provides an easier to use version of the PatMax technology, enhanced color tools and an enhanced architecture to harness the power of multicore PCs.The release includes new SearchMax and Color Extractor color tools. SearchMax uses color features to search for objects. It is extremely powerful in applications where geometrical data is insufficient to align the part. Color Extractor locates colored regions in complex scenes, with very minimal training. It is optimized for high speed applications such as those required in the food and packaging industries.Additionally, the new release includes multicore support for image filtering tools as well as for PatMax and PatInspect. Customers can manually adjust the way cores are used, or rely on the operating system to get the best application speed regardless of the number of cores available.VisionPro 5.2 also simplifies the acquisition from any imaging source. Now any combination of frame grabbers or direct connect cameras can be used in a single application. The Acquisition Alliance program, announced in January, provides Cognex customers with best-in-class, integrated machine vision solutions through access to major camera vendors.VisionPro 5.2 Details
New Vision Tools– SearchMax is a new greylevel / color pixel-based correlation tool. It is specifically designed to work well on blurry images, images with lots of features or when the train patterns get very small. It has been optimized to work in high speed applications. Next to multiple application specific optimization modes, SearchMax is rotation, scale and skew invariant, which opens itself up to many new application spaces.– Color Extractor is a new color extraction tool that simplifies the process of separating or measuring color areas in scenes with complex colors. This tool creates an operator interface for a user with no color knowledge. It can show what you want and what you don’t want. The tool is optimized for speed and therefore suitable for speed demanding applications in food and beverage production.– NxM Filter covers a suite of filters, namely Morphology, Convolution and Median. These filters can now operate at any kernel size are optimized for the newest CPU technologies. As a result, one will get the maximum speedups in multicore environments. A 51x51 median filter on a 30 megapixel image will run more than 7.5 times as fast on a dual quad core machine compared to a single core machine.– Color to Grey using weighted RGB allows a simple scaling of the individual RGB planes of an image. This type of preprocessing is required in high speed applications, where simple color reduction is the key.
Performance Improvements– Multicore optimization is a simple, flexible yet powerful implementation of multicore utilization. On both the Application and Vision Tool level, VisionPro makes the best out of the system resources. Next to ease of use, flexibility is also implemented through the choice of utilization models, which range from complete control to maximum core utilization.– New Bilinear Mode for Affine Transform Tool uses the newest CPU and memory access architectures. A new bilinear mode operates faster and with higher subpixel accuracy than the original tool optimized for the first MMX processors on the market. Additional enhancements are a result of multicore optimization.– PatInspect now supports the speed improved version of the Affine Transform tool as part of its operation. As a result, print inspection applications can now run at much higher speeds than with the previous version.– PatMax now allows the user to preselect PatQuick™ candidates using the Coarse Accept Threshold. A special training mode was added to cover objects that showed repetitive features such as connectors, structures on wafers, and BGAs. By enabling the Repetitive Pattern option, the user increases accuracy on the described objects.
General Enhancements– V2 Controls are now native .NET controls. VisionPro is now fully prepared for any new Microsoft platform.– Browsigator allows for simple access to the major help topics from every Vision Tool Control.– I/O Activity Meter visually indicates any I/O activity on discrete I/O or TCPI/IP allowing the user first level I/O debugging.– Property pages for GigE cameras expose all the customer properties of GigE cameras. Users now can set any special feature such as Shadow Correction, Image rotation, etc. directly from within VisionPro’s Acquisition Control. VisionPro automatically stores these settings and applies them to the camera on system start.– Integrated Japanese documentation is now available during the installation process.– Zoom in windows with mouse scroll button allows zooming in and out by using the mouse wheel.
