Common Vision Blox 2018 has enhanced 3D and Linux functionality

CVB 2018 brings a number of new developments for the CVB Image Manager and CVB Foundation Package components of Common Vision Blox, STEMMER IMAGING’s hardware-independent machine vision development software. In particular there is enhanced 3D functionality and increased Linux support.

CVB Image Manager is the core component of Common Vision Blox and offers unrivalled functionality in image acquisition, image handling, image display and image processing. It is also included with the free CameraSuite SDK licence which is supplied with all GigE Vision or USB3 Vision cameras purchased from STEMMER IMAGING.

CVB 2018 Image Manager features core 3D functionality to handle point clouds and pre-existing calibrations as well as the display of 3D data. A new tool called Match 3D, which operates in both Windows and Linux, has been added. This allows a point cloud to be compared to a template point cloud, returning the 3D transformation between the two. It can be useful for 3D positioning systems and also for calculating the differences for quality control applications. The new features in  CVB 2018 Image Manager have also been extended to Linux (on Intel and ARM platforms), making it even more suitable for developing solutions in embedded and OEM applications.

Also new for the CVB 2018 Image Manager is a chunk parser in the nodemap to make it easier to access metadata from GenICam chunk data. In addition, Turbodrive support for Teledyne DALSA cameras has been optimised for speed to reduce CPU load. Turbodrive is a technology from Teledyne DALSA which can increase data transmission from its GigE Vision cameras well in excess of the standard Gigabit Ethernet bandwidth limit.

The CVB Foundation Package provides a powerful entry point for developers who require general machine vision tools. It includes the full functionality of CVB 2018 Image Manager complemented by a comprehensive set of general imaging algorithms, optimised to take advantages of modern acceleration techniques. In the CVB 2018 Foundation Package, two new tools with Windows/Linux support have been added. The new Metric tool allows the creation of 3D calibrations. The new Foundation barcode reader provides barcode reading functionality on 1D and 2D codes, with a particular strength in reading QR codes.

Within the CVB 2018 Foundation Package a number of existing tools are now also available on Linux Intel and ARM platforms:

  • Arithmetic (for image logic operations and image arithmetic)
  • Edge
  • BayerToRGB (an advanced de-Bayering tool)
  • Lightmeter (for detailed image statistics and pass/fail limits)
  • TextOut (for destructive overlays)

A further high-value tool, Optical Flow, has been added to the Foundation Package. This is used for the determination and analysis of movement within an image sequence. It allows differences between images to the detected, for example for PIV (Particle Imaging Velocimetry) applications or any kind of flow or stretch applications.