Cameras

Image-Pro with Capture Module Only

The options of the camera group allow you set up your camera and preview, preprocess, and capture images.

Live: Click "Live" to open the Capture Preview window so that you can preview images before capturing them to a file. Click it again to deactivate the live-image display and close the Capture Preview window.

Click on the arrow under Capture to select a different camera to use if there is more than one camera on the system.

Capture: Click this button to capture a single frame off of the live video and display it in the application workspace.  The image will be captured according the current Camera Control dialog settings.

Record: Click this button to record an image sequence (i.e., a movie) based on the current settings of the Record Movie Options panel of the Camera Control dialog.  When this button is clicked, Image-Pro captures a sequence of frames for the length of time and at the intervals specified on the Record Movie Options panel. To access the Record Movie Options panel, click the down arrow of the Record button, and then click on Record Movie Options.

Camera Control: Click on this button to open the Camera Control dialog through which you can specify camera, live preview, and image capture settings.  When enabled, the Camera Control dialog is displayed in the Details panel.  It provides options that allow you to control your cameras shutter and other settings and preprocess and enhance the image data as it appears in the live preview window and/or prior to capturing it to the application workspace. Click here form more information.

Click on the arrow under Camera Control to access a menu of commonly-used settings options:

  • Dynamic Auto-Range: This option allows you to enable or disable Image-Pro's dynamic display range feature.  When enabled, Image-Pro continually adjusts the display range settings for the live image, always ensuring that the "best fit" black level and white level values are applied even as the scene changes over time.  In other words, if this option is selected, as the scene changes, the black level and white level values will be automatically adjusted to suit the scene.

When Dynamic Auto-Range is not selected, Image-Pro applies the dynamic range values defined through the Adjust > Display controls to the live image.  These values are static — they do not change as the scene changes.

  • Dynamic Auto-Exposure: If you select this option, Image-Pro continuously and automatically adjusts the exposure as the live image changes in order to maintain an optimal level of brightness in the image.   

While the Dynamic Auto-Exposure option is enabled, the Auto Exposure button and the manual exposure controls in the Capture Controls group of the Camera Control dialog are ignored.

  • Reset To Defaults: Click this option to populate the controls of the various camera and live preview settings dialogs with their default values.
  • White Balance: Click this button to enable the automatic white balance feature.  With this feature enabled, Image-Pro automatically adjusts the white balance in the live image as the color temperature of the scene changes.  Clicking on this option is the same as clicking on the Auto White Balance option in the Color group of the Camera Control dialog.

The drop-down list box below the Camera Control button lists all the settings files that have been previously defined and stored.  The *None* option is the default selection.  When settings files are stored via the Save and Open Settings controls, they are added to this list box.  Settings files store the values of virtually all of the controls on the camera and live preview settings dialogs.  Select a file to load that file's settings.  When you do this, Image-Pro populates the controls of the various camera and live preview settings dialogs with the values stored in the selected file.  

Note: The "*None*" and "LastCapture" options are system-provided options.  Loading *None* resets all options to their default values.  Loading "LastCapture" resets all options to whatever they were the last time you clicked the Capture button.

Auto Exposure: Clicking the Auto Exposure button tells Image-Pro to find the optimal exposure for the current live image.  The optimal exposure provides the optimal level of brightness for the current scene appearing in the Capture Preview window.     

<n> FPS:  This displays the number of frames per second (FPS) at which the current live image is streaming.