Chapter 1
Introduction
©
National Instruments Corporation
1-3
NI PXI/PCI-1428 User Manual
The following sections provide an overview of the driver software and the
application software. For detailed information about individual software
packages, refer to the documentation specific to each package.
NI-IMAQ Driver Software
The NI-IMAQ driver software ships with the NI 1428. NI-IMAQ has an
extensive library of functions—such as routines for video configuration,
continuous and single shot image acquisition, memory buffer allocation,
trigger control, and device configuration—you can call from the
application development environment (ADE). NI-IMAQ handles many of
the complex issues between the computer and the image acquisition device,
such as programming interrupts and camera control.
NI-IMAQ performs all functions required for acquiring and saving images
but does not perform image analysis. For image analysis functionality, refer
to the
National Instruments Application Software
section.
NI-IMAQ is also the interface path between the NI 1428 and LabVIEW,
LabWindows
™
/CVI
™
, or a text-based programming environment. The
NI-IMAQ software kit includes a series of libraries for image acquisition
for LabVIEW, LabWindows/CVI, and Measurement Studio, which
contains libraries for Microsoft Visual Basic.
NI-IMAQ features both high-level and low-level functions. Examples
of high-level functions include the sequences to acquire images in
multi-buffer, single-shot, or continuous mode. An example of a low-level
function is configuring an image sequence, since it requires advanced
understanding of the image acquisition device and image acquisition.
National Instruments Application Software
This section describes the National Instruments application software
packages you can use to analyze and process the images you acquire with
the NI 1428.
Vision Builder for Automated Inspection
NI Vision Builder for Automated Inspection (AI) is configurable machine
vision software that you can use to prototype, benchmark, and deploy
applications. Vision Builder AI does not require programming, but is
scalable to powerful programming environments.
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