Common Vision Blox software is Hardware Independent

CVB Image Manager

Common Vision Blox (CVB) from Stemmer Imaging is an open architecture hardware independent toolkit that supports both PC and embedded smart camera technology. It is acclaimed internationally as having the widest support for cameras and grabbers. It supports classical programming via compilers as well as more modern programming using graphical user interface tools.

CVB can be called a 'Machine Vision Operating System’ as you can use the comprehensive set of available tools, use third party tools or even write your own tools in a wide variety of different programming languages. Common Vision Blox is all about the freedom to develop your application your way. So unlike with other machine vision software suites, you are not tied-in to a proprietary system.

The CVB Image Manager is at the core of Common Vision Blox and provides all of the fundamental functions such as image access and hardware drivers. The Image Manager can be purchased as a stand-alone module. It handles the display functionality which all the other tools (if required) connect to. CVB Image Manager on its own is very useful for building simple presentation applications for virtually any camera or grabber in the market. Most camera/grabber products are supplied with the manufacturer's software and SDK. However many do not offer the flexibility and ease-of-use of CVB Image Manager to develop a custom interface with most general functions such as displaying, saving, image manipulation and others.

If automated inspection is required the base Image Manager package can be extended by using additional software tools with powerful algorithms to solve any conceivable industrial image processing task simply and flexibly. This provides CVB with unrivalled hardware and language independence.

Common Vision Blox gives you freedom to choose with:

• Hardware Independence: It can be used with the a huge range of cameras, frame grabbers and systems and supports all interfacing protocols such as Analog, Gigabit Ethernet, GenICam, IEEE-1394, USB and CameraLink. This means you will never be tied to a particular manufacturer.
• Language Independence: CVB can be used with a wide variety of programming languages such as Microsoft Visual Basic, Microsoft .NET, Microsoft Visual C++, Borland Delphi, Borland Delphi .NET, and Borland C++.
• Code Independence: As Common Vision Blox is an open environment users can use their own compiled code alongside existing tools that form part of the package.
• Image Independence: Images can be accessed directly in memory allowing the user complete freedom to use any image source they choose.

Common Vision Blox has been designed with performance in mind to keep pace with the fastest applications. CVB captures each and every frame as the speed of your application increases so you don’t miss a single pixel. It is designed to work with the latest PC technology, like multi-threading, so different bits of code can execute simultaneously, utilising all the available processing power. It is also designed to work with the latest generation of multi-core and multi-processor machines, so that when you specify that new powerful PC, you can be sure that CVB will use it to full advantage. With CVB it is possible to display live images from multiple cameras using a combination of interfaces simultaneously!

The Image Manager provides all the functionality that is usually offered by a typical hardware-bound SDK. For the simplest situations, only the lean Image Manager-libraries are used for acquisition into the host memory. Any further processing can be done with proprietary algorithms. However, the user already benefits from the hardware independence and the high degree of optimization. Through the standardized image interface, CVB-Tools may always be a useful addition to the proprietary algorithms.

• Defines interfaces for generalized access to image data.
• Defines interfaces for image acquisition, independent from the used data source.
• Optimised display with DirectX-support and non-destructive overlays.
• Basic functionality for image processing.
• Flexible coordinate system.
• Support for multithreaded operation.

Adept Electronic Solutions are the machine vision and imaging specialist providing expert advice and timely support. To find out more about the CVB Machine Vision software please email us at: adept@adept.net.au or call us at Perth (08) 92425411 / Sydney (02) 99792599 / Melbourne (03) 95555621 or use our online contact us.