HALCON Samples

This repository contains the HALCON sample program for Mech-Eye Industrial 3D Camera.

For more detailed information on controlling Mech-Eye Industrial 3D Camera with HALCON, please refer to the user manual.

Prerequisites

1. HALCON 20.11 or above has been installed on IPC.
2. Mech-Eye SDK 2.0.0 or above has been installed on IPC.
3. Camera firmware version is consistent with Mech-Eye SDK version. If not, use Mech-Eye Viewer to upgrade the camera firmware.
4. The IP addresses of the camera and IPC are in the same subnet. Use Mech-Eye Viewer to set the camera IP address.

Run the HALCON Sample Program

1. Open the sample program in HDevelop.
2. Obtain all the available cameras by running the info_framegrabber operator (click the Step Over button or press the F6 key).

   Note: All the obtained cameras can be viewed in the DeviceInfos variable in the Control Variables area of the Variable Window.

3. Select a camera to connect in either of the following ways:
   • Select a camera by its unique_name:
   1. In the Control Variables area, double-click DeviceInfos to display a list of all the available cameras.
   2. In the list, double-click the camera that you want to connect, and copy the camera name after unique_name:
   3. In the Program Window, locate the line containing the tuple_regexp_select operator, and replace MechEye in single quotation marks with the copied unique_name.
   • Select a camera by its index number:
   1. In the Control Variables area, double-click DeviceInfos to display a list of all the available cameras.
   2. Check the index number of the camera that you want to connect.
   3. In the Program Window, locate the line containing the open_framegrabber operator, and change the number in MechEyeDeviceInfos[X] accordingly.
4. Run the sample program by clicking the Run button or pressing the F5 key.
5. If the program is successfully executed, you can find the saved 2D image (image2d.bmp by default) and point cloud (PointCloud.ply by default) in the folder where the sample program is located.

Note:

• After executing the entire sample program, please click the Reset Program Execution button or press the F2 key to reset program execution. Otherwise, the camera cannot be connected by Mech-Eye Viewer.
• When the point cloud is displayed in the Canvas window, please click the orange Continue button in this window to continue the program execution. Otherwise, the program is stuck in the visualize_object_model_3d operator and will not proceed.

Explanation of the Sample Program

• Connect to the camera:

  info_framegrabber ('GigEVision2', 'device', Info, DeviceInfos)    
  tuple_regexp_select(DeviceInfos, 'MechEye', MechEyeDeviceInfos)
  open_framegrabber ('GigEVision2', 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 'default', -1, 'default', -1, 'false', 'default', MechEyeDeviceInfos[0],   0, -1, AcqHandle)
  

• Perform image capturing:

  grab_image (Image2d, AcqHandle)
  grab_data(Image3d, Region, Contours, AcqHandle, ObjectModel3D)
  

• Obtain available parameters:

  get_framegrabber_param (AcqHandle, 'available_param_names', ParameterValues)
  

• Modify parameters: Parameters included in the sample program are 2D parameters, 3D parameters, ROI, depth range and point cloud settings.

  • 2D parameters:

    * Switch to the 2D scanning mode.
    set_framegrabber_param (AcqHandle, 'DeviceScanType', 'Areascan')
    set_framegrabber_param (AcqHandle, 'AcquisitionMode', 'SingleFrame')
    
    get_framegrabber_param (AcqHandle, 'Width', Width)
    get_framegrabber_param (AcqHandle, 'Height', Height)
    get_framegrabber_param (AcqHandle, 'PixelFormat', PixeLFormat)
    
    * Set the 2D scanning parameters.
    set_framegrabber_param (AcqHandle, 'Scan2DExposureMode', 'Timed')
    set_framegrabber_param (AcqHandle, 'Scan2DExposureTime', 100)    
    

  • 3D parameters:

    * Switch to the 3D scanning mode:
    set_framegrabber_param (AcqHandle, 'DeviceScanType', 'Areascan3D')
    
    * Open the 3D object model generator.
    set_framegrabber_param (AcqHandle, 'create_objectmodel3d', 'enable')
    set_framegrabber_param (AcqHandle, 'add_objectmodel3d_overlay_attrib', 'enable')
    
    get_framegrabber_param (AcqHandle, 'Width', Width)
    get_framegrabber_param (AcqHandle, 'Height', Height)
    get_framegrabber_param (AcqHandle, 'PixelFormat', PixeLFormat)
    
    * Set the 3D scanning exposure time parameter.
    set_framegrabber_param (AcqHandle, 'Scan3DExposureCount', 1)
    set_framegrabber_param (AcqHandle, 'Scan3DExposureTime', 8)
    

  • Depth range:

    * Set the 3D scanning depth range parameter(unit: mm).
    set_framegrabber_param (AcqHandle, 'DepthLowerLimit', 1)
    set_framegrabber_param (AcqHandle, 'DepthUpperLimit', 3000)
    

  • Point cloud settings:

    * Set the 3D scanning point cloud filter parameter.
    set_framegrabber_param (AcqHandle, 'CloudOutlierFilterMode', 'Normal')
    set_framegrabber_param (AcqHandle, 'CloudSmoothMode', 'Normal')
    

• Save the obtained data:

  • Save 2D image:

    * Acquire the 2D image from the camera.
    grab_image (Image2d, AcqHandle)
    
    * Save the 2D image result in "Image2d.bmp"
    write_image( Image2d , 'bmp' , 0 , 'Image2d' )
    

  • Save point cloud:

    * Acquire the 3D data from the camera.
    grab_data(Image3d, Region, Contours, AcqHandle, ObjectModel3D)
    
    get_object_model_3d_params(ObjectModel3D, 'num_points', NumOfPoints)
    
    if(NumOfPoints != 0)
    	* Save the point cloud result in "PointCloud.ply"
    	write_object_model_3d (ObjectModel3D, 'ply', 'PointCloud.ply', [], [])
    endif
    

• Disconnect from the camera:

  clear_object_model_3d (ObjectModel3D)
  close_framegrabber (AcqHandle)