Ribbon

The ribbon shows commands used to control nVision. The commands are grouped into tabs and then further into groups.

The ribbon.

The ribbon.

At the top of the ribbon there are some quick access commands.

  Shortcut Command Description
image6 CTRL-O   Opens a file.
image7     Saves to a file.
image8     Saves to a file under a new name.
image9     Saves all files.
image10     Deletes the selected node.
image11     Commits the results of the selected node as a document.

At the right of the ribbon, besides the nVision logo, there is the Help button. If you click on this button, the help window is shown. The help window provides context sensitive help as well as internet links to educational videos and this manual.

  Shortcut Command Description
image13 F1 Help Displays documentation in a browser window.

Besides, still at the right, there is a button with a little upwards pointing arrow. Click on this button to minimize the ribbon.

The ribbon in its minimized state.

The ribbon in its minimized state.

If the ribbon is in minimized mode, you can still access the commands by first clicking on the respective tab.

File

The file tab at the very left shows commands to open and save files, as well as to import and export pipelines.

The file menu with the list of recently opened files.

The file menu with the list of recently opened files.

In addition, it shows a list of recently loaded documents. Documents on the recently loaded list can be pinned, so that they are kept at the top of the list.

At the bottom, there is also a button to shut down nVision.

Home

The Home tab shows the most common commands.

The home tab.

The home tab.

At the left – in the Acquire group - there are selection boxes for cameras and the color mode of the camera (these are filled with entries, once a supported camera is properly installed) as well as two buttons that allow you to take a snapshot (Start Snap) from a camera or put the camera into life acquisition (Start Live/Stop Live).

  Shortcut Command Description
image16   Start/Stop Snap Snaps a picture.
image17   Start/Stop Live Starts or stops live acquisition.

Then - in the Adjust Camera - there are commands to adjust exposure and calibration of the camera.

  Shortcut Command Description
image21   Exposure Inserts the exposure control tool.
image22   Exposure Inserts the define scale tool.
image23   Exposure Inserts the calibration tool.

Then – in the Zoom group – there are commands to set the zoom factor. You can Zoom In, Zoom Out, or reset the zoom (Reset Zoom). The Reset Zoom button has a drop-down menu with additional zoom commands: Zoom to Fit Width, Zoom to Fit Height and Zoom to Fit. These commands allow you to zoom an image to fit the window width or height or both.

  Shortcut Command Description
image27 CTRL+ + Zoom In Zoom in to show more details.
image28 CTRL+ - Zoom Out Zoom out to show more surrounding.
image29 CTRL+ALT+0 Reset Zoom Resets the zoom factor.

Below the Reset Zoom command there is a submenu with additional related commands.

  Shortcut Command Description
image33   Zoom Fit Set the zoom so that both width and height fit.
image34   Zoom to Fit Width Set the zoom so that the width fits.
image35   Zoom to Fit Height Set the zoom so that the height fits.

Then – in the Tool Windows group – there are buttons that allow you to show or hide various additional windows.

  Shortcut Command Description
image40 F11 Show Browser Show/hide the browser.
image41 F1 Show Help Show/hide the help window.
image42   Show Camera Parameters Show/hide the camera parameters window.
image43   Show System Globals Show/hide the system globals window.

Locate

The Locate tab shows commands that insert tools for part location. Part location very often is the first step in an inspection task.

The locate tab.

The locate tab.

The Edit group contains the commands for pipeline editing, which are repeated on most ribbon tabs for good accessability.

  Shortcut Command Description
image46   Delete Node Deletes the selected node.
image47   Commit Commits the results of the selected node as a document.

The Locate group contains the commands for localization.

  Shortcut Command Description
image51   Locate (Shape) Locates a part using shapes (geometrical shape matching).
image52   Locate (Pattern) Locates a part using pattern matching (normalized correlation).
image53   Teach Teaches a part for subsequent location.

Measure

The Measure tab shows commands that insert tools for part measurement. Measurement of intensity or color, of geometric dimensions, as well as counting of features are often steps in an inspection task.

The measure tab.

The measure tab.

The Edit group contains the commands for pipeline editing, which are repeated on most ribbon tabs for good accessability.

  Shortcut Command Description
image56   Delete Node Deletes the selected node.
image57   Commit Commits the results of the selected node as a document.

The Intensity Group contains the commands for intensity based measurement.

  Shortcut Command Description
image60   Brightness Inspects the brightness inside a region of interest.
image61   Contrast Inspects the contrast inside a region of interest.

The Geometry Group contains the commands for geometry based measurement.

  Shortcut Command Description
image66   Distance Measures a length.
image67   Circle Measures a circle.
image68   Angle Measures an angle.
image69   Area Size Measures an area.

The Count Group contains the commands for feature counting.

  Shortcut Command Description
image73   Count Edges Counts the number of edges along a line.
image74   Count Contour Points Counts the number of contour points.
image75   Count Areas Counts the number of distinct blobs.

Verify

The Verify tab shows commands that insert tools for part verification.

The verify tab.

The verify tab.

The Edit group contains the commands for pipeline editing, which are repeated on most ribbon tabs for good accessability.

  Shortcut Command Description
image78   Delete Node Deletes the selected node.
image79   Commit Commits the results of the selected node as a document.

The Features group contains the commands for pattern matching.

  Shortcut Command Description
image82   Match Contour Matches a region of a part using geometrical shape matching.
image83   Match Pattern Matches a region of apart using normalized correlation.

Identify

The Identify tab shows commands that insert tools for part identification, such as decoding barcodes and matrix codes, as well as reading texts.

The identify tab.

The identify tab.

The Edit group contains the commands for pipeline editing, which are repeated on most ribbon tabs for good accessability.

  Shortcut Command Description
image86   Delete Node Deletes the selected node.
image87   Commit Commits the results of the selected node as a document.

The Codes group contains the commands for barcode and matrix code decoding.

  Shortcut Command Description
image90   Barcode Decodes a barcode in a region of interest.
image91   Matrixcode Decodes a matrix code in a region of interest.

The Text group contains the commands for optical character recognition.

  Shortcut Command Description
image93   OCR Reads text in a region of interest using optical character recognition (OCR).

Process

The Process tab has commands for basic image processing. The commands are grouped into statistic operations, point processing (pixel-wise), color transformation, filtering, morphology and geometric transformations.

The process tab.

The process tab.

The Edit group contains the commands for pipeline editing, which are repeated on most ribbon tabs for good accessability.

  Shortcut Command Description
image96   Delete Node Deletes the selected node.
image97   Commit Commits the results of the selected node as a document.

The Statistics group contains commands for statistical processing.

  Shortcut Command Description
image101   Histogram Calculates a histogram.
image102   Horizontal Profile Calculates a horizontal profile.
image103   Horizontal Profile Overlay Calculates a horizontal profile and overlays it on the image.

The Crop group contains the Crop Box command.

  Shortcut Command Description
image105   Crop Box Crops a rectangular portion of an image.

The Bin group contains the Bin command.

  Shortcut Command Description
image107   Bin Resize an image using binning.

The Point group contains point operations between an image and a constant. These operations look at single pixels only and ignore their neighborhood.

  Shortcut Command Description
image128   Not Inverts every pixel of an image (using 1’s complement).
image129   Negate Inverts every pixel of an image (using 2’s complement).
image130   Increment Increments every pixel of an image by 1.
image131   Decrement Decrements every pixel of an image by 1.
image132   Absolute Takes the absolute value of every pixel of an image.
image133   Add Adds a constant value to every pixel of an image.
image134   Subtract Subtracts a constant value from every pixel of an image.
image135   Difference Takes the absolute difference between every pixel of an image and a constant.
image136   Multiply Multiplies every pixel of an image by a constant value.
image137   Divide Divides every pixel of an image through a constant value.
image138   Logical And And of every pixel of an image and a constant value.
image139   Logical Or Or of every pixel of an image and a constant value.
image140   Logical Xor Xor of every pixel of an image and a constant value.
image141   Equal Compares every pixel of an image with a constant.
image142   Bigger Compares every pixel of an image with a constant.
image143   Bigger or Equal Compares every pixel of an image with a constant.
image144   Smaller Compares every pixel of an image with a constant.
image145   Smaller or Equal< Compares every pixel of an image with a constant.
image146   Minimum Calculates the minimum of every pixel of an image and a constant.
image147   Maximum Calculates the maximum of every pixel of an image and a constant.

The Color group contains commands for colorspace conversions.

  Shortcut Command Description
image153   Convert to Monochrome Converts every pixel of a color image to monochrome.
image154   Convert to Rgb Converts every pixel of a color image to the RGB (red, green, blue) color space.
image155   Convert to Hls Converts every pixel of a color image to the HLS (hue, luminance, saturation) color space.
image156   Convert to Hsi Converts every pixel of a color image to the HSI (hue, saturation, intensity) color space.
image157   Convert to Lab Converts every pixel of a color image to the LAB* color space.

The Frame group contains the Frame command.

  Shortcut Command Description
image159   Frame Puts a frame around an image.

The Filter group contains linear filters. Linear filters produce their results by taking their neighbor pixels into consideration. Various filters use different filter kernels to create various filter characteristics.

  Shortcut Command Description
image173   Median Calculates a median filter.
image174   Hybrid Median Calculates a hybrid median which better preserves edges.
image175   Gaussian Blurs an image with a gaussian averaging filter of varying size.
image176   Gauss Blurs an image with a fixed size Gaussian kernel.
image177   Lowpass Blurs an image with a lowpass filter.
image178   Hipass Sharpens an image with a sharpening filter.
image179   Laplace Calculates a laplace filter.
image180   Horizontal Sobel Emphasizes edges with a horizontal Sobel filter.
image181   Horizontal Prewitt Emphasizes edges with a horizontal Prewitt filter.
image182   Horizontal Scharr Emphasizes edges with a horizontal Scharr filter.
image183   Vertical Sobel Emphasizes edges with a vertical Sobel filter.
image184   Vertical Prewitt Emphasizes edges with a vertical Prewitt filter.
image185   Vertical Scharr Emphasizes edges with a vertical Scharr filter.

The Morphology group contains morphological operations, i.e. operations that change the shape. Some of these operations can be applied to images and to regions. Region versions are binary in nature and extremely fast because of their run-length implementation.

  Shortcut Command Description
image199   Dilate Performs a dilation on image pixels. A dilation makes bright areas bigger and dark areas smaller.
image200   Dilate (Regions) Performs a dilation on a region. A dilation makes a region bigger.
image201   Erode Performs an erosion on image pixels. An erosion makes bright areas smaller and dark areas bigger.
image202   Erode (Regions) Performs an erosion on a region. An erosion makes a region smaller.
image203   Open Performs an opening on an image. Opening is an erosion followed by a dilation.
image204   Open (Regions) Performs an opening on a region. Opening is an erosion followed by a dilation.
image205   Close Performs a closing on an image. Closing is a dilation followed by an erosion.
image206   Close (Regions) Performs a closing on a region. Closing is a dilation followed by an erosion.
image207   Gradient Performs a morphological gradient on an image. Closing is a dilation minus an erosion.
image208   Gradient (Regions) Performs a morphological gradient on a region. Closing is a dilation minus an erosion.
image209   Inner Boundary Calculates the inner boundary of a region. The inner boundary consists of the region pixels that touch the background.
image210   Outer Boundary Calculates the outer boundary of a region. The outer boundary consists of the background pixels that touch the region.
image211   Fill Holes Fills holes in a region.

The Geometry tab contains commands for geometric transformations.

  Shortcut Command Description
image217   Mirror Reverses right and left of an image.
image218   Flip Reverses top and bottom of an image.
image219   Rotate Counter Clockwise Rotate an image by 90 degrees counter clockwise.
image220   Rotate 180 Degrees Rotates an image by 180 degrees.
image221   Rotate Clockwise Rotates an image by 90 degrees clockwise.

Segmentation

The Segmentation tab groups commands related to segmentation and blob analysis.

The segmentation tab.

The segmentation tab.

The Edit group contains the commands for pipeline editing, which are repeated on most ribbon tabs for good accessability.

  Shortcut Command Description
image224   Delete Node Deletes the selected node.
image225   Commit Commits the results of the selected node as a document.

The Segmentation group contains the commands for thresholding, connected components separation and region filtering.

  Shortcut Command Description
image229   Threshold Thresholds an image and returns a region.
image230   Connected Components Splits a region into its connected components, that is a list of separate regions.
image231   Filter Regions Filters regions according to a criterium.

The Blob Analysis group contains the commands for blob analysis and graphical plotting.

  Shortcut Command Description
image234   Blob Analysis Performs blob analysis on a list of regions.
image235   Plot Plots the results of a blob analysis.

Pipeline

The Pipeline tab groups pipeline related commands.

The pipeline tab.

The pipeline tab.

The Edit group contains the commands for pipeline editing, which are repeated on most ribbon tabs for good accessability.

  Shortcut Command Description
image238   Delete Node Deletes the selected node.
image239   Commit Commits the results of the selected node as a document.

The Pipeline group contains the commands for sub-pipeline creation as well as import and export of pipelines.

  Shortcut Command Description
image243   Sub-Pipeline Creates a sub-pipeline.
image244   Import Pipeline Imports a pipeline from a file.
image245   Export Pipeline Exports a pipeline to a file.

The Control group contains the commands for batch processing of images in folders.

  Shortcut Command Description
image253   First Image Jumps to the first image in an image folder.
image254   Previous Image Jumps to the previous image in an image folder.
image255   Next Image Jumps to the next image in an image folder.
image256   Process Images Processes all images in an image folder.
image257   Stop Stops processing of images in an image folder.
image258   Export On/Off Turns export nodes on or off.
image259   Export Once Causes all export nodes to export once.

The Timer group allows to set the polling interval for polling nodes.

  Shortcut Command Description
image261   Update On/Off Switch polling on/off.

The Execution Info group provides information about program execution. It shows the last execution time of the program as well as the execution state.

  Shortcut Command Description
image263   Show Node Timing Shows timing information of every node in a sub-pipeline.

The Execution Statistics group provides statistic information about program execution. It shows the average execution time as well as the achieved framerate.

  Shortcut Command Description
image265   Statistics Start/Stop Switch statistics accumulation on/off.

The Result group contains the Result tool, which supports simple communication with a machine.

  Shortcut Command Description
image267   Result This tool provides simple communication with a machine.

Interactive Measurement

The Measure tab shows commands that are related to interactive measurement.

The measure tab.

The measure tab.

The Calibrate group contains the commands for interactive calibration.

  Shortcut Command Description
image270   Calibrate Origin Toggles the origin calibration tool on or off.
image271   Calibrate Scale Toggles the scale calibration tool on or off.

The Overlay group contains commands that switch graphical overlays on or off.

  Shortcut Command Description
image275   Rectangular Grid Toggles the rectangular grid overlay on or off.
image276   Circular Grid Toggles the circular grid overlay on or off.
image277   Scale Bar Toggles the scale bar overlay on or off.

The Picker group contains the pixel value picker.

  Shortcut Command Description
image279   Picker Interactively inspect pixel values.

The Measure group contains commands for interactive measurement.

  Shortcut Command Description
image284   Commit Results Commits the results of the selected tool.
image285   Toggle the counting tool on or off. Toggle the counting tool on or off.
image286   Reset Counting Tool Resets the counting tool count.
image287   Measure Length Tool Toggle the measure length tool on or off.

The Gauging group contains the edge inspector.

  Shortcut Command Description
image289   Horizontal Edge Inspector This tool helps finding parameters for edge inspection.