The Parts of the Vision Guide Window
The Vision Guide window is the point and click environment where most of your vision development will take place.
An understanding of this window and its major parts is the first thing you will need to grasp in order to use Vision Guide 8.0. The Vision Guide window can be broken into the following major sections:
- Title Bar
- Toolbar
- Flow Chart
- Sequence and calibration trees
- Image Display
- Sequence, Object, and Calibration Windows
- Jog tab
- Run Panel
| Symbol | Item |
|---|---|
| a | Vision Guide Title Bar |
| b | Vision Guide Toolbar |
| c | Image Display |
| d | Run Panel |
| e | Flow Chart |
| f | Sequence, Object and Calibration Windows |
| g | Sequence and Calibration Trees |
| h | Jog Tab |
The Title Bar
The Vision Guide window has a title bar that includes the title of the window, the camera type and resolution, and the name of the current sequence. The vision sequence name is put in brackets. A sample title bar is shown below. It shows that we are running Vision Guide 8.0 with a Compact Vision and currently using the “BlobTut” vision sequence.
KEY POINTS
It is important to understand the difference between the main title bar for the Epson RC+ 8.0 environment and the Vision Guide title bar.
The Epson RC+ 8.0 title bar contains the name of the current project while the Vision Guide window title bar contains the name of the current sequence.
Toolbar
Toolbars are typically included with Microsoft WindowsTM applications because they provide quick access to the most common features of the product.
Both Epson RC+ 8.0 and Vision Guide 8.0 make use of toolbars.
The Vision Guide toolbar is located at the top of the Vision Guide window just below the Title Bar and appears as follows:
Notice that the toolbar buttons for the Vision Guide 8.0 window are separated into small groups. This is done to make them easier to find and use. A general description for each of the groups of toolbar buttons is as follows:
- The first two toolbar buttons are grouped together because they are used for creating and deleting vision sequences.
- The next two toolbar buttons are used to run the step wizard and delete the objects.
- The next two toolbar buttons are used to create or delete a calibration.
- The next toolbar button group is used to select the vision object category (detection, count, inspection, read, image, or All Tools).
- The next toolbar buttons that are grouped together can be thought of as utilities for the Vision Guide 8.0 Environment. They include Show Only Current Object, Delete Object, Force All Labels Off, and Force All Graphics On.
- The next two toolbar buttons are for opening the Histogram and Statistics dialogs.
- The last two buttons are for switching between live and frozen video, and for switching between color and grayscale images.
- The last toolbar button is used to enable or disable display of the flow chart.
The Vision Guide toolbar includes tool tips for each toolbar button like the one shown here.
To see the description for a specific toolbar button, move the mouse pointer over the toolbar button and after about 2 seconds you will see the tool tip for that specific toolbar button.
Followings are general descriptions for each of the Vision Guide toolbar buttons.
| Button | Description |
|---|---|
 | New sequence: Creates a vision sequence. A dialog box pops up and the user is asked to enter the name for the new sequence. |
 | Delete sequence: Deletes a vision sequence in the current project. This button is dimmed if there are no vision sequences for the current project. |
 | New step: When pressed, the step wizard appears. By using the step wizard, the objects can be added. Unlike the menu bar, object’s name and its order in the sequence can be configured in the step wizard before adding the object. |
 | Delete object: Deletes the current active vision object. To delete a vision object, select the desired vision object and then click this button. This button is dimmed if there are no vision sequences for the current project or if there are no vision objects defined for the current vision sequence. |
 | New calibration: Opens the Calibration dialog box to create a new calibration. This button is disabled if there are no vision sequences for the current project. |
 | Delete calibration: Opens the Delete Calibration dialog box to delete a calibration. This button is disabled if there are no vision calibrations for the current project. |
 | Show only current object: When pressed in, only the current selected object is displayed. This is useful when you want to work with one object without interference from other objects. |
 | Force all labels off: When pressed in, this button causes the labels on the vision objects to be removed. This feature is useful when you have many vision objects close together and it's difficult to distinguish between them. This button is dimmed if there are no vision sequences for the current project. |
 | Force all graphics on: When pressed, this button causes all graphics (search window, model origin, model window, Lines, and Labels) for the vision objects to be displayed. This button overrides the setting of the Graphics property for each individual vision object making it easy to quickly see all vision objects rather than modifying the Graphics property for each vision object individually. |
 | Histogram: Clicking on this button opens the Histogram dialog box. This button is dimmed if there are no vision sequences for the current project or if there is no vision object for the current vision sequence. |
 | Statistics: Clicking on this button opens the Statistics dialog box. This button is dimmed if there are no vision sequences for the current project or if there is no vision object for the current vision sequence. |
 | Freeze image: Toggles between live and frozen image. |
 | Color / Grayscale: Toggles between color and grayscale image displays. |
 | Flow Chart: Enables or disables display of the flow chart. |
 | Locate: The detection category object can be selected. (Geometric, Correlation, Blob, Edge, Polar, Arc Finder, Line Finder, Box Finder, Corner Finder, Frame, Line, Point, Contour, Coordinates) |
 | Count: The count category object can be selected. (Blob, Correlation, Geometric) |
 | Inspect: The inspection category object can be selected. (Blob, Defect Finder, Line, Line Inspector, Arc Inspector, Color Match) |
 | Read: The read category object can be selected. (Code Reader, OCR) |
 | Image The image category object can be selected. (ImageOp, Text) |
 | Execution: The execution category object can be selected. (Decision) |
 | All Tools: All objects can be selected. |
Buttons called by selecting categories on the toolbar
| Button | Tool tip: Simple description |
|---|---|
 | ImageOp (Image operation): Creates an ImageOp object. This button is dimmed if there are no vision sequences for the current project. |
 | Geometric (Geometric shape): Creates a Geometric object. This button is dimmed if there are no vision sequences for the current project. |
 | Correlation (Correlation search): Creates a Correlation object. This button is dimmed if there are no vision sequences for the current project. |
 | Blob (Blob analysis): Creates a Blob object. This button is dimmed if there are no vision sequences for the current project. |
 | Edge (Edge detection): Creates an Edge object. This button is dimmed if there are no vision sequences for the current project. |
 | Polar (Polar search): Creates a Polar object. This button is dimmed if there are no vision sequences for the current project. |
 | OCR: Creates an OCR object. This button is dimmed if there are no vision sequences for the current project. This button is dimmed if there is no license for OCR. |
 | CodeReader: Creates a CodeReader object. This button is dimmed if there are no vision sequences for the current project. |
 | Color Match: Creates a ColorMatch object. This button is dimmed if there are no vision sequences for the current project. |
 | BoxFinder: Creates a BoxFinder object. This button is dimmed if there are no vision sequences for the current project. |
 | CornerFinder: Creates a CornerFinder object. This button is dimmed if there are no vision sequences for the current project. |
 | LineFinder: Creates a LineFinder object. This button is dimmed if there are no vision sequences for the current project. |
 | LineInspector: Creates a LineInspector object. This button is dimmed if there are no vision sequences for the current project. |
 | ArcFinder: Creates an ArcFinder object. This button is dimmed if there are no vision sequences for the current project. |
 | ArcInspector: Creates an ArcInspector object. This button is dimmed if there are no vision sequences for the current project. |
 | DefectFinder: Creates a DefectFinder object. This button is dimmed if there are no vision sequences for the current project. |
 | Frame: Creates a new Frame object. This button is dimmed if there are no vision sequences for the current project. |
 | Line: Creates a new Line object. This button is dimmed if there are no vision sequences for the current project. |
 | Point: Creates a new Point object. This button is dimmed if there are no vision sequences for the current project. |
 | Contour: Creates a Contour object. This button is dimmed if there are no vision sequences for the current project. |
 | Text: Creates a Text object. This button is dimmed if there are no vision sequences for the current project. |
 | Decision: Creates a Decision object. This button is dimmed if there are no vision sequences for the current project or there are no objects of sequences. |
 | Coordinates: Creates a Coordinates object. This button is dimmed if there are no vision sequences for the current project. |
The Image Display
The image display is located directly beneath the Vision Guide toolbar. This is the area of the Vision Guide window where the image brought in through the camera (or from disk) is displayed.
This image is overlaid on the Vision Window to fit within the area we call the image display. The image display is also used to display graphics for each of the vision objects that are used to process the images. For example, you may see boxes and cross hairs displayed at various positions in the image display. These graphics help developers use the vision object Tools.
A picture of the Vision Guide window with the image display labeled is shown in 4.5 The Parts of the Vision Guide Window.
The image display expands as the Vision Guide GUI window is expanded. The size of the Run dialog box display is also changed as the window size changes. There is a splitter bar between the image display and the tab group that allows you to adjust the image display size. The aspect ratio for the image is maintained as you change the size of the image display.
The Vision Guide Window Tabs
The primary purpose of tabs is to provide quick access to data that is related or grouped together in some way. This proves much easier to use than additional menu items or multiple windows.
The Vision Guide window uses tabs to provide a single window vision development environment that makes the system easy to learn and remember.
Located on the right side of the Vision Guide window is a set of two tabs that are labeled “Jog” and “Robot”. These tabs are positioned in a fixed location next to the sequence tree and can be used outside the image display.
The two tabs are used in the Vision Guide 8.0 development environment and provide easy access to knowledge and help for usage of Vision Guide 8.0. The details for each of the tabs are described later in this chapter.
The Run Panel
The Run Panel is located just below the image display. The purpose of the Run Panel is to execute and debug sequences from the Vision Guide 8.0 development environment. The Run Panel is shown as below:
Execution of Sequence
Once a vision sequence has been created and vision objects have been added, a vision sequence can be run by clicking on the [Run] button located on the left side of the Run Panel.
Cycles
The number of cycles can be specified in [Cycles] that can be displayed by clicking the 
[Arrow] button at the right side of the [Run] button. The vision sequence is executed as many times as specified in this box.
Abort
If at any time you want to stop multiple vision sequence cycles, click the [Abort] button on the Run Panel. The [Abort] button is only enabled when a sequence is actually running. The [Abort] button is also used to abort a sequence that is waiting for a strobe trigger.
Step
The [Step] button allows for single stepping of a vision sequence, where each step will execute one vision object.
Click the [Step] button each time you want to execute the next step. The first time you click the [Step] button, the vision objects are put in an inactive step mode where they are drawn with blue dashed lines.
The next time you click the [Step] button, the first object in the sequence is executed, and then the 2nd and so on until the last vision object in the sequence is executed. To reset the step execution back to the beginning, click the [Run] button on the left side of the Run Panel and run the entire vision sequence.
During step execution, you can see which vision object will execute next from the Step list in the Sequence Tab.
To examine a specific object's result values during execution of a vision sequence, use the flow chart or sequence tree to select the vision object you are interested in. Once a vision object is selected, click the [Run] button on the left side of the Run Panel and the vision sequence will begin execution.
When the object is selected from the flow chart or sequence tree, you can see the results for the specific vision object that you selected.
KEY POINTS
The [Run] button on the left side of the Run Panel provides a quick method to test and debug entire vision sequences without having to run them from SPEL+.
You can make changes to a vision sequence, test it and if you don't like the results, you can revert back to the saved version of the vision sequence.
For this reason, the [Run] button on the left side of the Run Panel does not automatically save your vision sequences each time you run a vision sequence. However, when you run the vision sequence from the Run window, the vision sequence is automatically saved along with the rest of the project if Auto Save is enabled.
Execute object
After creating a vision sequence and adding a vision object, click the [Run] button which is the second button from the right side on the Run Panel to execute the vision object.
Teach
If the created vision object requires teaching, click the [Teach] button to perform teaching at the teach window part of the object.
If the object does not require teaching, the [Teach] button cannot be clicked.
Calibration
When the calibration project is selected from the sequence tree, only the [Teach Points] and [Calibrate] buttons are shown on the Run Panel.
Clicking the [Teach Points] button displays the point teach window for executing teaching.
The calibration can be executed by clicking the [Calibrate] button after completing the point teaching. If the point teaching has not been performed, the [Calibrate] button cannot be clicked.
Flow Chart
The flow chart is displayed on the right side of the image display. The flow chart shows a processing flow of the objects in the selected sequence. The first flow indicates the currently selected sequence, and the second and following flows are the objects included in the sequence. The objects are placed in the order of execution.
The frames of flows are usually shown in blue. When the flow for the object you want to select is clicked, the frame color changes to pink. At this point, the object window in the image display also turns to be pink. However, the sequence flow does not turn to be pink even when it is clicked.
When the sequence or object is selected, properties and results for the selected sequence or object are displayed in the property and result lists on the right side of the flow chart. The background color of corresponding nodes turns to be gray.
The frame color of the sequence flow changes to green when all the objects included in the sequence are executed successfully, or red if any of them is failed.
The frame color of the object flow changes to green when it is executed successfully, or red if failed.
Right-clicking the flow calls various operations.
The following operations are available when right-clicking the sequence flow.
| Item | Operation |
|---|---|
| New sequence | Creates a vision sequence. |
| Delete sequence | Deletes a vision sequence of the current project. |
| Change step order... | Changes the sequence step order. |
| Run sequence | Runs the entire vision sequence. |
| Add new step | Displays a step wizard. Objects can be added by using the step wizard. |
The following operations are available for the vision object which is currently active when right clicking the object flow.
| Item | Operation |
|---|---|
| Run object | Runs a vision object. When Enabled property is set to “False”, you cannot click this button. |
| Copy | Copies a vision object. |
| Cut | Cuts a vision object. |
| Delete | Deletes a vision object. |
| Teach model | When a vision object requires teaching, teach the model window part of the object. |
| Show model | Displays a teaching model that is already taught. |
| Edit Window | Activates edit window mode which allows don't care pixels to be defined for a search window. |
| Disable object | Changes Enabled property to “False” and specify that a vision object will not be executed. |
| Enable object | Changes Enabled property to “True” and specify that a vision object will be executed. |
Sequence and Calibration Trees
The sequence and calibration trees are displayed at the upper right part of the flow chart. All the sequences and calibration projects are displayed in the trees. The sequence and object nodes in the sequence tree can be operated in the same way as the flows in the flow chart.
Clicking the calibration node changes the Run Panel to display the panel for calibration.