A Camera Feed (camera, lens and positioning arm) can be added to the mechanical Tester. These accessories allow the capture of series of high definition images of the sample during mechanical testing. Image capture is synchronized with the raw data of the mechanical test. With this Add-on feature activated, clicking on the “Show Camera” button will reveal a secondary panel of the Mach-1 Motion Main Window displaying the camera feed and related parameters (see Figure attached). At all times, it is possible to switch back to the regular panels by clicking on the “Hide Camera” button. It should be mentioned that by doing so, the status of the camera feed will remain unchanged and the configured acquisition will continue to progress in background. Clicking on the “Show Camera” activation button at the bottom right of the panel will launch the real-time camera feed. Note that the camera feed cannot be stopped using the activation button when a test sequence is running. In order for the images to be saved, the camera feed must be activated and a Mach-1 function must be saved. To store the images, a sub-folder will be automatically created using the name format “FileName_XXX”, where FileName is the user-specified filename and XXX is a function index (001 for the first function saved, 002 for the next one and so on). The images will be saved in this sub-folder with the name format “FileName_XXX_YYYYYYYY (.bmp)”, where YYYYYYYY corresponds to the time index of the corresponding function in tenths of a second.
Parameters:
SNAPSHOT - At any time when the camera feed is activated, a snapshot image can be saved.
RECORDING - Checkbox to perform an image recording during a data acquisition.
TIME INTERVAL BETWEEN IMAGE, SEC - Select the time interval (period) between each saved image. The minimum interval is 0.1s.
SETTING (POINT GREY RESEARCH) - Ideal parameters for “Camera Settings” tab:
- Exposure: “Auto”
- Shutter: “100ms”
- Gain: User-specified (see figure below)
- FrameRate: “10fps”
The “Standard Video Modes” tab is used to modify output image resolution. The “Camera Information” tab displays important information about this add-on.
Mach-1 Motion – Main Window with Video Feed – Gain
Mach-1 Motion – Main Window with Video Feed
