Author: Brian Cowan

VisionGauge® OnLine version 14.74, dated June 30th, 2021, is available for download.

New features and enhancements have been added:

We have added the ability to define a maximum velocity for each axis in a motorized system. This feature will most often be used by our technicians on systems that risk noise or damage to an axis at higher speeds.

We’ve included a “Control-R” hotkey, to trigger the “Overlay Translation / Rotation” window’s “Output” button. You will also find in the “Overlay Translation / Rotation” window’s Settings an option to trigger an audible confirmation when results are output.

We have included the ability to save additional data with each result that is added to a Data Group, including the current Settings Toolbox button, the current illumination settings, the current Coordinate System, and the currently loaded overlay with offsets at the time the result enters the Data Group.

Each of these options is able to be configured for an individual Data Group in its “Options” menu:

These options will be actively restored when double-clicking an entry in the Data Group and traveling to the stage position where the result was collected. This may be particularly useful for Operator Review, when manually inspecting the conditions of a “Fail” result after running an automated program.

This update also corrects the DXF Overlay Toolbox’s behavior when removing an item from a full toolbox. The last object in the toolbox will appear empty, instead of duplicating the last value.

We’ve enhanced the Program Toolbox’s Align tool so that it can carry out image rotation & translation alignment without re-scaling the image. In this case, make sure the following box is unchecked:

We’ve added a new “Image Buffer” tool in the Program Toolbox. This is a fast way to recall & reuse previously-captured images.

VisionGauge® OnLine version 14.46, dated January 28th, 2021, is available for download.

New features and enhancements have been added:

Some of these new enhancements have to do with 5-axis applications. Now, there are 2 principal approaches that can be used to supply 5-axis coordinate data to VisionGauge® systems.

1) Data from the drill file

The most common approach consists in supplying the system data from a so-called “drill file”. This is the coordinate data for all of the holes that need to be inspected, as typically supplied to a LASER or EDM drill, for example. This data is generally output by a CAM software package. This data represents the (X,Y,Z,A,B) movements that the drill needs to carry out to bring each hole in position (under the wire, for example). This data is thus generally rotated about the drill’s trunnion and is expressed relative to the part’s (0,0,0,0,0).

Using the “Chuck offset” and “Fixture height” information from the “5-axis Transform Settings” window (accessed through the “Motion control” window, as shown below), VisionGauge® OnLine can use this “drill file” information directly (using VisionGauge®’s built-in 5-axis transform) to effectively rotate the data about its own trunnion and still expressing all coordinates relative to the part’s (0,0,0,0,0)), i.e.:

2) “Raw” un-rotated data:

Starting with the latest software update, a second approach is possible for supplying 5-axis hole data to the system. With this approach, when we check the “Apply to the part” checkbox in the above “5-axis Transform Settings” window, then we can simply supply the (X,Y,Z,A,B) coordinates of the (un-rotated) holes, as always expressing all coordinates relative to the part’s (0,0,0,0,0). In this case, VisionGauge® OnLine carries out all of the required rotation calculations. This approach is very convenient if you don’t have a drill file, or if you don’t even have any CAM software.

Note that both approaches are absolutely equivalent. Generally, users will choose one or the other based on data availability and convenience…

Also, please note that we’ve also refreshed our 700 Series brochure with some new and updated information.

We have added an option to allow Live Video to run in VisionGauge® OnLine while working outside of the software. By enabling this option in the “Settings – Image Capture Settings”, VisionGauge® OnLine will no longer stop live video when clicking in another window or typing outside of VisionGauge® OnLine. This may mostly benefit users of the “Standard” edition of VisionGauge® OnLine if they require live video to stay on when working on programs outside of the software.

VisionGauge® OnLine version 14.38, dated November 30th, 2020, is available for download.

The following enhancements have been added:

The Numerical and String Variable windows in the main VisionGauge OnLine menu now include an option to “Load” a previously saved set of Numerical or String variables. The same menu allows users to “Save” the current set of variables.

The Program Toolbox “Numerical & String Variables” step options have been greatly expanded to allow the following operations:

• Set a String/Numerical Variable to 1) a user-defined value, 2) the most recent value from a Data Group, or 3) the current date, time, or both
• Combine two String Variables into a single result (a user-defined delimiter between the variables is optional)
• Append the following data onto the end of an existing String Variables: 1) a user-defined value, 2) another String Variable, or 3) the current date, time, or both (a user-defined delimiter between the variables is optional)
• Clear the current set of Numerical or String Variables
• Save the current set of Numerical or String Variables
• Load a previously saved set of Numerical or String Variables

VisionGauge® OnLine version 14.28, dated September 14th, 2020, is available for download.

The following enhancements have been added over the last few versions:

VisionGauge® OnLine now allows is capable of writing a “Usage Tracking” log. This option is found in the “Settings – General Preferences” menu. When enabled, a log file is created in the “vgOnLine/Log” directory with information about when a session of VisionGauge® OnLine is started and shut down. The date, time, and Windows user that started the session are recorded on each line.

This update also includes a redesign of the CAD Auto-Pass/Fail “Entities” window. We’ve also added the ability to display the maximum (absolute) deviation from nominal on user-specified entities during CAD Auto-Pass/Fail® operations.

The Program Toolbox now includes a “Measurement Toolbox” option, allowing a program to automatically select an .mtb file to load and which button to select by default. This tool could be useful when a program needs to be paused to instruct operators to perform manual measurements before resuming the program again.

Also, the DXF Correspondence File now includes an additional optional parameter for which Measurement Toolbox file to load. This allows operators to automatically load VisionGauge® OnLine programs, auxiliary files, overlays, and/or a specific Measurement Toolbox by using the barcode reader. The DXF Correspondence File information has been updated with this data.

The Motion Control Startup Settings now contain an option to customize the startup warning message when the 2D XY Stage Mapping is about to begin its homing procedure. This notification window is much larger so it is more visible, and it allows multiple lines of customized text with Unicode support to give operators specific instructions for when the system starts.

This set of updates also adds a Digital IO output condition for when a system’s Emergency Stop is triggered during program operation.

The Settings Toolbox now includes an option to save the current measurement units. This allows a Settings Toolbox button to reset the measurement units when it is recalled, which could be useful if different sets of measurements require different units.

Finally, this update also includes a few performance enhancements, measurement improvements (Manual and Automated Perpendicularity measurements), small fixes that correct the display of camera names when multiple cameras are selected, and add additional support for Unicode in various input locations of the software.