Vimba X for Windows Release Notes

Version: 2023-4

Summary

Main changes in this release:

  • New Vimba X Viewer feature: Sequencer tab (for firmware 13 and higher)

  • USB TL: Event support

  • Event example

Components and version reference

Transport Layer

Version

GigE Transport Layer (VimbaGigETL.cti)

1.9.5*

USB Transport Layer (VimbaUSBTL.cti)

1.4.6*

APIs

Version

VmbC API (libVmbC.dll)

1.0.5*

VmbCPP API (libVmbCPP.dll)

1.0.5*

VmbPy API

1.0.4*

Image Transform Library (libVmbImageTransform.dll)

2.0.1*

Drivers

Version

Vimba X GigE Filter Driver

2.5.11*

Vimba X USB Driver

1.0.1

Tools

Version

Vimba X Viewer

1.3.0*

Vimba X Driver Installer

2.0.1

Vimba X Firmware Updater

2.0.3*

Hardware requirements

PC or laptop with 64-bit x86 processor or better.

GigE cameras

A built-in Gigabit Ethernet network interface or Gigabit Ethernet network card (one or more) is required.

Note for IP configuration: By default, IP Configuration Mode is set to DHCP. You can use the IP Configuration dialog of Vimba X Viewer to apply changes or to force the IP address.

Allied Vision USB cameras

A built-in USB 3.0 (or higher) controller for PCI Express bus is required.

Testing has been performed on host controllers that are based on Asmedia chip sets. The driver may run on host controllers that are based on chip sets from other vendors, too. If there are any problems please feel free to contact our Technical Support.

Installation

To install Vimba X, use VimbaX.exe and follow the instructions.

Correlations with other Allied Vision Software Packages

You can install and use Vimba and Vimba X on the same host. We recommend using our GigE filter driver with Vimba X or Vimba only.

Supported operating systems

Vimba X was tested with:

  • Windows 11 23H2

  • Windows 10 21H2 LTSC

Known issues

Setup:

  • Vimba X driver installation disconnects VPN. For a smooth installation, please disconnect VPN before installing Vimba X.

  • To install the USB driver, please connect your Allied Vision USB camera before starting Vimba X installation. After installation, you can always use Vimba X Driver Installer.

  • If your USB camera is not found, use the included Driver Installer (in some cases, the camera must be plugged out and plugged in again).

  • During installation, Vimba setup configures some environment variables that are - among others - used when compiling the examples. In order to use the new environment variables, it might be necessary to restart Microsoft Visual Studio, log off, or even restart the operating system.

  • In some cases, the Vimba X installer message about successfully installed drivers is incorrect.

Vimba X APIs:

  • When API startup and shutdown is performed excessively within the same process, camera initialization may fail sporadically, which may cause exceptions. We recommend to have only one API session during one process.

  • Load/Save Settings: Not all LUT settings are saved.

GigE Filter Driver:

  • If Vimba and Vimba X are installed on the same system: The Filter Driver provided with Vimba X overwrites Vimba’s Filter Driver. If you still work with Vimba: Use the included Driver Installer to deactivate and activate the correct Filter Driver.

  • Using other filter drivers additionally to the included GigE Filter Driver (including the Filter Driver of the Vimba SDK) may cause issues, even a blue screen.

  • Disabling the Vimba GigE Filter Driver while it is in use might lead to unexpected behavior up to blue screen.

GigE Transport Layer:

  • A change of the available camera access modes cannot be reported for cameras in different subnets or with malconfigured IP addresses.

  • GigE cameras may be listed on a wrong Ethernet interface.

  • If many dropped frames occur especially with a small ROI, set GVSP Timeout to a higher value.

5 GigE Vision cameras:

  • Unplugging an USB device while the camera is streaming may cause lost frames, especially when the socket driver is used.

Vimba X Viewer:

  • With some camera models, the message “Vimba X Viewer is not responding” appears for a few seconds when the camera is opened.

  • If the IP address is changed within the same network, the camera list doesn’t update automatically. Please click the Refresh button.

  • Sporadic issue: When multiple opened GigE cameras are disconnected at the same time while no other camera stays connected to the very same NIC, the Viewer’s camera windows stay open.

  • Goldeye cameras: No inputs and outputs are shown on the Trigger IO tab.

Firmware Updater:

  • With some Alvium camera models, the firmware update may take up to 5 minutes.

Examples:

  • If a camera is already open, sometimes a misleading error message occurs (“Bad parameter”).

  • The ListFeatures example does not list all Interface features.

  • Sporadic issue of the AsynchronousGrab and Chunk example: stopping the stream causes an exception.

Changes and release history

Changes in Vimba X 2023-4

VmbC:

  • Added macOS support

VmbCPP:

  • Added macOS support

VmbPy:

  • Added macOS support

ImageTransform:

  • Added macOS support

USBTL:

  • Added macOS support

  • Added Event support

Filter Driver:

  • Bug fixes

Vimba X Viewer:

  • Added macOS support

  • Added Sequencer tab

Vimba X Firmware Updater:

  • Added macOS support

GigETL:

  • Improved Adjust PacketSize

Changes in Vimba X 2023-2

VmbC:

  • Fixed: Open camera by IP may take 15s

  • Added Exclusive Access mode

VmbCPP:

  • Fixed: Open camera by IP may take 15s

VmbPy:

  • Fixed: Open camera by IP may take 15s

  • Fixed type hints for Python <=3.7.5 and =3.8.0

  • Updated AccessMode enum for consistency with VmbC

  • Added option for visibility level to list_features.py

GigETL:

  • Fixed: Vimba X freezes if the NIC is disabled during image acquisition.

GigE Filter Driver:

  • Supports extended status codes packet resend

USBTL:

  • Improved: standard conformity of resend for control channel commands

Changes in Vimba X 2022-1

VmbC:

  • New API (similar, but not compatible to VimbaC)

VmbCPP:

  • New API (similar, but not compatible to VimbaCPP)

VmbPy:

  • New API (similar, but not compatible to VimbaPython)

Image Transform:

  • Added supported transformations (supports pixel formats of NET cameras)

  • Renamed VmbGetVersion to VmbGetImageTransformVersion

  • VmbSetImageInfoFromString: removed stringLength parameter

Vimba X Viewer:

  • New Viewer (based on Vimba Viewer)

  • Additional features: Chunk support, 5x5 Matrix, Scheduled Action commands

GigETL:

  • Display name: AVT GigE TL (instead of Vimba GigE TL)

  • Scheduled Action Commands support

  • Chunk support

Filter Driver:

  • Chunk Support

  • Bug fixes

USBTL:

  • Display name: AVT USB TL (instead of Vimba USB TL)

Driver Installer:

  • The version was incremented to 2.0.0 because of internal changes (no functional changes for the user)