Vimba X for Windows Release Notes

Version: 2024-1

Summary

Main changes in this release:

Compatible transport layers:
- By default, transport layers from the TKH Vision brands SVS-Vistek (USB), Euresys (Coaxpress) and NET GmbH are loaded for usage with Vimba X (if installed). These TLs passed the compatibility tests.
Transport layer loading:
- By default, Vimba X loads all TLs found in the same directory as VmbC.dll.
Vimba X Viewer:
- “Image Format tab” including Multi ROI
- Event Viewer window access has moved to icons above the image

Components and version reference

Transport Layer	Version
GigE Transport Layer (VimbaGigETL.cti)	1.10.0*
USB Transport Layer (VimbaUSBTL.cti)	1.5.0*

APIs	Version
VmbC API (libVmbC.dll)	1.0.6*
VmbCPP API (libVmbCPP.dll)	1.0.6*
VmbPy API	1.0.5*
Image Transform Library (libVmbImageTransform.dll)	2.1.0*

Drivers	Version
Vimba X GigE Filter Driver	2.5.11
Vimba X USB Driver	1.0.1

Tools	Version
Vimba X Viewer	1.4.0*
Vimba X Driver Installer	2.0.1
Vimba X Firmware Updater	2.0.4*

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 10 21H2 LTSC
Windows 11 23H2

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.
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.

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 2024-1

VmbC:

Loads transport layers found in the same directory as VmbC.dll
Improved logging

VmbCPP:

Minor bug fixes

VmbPy:

Minor Bugfixes
VmbPy type hint improvements for better autocompletion in IDEs

GigETL:

Breaks compatibility with Vimba 6 (Vimba 6 Config mode not working anymore with latest Vimba X GigETL)
Cameras from SVS-Vistek are enabled by default
Marked old statistic features as “deprecated”
Minor bug fixes

USBTL:

Added new GenTL Buffer Info “BUFFER_INFO_DATA_SIZE”
Updated uriparser to 0.9.8

Vimba X Viewer:

“Image Format tab” including Multi ROI
Event Viewer window access has moved to icons above the image
Image Processing tab:
- Sobel horizontal/vertical was interchanged in the camera firmware until firmware 13.x and the Viewer GUI compensated for that. With firmware 14, this is corrected in the camera and aligned to firmware 14 in the Viewer GUI.
Better performance when using high frame rates > 1000 fps
Minor bugfixes

Firmware Updater:

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

Image Transform Library:

Added support for 3x3 debayering of packed formats

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)