Control Panel

The control panel is located on the right side of Zivid Studio. It contains three main sections:

  • Cameras

  • Capture

  • Settings

Cameras

This section is used to scan for, configure, connect to, and disconnect from available cameras.

../../_images/studio-connect.png
Camera Dropdown Options

Cameras

Function

List all cameras

Open the Cameras menu and list all cameras.

Scan for connected cameras

Show all cameras plugged into the PC and list them by model and serial number.

Connect

Connect to the camera selected in the drop-down menu. Zivid Studio can connect to a single camera at a time.

Configure this camera

Open the Cameras menu and configure the IP, subnet mask and mode of the selected camera.

Disconnect from active camera

Disconnect from the active camera.

Note

If multiple cameras are physically connected, they will all appear in this section. However, Zivid Studio only supports establishing a connection with a single camera at a time. To capture with multiple cameras using Zivid Studio, start another instance of Zivid Studio.

Firmware Update

Each SDK version is matched with camera firmware, and the SDK will make sure that the camera runs compatible firmware. When Zivid Studio connects to a camera, it will check whether the camera has matching firmware. If the firmware does not match, you will get prompted to update the firmware on your camera.

Read more about Firmware Update.

../../_images/studio-firmware-update.png

Capture

This section is used to capture 3D and 2D images. Here you can control and configure the camera settings. This section has three modes:

  • 2D capture

  • 2D + 3D capture

  • 3D capture

A 3D capture triggers the camera to capture a 3D point cloud without color information, while a 2D capture triggers the camera to capture a 2D image with or without color information. A 2D + 3D capture triggers the camera to capture both a 3D point cloud and a 2D image.

../../_images/control_panel_capture.png

Each capture has two modes:

  • Assisted Mode

  • Manual Mode

Assisted Mode

In the assisted mode you can select from a list of predefined settings from the Presets. This is the recommended way to capture 2D and 3D images. The presets are specifically tuned for the following categories:

  • Consumer Goods

  • Parcels

  • Manufacturing

  • Inspection

Choose the category that best applies to your usage. This will then configure the camera settings for you based on the selected preset. Note that not all categories are available for all camera models. You can view and modify the selected settings in the Manual Mode.

Once a preset is selected, the ambient light adaptation can be chosen.

../../_images/control_panel_presets_ambient_light_frequency.png

Note

Ambient light adaptation can increase acquisition and capture time. Default presets do not adapt to any ambient light frequency.

Capture and Live

  • The Capture button triggers a single capture with the specified settings, which is then displayed.

  • The Live button triggers continuous captures, which enables you to view the scene in real-time.

Manual Mode

In the manual mode you must configure all settings manually. For more information about the settings panel, see 2D Settings and 3D Settings below.

2D Settings

Sampling

Sampling Options

Setting

Function

Color

Choose how to sample colors for the 2D image.

Pixel

Choose the subsampling factor to downscale 2D image.
../../_images/control-panel-sampling.png

Check Sampling (2D) to learn more.

Acquisition Settings

Acquisition Settings

Setting

Function

Exposure Time

The duration a single camera image is exposed to light.

Aperture

The opening that controls the amount of light to the camera sensor through the lens.

Brightness

The output power (the amount of light) emitted by the LED projector.

Gain

The amplification of the signal from the camera sensor.
../../_images/control_panel_2d_acquisition_settings.png

Color Balance and Gamma

Color Options

Setting

Function

Balance

The color temperature of ambient light affects the appearance of the color image. Adjust blue, green, and red color balance to make color images look natural.

Gamma

The output color image can appear too dark. Adjust the brightness of the color image.

Color Mode

Control how the color image is computed. The options are Automatic and ToneMapping.
../../_images/control_panel_color.png

To learn how to tune color settings check Optimizing Color Image and Adjusting Color Balance.

3D Settings

Engine

The Vision Engine is the backbone of the point cloud computation. It controls the pattern projecting, imaging, and processing of the images of the projected pattern to generate the final 3D point cloud.

Engine Options

Setting

Function

Engine

Choose between different pattern projections.
../../_images/control_panel_engine.png

Check Vision Engine to learn more.

Sampling

Sampling Options

Setting

Function

Pixel

Choose the subsampling factor to downscale the point cloud.
../../_images/control-panel-3d-sampling.png

Check Sampling (3D) to learn more.

Acquisition Settings

Acquisition Settings

Setting

Function

Exposure Time

The duration a single camera image is exposed to light.

Aperture

The opening that controls the amount of light to the camera sensor through the lens.

Brightness

The output power (the amount of light) emitted by the LED projector.

Gain

The amplification of the signal from the camera sensor.
../../_images/control_panel_acquisition_settings.png

You can add multiple acquisitions within a capture by clicking the + button. This will allow you to capture the same scene with different exposure settings in an HDR capture, which can be useful for scenes with high dynamic range.

To learn how to tune exposure settings check Capturing High Quality Point Clouds.

Region Of Interest

Region of Interest Options

Setting

Function

Box

Create and configure a box in 3D and remove the points outside the box.

Depth

Remove points outside a user-defined depth range.
../../_images/control_panel_roi.png

Check Region of Interest to learn more.

Filters

Filter Options

Setting

Function

Cluster Filter

Remove floating points and isolated clusters from the point cloud.

Hole Repair

Fill in removed points, by interpolation between the remaining points.

Noise Filter

Remove or correct points where the projected pattern signal-to-noise-ratio is low.

Outlier Filter

Remove points if the distance to their neighboring pixels within the small local region is larger than the threshold specified in mm.

Reflection Filter

Remove points impacted by reflections and thus erroneous.

Gaussian Smoothing

Perform Gaussian smoothing on the point cloud.

Contrast Distortion

Correct and/or remove points affected by blurring in the camera lens.
../../_images/control_panel_filters.png

To learn how to tune filters check Capturing High Quality Point Clouds.

Resampling

Resampling Options

Setting

Function

Mode

Reduce or increase the number of points in the point cloud.

To learn more about resampling check Resampling.

Diagnostics

The diagnostics setting is used to collect extra diagnostic data from a capture. When this setting is enabled the additional data will be saved in the .zdf file. It is recommended to only enable it when reporting issues to Zivid’s support team.

../../_images/control_panel_diagnostics.png

Caution

Diagnostics increases the capture time, the RAM usage, and the size of the .zdf file.

Continue reading about Zivid Studio in Available Views.

Version History

SDK

Changes

2.14.0

Reorganized with 2D, 3D and 2D+3D captures.

2.12.0

Reorganized page to clarify that 2D settings are a subset of the 3D settings.