This file contains important information about Vision Development Module, including installation instructions, new features, fixed issues, and known issues.
You can find more release information on ni.com.
Vision Development Module Release Notes: Known issues, bugs fixed since the last release, and other notes about this release
Vision Development Module Manuals: New features, behavior changes, and other documentation
Overview
System Requirements
Supported Operating Systems
Application Software Support
Installation Instructions
Deploying Vision Applications
Product Security and Critical Updates
New Features
Documentation and Examples
Automating the Installation of NI Products
Using NI Software with Microsoft Windows 10
Unsupported Windows Operating Systems
External Library Support
Legal Information
Overview
The Vision Development Module (VDM) provides hundreds of image processing and machine vision functions. Along with programming libraries, the Vision Development Module also includes NI Vision Assistant. Installing this software may remove previous versions of the Vision Development Module that are currently installed.
Note: The Vision Development Module overwrites existing NI Vision examples and NI Vision VIs. Move modified examples or VIs that you want to save to another directory before installing the Vision Development Module.
For information about licensing NI Vision software, visit ni.com/info and enter the Info Code LicenseVision. Refer to the NI Vision for the latest information about the Vision Development Module.
System Requirements
Vision Development Module 2022 Q3 has the following requirements:
Pentium 4/M or equivalent processor
A screen resolution of 1,152 x 864 resolution video adapter with a 24- or 32-bit display (Vision Assistant)
A screen resolution of 1,024 x 768 video adapter with a 24- or 32-bit display (other environments)
At least 256 MB of memory
Supported Operating Systems
Vision Development Module 2022 Q3 supports the following operating systems:
Windows 11
Windows 10
Windows Server 2022
Windows Server 2019
Windows Server 2016
Application Software Support
The following table lists the NI application software versions, including service packs, supported by the Vision Development Module. The installer specifically allows side-by-side installations of Vision Development Module for each of the supported versions of LabVIEW, enabling you to use the Vision Development Module with multiple versions of LabVIEW. National Instruments recommends that you install LabVIEW, LabVIEW Real-Time, or any other supported development environment, before installing the Vision Development Module.
NI Application Software
Versions Supported by Vision Development Module
NI LabVIEW
2019 and later
NI LabVIEW Real-Time Module
2019 and later
NI LabVIEW Real-Time 64-Bit Module
2021 64-bit and later
NI LabVIEW FPGA Module
2019 and later
NI LabVIEW FPGA 64-Bit Module
2020 64-bit and later
NI LabWindows™/CVI™
2017 and later
Vision Development Module .NET Support
Development and runtime support for .NET features are no longer included with Vision Development Module 2020 and later. Refer to GitHub page Vision Development Module for .NET for more information about open-source versions of Vision Development Module.
Vision Development Module FPGA Support
For more information and the complete list of Vision functions and hardware supported on FPGA, visit ni.com/info and enter the Info Code VisionFPGASupport.
Installation Instructions
Download the Vision Development Module installer from ni.com/downloads. NI software includes NI Package Manager to handle the installation. Refer to the NI Package Manager Manual for more information about installing, removing, and upgrading NI software using Package Manager.
Notes
If Windows Update is enabled, the installation process might hang if Windows Update interferes with the installation of Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 Run-Time. Visit ni.com/r/exjq43 for more information and steps to resolve this issue.
If you purchased this product with an NI Software Suite or NI Product Bundle, use the installation media that shipped with your purchase to install this product.
Use the serial number that is included with your software to activate Vision Development Module. For more information on Vision Development Module activation, refer to Activating a Product.
Deploying Vision Applications
Deployment refers to developing an application so that it can be distributed, or deployed, on a different computer than the one on which the application was developed. The Vision Development Module provides everything you need to deploy custom NI Vision applications to target computers. The Vision Development Module provides the following options:
The ability to create NI Vision Runtime installers, which integrate with the LabVIEW Application Builder, applications built in LabWindows/CVI, or custom applications.
One NI Vision Runtime License, which allows you to install a custom application on a single machine.
The Vision Development Module installer provides the runtime installer for NI Vision that can be packaged for redistribution by LabVIEW, CVI, or the standalone NI Package Builder. Visit ni.com to download software upgrades for NI Vision and the NI Vision Runtime installers.
Using the NI Vision Runtime
You can install the NI Vision Runtime with your application installer. If you create the application installer with the LabVIEW Application Builder or with LabWindows/CVI, you can directly include the NI Vision Runtime.
Refer to the LabVIEW Help for more information about the LabVIEW Application Builder. Refer to the NI LabWindows/CVI Help for more information about building and distributing LabWindows/CVI applications.
You can use NI Package Builder to package your custom application installer along with the NI Vision Runtime installer. This may be useful if you are creating an installer for applications created in other development environments.
The NI Vision Runtime installer may require the system to be restarted after installation. Refer to the Automating the Installation of NI Products section for more information on how to change the level of interactivity of the installer or whether it automatically initiates a system restart.
Distributing LabVIEW Applications
The NI Vision Runtime installer does not install LabVIEW VIs. If you use the LabVIEW Application Builder to create an application (EXE) or dynamic link library (DLL), the Application Builder automatically includes the VIs used by the application. If you distribute a VI, you must include all subVIs that comprise the top-level VI. You must include the appropriate LabVIEW Runtime as part of the installation.
Refer to the LabVIEW Help for more information about viewing the hierarchy of VIs and for more information about using the LabVIEW Runtime.
Distributing LabWindows/CVI Applications
In addition to including the NI Vision Runtime with the installer, you must include the appropriate LabWindows/CVI Runtime. Refer to the NI LabWindows/CVI Help for more information about creating an executable, creating a dynamic link library, and distributing applications.
Product Security and Critical Updates
Visit ni.com/security to view and subscribe to receive security notifications about NI products. For information about critical updates from NI, refer to Available Critical and Security Updates for NI Software.
New Features
Added support for LabVIEW 2022 Q3
Added support for LabVIEW RT 64-bit
Added support for LabVIEW FPGA 64-bit
Documentation and Examples
Documentation and examples are installed onto your hard drive with the Vision Development Module. To view the documentation, select Start»National Instruments»Vision Documentation, or navigate to \Public\Public Documents\National Instruments\Vision\Documentation.
Refer to the NI Product Documentation Center at ni.com/docs for the most recent versions of product documentation.
The following sections describe the documents available for each application development environment and where to find examples.
NI Vision Concepts Help—Describes the basic concepts of image analysis, image processing, and machine vision. This document also contains in-depth discussions about imaging functions for advanced users.
NI Vision for LabVIEW
NI Vision for LabVIEW Help—This document contains reference information about NI Vision VIs and details about how to use NI Vision with LabVIEW. It describes how to create machine vision and image processing applications in LabVIEW. It also describes how to create a real-time vision application using NI Vision and the LabVIEW Real-Time Module, and how to use the Vision FPGA VIs with an FPGA target and the LabVIEW FPGA Module. You can access this help in LabVIEW by selecting Help»NI Vision for LabVIEW Help.
NI Vision for LabVIEW Examples—Illustrates common applications you can create with NI Vision. In LabVIEW, select Help»Find Examples. Click the Help button in the NI Example Finder to display the NI Example Finder Help. NI Vision examples for LabVIEW are installed to \examples\Vision and \examples\Vision FPGA, where is the location LabVIEW is installed.
NI Vision for LabWindows/CVI
NI Vision C Support Help—Contains reference information about NI Vision C functions.
NI Vision for LabWindows/CVI User Manual—Describes how to create machine vision and image processing applications in LabWindows/CVI using the Vision Development Module.
Function panel help within LabWindows/CVI—Allows you to right-click within each Vision function to access help for that function, control, function class, and function library. Function panels are installed at National Instruments\Shared\CVI\Bin\NIVision.lfp.
NI Vision LabWindows/CVI example programs are installed at \Public\Public Documents\National Instruments\CVI\samples\Vision.
NI Vision for Eclipse and other Text-based Development Environments
NI Vision C Support Help—Contains reference information about NI Vision C functions.
Getting Started with C/C++ Development Tools for NI Linux Real-Time, Eclipse Edition with the Vision Development Module and NI-IMAQdx—Describes how to use the C/C++ Development Tools for NI Linux Real-Time, Eclipse Edition to develop an example C application using the Vision Development Module API and/or NI-IMAQdx, and deploy it on a Linux remote target. This tutorial outlines the basic steps required to build and deploy an example application.
To view text-based example programs, select Start»National Instruments»Vision Examples, or navigate to \Public\Public Documents\National Instruments\Vision\Examples.
NI Vision Assistant
To access Vision Assistant documentation from the Start menu, select Start»National Instruments»Vision Assistant Documentation, or navigate to \Public\Public Documents\National Instruments\Vision Assistant\Documentation.
To access Vision Assistant examples from the Start menu, select Start»National Instruments»Vision Assistant Examples, or navigate to \Public\Public Documents\National Instruments\Vision Assistant\Examples.
NI Vision Assistant Tutorial—Describes the Vision Assistant software interface and guides you through creating example image processing and machine vision applications.
NI Vision Assistant Help—Contains descriptions of Vision Assistant features and functions and provides instructions for using them. In Vision Assistant, select Help»Online Help.
NI Classification Training Interface Help—Contains information about how to use the NI Classification Training Interface to classify binary samples. In the NI Classification Training Interface, select Help»Online Help.
NI Color Classification Training Interface Help—Contains information about how to use the NI Color Classification Training Interface to classify color samples. In the NI Color Classification Training Interface, select Help»Online Help.
NI OCR Training Interface Help—Contains information about how to use the NI OCR Training Interface to learn characters, save character sets, and verify characters by comparing them to a reference character. In the NI OCR Training Interface, select Help»Online Help.
NI Texture Training Help—Contains information about how to use the NI Texture Training Interface to train a texture classifier file for use in texture defect detection applications. In the NI Texture Training Interface, select Help»Online Help.
NI Calibration Training Help—Contains information about how to use the NI Calibration Training Interface to select and create a calibration for use in machine vision applications. In the NI Calibration Training Interface, select Help»Online Help.
NI Vision Template Editor Help—Contains information about how to use the NI Vision Template Editor to learn and edit template images that you can use with pattern matching, geometric matching, and golden template comparison functions. In the NI Vision Template Editor, select Help»Online Help.
NI Flat Field Creation Wizard Help—Contains information about how to use the NI Flat Field Creation Wizard to create a dark or bright field image and perform flat field correction in a machine vision application. In the NI Vision Flat Field Creation Wizard, select Help»Online Help.
Application Interface and Examples
The NIEXTCCOMPILERSUPP environment variable is provided as an alias to the location of C language support files. You can use this variable when compiling and linking an application. The Application Interface files (header and library files to include in applications) are placed in a centralized location to prevent users from accidentally overwriting them and to provide this NIEXTCCOMPILERSUPP environment variable.
Note: $(NIEXTCCOMPILERSUPP) is configured as an environment variable on the target system. The variable evaluates by default to \Program Files\National Instruments\shared\ExternalCompilerSupport\C.
Item
Installed Location
header files
<$(NIEXTCCOMPILERSUPP)>\include
32-bit MSVC import libraries
<$(NIEXTCCOMPILERSUPP)>\lib32\msvc
64-bit MSVC import libraries
<$(NIEXTCCOMPILERSUPP)>\lib64\msvc
Automating the Installation of NI Products
You can automate the installation of most NI products using command-line arguments to suppress some or all of the installer user interface and dialog boxes.
If the NI product you are installing uses Microsoft .NET 4.6.2, the .NET installer may run before any NI software installs and may require a reboot before the installation of NI software begins. To avoid a .NET reboot, install .NET 4.6.2 separately before you install NI software.
For more information about automating the installation of NI products, refer to Automating an Installer in the NI Package Manager manual.
Using NI Software with Microsoft Windows 10
For more information about NI support for Windows 10, refer to NI Product Compatibility for Microsoft Windows 10.
Unsupported Windows Operating Systems
Vision Development Module no longer supports Windows Vista/XP/7/8.x, Windows Server 2003/2008/2012, or any 32-bit Windows operating system. Versions of this product that ship after May 1, 2021, may not install or execute correctly on these operating systems. For detailed information about NI operating system support, visit http://www.ni.com/r/win32bitsupport.
External Library Support
The Vision Development Module supports the external vision library OpenCV. Refer to the Developing Vision Applications using OpenCV and NI Vision to download the NI Vision OpenCV support utilities.
NI Vision OpenCV support utilities enable the use of OpenCV algorithms in LabVIEW and NI Embedded hardware. NI Vision OpenCV support utilities provide:
Pre-built OpenCV binaries for Windows and NI Linux RT
C++ development files to create an interface between NI Vision Image and OpenCV Mat.
Utilities to create LabVIEW APIs to call OpenCV entry points.
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End-User License Agreements and Third-Party Legal Notices
You can find end-user license agreements (EULAs) and third-party legal notices in the following locations after installation:
Notices are located in the \_Legal Information and directories.
EULAs are located in the \Shared\MDF\Legal\license directory.
Review \_Legal Information.txt for information on including legal information in installers built with NI products.
U.S. Government Restricted Rights
If you are an agency, department, or other entity of the United States Government ("Government"), the use, duplication, reproduction, release, modification, disclosure or transfer of the technical data included in this manual is governed by the Restricted Rights provisions under Federal Acquisition Regulation 52.227-14 for civilian agencies and Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement Section 252.227-7014 and 252.227-7015 for military agencies.
IVI Foundation Copyright Notice
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Patents
For patents covering the NI products/technology, refer to the appropriate location: Help»Patents in your software, the patents.txt file on your media, or the NI Patent Notice at ni.com/patents.