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HALCON 8.0.2

HALCON is the comprehensive standard software library with an integrated development environment (IDE) for machine vision that is used worldwide.

It leads to cost savings and improved time to market: HALCON's flexible architecture facilitates rapid development of machine vision, medical imaging, and image analysis applications.

HALCON provides an extensive library of more than 1300 operators with outstanding performance for blob analysis, morphology, pattern matching, measuring, 3D object recognition, and binocular stereo vision, to name just a few.

HALCON secures your investment by supporting the operating systems Windows, Linux, and Solaris. The full library can be accessed from common programming languages like C, C++, C#, Visual Basic .NET, and Delphi.

HALCON guarantees hardware independence by providing interfaces to more than 50 frame grabbers and hundreds of industrial cameras (analog, Camera Link, USB 2.0, IEEE 1394, and GigE).



Parallel HALCON

HALCON can be used in two modes: Standard HALCON is optimized for single-processor computers. In contrast, Parallel HALCON actively exploits the power of multi-core and multiprocessor computers to speed up machine vision applications. Furthermore, Parallel HALCON supports multithreading by being reentrant.

Like Standard HALCON, Parallel HALCON can be used in two ways: You can integrate the corresponding operator libraries in your own C++, Visual Basic, C#, or C programs, or you can use Parallel HDevelop, the parallelized version of HDevelop. More information can be found in the Programmer's Guide.



HALCON Demo Version

The HALCON demo version is a version of the development environment HDevelop with the full image processing functionality, but some limitations:

  • Programs cannot be saved.
  • Image acquisition interfaces are not supported.
  • Extension packages cannot be used.
  • A reminder pops up every 100 executed operators.
  • No access via the C/C++/COM/.NET language interfaces.

With the demo version, you can test all HALCON operators with full functionality for an unlimited period of time.



Getting Started with HALCON

o General Remarks

You can download and install both the demo and the product version. The product version requires a license; you can obtain a temporary license from your local distributor free of charge. During the installation, a license agreement must be accepted, which can be found here or in the file 'eula.txt' in the folder you have chosen for the installation.

If you have been using a HALCON release based on an older version, e.g., HALCON 7.1 or HALCON 7.1.2, we recommend to uninstall this release before installing HALCON 8.0.2. If you are using ActivVisionTools, an update to version 3.2 is necessary (see the Installation Guide for details).

Note that all HALCON 7.1 licenses must be replaced or upgraded. Please contact your local distributor.

If you have been using HALCON 8.0, you can update to HALCON 8.0.2. HALCON 8.0 licenses are also valid for HALCON 8.0.2.

In the following, the different installation procedures are described.



o Installing HALCON from DVD
  • Windows: Insert the DVD into your DVD drive. If the installation process does not start automatically, run "Setup.exe" in the directory "install-windows" on the DVD. Note that you need administrator privileges for installing HALCON.
  • Linux / UNIX: Insert the DVD into your DVD drive and mount the corresponding device. You may need root privileges to mount the device correctly. Run the shell script "install-unix.sh" in the top-level directory of the DVD, by calling "sh -c install-unix.sh".
  • The setup allows you to choose between different types of installations:
    • Compact: Minimal installation for HALCON developers (without examples and images).
    • Custom: Select the parts you want to install (requires HALCON experience).
    • Demo: Use this if you only want to install the HALCON demo version.
    • Full: The recommended installation for most users.
    • Runtime: As an OEM you can install only the runtime version (does not include the development environment HDevelop).
  • Further information on the installation procedure can be obtained from the Installation Guide.


o Installing HALCON from the WWW

All HALCON versions are available for download, together with detailed information how to install them.

Further information on the installation procedure can be obtained from the Installation Guide.



O Updating HALCON to version 8.0.2 via WWW

If you have been using HALCON 8.0 or HALCON 8.0.1, you can update it to HALCON 8.0.2. Please refer to the MVTec's download area for more details.



o First Steps

We recommend the following steps:

  • Browse the Quick Guide to HALCON. This manual introduces the basic concepts of HALCON and describes many application examples from various industries and application areas.

  • Run the examples described in the Quick Guide to HALCON. You can use both the demo and the full version of HDevelop to run the example programs.

  • Run the HDevelop program Explore the Power of HALCON that is located in the directory examples/hdevelop. This program demonstrates a multitude of machine vision solutions from many different industries and application areas. Note that this example program cannot be used with the HALCON demo version.

  • How to load and run HDevelop programs is described in the HDevelop User's Guide.



More Information About HALCON

HALCON includes extensive documentation, from release notes over a description of the HALCON image acquisition interfaces to user's and reference manuals. Note that the links below point to where the installation or download process places the documentation. If you did not install or download the documentation, the corresponding links do not work.

Further information, e.g., about HALCON distributors, can be found on the HALCON home page.

HDevelop's online help provides a full-text search in the complete documentation. This search is based on Swish-e.

o Release Notes

If you have been using an earlier version of HALCON, please take a look at the Release Notes to see what is new in this version of HALCON.



o User's and Programmer's Manuals The following manuals are available in PDF format and in print:
  • Quick Guide to HALCON

    An introduction to the basic concepts of HALCON, with examples how HALCON is used in various industries and application areas.

    On Windows systems, you can click on the example programs to open them in HDevelop.

  • Installation Guide

    How to install and license HALCON.

  • HDevelop User's Guide

    A comprehensive guide to HDevelop, the interactive development environment of HALCON.

  • Solution Guide I (Basics)

    How to apply the most important machine vision methods with HALCON.

  • Programmer's Guide

    How to use the HALCON library and HDevEngine via the programming languages C++, C#, C, Visual Basic, etc.

  • Solution Guide II (Advanced Topics)
    1. Image Acquisition

      How to connect to simple and complex configurations of image acquisition devices and cameras and how to acquire images in various timing modes.

    2. Shape-Based Matching

      How to apply HALCON's powerful shape-based matching to find objects in real-time and determine their position with subpixel accuracy.

    3. 2D Data Codes

      How to use HALCON's data code reader.

    4. 1D Measuring

      How to measure along lines or arcs with high accuracy.

    5. 2D Measuring

      How to measure in 2D with high accuracy

    6. 3D Machine Vision

      How to perform machine vision in 3D world coordinates using HALCON's outstanding methods for 3D calibration, mosaicking, binocular stereo, and robot vision.

The following manuals are available in PDF format:

o Reference Manuals The following manuals are available in PDF and HTML format:
  • Operator Reference, HDevelop Version (pdf, html)

    The reference manual for all HALCON operators in HDevelop notation.

  • Operator Reference, C Version (pdf, html)

    The reference manual for all HALCON operators in C notation.

  • Operator Reference, C++ Version (pdf, html)

    The reference manual for all HALCON operators in C++ notation.

  • Operator Reference, .NET Version (pdf, html)

    The reference manual for all HALCON operators in .NET (C#) notation.

  • Operator Reference, COM Version (pdf, html)

    The reference manual for all HALCON operators in COM (Visual Basic) notation.



o Documentation of the HALCON Image Acquisition Interfaces

Each HALCON image acquisition interface is described in detail on a separate HTML page, which can be accessed from a common start page.



 
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