FAQ For Scientific Instrument ToolKit™ (SITK®) for LabVIEW™ Version
4.1.0.2 (32 bit) and 5.0.1.3 (64 bit)
What is the Scientific Instrument ToolKit™ (formerly
Scientific Imaging ToolKit) ?
The Scientific Instrument ToolKit™ (SITK®) is a collection
of LabVIEW™ VIs which allow control of various cameras normally used for
scientific purposes through the National Instruments LabVIEW™ software package.
These VIs also allow display and storage of the data obtained from these
cameras as well as control of pulse generators and spectrographs.
What Operating systems are supported?
Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 7 (32 bit and 64 bit).
What Camera systems are supported?
| Princeton Instruments | Photometrics | Acton |
Q
Imaging |
| ST138 (32 bit only) | Sensys | Inspectrum™ |
Rolera EMC2 |
| ST133 (32 bit only) | Quantix | InSight™ |
Rolera XR |
| DC131 | Cascade® | |
Rolera Bolt |
| MicroMax (32 bit only) | Series 300 |
| Rolera MGi |
| SpectraMax (32 bit only) | PXL |
| Retiga SRV |
| PentaMax | QuantEM |
| Retiga 2000R Mono/Color |
| Spec-10 (32 bit only) | CoolSnap EZ |
| Retiga 2000DC |
| OMA V
| CoolSnap ES2 |
|
Retiga 4000R Mono/Color |
| PI-Max® 1, 2 with PTG support (32 bit only)
| CoolSnap KINO | |
Retiga 4000DC |
| PI-Max® 3, 4 SuperSynchro | CoolSnap
MYO | | EXi Blue |
| PhotonMAX™ | CoolSnap HQ/HQ2 |
| EXi Aqua |
| VersArray® | CoolSnap K4 |
| MicroPublisher 3/5 |
| PyLoN | CoolSnap cf |
| QICam Mono/Color |
| PIXIS™ | CoolSnap fx |
| QIClick Mono/Color |
| ProEM™
| Evolve 128/512 |
|
Retiga 3000/6000 |
| | Evolve
Delta | |
Rolera Thunder |
| |
| |
OptiMOS |
What versions of LabVIEW™ are supported?
Currently we support LabVIEW™ 6.1, 7.0, 7.1, 8.0, 8.2, 8.5, 8.6, 2009,
2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 for 32 bits.
LabVIEW™ versions 2009,
2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 are supported for 64 bits.
Are multiple camera systems/controllers supported?
Yes, as long as the camera system/controller is supported by PvCam, QCam, PICam or is an ST138.
Are multiple PI-Max systems with PTGs supported?
Yes, there is an example provided for this operation.
Can I have different cameras running at the same time?
Yes you can have any combinations of PvCam cameras from the SAME company (Princeton
Instruments or Photometrics or Q-Imaging) running at the same time. Each can have a different ROI and experimental conditions.
If you need to run cameras from different companies at the same time, contact us
at Support@RCubedSW.com.
How do I purchase the SITK®?
The Scientific Instrument Toolkit™ for LabVIEW™ can be purchased from
Princeton Instruments, Photometrics and Q-Imaging.
You may contact your local salesperson or call the company direct.
If you have any problems with this, contact us at Support@RCubedSW.com.
How do I access the SITK®
VIs?
In the Diagram page of LabVIEW™ bring up the function tool bar.
On the bottom right of this tool bar is an icon for user libraries.
Select this icon and you should see the icons for Camera, Display, File,
General, Image, and Pulser libraries. Selecting one of these icons allows
you to select the SITK® VIs. If you do not see these users libraries, you
can check that they are in the correct location. Using Windows Explorer,
navigate to the LabVIEW™ folder (usually C:\Program Files\National
Instruments\LabVIEW x.x) and then into the user.lib folder. There should
be several .llb files with names like SITKCamera.llb. If these files are
not found, try to install the SIToolKit again. If they still fail to
appear, contact technical support at Support@RCubedSW.com.
How are the VI's organized?
There are 6 basic libraries supplied to the user. There may also be
additional libraries :
| Camera | Contains all the camera specific VIs. |
| Display | Optional, contains a simple image display. |
| File | Optional, contains VIs to read and write SPE and TIF files. |
| Image | Contains functions that allow the data to be retrieved into LabVIEW™ data types. |
| Pulser | Optional, VIs for supporting the PTG (pulse timing generator) sold by Princeton Instruments. |
| General | Contains the main load/unload of the SITK® VIs also contains some diagnostic VIs. |
| Spectrometers | Optional, controls for Acton Spectrometers. |
What is an SPE file?
This is a Princeton Instruments file format used by the WinView
and WinSpec programs. Files stored from the SITK® VIs can be read
and analyzed using this software. For more information on this file
type, please send email to support@roperscientific.com.
My SITK®
doesn't work before it even gets to data collection?
Try running the following example VIs:
| DiagnosticsToolkittest.vi | This will display the major, minor, external build and
internal build number, make sure these match the version you intended to install. |
| DiagnosticsCameratest.vi | This will display the PvCam version that LabVIEW™ is running. This should be version 2.6 or greater. If this is not version 2.6 or greater, check the Windows folder to see if another copy of PvCam.dll is present. If there is one, you must rename, move or remove it. |
| ExTestReadingFromImageExample.vi | This will display values using the image VIs. There is no camera communication so this is a test that the non-hardware portions of the SITK® are working. |
| ExSimpleAsyncExample.vi | This example is a simple data collection of one frame at a time. It should work on all camera systems. |
My SITK® doesn't collect data (for PvCam supported cameras)?
Copy the PvCamTest.exe from the Diagnostics\PVCam folder on the CD (or from our FTP site)
and put it in the LabVIEW™ folder with the other PvCam DLLs (usually C:\Program Files\National
Instruments\LabVIEW x.x). This will verify that the Roper Scientific or Acton Camera is working
correctly with PvCam. If you have a Princeton Instruments camera system you can also
download the PI specific debug programs WinXtest.exe and RSDiag.exe which are on their
FTP site. Run these
programs to verify the hardware and communications are setup correctly.
How do I report bugs and problems, or request features?
If the problem is with the hardware or PvCam please send the report to
support@roperscientific.com.
You can copy Support@RCubedSW.com. If the problem is with the LabVIEW™ VIs please send
the report to Support@RCubedSW.com.
What information should I include on bug report or technical support
request?
Operating system, Camera make and model, CCD being used, camera experiment parameters, which supplied examples were tried and what were the results, and the specific bug or problem.
Also, please include the serial number for your SITK® software (located on the
CD and/or back of the CD case).