Error and other feedback

This issue often happens because of extrapolation errors when using “Curved screen/Dome” scanning method. The maps generated after each scan are bad, which (unfortunately) cause the blending calculation to crash. To resolve, you need to redo the scans and make sure, that the generated maps are valid. Follow these instructions after each scan carefully:

1. When using a fisheye camera, set the Surface Curvature to “Slight” (since for a fisheye, a dome or curved screen is not curved anymore)
2. Deactivate the extrapolation distance (unmark the checkbox and set the distance to 0
3. Hit “Recalculate” and open “Show Info” Dialog. There examine the “Camera Display Map” image. This image must show an uninterrupted gradient from red/yellow to pink/white.
4. You will notice that parts of the projection are not covered anymore. That’s because the extrapolation is deactivated. Increase the distance step by step, always hitting “Recalculate” until all visible projected areas are covered with the testing pattern. View the “Camera Display Map” to be still a proper looking gradient.

Once all projectors are handled this way, having a proper projector map, the blending calculation won’t crash.

There are different reasons of such behaviour so we will go through all of them starting from very obvious.

A. Check if the camera cap is still on

Yes, yes it happens so often, so its definetely worth to check one more time.

B. Check the camera adjustments

Both mechanical and software: it can be that black screen is simply way too dark image that camera streams to you. Make sure the iris of the lens is not totally closed. In driver settings (buttons Format and Options) reduce fps and increase exposure times until you will see the image.

C. Directshow Filter problems

When everything else is checked, the reason of black image stream can be the DirectShow failure. This can be double check using following steps:

1. Use AMCap Direct show tester.
   It comes preinstalled with every VIOSO software. Run the AMCap, select you camera in devices and start Preview. You will see right away if the picture is not shownor even some error message comes up. In the meantime, you can monitor the connection to the camera in IDS camera manager: if you notice that camera dissapears for a short moment when directshow filter is initialised – its an indication of the problem.
2. In VIOSO Calibrator, if the software cannot get the image from direct show, you will notice also the masking tools are blacked out in the “Adjust Camera” dialog.

C. Other hints

Here are some hints which can help you to solve this problem. Any of this single steps can help. Please check if the camera starts to work, after each step, so you wont need to perform further steps.

1. Reinstall  the IDS driver. To make it in a proper way
   1. Perform a clean uninstall first
   2. Reboot
   3. Install the driver again
2. Disable Gigabit Ethernet uEye Filter driver for the other network adapter which are not used
   
   
3. Assign persistent IP adress to a camera.
   To do so, go to Manual ETH configuration for the selected camera in IDS Camera Manager
4. Reinstall the Gigabit Ethernet uEye Filter driver, because sometimes there is a older version active und that doesn’t work together
   

If the IDS camera looses its basic settings, e.g. color format, timings, etc., there might be an issue with the DirectShow driver that is utilized to handle the camera. Some hints that might fix this issue:

1. Register the DirectShow driver anew:Open a commandline with Administration privileges
   Execute C:\Windows\System32\regsvr32.exe uEyeCapture.ax
   
2. Open the SPEASY.ini next to the executable of the calibration software and double check this settings:
   bInitCameraParamFromCalib="1"
bInitCameraModeFromCalib="1"
3. Launch uEye Cockpit, make appropriate settings and save them as camera parameters:
   

In some cases, when you start the camera-based calibration, this message appears:

“The projection surface could not be identified. If this is intended, push the NEXT button. Otherwise, click on the BACK button and adjust the camera.” 

The reason for this issue is in the misoperation of the camera.

1. Camera image is too dark to detect any projection. Re-adjust the camera. Check here for how to adjust the camera.
2. IDS camera works on 100 Mbits/s. Control of the network adapter, and switches and hubs are 1Gbits/s compatible. Check the cable for the 1Gbit/s compatibility. Note that sometimes broken ports or cables can continue to work, but drop the bandwidth from 1000 to 100 Mbits/s. Read here for how to configure an IDS camera.

This error can happen because a required programming runtime environment is missing on your system. Please download and install the runtime environment provided by Microsoft:

• Download Visual Studio 2008 (64 Bit) runtime – for 64 bit systems.
• Download Visual Studio 2008 (32 Bit) runtime – for 32 bit systems.

After a reboot, this error should be gone and the application should start normally.

If the error still occurs, there could be an issue with the DirectX runtime (see Installing DirectX Runtime).

Our logging file is located in the working directory. This is usually in C:\Users\Public\Documents\VIOSO

To change the logging value, next to an executable, there is a file called SPeASY.ini. There you will find the attribute LogFileLevel in

<VIOSO\SPeASY\DebugOptions\ErrorHandling>

Standard value is 1. Set this up to 3 to have more detailed logging.

1. The split mode may be set incorrectly. Check your settings in the calibrator options.
2. The version of DirectX on the server might not be up-to-date. Update DirectX to the lastest version (read more about this here: Installing DirectX Runtime).

At the startup of an application, an error message like this is shown:

„d3dx9_40.dll“ or „d3dx9_41.dll“ is missing on your computer.
Reinstallation of the application could solve your problem.

An outdated, incomplete, or missing DirectX 9 runtime is the most likely reason for this error.

See here how to install or update DirectX:

Installing DirectX Runtime