First Steps: Connecting a Camera

Connection and Power Supply

After completing the software installation, you can connect your Ensenso camera to a free USB or GigE port of your system. If you use an N-Series cameras can be powered directly via USB or PoE. GigE cameras can also be powered via the camera’s GPIO port, whereas X/XR-Series cameras need a separate, mandatory 24V supply. See the GPIO topic for details.

Warning

cautionHot Caution hot surfaces! All cameras may exhibit high housing surface temperatures when operated at high environment temperatures and/or high LED flash duty cycle times!

Open the Camera in NxView

In order to get your first depth image, simply open the NxView program from the start menu.

NxView_StartMenu

You will see a list of connected cameras. When using a factory calibrated N-Series camera you can simply select the desired device and click Open. NxView will then present you with a color coded depth image of the scene.

If you assembled an X-Series device yourself, you will first need to Pair the projector with two monocular cameras and then click the Calibrate button to start the calibration wizard. After the calibration procedure the X-Series stereo system behaves just like an N-Series camera and you can click the Open button to start capturing depth data. XR-Series cameras will automatically pair with the attached cameras when powered on.

If you do not have a hardware camera yet, you can also start by using the sample data provided on the Ensenso website.

Note

If you cannot see your camera in the list, there probably is a problem with your network configuration. The Network Wizard will help you to set everything up correctly.

NxView_List

Note

If you cannot see meaningful 3D data, please make sure that the distance between the camera and the scene objects is appropriate for your camera model. You might now also want to take a look at the topics on Camera Setups and Parameter Adjustment .

IP Configuration

If an ethernet camera has an invalid IP configuration for the network adapter that it is connected to, you will get a warning and cannot open the camera. The easiest way to get a valid IP configuration is to use the Network Wizard or, if your camera is already listed you can simply press the Network Wizard button next to the camera. You can also set a manual IP configuration by selecting the camera and pressing the IP Config button.

If the configuration succeeds the camera will be listed as Available and you can then open it as described earlier in this topic.

Firmware upload

If a camera has an outdated firmware, the Firmware Update button will appear next to it. Clicking it will automatically upload the required firmware which was shipped with the EnsensoSDK or the installed uEye driver. For XR series cameras you will be prompted to download the corresponding firmware file if it hasn’t been downloaded locally before.

Note

When uploading a new firmware onto the camera please make sure that the camera is safely connected to power and network so that you don’t interrupt the upload process. XR series cameras need to be power cycled after the upgrade is finished.

Note

The automatic IP configuration requires your network adapter to have an IP address and subnet mask assigned (either via DHCP or manually). If this is not the case the Network Wizard will prompt you to select the correct adapter where the camera is connected and suggest a valid IP configuration for the adapter and device. Please confirm that the suggested configuration changes don’t interfere with other network devices on your system.

uEye Driver

If the automatic configuration as above does not succeed you should check your uEye driver version. Ensenso GigE cameras only work with uEye driver versions 4.81 and above. Please start the IDS Camera Manager, click the General Information button and verify that your driver is up to date.

CamManager_ETH_Version

If your driver is not up to date you should read the Software Installation topic and upgrade the driver accordingly.