Log Data in Image Acquisition Explorer

You can use the Image Acquisition Explorer to save acquired image data to a file or as a workspace variable. If you want to save your image data to a file, you can specify the file format and configure other file settings.

After you specify your data logging preferences, you can capture image snapshots and record video. For more information, see Preview and Acquire Data in Image Acquisition Explorer.

Log Data to Workspace

To save image data as a workspace variable, select the Workspace Variable option in the Logging section of the app toolstrip. You can specify the variable name as a valid MATLAB^® variable name that does not already exist in the workspace.

Logging section with Workspace Variable selected in Image Acquisition Explorer

The default values are snapshot1 and recording1 for Image and Video, respectively. After you capture a snapshot or record a video using those variables, the default variable names update to snapshot2 or recording2, then snapshot3 or recording3, and so on.

After you set your variable names, you can click the Capture button to save image data to the workspace or the Record button to save video data to the workspace. For more information, see Preview and Acquire Data in Image Acquisition Explorer.

Log Data to File

To save image data to file, select the File option in the Logging section of the app toolstrip. You can then specify file names and additional configuration settings for Image and Video logging.

Logging section with File selected in Image Acquisition Explorer

Image Data

In the Image field, specify the name you want to give the file. The default value is snapshot1.png. Click the settings icon next to the file name to configure additional file settings. You can Select Image File Location and select an Image File Format. Available settings depend on the specified file format.

Image file settings configuration in Image Acquisition Explorer

If you select PNG, you can specify the following.

Description — Add description to image.

If you select TIFF, you can specify the following.

Compression — Select compression scheme as packbits, none, lzw, or deflate.
Description — Add description to image.

If you select JPEG, you can specify the following.

Quality — Specify quality of output file from 0 to 100, where 0 is lower quality and higher compression and 100 is higher quality and lower compression. The default value is 75.
Bit Depth — Select number of bits per pixel as 8 or 12.
Comment — Add comment to image.

After you specify the file name, location, and other settings, you can click the Capture button to save image data to file. For more information, see Preview and Acquire Data in Image Acquisition Explorer.

Video Data

In the Video field, specify the name you want to give the file. The default value is recording1.avi. Click the settings icon next to the file name to configure additional file settings. You can select a Video File Location and a Video File Profile. Possible values for Video File Profile are Archival, Motion JPEG AVI, MPEG-4, Motion JPEG 2000, and Uncompressed AVI. Available settings depend on the specified file profile.

Video file settings configuration in Image Acquisition Explorer

If you select Archival or Motion JPEG 2000, you can specify the following.

Lossless Compression — Turn on to make decompressed data identical to input data. The default is off for the Motion JPEG 2000 profile, and on for the Archival profile.
Compression Ratio — Specify the target ratio between number of bytes in the input image and number of bytes in the compressed image as a number greater than 1. The default value is 10. You can modify this setting only if Lossless Compression is turned off.
Frame Rate — Specify the rate of video playback in frames per second. The default value is 30.
MJ2 Bit Depth — Select the number of least-significant bits in input image data as a number from 1 to 16.

If you select Motion JPEG AVI or MPEG-4, you can specify the following.

Frame Rate — Specify rate of video playback in frames per second. The default value is 30.
Quality — Specify quality of output file from 0 to 100, where 0 is lower quality and higher compression and 100 is higher quality and lower compression. The default value is 75.

If you select Uncompressed AVI, you can specify the following.

Frame Rate — Specify rate of video playback in frames per second. The default value is 30.

After you specify the file name, location, and other settings, you can click the Record button to save video data to file. For more information, see Preview and Acquire Data in Image Acquisition Explorer.

Note

If the value of the frame rate specified in the video file settings is different from the frame rate of the preview, the length of the saved video will be different from the specified number of seconds for finite recording. The number of frames saved in the recording is calculated from the frame rate of the preview multiplied by the specified number of seconds to record. (The specified amount of time to record also includes the time required for the acquisition to start.) The length of the saved video is the number of frames divided by the frame rate specified in the video file settings. For example, if the frame rate of the preview is 15 frames per second, the number of seconds to record is 20 seconds, and the frame rate of video playback is 30 frames per second, the length of the saved recording is approximately 10 seconds.