FAQ for TILLvisION

Image Acquisition

Q: I use TILLvisION on two computers. One of them is mainly used for data acquisition while the other is used for analysis. In the analysis mode I always have to wait while the program is searching for (non existing!) hardware. Is there a way around this?

A: You can disable the Imago driver to skip the hardware initialization. Use the "Tools/Device Manager" menu and uncheck the "TILL IMAGO" entry.


Q: I can't figure out how to use the "GET AOI" button to select a region for image acquisition within a protocol. It works fine for me when I use it from the GRAB MENU (take a big image, draw an AOI over a portion of it and then GET AOI - results in new sizes and offsets for subsequent snapshots) but I can't get it to work for me within a protocol following the instructions in the manual. I take a snapshot, draw an AOI, open the protocol window (now the snapshot is not the active window anymore) click get AOI - nothing happens.

A: THE ORDER of steps is crucial!
Make sure that you

  1. start the ProtocolEditor,
  2. select the image with AOI in Vision,
  3. (task-)switch to ProtocolEditor (either by pressing Alt-Tab or by clicking on the task bar on the bottom of the screen,
  4. hit GetAOI.

More technical:
TILLvisION and the TillProtocolEditor are separate programs for technical reasons. They communicate via COM (Component Object Model)-Interface, formerly known as OLE. If you press Get AOI, the Protocol Editor asks Vision for its active window and the first AOI. If there are many images but none of them active, this request fails.
So, after starting the ProtocolEditor and BEFORE hitting Get AOI, you have to make sure that the image window with the respective AOI is activated in Vision.


Q: Can I perform averaging of image information while acquiring images?

A: Yes, there is an average and an accumulate mode which are mainly meant for video cameras used in conjunction with an 8-bit frame grabber. With our digital IMAGO camera you probably prefer to integrate on the chip by simply increasing the exposure time. You'll get a much better signal-to-noise ratio by doing so. Only if integration on the chip fills the pixels beyond their full well capacity, digital averaging may yield a further increase in signal-to-noise ratio.