Does Image Acquisition Toolbox support FLIR (Point Grey) Blackfly S model camera?

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I have a USB3 Version of model Blackfly S camera from FLIR (Point Grey). The camera is supported by the manufacturer provided Spinnaker SDK libraries.
Is this camera model supported by Image Acquisition Toolbox?

Accepted Answer

MathWorks Support Team
MathWorks Support Team on 26 Oct 2022
Edited: MathWorks Support Team on 26 Oct 2022
MATLAB R2022b and Later
As of MATLAB R2022b, the Spinnaker SDK is no longer supported in MATLAB. Instead please see the following post on how to use your camera with the GenTL interface:
MATLAB R2018b
As of MATLAB R2018b, a custom adaptor for Spinnaker is available for Image Acquisition Toolbox. Refer to instructions from the following File Exchange entry:
The 'pointgrey' adaptor included with 
 currently supports only the FLIR (Point Grey) camera models supported by the vendor's "FlyCapture SDK" libraries.
For releases prior to MATLAB R2018b
"Blackfly S" camera models are NOT supported by the 'pointgrey' adaptor.
The manufacturer supports "Blackfly S" camera models only via the "Spinnaker SDK" library, but not via the "FlyCapture SDK" libraries.
As a workaround, camera models supported only by the vendor's "Spinnaker SDK" libraries might be supported by other adapters:
  • 'gige' adaptor, if the camera model is a GigE Vision camera (such as "Blackfly S" BFS-PGE-* models)
  • 'winvideo' adaptor, by installing the DirectShow drivers provided by the manufacturer
Another workaround would be to use the equivalent FLIR (Point Grey) camera models supported by the vendor's "Fly Capture SDK" with the 'pointgrey' adaptor in MATLAB.

More Answers (1)

Wenxuan Liang
Wenxuan Liang on 14 Jan 2021
Edited: MathWorks Support Team on 30 Aug 2021
To add on, the solutions given by previous answers on using "winvideo" driver in the Image Acquisition Toolbox enables MATLAB to recognize and communicate with the Blackfly S camera.
To enable more advanced camera control, I found it better to use GenICam driver. Based on product information on Edmund Optics and FLIR, this Blackfly S camera uses the USB3 Vision v1.0 machine vision standard. Based on its installation guide: http://softwareservices.flir.com/BFS-U3-63S4-BD2/latest/40-Installation/Welcome.htm, it can be controlled using either Spinnaker or GenICam.
So you can go to Add-ons -> Get Hardware Support -> Image Acquisition Toolbox Support Package for GenICam Interface by MathWorks Image Acquisition Toolbox Team, and after installing it, the toolbox interface looks like this:
And you get full access to all imaging parameters to the camera.
  4 Comments
Andrei
Andrei on 22 Jan 2021
Edited: Andrei on 22 Jan 2021
Hi Wenxuan,
Was curious if you got your camera to work with a GenTL producer installed by the Spinnaker SDK setup program, or was it a producer from another vendor?
If you execute imaqsupport command in MATLAB, in the resulting imaqsupport.txt you'll find a GENTL section. How does that look on your machine? This is what I see on my computer after installing the latest Spinnaker version:
--------------------GENTL--------------------
GENICAM_GENTL64_PATH = C:\Program Files\FLIR Systems\Spinnaker\cti64\vs2015
Producer found = C:\Program Files\FLIR Systems\Spinnaker\cti64\vs2015\FLIR_GenTL_v140.cti
Thank you,
Andrei
Wenxuan Liang
Wenxuan Liang on 26 Jan 2021
Hi Andrei,
Following your steps, below is the info on my computer. This computer has worked with multiple cameras, so I selected part from the generated imaqsupport.txt and boldified the part that matches what you listed.
----------AVAILABLE HARDWARE----------
InstalledAdaptors: {'gentl' 'winvideo'}
MATLABVersion: '9.2 (R2017a)'
ToolboxName: 'Image Acquisition Toolbox'
ToolboxVersion: '5.2 (R2017a)'
----------GENTL ADAPTOR----------
Adaptor Name: gentl
Adaptor DLL: C:\ProgramData\MATLAB\SupportPackages\R2017a\toolbox\imaq\supportpackages\gentl\adaptor\win64\mwgentlimaq.dll
IMAQHWINFO:
AdaptorDllName: 'C:\ProgramData\MATLAB\SupportPackages\R2017a\toolbox\imaq\supportpackages\gentl\adaptor\win64\mwgentlimaq.dll'
AdaptorDllVersion: '5.2 (R2017a)'
AdaptorName: 'gentl'
DeviceIDs: {[1]}
DeviceInfo: [1×1 struct]
Available Devices:
Device Name: FLIR Blackfly S BFS-U3-63S4M
Device ID: 1
Device File Supported: 0
Default Format: Mono8
Supported Formats:
'Mono10Packed'
'Mono12Packed'
'Mono16'
'Mono8'
--------------------GENTL--------------------
GENICAM_GENTL64_PATH = D:\Program Files\Basler\pylon 5\Runtime\x64\;C:\BitFlow SDK 6.00\Bin64;C:\BitFlow SDK 6.30\Bin64;C:\BitFlow SDK 6.20\Bin64;C:\Program Files\Allied Vision\Vimba_2.1\Vimba1394TL\Bin\Win64;C:\Program Files\Allied Vision\Vimba_2.1\VimbaGigETL\Bin\Win64;C:\Program Files\Allied Vision\Vimba_2.1\VimbaUSBTL\Bin\Win64;C:\Program Files\Allied Vision\Vimba_2.1\VimbaCLConfigTL\Bin\Win64;D:\Program Files\FLIR Systems\Spinnaker\cti64\vs2015
Producer found = D:\Program Files\Basler\pylon 5\Runtime\x64\ProducerU3V.cti
No producers found in C:\BitFlow SDK 6.00\Bin64
No producers found in C:\BitFlow SDK 6.30\Bin64
No producers found in C:\BitFlow SDK 6.20\Bin64
Producer found = C:\Program Files\Allied Vision\Vimba_2.1\Vimba1394TL\Bin\Win64\Vimba1394TL.cti
Producer found = C:\Program Files\Allied Vision\Vimba_2.1\VimbaGigETL\Bin\Win64\VimbaGigETL.cti
Producer found = C:\Program Files\Allied Vision\Vimba_2.1\VimbaUSBTL\Bin\Win64\VimbaUSBTL.cti
Producer found = C:\Program Files\Allied Vision\Vimba_2.1\VimbaCLConfigTL\Bin\Win64\VimbaCLConfigTL.cti
Producer found = D:\Program Files\FLIR Systems\Spinnaker\cti64\vs2015\FLIR_GenTL_v140.cti

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