IC Capture
Image Acquisition and On-Screen Measurement for Windows and Linux
IC Capture is a powerful end-user application for image acquisition, image pre-processing and measurement using any video device manufactured by The Imaging Source including industrial cameras, frame grabbers and video converters.
IC Capture harnesses the full power of previous end-user applications, such as IC Measure, by consolidating them into a single, intuitive application. This enables rapid and user-friendly evaluation and integration of The Imaging Source's cameras into a range of applications including computer vision, machine vision, microscopy, and robotics.
Advantages and Features
All the properties of video devices, such as video formats, exposure times and many more can be set in the program. All video devices connected to the computer are recognized automatically and multiple video sources can be opened in IC Capture simultaneously.
- Multi-platform compatibility, e.g., for Windows, Linux x86 and Linux ARM
- Calibration with object micrometer, graph paper, or virtually any object of known size
- On-screen measurement of lengths, angles, areas and perimeters
- Saving and restoring the device settings
- Single image capture and automated image sequence export with automatic file name generation
- Saving image data streams to MP4 files, e.g., compressed with H.264 or H.265 codecs
- Flexible live image display with stepless zooming and panning of the image
- Advanced image processing filters, e.g., perspective correction, brightness contrast, invert, sobel
- User-defined live overlays using an integrated script LUA-API
- User-defined live overlays using an integrated script LUA-API
- Histogram visualization
- User-friendly graphical interface available in English, German, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese to ensure seamless operation
IC Capture offers a wide range of built-in filters such as noise reduction, sharpening, and color correction, providing advanced image optimization. In addition, the software also supports lens correction to compensate for distortion and aberrations and achieve high-quality images.
Correcting Lens Distortion
IC Capture uses integrated filters to correct distortions such as barrel and pincushion distortions as well as vignetting effects caused by the lens.
Denoising and Sharpening
IC Capture's sharpening and denoising algorithms work on the image's brightness channel, using an edge mask to achieve optimal results.
IC Capture's denoising filter reduces both brightness noise and color noise without loss of sharpness, preserving image detail.
HDR Image Generation
Thanks to IC Capture's integrated tone mapping function, images with a high dynamic range are optimally displayed. The algorithm works automatically, but it can also be configured to optimize detail in low and high brightness ranges.
Histogram
IC Capture's histogram feature provides users with detailed information about an image's brightness distribution. The histogram shows the distribution of brightness values and makes it possible to quickly detect overexposure or underexposure.
By analyzing the histogram, camera parameters such as exposure time and gain can be precisely adjusted to achieve optimal image results.
Scriptable Histograms in Live Overlay
IC Capture enables the simultaneous display of multiple histograms in multi-camera applications. The histograms are displayed directly on the live image, which means that the histogram can also be saved in the image. In addition, it is freely configurable in terms of size and orientation.
Especially for microscopy applications, IC Capture offers functions for precise measurement. The software allows easy microscope management and calibration via the user interface.
In order to perform length or area measurements, calibration is first is required. This involves assigning a known unit of measurement to a reference section on the image in order to obtain an accurate measurement.
Calibration
The calibration tool allows for the definition of image scale. The calibration can be performed with an object micrometer (microscope) or another object of known length.
IC Capture enables convenient management and configuration of multiple microscopes via a user-friendly interface. All microscope-specific settings can be flexibly adjusted at any time to suit different application scenarios.
Full integration of image acquisition and enhancement makes manual measurement particularly efficient.
Users benefit from the seamless integration of measurement tools so that precise measurements can be made directly on the screen.
On-Screen Measurement
IC Capture includes many surveying tools, including those for measuring lengths, angles, circles and polygons.
These tools can be used on both live and still images and are designed for both macroscopic and microscopic measurement tasks.
Annotation Tools
IC Capture provides a variety of annotation tools to insert text, graphics, and marker arrows into images. These tools can be placed in a separate layer to leave the original image unchanged.
The annotation tools can be used to position text anywhere in the image, while the graphics tools provide the ability to draw lines, rectangles, ellipses and polygons on any captured image. Users have the freedom to customize colors, fonts, and line widths according to their preferences.
IC Capture allows image data streams to be written directly to MP4 files with the use of a compression codec. This allows users to capture and store video in high quality.
Codecs
The software offers fully integrated options for codec settings, including hardware accelerated H.264 or H.265 compression. Video capture settings can be flexibly configured.
Custom live overlays in IC Capture are based on scripts using the integrated LUA API. With this feature, custom overlays can be created to display additional information on the screen in real time. Scripts are dynamically reloaded during processing to enable an optimal workflow.
Crosshair, Ruler, Raster Mask and Timestamp Scripts
The integrated scripts for displaying crosshairs, histograms and timestamps can be quickly adapted to specific tasks to meet specific requirements.
IC Capture's pre-built sample scripts are not only useful features, but also a great way to learn about the functionality of the LUA API. They provide an easy entry point to understand how custom scripts can be created to visualize image processing tasks.
Script Parameters
In the latest version of IC Capture, script parameters are automatically integrated into the user interface. This makes the program easy to configure, as users can adjust parameter values directly in the interface.
Additionally, IC Capture automatically saves and reloads parameters when closing and opening devices so that all settings are restored.
In IC Capture, each script provides its own settings dialog displaying the parameters of the respective script.
The settings dialog provides users with an intuitive user interface to set parameter values, select options or make other specific configurations. This makes using and customizing the scripts in IC Capture extremely practical and efficient.
IC Capture features a user-friendly and visually appealing interface, designed for clarity and ease of use. It offers a comprehensive suite of functions for quick and efficient measurements and analyses.
Multi-Language Support
The graphical interface of IC Capture is available in English, German, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese, ensuring seamless operation for a global user base.