National Instruments Image Acquisition Software - Manual (Page 10)

© National Instruments Corporation 1-1 NI-IMAQ User Manual
1
Introduction to NI-IMAQ
This chapter describes the NI-IMAQ software and lists the application
development environments compatible with NI-IMAQ, describes the
fundamentals of creating NI-IMAQ applications for Windows 95 and
Windows NT, describes the files used to build these applications, and tells
you where to find sample programs.
About the NI-IMAQ Software
Thank you for buying a National Instruments image acquisition (IMAQ)
device, which includes NI-IMAQ software. NI-IMAQ is a set of functions
that controls the National Instruments plug-in IMAQ devices for image
acquisition and Real-Time System Integration (RTSI) bus multiboard
synchronization.
NI-IMAQ has both high-level I/O functions for maximum ease of use and
low-level I/O functions for maximum flexibility and performance.
Examples of high-level functions are snap and grab image acquisition.
Examples of low-level functions are buffer setup and video configuration.
NI-IMAQ enhances the performance of National Instruments IMAQ
devices because it lets multiple devices operate at their peak performance.
NI-IMAQ includes a buffer and data manager that uses sophisticated
techniques for handling and managing image acquisition buffers so that you
can simultaneously acquire and process data. NI-IMAQ uses direct
memory access (DMA) to transfer all data.
NI-IMAQ is a library of routines that work with National Instruments
IMAQ devices. NI-IMAQ contains methods for overcoming difficulties
ranging from simple device initialization to advanced high-speed real-time
image acquisition. The number of services you need for your applications
depends on the types of IMAQ devices you have and the complexity of your
applications.
UM.book Page 1 Monday, July 13, 1998 9:49 AM