Release Notes for HALCON 13.0

• In compliance with the EULA, HALCON now only supports MAC based licenses bound to universally administered, permanent MAC addresses. Locally administered MAC addresses are rejected. In case of a license upgrade for a MAC based license it might be necessary to request a new license if the former hostid is not suitable anymore. Additionally, FLEXid dongles for HALCON 12 and earlier versions do not work with HALCON 13 as HALCON 13 exclusively uses HALCON CodeMeter dongles. HALCON 13 licenses will be downwards compatible to HALCON 12.0.3. More information.

• The signatures of the operators
  • create_local_deformable_model,
  • create_local_deformable_model_xld,
  • create_planar_calib_deformable_model,
  • create_planar_calib_deformable_model_xld,
  • create_planar_uncalib_deformable_model, and
  • create_planar_uncalib_deformable_model_xld
  have been changed to use empty input tuples for the parameters AngleStart, AngleExtent, ScaleCMax, and ScaleRMax. Thus, .Net and C++ programs using these operators have to be recompiled. More information.
• Previously, find_calib_object only returned the error 8402 ("No calibration table found") if the calibration plate with hexagonally arranged marks could not be found.
  Now, it can return the three additional errors 8397 ("Segmentation of the calibration marks failed"), 8398 ("Extraction of the mark contours failed"), and 8399 ("No finder pattern could be found"). This has to be considered in an optional try-catch-block around find_calib_object. More information.
• The data code reader has been improved to make the XLD contours that surround successfully decoded data code symbols (as returned in the parameter SymbolXLDs of find_data_code_2d or by setting the parameter ResultNames of get_data_code_2d_results to 'candidate_xld') consistent for all supported data code types. In particular, they now surround also QR Codes. In former HALCON versions, the XLD contour connected the centers of the QR Code's finder patterns. Furthermore, for all supported data code types, the order of the XLD contour's points has been changed such that the orientation of the first contour segment represents the orientation of the data code symbol. More information.
• Because the error name H_ERR_MLP_WRNUMCHAN has been renamed to H_ERR_WRNUMCHAN, all applications using H_ERR_MLP_WRNUMCHAN must be adapted accordingly.
  More information.
• Due to an improvement with respect to the calculation of the overlap between the range of rotations, the operators
  • find_shape_model,
  • find_shape_models,
  • find_scaled_shape_model,
  • find_scaled_shape_models,
  • find_aniso_shape_model,
  • find_aniso_shape_models,
  • find_ncc_model, and
  • find_ncc_models
  may return different or additional results compared to previous HALCON versions. The reason is that the angle range may now be larger. To obtain the old behavior, the definition of the range of rotations in the respective find_* operator must be adapted. More information.
• Because of changes made to speed up find_shape_model_3d, the scores returned by the 3D shape-based matching may differ in the order of 10^-5 to 10^-6 compared to previous HALCON versions. Also, the pose may differ by as much as 10^-4 compared to previous HALCON versions. This should have no effect on any application. More information.
• Because of the changes applied to achieve an improved selection of punctuation marks, the results returned by find_text might differ from the results produced with earlier HALCON versions. More information.
• Note that the interpretation of "pose_rel" has changed. To obtain the same effect as "pose_rel" in previous HALCON versions, "pose" must be used. The old options "pose1" and "pose2" are still available for backwards compatibility. However, "pose1" has the same effect as the new meaning of "pose_rel" and "pose2" has the same effect as "pose_caltabs". More information.
• Because of the removal of the constants MIN_COLUMN, MAX_COLUMN, MIN_LINE, and MAX_LINE from the include file HConst.h, these constants cannot be used anymore. The constants MIN_COORD and MAX_COORD defined in IPType.h have to be used instead and define the minimum and maximum allowed coordinates. The actual values for MIN_COORD and MAX_COORD depend on the usage of HALCON XL or not. More information.
• Because of the new possibility to get the region used to create an NCC model, the file format version for ncm (HALCON NCC Model) files has been changed. Therefore, NCC models written with HALCON 13 or higher cannot be read by older HALCON versions. More information.
• Because of changes related to camera parameters, it might be necessary to adapt programs that were developed with HALCON 12 or earlier HALCON versions to work with HALCON 13. Additionally, in some cases, camera parameters that are written to file with HALCON 13 cannot be used by previous HALCON versions.
  Adaptations of programs that were developed with HALCON 12 are necessary,
  • if a program implements a direct access to the elements or the length of a camera parameter tuple that was returned by an HALCON operator, or
  • if camera parameters are written to file with HALCON 13 but should be used with a previous HALCON version.
  1. Adapting Programs with Direct Access to Elements of the Camera Parameter Tuple:
  If a program directly accesses the elements or the length of a camera parameter tuple that was returned by an HALCON operator, the program can be adapted by
  • removing the first element of the camera parameter tuple before the access or by
  • replacing the operations that directly access the elements or the length of camera parameter tuples by one of the new external procedures (recommended!).
  In the following example, the first element of the camera parameter tuple is accessed:
  

  read_cam_par ('campar.dat', CameraParam)
  Focus := CameraParam[0]
  

  Because the first element of the tuple CameraParam now contains a string indicating the camera type, the contents of Focus are now, e.g., 'area_scan_division' instead of the focal length.
  The simplest way to obtain the old behavior is to remove the first element of the camera parameter tuple, for example by calling
  

  CameraParam := remove(CameraParam, 0)
  

  directly after the operator that returns the variable CameraParam. The above code example would therefore look like this:
  

  read_cam_par ('campar.dat', CameraParam)
  CameraParam := remove(CameraParam, 0)
  Focus := CameraParam[0]
  

  This approach is safe as long as no camera types are used that are modified or introduced with HALCON 13 or with later HALCON versions, i.e., as long as regular perspective cameras without tilt are used.
  Alternatively, all operations that directly access the elements or the length of camera parameter tuples can be replaced by one of the new external procedures get_cam_par_data and set_cam_par_data that are available via the new procedure library general/camera_parameters.hdvp. In this case, the above code can be rewritten as follows:
  

  read_cam_par ('campar.dat', CameraParam)
  get_cam_par_data (CameraParam, 'focus', Focus)
  

  Although the adaptation of programs based on this approach may be more time-consuming, it is the more future-proof approach and therefore strongly recommended.
  2. Adapting the Camera Parameters Written with HALCON 13 to Use them with a Previous HALCON Version:
  If a camera model that is written with HALCON 13 should be used with a previous HALCON version, the first element of the camera parameter tuple must be removed as described above. For telecentric cameras, additionally the camera parameters must be modified accordingly as follows:
  • The focal length in the old format must be set to 0.
  • The parameter KappaO in the old format must be computed from the parameters Kappa and Magnification in the new format as follows: KappaO := Kappa*pow(Magnification,2).
  • The parameter K1O in the old format must be computed from the parameters K1 and Magnification in the new format as follows: K1O := K1*pow(Magnification,2).
  • The parameter K2O in the old format must be computed from the parameters K2 and Magnification in the new format as follows: K2O := K2*pow(Magnification,4).
  • The parameter K3O in the old format must be computed from the parameters K3 and Magnification in the new format as follows: K3O := K3*pow(Magnification,6).
  • The parameter P1O in the old format must be computed from the parameters P1 and Magnification in the new format as follows: P1O := P1*Magnification.
  • The parameter P2O in the old format must be computed from the parameters P2 and Magnification in the new format as follows: P2O := P2*Magnification.
  • The parameter SxO in the old format must be computed from the parameters Sx and Magnification in the new format as follows: SxO := Sx/Magnification.
  • The parameter SyO in the old format must be computed from the parameters Sy and Magnification in the new format as follows: SyO := Sy/Magnification.
  • All other camera parameters can be used unchanged.
    Note that this approach only works for perspective cameras without tilt, for telecentric cameras without tilt, and for bilateral telecentric cameras with tilt. Since perspective cameras with tilt contain a new parameter ImagePlaneDistance, they cannot be converted to the format of previous HALCON versions. Furthermore, the newly introduced camera models for image-side and object-side telecentric cameras with tilt cannot be converted to the format of previous HALCON versions.
  In the following cases, camera parameters that are written to file with HALCON 13 cannot be used by previous HALCON versions:
  • The file formats of serialize_cam_par, write_metrology_model and serialize_metrology_model, as well as write_cam_par have been adapted to the general extensions of the camera parameter tuple (new element of the tuple for the camera type). Files written with previous HALCON versions can still be read. Files written with HALCON 13 cannot be read by previous HALCON versions.
  • The file formats of 3D shape models, deformable models, and descriptor models have been changed to support the enhanced camera model for pinhole tilt cameras. If camera parameters that were calibrated with HALCON 13 are written to file, they cannot be read by previous HALCON versions.
  3. Further Issues concerning Compatibility
  Generally, the new camera model for pinhole tilt cameras and the modified camera model for telecentric cameras are backwards compatible:
  • The new camera model for pinhole tilt cameras is more general than the old model and can emulate the old model if the ImagePlaneDistance is set to the same value as Focus. If camera parameters that were written with previous HALCON versions are read by any operator that handles camera parameters (such as read_cam_par, read_calib_data, etc.), this is precisely what will be done automatically internally. Hence, HALCON is backwards compatible.
  • For the camera model for telecentric cameras, a parameter for the lens magnification has been added, the parameter for the focal length (which was always set to 0) has been removed, and the semantics of some parameters has changed. The old model for telecentric cameras is equivalent to the new model with a lens magnification of 1. Therefore, if camera parameters from previous HALCON versions are read, they are silently converted into the new format. Furthermore, if calibration data is read with read_calib_data, the optimization flags stored in the calibration data are adapted to be compatible with the new model. If the camera is then calibrated with calibrate_cameras, however, the magnification will be mostly modeled by Sx and Sy (because Sy is kept fixed) and only to a small part by the parameter Magnification. In such cases, however, the model will still be consistent if the calibration error is small.
  More information: [1][2][3][4][5][6]
• read_image now scales the gray values of PNG images to the original bit depth. This affects PNG images, for which the original image depth was different than 8 bit or 16 bit. If images from such a source are used, subsequent absolute parameters such as thresholds have to be adapted or the image gray values have to be scaled to the previous value range with scale_image. More information.
• Due to the extension of reconstruct_surface_stereo to handle mixed camera setups, the behavior of the error 8494 ("bounding box is behind basis line") may have changed in some cases. reconstruct_surface_stereo used to consider the behavior towards the rectified cameras. Now, the behavior towards the input cameras is considered. Moreover, the internal estimation of disparity_min/disparity_max in reconstruct_surface_stereo has been improved and adapted for stereo setups with perspective and telecentric cameras. This may change the behavior of reconstruct_surface_stereo in some cases, if the method 'binocular_ms' is used. More information: [1][2][3]
• HALCON's multiview stereo surface reconstruction has been extended amongst others to enable the assignment of the color of the input images to the point cloud for both methods 'surface_pairwise' and 'surface_fusion'. Thus, now all input images must have the same number of channels. The number of channels has to be equal to one or three. Else, reconstruct_surface_stereo returns the error 3122 ("Number of channels in the input parameters are different") or the error 3359 ("Wrong number of image channels").
  If multi-channel images are used, the reconstruction is still performed using the first channel only. The remaining channels are solely used for the calculation of the color values.
  To reproduce the old behavior, perform
  

  gen_empty_obj (ImagesOneChannel)
  count_obj (Images, Number)
  for ImageIndex := 1 to Number by 1
      select_obj (Images, ObjectSelected, ImageIndex)
      access_channel (ObjectSelected, FirstChannel, 1)
      concat_obj (ImagesOneChannel, FirstChannel, ImagesOneChannel)
  endfor

  on the input images of reconstruct_surface_stereo. More information: [1][2][3][4]
• As a consequence of a change concerning the parameter CameraType of set_calib_data_cam_param, the file format used by write_calib_data and serialize_calib_data had to be changed. The change is backwards compatible. Files written by HALCON 12 or earlier versions can still be read by HALCON 13. Files written by HALCON 13 cannot be read by HALCON 12 and earlier versions, however. More information.
• As a consequence of a change concerning the handling of the parameter CameraType of set_camera_setup_cam_param, the file format used by write_camera_setup_model and serialize_camera_setup_model had to be changed. The change is backwards compatible. Files written by HALCON 12 or earlier versions can still be read by HALCON 13. Files written by HALCON 13 cannot be read by HALCON 12 and earlier versions, however. More information.
• Due to the new visualization functionalities, the following compatibility issues have to be considered:
  • Applications that used set_font must be adapted.
  • Applications that assumed that dump_window_image returns single channel images must be adapted.
  • set_paint and dev_set_paint now only support the modes 'default', '3d_plot', and 'vector_field'. All other modes are now unsupported and have been removed from the documentation.
  • Window Ids returned by open_window have changed. The value must not be used directly.
  • get_part now returns floating point numbers. Depending on the subsequent operations a cast might be necessary.
  • get_os_window_handle is now unsupported for buffer windows. Use dump_window_image to access the contents of a buffer.
  More information: [1][2][3][4][5]
• Because of an improvement of the accuracy of zoom_image_size and zoom_image_factor for Interpolation set to 'constant' and scaling factors smaller than 1.0 for byte images, the results of these operators differ slightly compared to those of previous HALCON versions.
  The improved accuracy also effects the operator text_line_orientation and can lead to slightly different results when compared with previous HALCON versions. More information.
• To avoid conflicts with the header file windows.h, HALCON does not define the types INT and UINT anymore. Instead the new types HINT an HUINT can be used. For image acquisition interfaces, windows.h has been included in CIOFrameGrab.h. Extension Packages and I/O interfaces that are based on the templates included with earlier HALCON versions must be adapted accordingly.
  Furthermore, windows.h is not included in HALCON headers anymore. Applications requiring windows.h must be adapted by including windows.h. More information.

Assistants

GUI

IDE

Code Export

Miscellaneous

Assistants

GUI

IDE

HDevelop Language

Procedures

Code Export

Miscellaneous

New, Improved, or Deleted HDevelop Example Programs

Bug Fixes

• On macOS, HALCON binaries and C++ libraries now are linked against the new standard C++ library 'libc++'.
• It is now possible to attach HDevelop to compiled HDevEngine applications for debugging purposes. The HDevEngine application must explicitely allow this behavior. Remote debugging is also supported, even for applications running on embedded devices. Debugging is not currently supported for subthreads in HDevelop code (created with par_start), JIT-compiled procedures, HDevEngine/COM applications, and execution of HDevelop programs (as opposed to execution of HDevelop procedures). Debugging of multi-threaded applications is supported (multiple application threads calling HDevelop procedures).

• The execution of JIT-compiled procedures led to a memory leak if a switch statement had an expression as argument. This problem has been fixed.
• HDevelop behaved inconsistently when executing procedures containing get_mbutton or get_mbutton_sub_pix JIT-compiled. Now, procedures containing get_mbutton or get_mbutton_sub_pix are excluded from JIT-compiled procedure execution.
• HDevEngine crashed when trying to execute dev_get_system JIT-compiled. This problem has been fixed.
• Calling the GetAllProcedureNames method on an HDevEngine object after unloading all procedures using the UnloadAllProcedures method led to a crash. This problem has been fixed.
• The HDevelop operator dev_clear_obj did not clear iconic variables correctly in JIT-compiled procedures. This problem has been fixed.
• Raising exceptions from subthreads (created with par_start) in HDevEngine could have caused resource leaks and possibly slowed down the application over time. This problem has been fixed.
• HDevelop operators with control output parameters, e.g., dev_get_preferences, leaked memory when they were executed JIT-compiled. This problem has been fixed.
• Stopping JIT-compiled procedure execution via user interaction, e.g. by pressing F9, created a memory leak in case the procedure contained local variables. This problem has been fixed.

• Passing a two- or more-dimensional HObjectVector to a procedure call via SetInputIconicParamVector caused a hard SEHException in native code. This problem has been fixed.
• The HDevelop language interfaces converted all input to procedures to mixed tuples. This caused some procedures to behave differently when called from a language interface than when called from HDevelop. This problem has been fixed.

• The operators
  • add_sample_identifier_preparation_data,
  • add_sample_identifier_training_data, and
  • apply_sample_identifier
  are now faster. The speedup depends on the image size and can only be observed if 'use_texture_info' is set to 'true'. For example, for images of size 960x640 pixels and default settings, speedups of around 50% are possible.
• With standard HALCON, area_center is now faster by up to 90% on processors that support the AVX2 instruction set and smallest_rectangle1 is now faster by up to 60% on processors that support the SSE2 and AVX2 instruction sets.
• The operators
  • area_center_xld,
  • elliptic_axis_xld,
  • eccentricity_xld, and
  • compactness_xld
  are now faster on processors that support the AVX instruction set. The following speedups can be expected:
  

  operator	Speedup with AVX
  area_center_xld	up to 50%
  elliptic_axis_xld	up to 30%
  eccentricity_xld	up to 30%
  compactness_xld	up to 20%

• binocular_disparity and binocular_distance are now faster with Method='ncc'. The speedup on processors that support the AVX2 instruction set is up to 100%.
• Shape-based matching is faster for small angle or scale ranges, i.e., if the specified angle or scale extent is smaller than half the step size on the highest pyramid level. The speedup in a typical example is 30%. In order to profit from the speedup, models have to be recreated with create_shape_model, create_scaled_shape_model, create_aniso_shape_model, or one of the variants for multiple models.
• dyn_threshold is now faster. In particular, the following speedups can be expected on machines with x86 or x64 processors that support the required version of the SSE instruction set:
  

  Image Type	Mode	Available Instruction Set	Speedup
  byte	'light' or 'dark'	SSE2	up to 400%
  	'equal' or 'not_equal'	SSE3	up to 275%
  uint2	'light' or 'dark'	SSE41	up to 255%
  	'equal' or 'not_equal'	SSE41	up to 150%

• HALCON's FFT and RFT operators
  • fft_generic,
  • fft_image,
  • fft_image_inv, and
  • rft_generic
  are now faster on Intel processors that support the AVX2 instruction set. The speedup can be more than 15% if the optimization of the runtime is performed using optimize_fft_speed or optimize_rft_speed with Mode = 'patient'.
• The operators
  • find_local_deformable_model,
  • find_planar_calib_deformable_model, and
  • find_planar_uncalib_deformable_model
  are now significantly faster on processors that support the SSE2 or AVX instruction sets.
  The following speedups can be expected for byte and uint2 images:
  

  Number of pyramid levels	Image Type	Available Instruction Set	Speedup
  3	byte	SSE2	30%
  		AVX	30%
  	uint2	SSE2	30%
  		AVX	20%
  5	byte	SSE2	5%
  		AVX	5%
  	uint2	SSE2	5%
  		AVX	5%

• The operators for finding shape models for shape-based matching
  • find_shape_model,
  • find_shape_models,
  • find_scaled_shape_model,
  • find_scaled_shape_models,
  • find_aniso_shape_model, and
  • find_aniso_shape_models
  are now significantly faster on processors that support the SSE2 or AVX2 instruction sets. The speedup depends on the configuration of the shape-based matching (in particular, on the number of pyramid levels, the sub-pixel refinement, and the input image type).
  The following speedups can be expected for the following exemplary configurations:
  

  Number of pyramid levels	Image Type	Available Instruction Set	Speedup
  <3	byte, uint2	SSE2	150%
  		AVX2	300%
  ≥4	byte	SSE2	40%
  		AVX2	70%
  	uint2	SSE2	100%
  		AVX2	100%

  As a consequence of this speedup, the speed of the operator find_component_model also has improved significantly.
• find_shape_model_3d is now significantly faster on processors that support the SSE2 or AVX2 instruction sets. The speedup depends on the configuration of the 3D shape-based matching (in particular, on the type of the input image, the number of pyramid levels, the metric, and the greediness). For example, for uint2 images, 4 pyramid levels, the metric 'ignore_part_polarity', and greediness set to 0.0, speedups of more than 300% can be achieved for processors supporting the AVX2 instruction set and more than 200% for processors supporting the SSE2 instruction set. For 5 pyramid levels, the metric 'ignore_local_polarity', and greediness set to 0.8, speedups of more than 30% are possible for byte images and speedups of more than 70% are possible for uint2 images (both for processors supporting either the AVX2 or the SSE2 instruction set). Note that this change affects the compatibility. Read more.
• find_surface_model is now faster by up to 15% if parallelization is enabled.
• find_text is faster by up to 160%.
• Shape-based matching and correlation-based matching are now faster for the case that a huge number of candidates (e.g., 5000 or more) has to be processed.
• gen_region_points and gen_region_runs are now faster by up to 25% and parallelized on internal data level (for at least 1024 input points/chords). gen_region_polygon is now faster by up to 25% and parallelized on internal data level.
• The operators
  • intersection_closed_contours_xld,
  • difference_closed_contours_xld,
  • symm_difference_closed_contours_xld,
  • union2_closed_contours_xld,
  • intersection_closed_polygons_xld,
  • difference_closed_polygons_xld,
  • symm_difference_closed_polygons_xld, and
  • union2_closed_polygons_xld
  are now faster by up to 175% for very large input XLDs. Additionally, project_object_model_3d is now faster by up to 40% when projecting without OpenGL and hidden surface removal enabled.
• mean_image is now faster. In particular, the following speedups can be expected:
  

  Image Type	Filter Size	Available Instruction Set	Speedup
  byte	3x3	SSE2	up to 80%
  		SSSE3	up to 130%
  		AVX2	up to 240%
  	5x5	SSE2	up to 120%
  		SSSE3	up to 180%
  		AVX2	up to 320%
  int2	all supported	-	up to 200%
  uint2	all supported	-	up to 200%

• read_image is now faster for Windows Bitmap (BMP) images. The speedup is up to 400%.
  The new HDevelop example program
  • hdevelop/File/Images/read_image_benchmark.hdev
  compares the reading times for different image types.
• reconstruct_surface_stereo is now parallelized on internal data level which results in a speedup of up to 250% on a quad core machine with hyperthreading. Note that the speedup may vary significantly between different data sets.
• scale_image is now faster on processors that support the AVX2 instruction set. The speedup is up to 250% for byte images and up to 30% for uint2 images.
• smooth_object_model_3d and surface_normals_object_model_3d are now faster. The speedup is up to 100%.
• sobel_amp for FilterType='sum_abs' is now faster on processors that support the AVX2 instruction set. For byte images, the speedup is up to 100%. For uint2 images, the speedup is up to 150%.
  sobel_amp for FilterType='sum_sqrt' is now faster on processors that support the AVX2 instruction set. For byte images, the speedup is up to 25%. For uint2 images, the speedup is up to 500%.
• sobel_dir with FilterType = 'sum_sqrt' is now faster on processors that support the SSE2 or AVX2 instruction sets. The speedup with SSE2 is up to 55%, with AVX2 it is up to 270%. Furthermore, the OCR classification with the feature 'gradient8_dir' is now faster as well, as it internally uses the functionality of sobel_dir. With AVX2, the respective speedup is up to 60%.
• threshold is now faster:
  • On x86 and x64 processors that support the SSE2 instruction, the speedup is up to 150% for byte images and up to 100% for uint2 images.
  • On x86 and x64 processors that support the AVX instruction set, the speedup is up to 150% for real images.
  • On x86 and x64 processors that support the AVX2 instruction set, the speedup is up to 180% for byte images.
• union1 is now faster for more than two input regions. The speedup depends on the number and size of the input regions and is up to 300% for a tuple of 100 large regions.
• zoom_image_size and zoom_image_factor are now faster for Interpolation = 'constant' and scaling factors smaller than 1.0 for byte images. The speedup depends on the scaling factor and is up to 100% for a factor of 0.4 and up to 300% for a factor of 0.1.
  Furthermore, zoom_image_size and zoom_image_factor are now more accurate in this case. The results are comparable to those obtained in previous HALCON versions when set_system ('int_zooming', 'false') was set. Note that this change affects the compatibility. Read more.
• The HALCON library has been accelerated on average by about 14% on Windows, 18% on Linux, and 11% on macOS on processors that support the AVX and AVX2 instruction sets. Important operators that achieve a notable speedup are listed in separate release notes. Please note that some operators may exhibit a small performance regression.

3D

Bar Code

Calibration

Classification

Data Code

File

Filter

Graphics

Inspection

Image

Matching

Memory

Miscellaneous

OCR

Parallelization

Region

Segmentation

System

XLD

3D

Bar Code

Calibration

Classification

Compute Device

Data Code

Feature

File

Filter

Graphics

Image

Matching

Measure

Memory

Miscellaneous

Morphology

OCR

Parallelization

Region

System

XLD

• Motivated by the changes related to camera parameters, HALCON has been extended with a new procedure library
  • general/camera_parameters.hdvp.
  The procedure library is located in the directory %HALCONROOT%/procedures, which is added to HDevelop's external procedure path list by default. The library contains procedures to generate camera parameter tuples for all supported camera types, to set the value of a specified camera parameter in a camera parameter tuple, to get the value of a specified parameter from a camera parameter tuple, and to get the names of the parameters in a camera parameter tuple. Note that this change affects the compatibility. Read more.
• HALCON has been extended with an external procedure check_hand_eye_calibration_input_poses.hdvp that checks the input poses of the hand-eye calibration. The procedure is able to identify errors in the input poses and to verify that the correct calibration model was chosen by the user. Both types of errors, which often occur in practice, result in large calibration errors. With the new procedure, these errors, which otherwise would be hard to identify, can now be detected easily.
  The new HDevelop example program
  • hdevelop/Calibration/Hand-Eye/check_hand_eye_calibration_input_poses.hdev
    shows how to use the new procedure.
  Furthermore, the following existing HDevelop example programs have been adapted to use the new procedure:
  • hdevelop/Calibration/Hand-Eye/calibrate_hand_eye_scara_moving_cam.hdev
  • hdevelop/Calibration/Hand-Eye/calibrate_hand_eye_scara_stationary_cam.hdev
  • hdevelop/Calibration/Hand-Eye/calibrate_hand_eye_stationary_3d_sensor.hdev
  • solution_guide/3d_vision/handeye_movingcam_calibration.hdev
  • solution_guide/3d_vision/handeye_movingcam_calibration_poses.hdev
  • solution_guide/3d_vision/handeye_stationarycam_calibration.hdev
  • solution_guide/3d_vision/handeye_stationarycam_calibration_poses.hdev
• HALCON has been extended with the new procedure library reconstruction_3d.hdpl. This procedure library contains three new procedures:
  • estimate_bounding_box_3d_reconstruction can be used to estimate bounding box parameters for a stereo setup.
  • gen_camera_setup_object_model_3d and gen_bounding_box_object_model_3d can be used for visualization of a stereo setup.
  These procedure are, e.g., used in the HDevelop example programs
  • hdevelop/3D-Reconstruction/Multi-View/reconstruct_surface_stereo_pairwise_workflow.hdev
  • hdevelop/3D-Reconstruction/Multi-View/reconstruct_surface_stereo_fusion_workflow.hdev
• The visualization of HALCON has been overhauled. In this context, the following procedures have been adapted:
  • disp_message, disp_continue_message, and disp_end_of_program_message now use disp_text internally.
  • set_display_font has been adapted to the new behavior of set_font.
  • plot_tuple now uses dev_disp_text internally.
  Note that this change affects the compatibility. Read more.
• HALCON has been extended with the operators convert_coordinates_window_to_image and convert_coordinates_image_to_window that provide a convenient way to convert pixel coordinates between image and window coordinate systems.
  The HDevelop procedure disp_message has been adapted to use the new operator convert_coordinates_image_to_window.
• HALCON has been extended with the procedure
  • dev_display_ncc_matching_results
  to provide an easy way to quickly visualize the results of correlation based matching.
  The HDevelop example programs
  • hdevelop/Matching/Correlation-Based/find_ncc_model_defocused.hdev
  • hdevelop/Matching/Correlation-Based/find_ncc_model_defocused_precision.hdev
  • hdevelop/Matching/Correlation-Based/find_ncc_model_exposure.hdev
  have been adapted accordingly.

• disp_message positioned the displayed text erroneously if image coordinates were used and the internal conversion to window coordinates led to Row and Column values that could have been rounded to the value -1. This problem has been fixed. Now, in such a case, the Row and Column values for the used text position are 0.

• set_window_param and get_window_param now provide a simple mode variant in HALCON/C and HALCON/C++ in addition to the already available tuple mode.

• set_window_param and get_window_param now provide a simple mode variant in HALCON/C and HALCON/C++ in addition to the already available tuple mode.
• On macOS, HALCON binaries and C++ libraries now are linked against the new standard C++ library 'libc++'.
• Some operators were hard to use in the object-oriented language
  interfaces HALCON/C++ and HALCON/.NET. These operators did not offer
  a suitable signature for their class method variant. In particular,
  it was impossible to pass a multivalue control parameter (e.g., for
  generic parameters) when using a single pose, although it would make
  sense for the operator. For a better usability, the listed input
  control parameters of the following operators now support only a
  tuple type in all language interfaces:
  • set_scene_3d_instance_param: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • set_scene_3d_label_param: GenParamValue
  • add_metrology_object_circle_measure: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • add_metrology_object_ellipse_measure: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • add_metrology_object_generic: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • add_metrology_object_line_measure: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • add_metrology_object_rectangle2_measure: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • set_metrology_object_param: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • set_metrology_object_fuzzy_param: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • get_metrology_object_param: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • get_metrology_object_fuzzy_param: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • get_metrology_object_result: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • select_feature_set_trainf_knn: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • select_feature_set_trainf_mlp: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • select_feature_set_trainf_mlp_protected: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • select_feature_set_trainf_svm: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • select_feature_set_trainf_svm_protected: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • get_object_model_3d_params: GenParamName
  • prepare_object_model_3d: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • register_object_model_3d_global: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • sample_object_model_3d: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • simplify_object_model_3d: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • triangulate_object_model_3d: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • smooth_object_model_3d: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • surface_normals_object_model_3d: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • segment_object_model_3d: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • fit_primitives_object_model_3d: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • set_bar_code_param_specific: GenParamValue
  • optimize_aop: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • enqueue_message: GenParamName,GenParamValue
• disparity_image_to_xyz is now also a member of class HImage in HALCON/C++.
• HALCON/C++ (but not HALCON/C++ (Legacy)) has been extended with a class HCamPar that encapsulates internal camera parameters. Note that this change affects the compatibility. Read more.
• All classes in HALCON/C++ that encapsulate a tuple (e.g., HHomMat2D, HHomMat3D, or HPose), except for HFunction1D, now have a constructor from HTuple that copies the tuple into the internal tuple encapsulated in the respective class. For HFunction1D, the behavior of the existing tuple constructor is unchanged: it results in a call to CreateFunct1dArray.

• The members Width and Height of HImage of the HALCON/C++ language interface were missing the const qualifier. This problem has been fixed.
• HALCON/C++ might have crashed if a single string value was assigned to multiple indices of an HTuple instance. This problem has been fixed.
• The HALCON/C++ language interface had a memory leak if NULL was passed as pointer to a HalconCpp::HTuple. This problem has been fixed.
• The HALCON/C++ language interface in very rare cases had a memory leak when an exception was thrown. This problem has been fixed.
• The class HComputeDevice did not provide a method for the deactivate_compute_device operator in the language interfaces HALCON/C++ and HALCON/.NET. This problem has been fixed.
• In HALCON/C++ and HALCON/.NET indexing an empty tuple with an empty index raised an exception. This problem has been fixed.

• A warning is raised when compiling projects that use the HALCON/C++ (legacy) interface, i.e., projects that include the file cpp/HALCONCpp.h. This warning mentions the planned discontinuation of the HALCON/C++ (legacy) interface.

• Some operators were hard to use in the object-oriented language
  interfaces HALCON/C++ and HALCON/.NET. These operators did not offer
  a suitable signature for their class method variant. In particular,
  it was impossible to pass a multivalue control parameter (e.g., for
  generic parameters) when using a single pose, although it would make
  sense for the operator. For a better usability, the listed input
  control parameters of the following operators now support only a
  tuple type in all language interfaces:
  • set_scene_3d_instance_param: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • set_scene_3d_label_param: GenParamValue
  • add_metrology_object_circle_measure: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • add_metrology_object_ellipse_measure: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • add_metrology_object_generic: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • add_metrology_object_line_measure: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • add_metrology_object_rectangle2_measure: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • set_metrology_object_param: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • set_metrology_object_fuzzy_param: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • get_metrology_object_param: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • get_metrology_object_fuzzy_param: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • get_metrology_object_result: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • select_feature_set_trainf_knn: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • select_feature_set_trainf_mlp: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • select_feature_set_trainf_mlp_protected: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • select_feature_set_trainf_svm: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • select_feature_set_trainf_svm_protected: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • get_object_model_3d_params: GenParamName
  • prepare_object_model_3d: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • register_object_model_3d_global: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • sample_object_model_3d: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • simplify_object_model_3d: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • triangulate_object_model_3d: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • smooth_object_model_3d: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • surface_normals_object_model_3d: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • segment_object_model_3d: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • fit_primitives_object_model_3d: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • set_bar_code_param_specific: GenParamValue
  • optimize_aop: GenParamName,GenParamValue
  • enqueue_message: GenParamName,GenParamValue
• disparity_image_to_xyz is now also a member of class HImage in HALCON/.NET.
• HALCON/.NET has been extended with a class HCamPar that encapsulates internal camera parameters. Note that this change affects the compatibility. Read more.

• HWindowControlWPF offers a property ImagePart to set the part on the HALCON window. The type of this property was System.Windows.Thickness, which was confusing. Therefore, the type has been changed to System.Windows.Rect.
  Additionally, the ImagePart property of HWindowControlWPF and HWindowControl was not updated when the displayed image part was changed directly on the window. To fix this problem, the get method of the ImagePart property has been changed.
  Furthermore, HWindowControl did not update the stored image part before reopening a window due to a change in the parent. This problem has been fixed as well. Note that this change affects the compatibility. Read more.
• A NULL pointer exception was generated if a HWindowControlWPF window was located inside a TabControl with multiple pages and this was not the default tab page. This problem has been fixed.
• set_window_extents did not check possible errors when retrieving the dimensions of the bounding rectangle of the specified window. This problem has been fixed, Now, the error 5154 ("Wrong values for image area") is returned in case of a failure.
• Raising user defined exceptions did not work correctly in the HALCON/.NET language interface when the exception tuple did not contain a string at index 1. This problem has been fixed.
• The class HComputeDevice did not provide a method for the deactivate_compute_device operator in the language interfaces HALCON/C++ and HALCON/.NET. This problem has been fixed.
• The HALCON/.NET language interface ignored the 'filename_encoding' parameter of set_system to pass utf8 encoded character strings. This problem has been fixed.
• In HALCON/C++ and HALCON/.NET indexing an empty tuple with an empty index raised an exception. This problem has been fixed.
• C# code that was generated by the HDevelop automatic code export using multiple threads crashed when running in a 32-bit Windows runtime environment. This problem has been fixed.

• disparity_image_to_xyz is now also a member of class HImage in HALCON/COM.
• HALCON/COM has been extended with a class HCamParX that groups all functionality relating to internal camera parameters, but does not encapsulate internal camera parameters. Note that this change affects the compatibility. Read more.

• In the C# example DrawingObjectsWPF, the reference to System.Drawing could not be resolved if the .NET Framework 3.5 was not available. This problem has been fixed. An explicit reference to System.Drawing has been added to the example project.
• In the C# example DrawingObjectsWPF, an exception of type System.AccessViolationException was thrown when attaching a drawing object through the pop up menu that appears on a right mouse click within the HSmartWindowControl, respectively the HWindowControl. This problem has been fixed.

• The usability of the installation of the HALCON Variable Inspect extension for Visual Studio has been improved. The installation had to be made manually. Now, you only have to select the corresponding checkbox in the HALCON installer.
• The HALCON Variable Inspect extension for Visual Studio has been overhauled. The following main improvements have been made:
  • A new watch list has been added, which enables to select only the desired variables for the inspection.
    • Local and global variables can be added to and removed from the watch list.
    • Variables can be added to the watch list via drag&drop.
  • A new mode for visualizing objects has been added, allowing to visualize only the last selected HALCON object.
  • Data can be retrieved in the background.
  • It is now possible to switch between a horizontal or vertical layout.
  • The sorting of the variables is now possible by clicking on a heading.
  The Programmer's Guide has been adapted accordingly.
  Note that the HALCON Variable Inspect extension for Visual Studio supports only Visual Studio Version 2013 and 2015. Visual Studio versions below 2013 are no longer supported.
  Additionally, native 64-bit data types, e.g., int8 images, are not supported.
  Furthermore, HALCON Variable Inspect is based on 32-bit HALCON XL, thus it has the same restrictions. Note that this change affects the compatibility. Read more.

• The HALCON Variable Inspect extension for Visual Studio could not display large images, because the reading failed, even if enough memory was available. This problem has been fixed.
• The HALCON Variable Inspect extension for Visual Studio did not correctly scale real images in gray values. This problem has been fixed

• The entry page of the HALCON Operator Reference has been renamed from table_of_contents.html to index.html. This change also applies to the documentation of extension packages. The documentation has been adapted accordingly.
• HALCON now exports functions that allow extension packages and image acquisition interfaces to create and manage 3D object models.
• The reference manual now provides overview information for selected chapters. The corresponding technical mechanism is available also for extension packages.

• The HALCON compiler hcomp crashed when the slot 'default_value' of a parameter in the operator description of a def-file was defined in an invalid way. This problem has been fixed.
• Extension packages with parallelization methods but no iconic input parameters crashed. This problem has been fixed. Now, hcomp throws an error for invalid parallelization methods.
• HALCON no longer defines the constants MIN_COLUMN, MAX_COLUMN, MIN_LINE, and MAX_LINE in HConst.h. Note that this change affects the compatibility. Read more.

• The hbench reference values relate to new reference platforms, in particular to the cpu platform 'Intel Atom x5 Z8350' and the gpu platform 'NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970', respectively. Additionally, the default image size has been scaled up to 1280x1024 pixels. Because of this, the benchmark values of hbench are not comparable to values of previous HALCON hbench versions. Note that this change affects the compatibility. Read more.

• The following image acquisition interface is now legacy:
  • 1394IIDC
  The following image acquisition interfaces are no longer supported:
  • 1394IIDC-2
  • Argos3D-P1xx
  • INSPECTA
  • p3i2
  • PcEyeCL
  • OpenNI
  • SwissRanger
  Accordingly, the corresponding HDevelop example programs have been removed.

• The revision numbers of HALCON's image acquisition and digital I/O interfaces follow a new format consisting of three digits: <HALCON major number>.<HALCON minor number>.<interface revision number>.
• The Image Acquisition Assistant's Parameters view now shows buttons for all parameters of '<parameter>_type' 'Command' independently from the setting of their '<parameter>_access'.

New Image Acquisition Example Programs

The following HDevelop example programs have been added:

Removed Image Acquisition Example Programs

The following HDevelop example programs have been removed:

• The revision numbers of HALCON's image acquisition and digital I/O interfaces follow a new format consisting of three digits: <HALCON major number>.<HALCON minor number>.<interface revision number>.

• The Programmer's Guide contains important information about program design issues for parallel programming, e.g., the information, that before calling HALCON operators in parallel in a multithreaded program, you have to call one operator exclusively to allow HALCON to initialize its internal data structures. The section containing this information has been renamed from 'Style Guide' to 'Program Design Issues for Parallelization' to make the importance of the section's content more obvious and to enhance the search for the corresponding information.
• The HALCON Variable Inspect extension for Visual Studio has been overhauled. The following main improvements have been made:
  • A new watch list has been added, which enables to select only the desired variables for the inspection.
    • Local and global variables can be added to and removed from the watch list.
    • Variables can be added to the watch list via drag&drop.
  • A new mode for visualizing objects has been added, allowing to visualize only the last selected HALCON object.
  • Data can be retrieved in the background.
  • It is now possible to switch between a horizontal or vertical layout.
  • The sorting of the variables is now possible by clicking on a heading.
  The Programmer's Guide has been adapted accordingly.
  Note that the HALCON Variable Inspect extension for Visual Studio supports only Visual Studio Version 2013 and 2015. Visual Studio versions below 2013 are no longer supported.
  Additionally, native 64-bit data types, e.g., int8 images, are not supported.
  Furthermore, HALCON Variable Inspect is based on 32-bit HALCON XL, thus it has the same restrictions. Note that this change affects the compatibility. Read more.

• The values provided for some parameters of the following operators were incorrectly classified as value_list (meaning that only these values are allowed) instead of values (meaning that they are given just exemplarily).
  • add_sample_identifier_preparation_data
  • add_sample_identifier_training_data
  • adjust_mosaic_images
  • apply_sample_identifier
  • best_match_mg
  • best_match_pre_mg
  • best_match_rot_mg
  • binocular_distance
  • bit_mask
  • clip_end_points_contours_xld
  • compare_obj
  • connection_object_model_3d
  • corner_response
  • create_bead_inspection_model
  • create_sample_identifier
  • create_sheet_of_light_model
  • deviation_image
  • disp_channel
  • dump_window
  • entropy_image
  • exhaustive_match_mg
  • fast_match_mg
  • find_aniso_shape_model
  • find_aniso_shape_models
  • find_caltab
  • find_component_model
  • find_marks_and_pose
  • find_scaled_shape_model
  • find_scaled_shape_models
  • find_shape_model
  • find_shape_models
  • fit_circle_contour_xld
  • fit_ellipse_contour_xld
  • fit_line_contour_xld
  • fit_rectangle2_contour_xld
  • gen_bandfilter
  • gen_bandpass
  • gen_binocular_proj_rectification
  • gen_derivative_filter
  • gen_filter_mask
  • gen_gabor
  • gen_gauss_filter
  • gen_highpass
  • gen_lowpass
  • gen_mean_filter
  • gen_parallel_contour_xld
  • gen_region_histo
  • gen_sin_bandpass
  • gen_std_bandpass
  • gray_histo_abs
  • merge_cont_line_scan_xld
  • points_lepetit
  • pose_average
  • quat_interpolate
  • refine_surface_model_pose
  • remove_sample_identifier_preparation_data
  • remove_sample_identifier_training_data
  • select_object_model_3d
  • set_bead_inspection_param
  • set_deformable_model_param
  • set_distance_transform_xld_param
  • set_fuzzy_measure_norm_pair
  • set_message_queue_param
  • set_params_class_knn
  • set_sample_identifier_object_info
  • set_sample_identifier_param
  • set_sheet_of_light_param
  • texture_laws
  • train_class_knn
  • trainf_ocr_class_knn
  • write_image
  This problem has been fixed. Note that this can mean that an operator call of get_param_info now returns an empty tuple if an affected parameter is queried with 'Slot' = 'value_list'.
• The reference manual entries of the following operators contained code snippets with typos or uninitialized variables:
  • affine_trans_image,
  • bottom_hat,
  • camera_calibration,
  • close_bg_esti,
  • close_file,
  • create_bg_esti,
  • create_camera_setup_model,
  • create_ocr_class_knn,
  • create_ocr_class_mlp,
  • create_ocr_class_svm,
  • find_caltab,
  • find_marks_and_pose,
  • fit_ellipse_contour_xld,
  • get_bg_esti_params,
  • run_bg_esti, and
  • write_cam_par
  These problems have been fixed.
• Various reference manual entries have been adapted to the improved multiview stereo surface reconstruction. Note that this change affects the compatibility. Read more.
• The code snippets in the reference manual entries of
  • binocular_distance,
  • binocular_disparity,
  • gen_binocular_rectification_map,
  • get_rectangle_pose,
  • convert_pose_type,
  • create_pose,
  • get_line_of_sight, and
  • project_3d_point
  unnecessarily tried to read camera parameters or poses from non-existing files. This problem has been fixed. Now, these parameters are set explicitly.
• The reference manual entry of calibrate_cameras has been restructured such that the information, which of the internal camera parameters are estimated and which remain unchanged during the camera calibration, is more noticeable.
• The reference manual entries of calibrate_hand_eye and hand_eye_calibration stated that for SCARA robots the amount of rotation between the calibration object poses is not essential. This problem has been fixed.
• The reference manual entries of
  • create_aniso_shape_model,
  • create_aniso_shape_model_xld,
  • create_planar_uncalib_deformable_model,
  • create_planar_uncalib_deformable_model_xld,
  • create_scaled_shape_model,
  • create_scaled_shape_model_xld,
  • create_shape_model,
  • create_shape_model_xld,
  • find_aniso_shape_model,
  • find_aniso_shape_models,
  • find_scaled_shape_model,
  • find_scaled_shape_models,
  • find_shape_model,
  • find_shape_models,
  • find_ncc_model, and
  • find_planar_uncalib_deformable_model
  have been restructured for better usability.
• The reference manual entry of create_drawing_object_xld missed the information about how to delete a contour point. This problem has been fixed.
• The parameters AngleStart, AngleExtent, ScaleCMax, and ScaleRMax are not used by the operators
  • create_local_deformable_model,
  • create_local_deformable_model_xld,
  • create_planar_calib_deformable_model,
  • create_planar_calib_deformable_model_xld,
  • create_planar_uncalib_deformable_model, and
  • create_planar_uncalib_deformable_model_xld.
  Instead, these parameters have to be set while searching for the models. The operators now use empty input tuples for these parameters. The according reference manual entries and the Solution Guide on Matching have been adapted accordingly. Additionally, the documentation regarding the parameters ScaleCMin and ScaleRMin has been improved. Note that this change affects the compatibility. Read more.
• The reference manual entries of
  • create_local_deformable_model_xld,
  • create_planar_uncalib_deformable_model_xld,
  • create_aniso_shape_model_xld, and
  • create_scaled_shape_model_xld
  did not describe exactly that the origin (reference point) of the model is the center of gravity of the smallest surrounding rectangle of the Contours that is parallel to the coordinate axes. This problem has been fixed.
• Within the reference manual, the concept of 2D metrology has been moved from the operator description of create_metrology_model to the introduction of the chapter 2D Metrology.
• Within the reference manual, the concept of sample-based identification has been moved from the operator description of create_sample_identifier to the introduction of the chapter Identification / Sample-Based.
• The reference manual entries of
  • create_scaled_shape_model,
  • create_scaled_shape_model_xld,
  • create_aniso_shape_model, and
  • create_aniso_shape_model_xld
  erroneously stated that the range of possible scale ranges is adapted to ensure that for model instances that are not scaled, a scaling value of 0.0 is returned. Actually, the scaling value for a model instance that is not scaled is 1.0. This problem has been fixed.
• The reference manual entries of
  • create_shape_model,
  • create_scaled_shape_model,
  • create_aniso_shape_model,
  • create_shape_model_xld,
  • create_scaled_shape_model_xld, and
  • create_aniso_shape_model_xld
  did not mention that pregenerated shape models can not be used in multiple threads with different image sizes. This problem has been fixed.
• The reference manual entry of get_tposition has been adapted. It now clearly states that the position it returns is given in the image coordinate system. This adaptation took place in the context of the improved visualization. Note that this change affects the compatibility. Read more.
• The reference manual entries of
  • do_ocr_single_class_mlp,
  • do_ocr_multi_class_mlp, and
  • do_ocr_word_mlp,
  now clearly describe the meaning of the classification result '\x1A', which stands for the rejection class.
• The reference manual entries of do_ocr_word_mlp and do_ocr_word_svm erroneously linked to the respective do_ocr_multi_class_* operators instead of the do_ocr_word_* operators within the result sections. This problem has been fixed.
• The reference manual entries of
  • find_aniso_shape_model,
  • find_aniso_shape_models,
  • find_ncc_model,
  • find_ncc_models,
  • find_scaled_shape_model,
  • find_scaled_shape_models,
  • find_shape_model, and
  • find_shape_models
  now contain a hint that sometimes the automatic estimation of pyramid levels with the appropriate create_* operators is too 'aggressive', leading to a too high value for NumLevels, which may lead to some matches not being found. This can be counteracted by using a slightly lower value for NumLevels.
• The reference manual entries of
  • find_component_model
  • find_planar_uncalib_deformable_model
  • find_shape_model
  • find_shape_models
  • find_scaled_shape_model
  • find_scaled_shape_models
  • find_aniso_shape_model
  • find_aniso_shape_models
  did not specify exactly how the parameter NumMatches influences the tracking of instances in the image pyramid levels. This problem has been fixed.
• The reference manual now provides overview information for selected chapters. The corresponding technical mechanism is available also for extension packages.
• The reference manual entry of fread_line incorrectly stated that the length of the read string is restricted to 1024 characters. This problem has been fixed. The respective statement has been removed from the documentation.
• The English and Japanese reference manual entries of gen_arbitrary_distortion_map, gen_radial_distortion_map, gen_grid_rectification_map, gen_image_to_world_plane_map, and gen_binocular_rectification_map mentioned an incorrect value for the parameter MapType. This problem has been fixed. Now, they mention the correct value 'coord_map_sub_pix' instead of the wrong value 'coordinate_map_sub_pix'.
• The reference manual entries of gen_circle_sector and gen_ellipse_sector suggested negative values for the parameters StartAngle and EndAngle although these values must lie in the range [0, 2*PI]. This problem has been fixed.
• The reference manual entry of get_bar_code_result did not describe the parameter 'element_size'. Additionally, the documentation of the parameters 'element_size_min' and 'element_size_max' within the reference manual entry of set_bar_code_param needed improvement. These problems have been fixed.
• Within the reference manual, the introduction of the chapter Tuple / String Operations has been extended by some general information related to the storage and procession of strings as bytes, including the influence of the used encoding. The reference manual entries of the operators that are contained in this chapter as well as those for
  • get_bar_code_result,
  • get_data_code_2d_results,
  • tuple_ord,
  • tuple_ords,
  • tuple_chr,
  • tuple_chrt,
  • write_funct_1d, and
  • write_tuple
  have been extended by links to this information.
• The reference manual entry of get_calib_data has been extended by tables that show how the calibration data model is filled with content during the different steps of camera calibration and hand-eye calibration. Additionally, the tables list the parameter values that are needed to query the specific data with get_calib_data in a clearly arranged way. The reference manual entry of set_calib_data has been extended by a link to this new overview and some minor improvements.
• The reference manual entry of get_metrology_object_num_instances has been extended by information about the default value for the maximum number of instances for each metrology object.
• moments_region_2nd_rel_invar calculated the output parameter PHI2 incorrectly. This led also to a wrong formular in the corresponding reference manual entry. These problems have been fixed.
• Within the reference manual entry of photometric_stereo the description of the slant angle (Slants) was erroneous. It stated that the slant angle is the angle between the object plane, which lies orthogonal to the optical axis of the camera, and the direction of the illumination. Instead, the slant angle is the angle between the optical axis of the camera and the direction of the illumination. Additionally, according to the erroneous reference manual entry, the HDevelop example program
  • hdevelop/Applications/Surface_inspection/determine_tilt_slant_photometric_stereo.hdev
  used the wrong slant angles. These problems have been fixed. Furthermore, the reference manual entry of photometric_stereo has been extended with images to visualize the parameters Slants and Tilts.
• The reference manual entries of
  • query_color,
  • query_all_colors,
  • query_gray,
  • set_colored, and
  • set_gray
  referred to undocumented functionality of set_system. This problem has been fixed.
• The reference manual entries of serialize_quat and deserialize_quat incorrectly described the parameter Quaternion as a handle although this parameter is a tuple. This problem has been fixed.
• Within the reference manual entry of set_bar_code_param, the descriptions of the parameters 'element_size_min' and 'element_size_max' were erroneous, as the size is not related to the maximal width of a bar or space but to the maximal width of the base bar code element, i.e., the narrowest bar or space for the specific bar code type (also called 'module' or 'narrow bar'). This problem has been fixed.
• The German reference manual entry of set_scene_3d_param was missing a link to the reference manual entry of set_scene_3d_instance_param, which explains all the mutual parameters. This problem has been fixed.
• Within the reference manual entry of set_system, the motivation for the system parameter 'init_new_image' was not clear enough. This problem has been fixed.
  
• In the reference manual entry of union_cotangential_contours_xld, the illustrations of MaxOverlap and MaxDistPerp were wrong. In the reference manual entry of union_collinear_contours_ext_xld, the illustration of MaxOverlap was wrong. These problems have been fixed.
• Various reference manual entries have been adapted to the changes related to camera parameters. Note that this change affects the compatibility. Read more.
• The entry page of the HALCON Operator Reference has been renamed from table_of_contents.html to index.html. This change also applies to the documentation of extension packages. The documentation has been adapted accordingly.
• The consistency of operator interfaces has been improved. The names of generic parameters were sometimes GenParamName and GenParamValue, GenParamNames and GenParamValues, ParamName and ParamValue, or ParamNames and ParamValues. Now, these parameters are consistently called GenParamName and GenParamValue.
• Within the reference manual, the introduction of the chapter Data Code has been extended with general information related to 2D data codes, including a description of the basic concept of reading 2D data codes in HALCON.
• Within the reference manual, the introduction of the chapter Filters has been extended with information about the behavior of filter operators when an image with a reduced domain is used as input, and with some hints what to consider when multiple filters are applied consecutively. Note that parts of this information were previously described in the Solution Guide Basics.
• Within the reference manual, the introduction of the chapter 1D Measuring has been extended with general information related to 1D measuring, e.g., a description of the basic concept.
• Within the reference manual, the introduction of the chapter Object has been extended with general information related to the available iconic objects.

• The Solution Guide on 3D Vision has been adapted to the changes related to camera parameters. Note that this change affects the compatibility. Read more.
• The documentation of compute devices within the Solution Guide Basics stated that a compute device can only be used in a single thread. Actually, a compute device can be used in different threads if for each thread the compute device is opened anew so that different compute device handles are used. However, the different threads using the same compute device must not try to access the same image object. This problem has been fixed. The documentation has been extended accordingly.
• The parameters AngleStart, AngleExtent, ScaleCMax, and ScaleRMax are not used by the operators
  • create_local_deformable_model,
  • create_local_deformable_model_xld,
  • create_planar_calib_deformable_model,
  • create_planar_calib_deformable_model_xld,
  • create_planar_uncalib_deformable_model, and
  • create_planar_uncalib_deformable_model_xld.
  Instead, these parameters have to be set while searching for the models. The operators now use empty input tuples for these parameters. The according reference manual entries and the Solution Guide on Matching have been adapted accordingly. Additionally, the documentation regarding the parameters ScaleCMin and ScaleRMin has been improved. Note that this change affects the compatibility. Read more.
• The Solution Guide on 3D Vision has been adapted to the improved multiview stereo surface reconstruction. Note that this change affects the compatibility. Read more.

• The documentation of the Calibration Assistant within the HDevelop User's Guide has been adapted to the changes related to camera parameters. Note that this change affects the compatibility. Read more.
• The HDevelop User's Guide has been extended by information concerning the different behavior of HDevelop and exported code when accessing uninitialized elements of a tuple or a vector.
• The HALCON runtime installer features a silent installation mode, which has previously been described on the download page. The corresponding information has since been moved to the Installation Guide.
• Floating licenses are no longer supported. The Installation Guide has been adapted accordingly.
  
• The HDevelop User's Guide has been extended by a section "Unset Output Parameters in Procedures", which contains a warning that HDevelop and exported code can behave differently regarding the values of uninitialized output parameters of procedures.
• HALCON has been extended with a technical note "Parallel Programming (HDevelop)" that describes the most common parallelization concepts, guides you through the relevant information in the different manuals, and provides a short glossary to explain terms often used when dealing with parallelization.

• The usability of the installation of the HALCON Variable Inspect extension for Visual Studio has been improved. The installation had to be made manually. Now, you only have to select the corresponding checkbox in the HALCON installer.
• The entry page of the HALCON Operator Reference has been renamed from table_of_contents.html to index.html. This change also applies to the documentation of extension packages. The documentation has been adapted accordingly.
• The following image acquisition interface is now legacy:
  • 1394IIDC
  The following image acquisition interfaces are no longer supported:
  • 1394IIDC-2
  • Argos3D-P1xx
  • INSPECTA
  • p3i2
  • PcEyeCL
  • OpenNI
  • SwissRanger
  Accordingly, the corresponding HDevelop example programs have been removed.
• The HALCON Installer for Windows has been updated and now installs the Visual C++ Redistributable Packages für Visual Studio 2013.

• Floating licenses are no longer supported. The Installation Guide has been adapted accordingly.
  
• The HALCON licensing has been improved. It is no longer necessary to install special drivers for dongle based licensing. Now, HALCON exclusively uses HALCON CodeMeter dongles for dongle based licensing. Thus, FLEXid dongles are no longer supported. Additionally, in compliance with the EULA, HALCON now only supports MAC based licenses bound to universally administered, permanent MAC addresses. Locally administered MAC addresses are rejected.
  A new tool called 'hhostid' is available to display all supported hostids and replaces the former 'lmhostid'. Please note that especially in case of a license upgrade it might be necessary to request a new license if the used hostid is not suitable anymore. Note that this change affects the compatibility. Read more.

• The legacy HALCON Codelets have been removed from HALCON.
• The HALCON language interfaces supported a hom_mat3d array signature for the parameter of the operator projective_trans_object_model_3d, although projective_trans_object_model_3d does not support transformations for multiple projective transformation matrices. This problem has been fixed. Now, the HALCON language interfaces do not support a hom_mat3d array signature for the parameter of the operator projective_trans_object_model_3d anymore. Note that this change affects the compatibility. Read more.