USB3 Vision driver for Matlab, .NET, VB, C#, C++, Delphi, Java, OpenCV

Frequently Asked Questions

I have a USB3 Vision™ compatible camera, but I couldn't find it in your compatibility list. Will ActiveUSB work with my camera?
I have a camera with a USB3 interface. Can I use ActiveUSB with it?
ActiveUSB reports 'No USB3 Vision camera found' even though my USB3 Vision™ camera is plugged and powered up. What is wrong?
ActiveUSB sees the camera, but no video is displayed or the video is corrupted. What is wrong?
ActiveUSB installation fails with the following error: 'ActiveUSB.dll failed to register, HRESULT -2147024770'. What to do?
How do I use multiple cameras at the same time?
Can I use two ActiveUSB controls to acquire two video streams from the same camera?
My camera has a few proprietary features which are not shown in the GenICam tree. Is there any way to control these features with ActiveUSB?
I am trying to run your sample applications, and some of them do not work. Does this mean ActiveUSB is not compatible with my camera?
ActiveUSB folder contains code samples in VB, C++, C#, Delphi, HTML, Matlab, but I am programming in Java. Can I still use your ActiveX control?
I like the way ActiveUSB's property pages look and I want to use them to control the properties of my camera in runtime. How can open your property pages from my application?
Will ActiveUSB preserve high-bit depth information while saving 10-, 12-, 14- and 16-bpp images into files?
Can I display a live camera image in my PictureBox control?
Can I use ActiveUSB as a plain C SDK? I don't want to deal with ActiveX visual objects and MFC, and I would like to display images and control a camera by myself.
Is there any way to integrate ActiveUSB into my Sun Java runtime environment (JRE)?
Can I combine ActiveUSB with Euresys Imaging Library or any other image processing SDK?
Do I have to purchase the Image Acquisition Toolbox from Mathworks to use USB3 Vision cameras in Matlab?
What are the limitations of the Trial version?
Can I purchase a run-time license and use it without development license?
How many cameras are covered by one runtime license?
I have read both the documentation and FAQ, and I still have a question. What should I do?

1. I have a USB3 Vision™ compatible camera, but I couldn't find it in your compatibility list. Will ActiveUSB work with my camera? ActiveUSB is designed to work with any digital camera that complies with USB3 Vision Camera Interface Standard for Machine Vision, v 1.0 and higher.

2. I have a camera with a USB3 interface. Can I use ActiveUSB with it? Ask the manufacturer of the camera about USB3 Vision compliance or look for the USB3 Vision logo. Certain USB3 cameras only have a physical USB3 connection and they are not compliant with USB3 Vision™ Specifications.

3. ActiveUSB reports 'No USB3 Vision camera found' even though my USB3 Vision™ camera is plugged and powered up. What is wrong? Most likely your hardware configuration is not correct. Make sure you are able to run a viewer provided by the camera manufacturer.

4. ActiveUSB sees the camera, but no video is displayed or the video is corrupted. What is wrong? Your USB3 adapter may have an insufficent bandwidth or may be incompatible with your camera. Try to run a viewer provided by the camera manufacturer. If it shows the same problem, contact the camera manufacturer for a recommended solution.

5. ActiveUSB installation fails with the following error: 'ActiveUSB.dll failed to register, HRESULT -2147024770'. What to do? Your operating system does not contain Runtimes components of Visual C++ 2005 required by ActiveUSB. Install Microsoft's VC++ 2005 Redistributable Package, then run ActiveUSB installation again.

6. How do I use multiple cameras at the same time? You should create two separate ActiveUSB objects and configure each for a different camera. Run our MultiUcam sample application to see video from multiple cameras. The easiest way to connect several cameras to your computer is using a USB3 hub

7. Can I use two ActiveUSB controls to acquire two video streams from the same camera? No, you can not. Once the acquisition is turned on, an ActiveUSB object takes an exclusive ownership over a camera and cannot share it with another ActiveUSB object.

8. My camera has a few proprietary features which are not shown in the GenICam tree. Is there any way to control these features with ActiveUSB? You can do it by using a direct access to USB3 Vision™ registers. Non-standard features of your camera are typically associated with certain registers of the USB3™ address space. The manufacturer should provide you with the specific information on the register address and data bit structure for each proprietary feature. Use ReadRegister and WriteRegister methods of ActiveDcam to control these features from your application.

9. I am trying to run your sample applications, and some of them do not work. Does this mean ActiveUSB is not compatible with my camera? No, it does not. Sample applications assume a presence of certain components (like .NET framework). If your system doesn't expose them, some sample executables might not work.

10. ActiveUSB folder contains code samples in VB, C++, C#, Delphi, HTML, Matlab, but I am programming in Java. Can I still use your ActiveX control? You can use ActiveUSB in any COM-aware environment. Our customers successfully integrated ActiveUSB into Java, GE Fanuc, Python and other applications. If you do not have any programming environment, you can simply insert ActiveUSB object into a Word or PowerPoint document and have live video from your camera embedded into your presentation.

11. I like the way ActiveUSB's property pages look and I want to use them to control the properties of my camera in runtime. How can open your property pages from my application? You can do it by calling ShowProperties method in runtime.

12. Will ActiveUSB preserve high-bit depth information while saving 10-, 12-, 14- and 16-bpp images into files? Yes it will, but you have to use the TIF format.

13. Can I display a live camera image in my PictureBox control? ActiveUSB offers the GetPicture method that allows you to display an acquired image in standard graphic controls.

14. Can I use ActiveUSB as a plain C SDK? I don't want to deal with ActiveX visual objects and MFC, and I would like to display images and control a camera by myself. Yes, you can. The sample code of UcamWin application demonstrates how to do it.

15. Is there any way to integrate ActiveUSB into my Sun Java runtime environment (JRE)? Yes there is. EZ JCom provides an easy bridge between Java and COM/ActiveX. Our customers also reported succesfull integrations using JACOB and JacoZoom.

16. Can I combine ActiveUSB with Euresys Imaging Library or any other image processing SDK? ActiveUSB can be used in combination with any image processing environment, such as MIL, LabView, Euresys, Sapera, OpenCV, Matlab. Just use one of ActiveUSB's image access methods (GetImageData, GetImagePointer) and use acquired frames as input data for Euresys functions.

17. Do I have to purchase the Image Acquisition Toolbox from Mathworks to use USB3 Vision cameras in Matlab? No, you don't. ActiveUSB provides a direct interface to Matlab environment out-of-the-box.

18. What are the limitations of the Trial version? The trial version is fully functional for 21 days. It displays an embedded logo ActiveUSB Demo, which makes it consume more CPU power, but otherwise it supports all the functions of the commercial release.

19. Can I purchase a run-time license and use it without development license? No. You need a development license to develop your applications, and you need run-time licenses to run your applications. Our basic development license comes with two run-time licenses, allowing you to run your applications on a development machine and deploy them to another machine. If you do not intend to perform any development and only plan to use ActiveUSB drivers and sample applications, you still need to acquire our development license unless you are using a third-party ActiveUSB-based application.

20. How many cameras are covered by one runtime license? One runtime license covers one camera. Additional runtime licenses are required for working with multiple cameras.

21. I have read both the documentation and FAQ, and I still have a question. What should I do? E-mail to us at support@ab-soft.com. We will make the best effort to answer your questions within a few hours.