Trigger Cognex with Pro-Face LT-4000 over TCP

Anyone ever control a Cognex camera with a Pro-Face HMI? I can get communication between the two (i.e. read/write to cells on the Cognex) but I have not figured out how to trigger the camera. Thought maybe someone on here had done it before.

Thanks!

What kind of Cognex camera are you using? When you say "read/write to cells on the Cognex" are you referring to the In-Sight software?

I have 3 different cameras that I'm using, a IS5705, IS7802, & IS-2000M, all are supposed to talk the same way from what I understand.

Yeah, I mean when I'm in the Insight software on the Spreadsheet side, I can change values in given cells that I'm referencing on the Proface and I can see them change, both directions (to/from Proface). So I thought I had read somewhere that to trigger the camera, I need to have a cell setup on the Insight side of things that I can toggle (or increment) the value of which relates to the triggering of the camera. I've just never done this and haven't stumbled into getting it to work yet.

Something to note, if the camera is offline, and "Manual" is ticked in the property sheet of cell A0, you should be able to press F5 to acquire an image. While online, you can't generally modify the cells in Explorer. Mentioning that you could change the cells and see the values updating on the HMI leads me to believe that the camera isn't "Online".

I don't have a camera handy to test this on, but I think you can set the Trigger value to a cell in the property settings of cell A0. If you double click on the "Trigger" text, or highlight the text and click on the leftmost icon under the menu screen, the cells with a dollar sign, you should be able to select a cell to monitor for the trigger. I don't remember what the cell needs to be to trigger this way though, it's been quite some time since I've worked with In-Sight Explorer.

I don't know that I'm following everything you're saying, but a question I have to follow-up is, will I need to be online to acquire photos and retrieve cell data to compare with tolerances if I store all of that stuff on the Proface side? From what I see, even Offline, when I trigger the camera with an F5 through Insight, all of the Spreadsheet numbers update. And when they do, I can see them on the Proface side, so do I need to be Online? What would be the different for Online vs. Offline?

In order to trigger the camera automatically, yes you need to be online. While offline, triggering the camera via F5 allows all of the data to update and an image to be acquired, but only that one time. The camera and interface are still communicating even though the camera is offline. If you put the camera online, you should see a real-time image through the camera, and all of your data should update in real-time.

Going offline is required to make changes to any of the formulas or functions you use. It is basically program mode, with the ability to capture images to train function like PatMax or Find Circle. Going online will execute the programming in the cells, but you can not make adjustments to many of the functions while online. Think of it like online/offline like play/pause.