MVTEC MERLIC 5.5.0 x64-linux完整版和运行版的扩展MERLIC 5.5.0 Communicator SDK

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MVTEC MERLIC 5.5.0 x64-linux完整版和运行版的扩展MERLIC 5.5.0 Communicator SDK

文件名: merlic-5.5.0-x64-linux_communicator-sdk.tar.gz
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MERLIC 5.5 的最新功能
在新版本中，我们延续了 MERLIC 的既定路线——简单的流程集成与强大的机器视觉方法相结合。这就是为什么 MERLIC 5.5 再次包含一个界面，进一步简化 MERLIC 的流程集成。还将有令人兴奋的新功能，

最新改动？
为了改进流程集成，开发了一种新的 TCP 套接字插件，可以与不支持复杂协议的设备进行基于文本的通信。 新技术包括用于对大量物体进行计数的基于深度学习的深度计数方法，以及用于识别颜色的新工具。 另一个新功能“高动态范围（HDR）成像”可以处理高对比度差异并有效消除图像中曝光过度或曝光不足的区域。

新的 TCP 套接字插件

MERLIC 5.5 通过引入新的 TCP 套接字插件扩展了其连接功能。 该插件能够使用高度可定制的基于文本的协议。 用户现在可以配置特定的、简单的 ASCII 消息，其中仅包含与其应用程序相关的信息。 这些消息可以由不支持 OPC UA 等复杂协议的设备轻松处理。 该插件可以在 MERLIC 的 RTE（运行时环境）设置中轻松配置，为将 MERLIC 集成到现有系统提供了简单的解决方案。

深度学习计数 Deep Counting

MERLIC 5.5 中新的“深度学习计数”概念工具允许用户高效、准确地计数许多物体，同时检测它们的位置。 与其他基于深度学习的方法不同，该功能可以用最少的标记快速训练。 这简化了流程并显着提高了对象计数的效率，特别是在涉及可变形材料或散装货物的情况下。 同时，这也减少了通常与深度学习模型训练相关的时间和成本。

新的颜色识别工具

MERLIC 5.5 引入了一种处理颜色的新方法。 经过训练后，新的“识别颜色”概念工具就可以在各种条件下可靠地检测颜色。 用户甚至可以通过设置可接受偏差的特定阈值来进一步提高检测精度。

该概念工具非常适合多个应用组合，例如零件验证或选择、验证正确的电缆连接或确认正确电阻器的安装，有助于简化和增强质量控制流程。

高动态范围 (HDR) 成像

MERLIC 5.5 包含 HDR（高动态范围）成像的新方法。 此功能扩展了现有的“合并图像”工具，现在配备了 HDR 功能，可将不同曝光的图像合并为单个 HDR 图像。 此增强功能可确保处理高对比度差异，有效消除图像中曝光过度或曝光不足的区域。 因此，即使是最具挑战性的照明条件也可以准确地表示和分析。

这为各种应用开辟了新的可能性，包括反射表面的测量和增加图像的动态范围。


Release Notes for MERLIC 5.5.0

This document provides the release notes for MVTec MERLIC 5.5.0 , as released in March 2024 .

Contents

• Supported Operating Systems
• Major New Features
• Compatibility
• Image Source Manager
• Process Integration
• Communicator
• Interfaces for Process Integration
• MERLIC Creator
• MERLIC Designer
• MERLIC Frontend
• Tools
• Examples
• Documentation
• Licensing
• Miscellaneous
• Release Notes for Windows Systems Only
• Release Notes Linux Systems Only
• Known Issues
  

Supported Operating SystemsWindows

MERLIC 5.5.0 is available for Windows 10 (64-bit) or newer.

Please refer to the "Readme" in the MERLIC manual for more information about the system requirements.

Linux

MERLIC provides a test version for evaluating MERLIC RTE (Runtime Environment) for Linux on PC (Linux x86_64) and for Arm-based platforms (AArch64). This means that both embedded devices based on the widely used Arm architecture and Linux alternatives to the typical Windows operating system can now be tested for image processing with MERLIC. This is a first step towards making MERLIC available on additional platforms in the future.

Developing the MVApp is still done on a Windows system with the MERLIC Creator. The application can then be tested on the "new" systems using MERLIC RTE for Arm-based platforms and Linux. Cameras can be set up remotely with the help of MERLIC RTE Setup. The test version requires a specific license. Please contact MVTec to get more information about how to obtain this license.

MVTec appreciates any feedback on the test version. The feedback can be submitted on the MERLIC feedback website which can be accessed from the MERLIC Creator either via the feedback icon on the top right or via the "Help" menu.

Major New FeaturesNew TCP Socket Plug-in

MERLIC 5.5 extends its connectivity capabilities with the introduction of a new TCP socket plug-in. This plug-in features the ability to use a highly customizable, text-based protocol. Users can now configure specific, simple ASCII messages that contain only the information relevant to their application. These messages can be easily processed by devices that do not support complex protocols such as OPC UA. The plug-in can be easily configured within MERLIC’s RTE (Runtime Environment) Setup, providing a straightforward solution for integrating MERLIC into existing systems.

Deep Counting

The new "Count with Deep Learning" concept tool in MERLIC 5.5 allows users to count many objects efficiently and accurately while also detecting their positions. Unlike other deep-learning-based methods, this feature can be rapidly trained with minimal labeling. This streamlines the process and significantly boosts the efficiency of object counting, particularly in scenarios involving deformable materials or bulk goods. Simultaneously, this also reduces the time and cost typically associated with deep learning model training.

New Color Recognition Tool

MERLIC 5.5 introduces a new way to handle colors. After training, the new “Recognize Color” concept tool then enables the reliable detection of colors in various conditions. Users can even further refine detection accuracy by setting specific thresholds for acceptable deviations.

Ideal for a range of use cases, such as part verification or selection, verifying proper cable connections, or confirming the installation of the correct resistor, this concept tool helps streamline and enhance quality control processes.

High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging

MERLIC 5.5 includes new methods for HDR (High Dynamic Range) imaging. This feature extends the existing “Merge Images” tool, now equipped with HDR functionality, to combine images of varying exposures into a single HDR image. This enhancement ensures that high contrast differences are handled, effectively eliminating overexposed or underexposed areas in images. As a result, even the most challenging lighting conditions can be accurately represented and analyzed.

This opens up new possibilities for a variety of applications, including the measurement of reflective surfaces and increasing the dynamic range of an image.

Compatibility

Since the last MERLIC version we have been working hard to improve MERLIC in every way. This has, however, resulted in a few of incompatibilities. We apologize for the inconvenience.

• MERLIC Designer
  
  • Due to a fix for the "Table" Designer widget, existing MVApps using this widget in the Frontend design should be opened again to manually fix the table and cell dimensions and to save the MVApp again. More information.
    
  
  

• Miscellaneous
  
  • Due to the new underlying HALCON version, the behavior of existing custom tools might have changed since the last MERLIC version. Therefore, it is recommended to check the functionality of existing custom tools in this MERLIC version in addition to other required updates of the custom tools due to the revised interface for the tool development.
    Moreover, the new HALCON version uses a newer version of CUDA for Deep Learning on NVidia GPUs, which requires a newer minimum version of the graphics driver to work. If your CUDA-capable GPU is not available as a processing device in MERLIC's Deep Learning tools, you can try to update the GPU driver.
    Last but not least, the new CUDA version performs additional optimizations when first selecting a GPU as the processing device of a Deep Learning tool, which - depending on the capabilities of the GPU - may take significantly more time than before but usually leads to better inference performance, thus decreasing cycle times. If the increased loading times of MVApps containing Deep Learning tools are not acceptable for the application, these optimizations can be disabled by setting HalconDisableCudnnOptimization=true in the [General] section of the MERLIC .ini file. More information.
    
  
  

Image Source Manager

• New Features
  
  • The Image Source Manager (ISM) has been extended. When adding a device as an image source, it is now possible to disable the image acquisition for this device. This is especially useful for peripheral devices such as lighting or lens controllers. If an image source has been added with the new option, no image acquisition is triggered for that device. Therefore, the device will be ignored when MERLIC checks if the license restrictions regarding the allowed number of cameras are met.
    The Image Source Manager also provides specific configuration options for peripheral devices. When selecting such a device for configuration, the respective parameters of the device will be displayed in the same way as parameters of a camera device. To evaluate the effect of parameter changes, the user may choose a camera device for the image preview. The respective images will then be displayed in the image preview and the user can check whether the current parameter settings of the peripheral device fit the requirements.
    
  
  

• Enhancements
  
  • The "Image Sources" tab of the MERLIC RTE Setup has been improved. It is now possible to copy various values with respect to the configured image sources directly from the graphical user interface, for example, the name of the camera device and interface or the name of the acquisition sequence.
  • The image acquisition interfaces that are used for the Image Source Manager (ISM) as well as for the tools "Acquire Image from Camera" and "Acquire Image from File", respectively, have been updated to a new revision. MERLIC now contains the following versions of the interfaces:
    
    • GigEVision2: Revision 20.11.18
    • GenICamGenTL: Revision 20.11.18
    • USB3Vision: Revision 20.11.21
    • File: Revision 18.11.5
      
  • The Image Source Manager (ISM) in the MERLIC RTE Setup has been improved. When selecting an image source configuration, the overview displaying the image sources now also shows the icon of the respective image source type allowing the user to quickly identify the types of the available image sources.
    
  
  

• Fixed Problems
  
  • When the image preview of the Image Source Manager (ISM) was used in the MERLIC RTE Setup, it was possible to zoom out of the image even though the whole image already fit the preview window. In addition, images that were zoomed into could be moved completely out of visible area of the preview window. These problems have been fixed. Zooming out is now disabled if the image already fits the preview window and zoomed images can now be moved only so far that half of their size is still visible.
  • When MERLIC was used in Chinese, German, or Japanese, some tooltips and error messages of the Image Source Manager (ISM) were not translated. This problem has been fixed.
    
  
  

Process Integration

• Enhancements
  
  • The loading time of MERLIC recipes referencing the same MVApp has been improved. Previously, the referenced MVApp was loaded from scratch. Now, the MVApp is kept and only the settings of the new recipe are applied. As the MVApp is not loaded anew in this case, the state of the respective MERLIC tools or connected Frontends will not be reset. For example, this might affect tool results such as "Counter" of the "Get Execution Info" tool or the buffered data in "Determine Data History". To ensure that the MVApp is loaded anew when changing the recipe, the current recipe can be unprepared beforehand.
  • The MERLIC Runtime Environment (MERLIC RTE) has been improved. Previously, actions resulting in the same state as before did not emit any events. Therefore, the respective actions could not be marked as successfully finished. Now, MERLIC RTE emits the respective events for self-transitions in the "Preoperational" and "Halted" states. This enables queuing actions via a Communicator plug-in that lead to the same state, for example, calling the action "Halt" in the "Halted" state. In addition, if "Reset" or "Halt" was called in the "Error" state, MERLIC changed to the "Preoperational" or "Halted" state, respectively, and MERLIC did not reference the initial action ID to the state changed events. Now, the corresponding "StateChanged" events reference the correct action ID.
    
  
  

• Improved Usability
  
  • The status banners in the MERLIC Creator and MERLIC RTE Setup have been improved. The design has been revised to enhance visibility. In addition, a new success banner will now give feedback in the "Image Sources" tab of the MERLIC RTE Setup when an image has been saved from an image source. Furthermore, the texts in the banners can now be copied and the banners for information and success messages can be closed now.
    
  
  

• Fixed Problems
  
  • If an error occurred while importing a recipe file in the "Recipes" tab of the MERLIC RTE Setup, no "OK" button was displayed in the popup window of the message. This problem has been fixed.
  • If MERLIC RTE resided in "Initialized" state and the preparation of a recipe failed because the underlying MVApp could only be partly loaded, the MVApp was erroneously not unloaded properly but remained in its partly loaded state. In addition, the connected MERLIC Frontend still displayed the layout of the MVApp. This problem has been fixed. Now, the MVApp is properly unloaded if it could not be loaded completely and a connected MERLIC Frontend correctly displays "No Recipe prepared".
  • If MERLIC RTE or MERLIC Creator was aborted during startup, the ISM configuration used for RTE startup was erroneously unset in the MERLIC settings and no longer used for subsequent starts of MERLIC RTE. This problem has been fixed. Now, the specified startup ISM configuration remains in the settings unless it is invalid.
  • If MERLIC RTE was started with an ISM configuration used for RTE startup, the used .ini file of MERLIC, for example, MERLIC5.ini, was rewritten although its content was not modified. This problem has been fixed.
    
  
  

Communicator

• New Features
  
  • The Communicator API has been updated to version 2.2.2. It now allows specifying an optional "measurement ID" and "part ID" when starting a job. When these IDs are provided, they will be included in the "JobStarted" and "ResultReady" events as well as in the results obtained through "GetResultById" or "GetResultListFiltered" related to that job. It is also possible to specify filters for measurement ID or part ID in "GetResultListFiltered". In addition, the Communicator API now provides timing information in results. This includes separate timings for image acquisition and processing, as well as timestamps for the start and end of the execution that produced the result. The duration of the image acquisition is also provided in the "AcquisitionDone" event.
    These extensions have also been reflected in the C++ support library. Plug-ins using the C++ support library can now optionally provide measurement IDs and part IDs when starting a job and they can access them in results and "JobStarted" events. Results and "AcquisitionDone" events have also been extended with timing information.
    
  
  

• Fixed Problems
  
  • A small memory allocation has been leaked in the Communicator API function MV_GetRecipeList() whenever the function returned with a value other than MV_CODE_OK . Additionally, there have been memory leaks in the C++ support library helpers GetRecipeListFiltered() and GetRecipeById() . These problems have been fixed.
  • If many recipes and/or recipes backed by a large MVApp were used, assembling the information on the recipe list could take relatively long. This could lead to a timeout when a plug-in called the API function MV_GetRecipeList() even when there was no problem with the communication between the Communicator and MERLIC RTE. This problem has been fixed. The request for the recipe list is now answered asynchronously. Although it will still take an extended amount of time until the recipe list is returned, a timeout error will only occur if the delay is caused by the unavailability of the vision system.
    
  
  

Interfaces for Process Integration

• New Features
  
  • The built-in web application for the "REST" plug-in has been extended. It now provides a new page "Errors" that lists the same errors that would be returned when querying the " /api/v1/errors " endpoint.
  • MERLIC has been extended by the following example REST API clients to support users with building their applications using the generic interface provided by the "REST" plug-in API.
    
    • halt_vision_system: This minimal example shows how to make an HTTP request to the REST plug-in server.
    • execution_control: This example demonstrates how to queue actions, monitor the current state of the state machine as well as display the newest result.
    • action_status: This example demonstrates how to send actions to the vision system and how to wait for their completion. In addition, it demonstrates how to start a single job and how to wait for the associated result.
      
    The examples are provided in different programming languages and demonstrate different functionality for interacting with MERLIC. The respective source code of the examples can be used as a template for custom applications and they can be adjusted as desired. They are provided in the following directories within the installation directory of MERLIC: "examples\rest_plugin_clients".
  • The "OPC UA" plug-in has been extended to support the new capabilities of the Communicator API extensions. It has been updated to version 2.2.0. This version now supports the use of the optional "MeasId" and "PartId" parameters when starting a job using the "StartContinuous" or "StartSingleJob" method of the "AutomaticModeStateMachine". The results published beneath the "ResultManagement"-node now also provide the values of the "MeasId" and "PartId" parameters, if available. In addition, the results now contain timing information such as the start and end time of the execution as well as the acquisition duration and processing duration.
    Furthermore, the "VisionCompanion" has also been extended to support the new capabilities. The plug-in can now be configured to support the optional "MeasId" and "PartId" parameters for the "JobExecutor Interface". The "StartContinuousJob" and "StartSingleJob" methods of the "JobExecutor" then allow providing a "MeasId" and "PartId" when starting a job. Simultaneously, the result published under the "LatestResult" according to the configured "JobExecuter Mode" then also contains the respective "MeasId" and "PartId". The timing information is also provided in the result.
  • The "MQTT" plug-in has been extended to support the new capabilities of the Communicator API extensions. It has been updated to version 2.4.0. This version enables the optional use of a measurement ID and part ID when starting a job by publishing to the "action" MQTT topic. Simultaneously, the plug-in now includes the associated metadata in the messages published on the MQTT topic "result", if available. The associated metadata includes the measurement ID, the part IDs, and timing information such as the start and end time of the execution as well as the acquisition duration and processing duration.
  • The "REST" plug-in has been extended to support the new capabilities of the Communicator API extensions. It has been updated to version 1.1.0. This version enables the optional use of a measurement ID ("meas_id") and part ID ("part_id") when starting a job. The values of these parameters will be included in the respective results, if available. The results now also contain timing information such as the start and end time of the execution as well as the acquisition duration and processing duration.
    The new metadata are now also available in the built-in web application for the "REST" plug-in. On the "Results" page, the respective values for "Meas ID", "Part ID", "Start Date", "End Date", "Acquisition Duration", and "Processing Duration" can be displayed in the table of results by adding the respective columns via the "COLUMNS" settings.
  • The "save-results" plug-in has been extended to support the new capabilities of the Communicator API extensions. It has been updated to version 1.1.0 and now supports the inclusion of result metadata as an optional addition. Activating this feature through the plug-in settings will attach metadata to the exported datasets, encompassing a measurement ID, a part ID, and various timing information such as the start and end times of the execution as well as the acquisition duration and the processing duration.
  • The example Communicator plug-ins "save-images" and "event-logger" have been extended to support the new capabilities of the Communicator API extensions and the C++ support library.
    The "save-images" plug-in has been updated to version 1.1.0. This version enables the use of two additional placeholders for a measurement ID ("{measId}") and part ID ("{partId}") in the format strings that define the subdirectory and filename where the images are saved. If these placeholders are used but the job has not been passed a measurement ID or part ID when it was started, the respective placeholders are replaced with "null".
    The "event-logger" plug-in has been updated to version 2.2.0. It will now also log the new metadata when it is available.
    
  
  

• Enhancements
  
  • The built-in web application for the "REST" plug-in has been improved. Previously, there was no indication in the overview graphic of the MERLIC states when an action was still being processed. It could therefore be sometimes hard to tell whether the action had been completed. In addition, it was still possible to click on the buttons of the other states while the previously triggered action was still being processed. Now, a loading icon is displayed at the respective state while an action is being processed and the buttons of the state machine are disabled during that time.
  • The RESTful API exposed by the "REST" plug-in has been improved. The query for requesting arrays from the RESTful API was extended with a parameter "direction" to define the order of the response list. The entries can be sorted chronologically from newest to oldest or vice versa. The specified "limit" will then be applied on this ordered list.
    
  
  

• Fixed Problems
  
  • If the "JobExecutor Interface" of the "OPC UA" plug-in was configured to use a larger "Internal queue size" than the "ResultBufferSize" defined in the MERLIC .ini file and MERLIC RTE already started dropping results because the result buffer was full, the plug-in erroneously published variables for dequeued images of the "JobExecutor" interface with the OPC UA status code "Good" when calling "DequeueResult" although the underlying image data was already dropped from the result buffer. This problem has been fixed. Now, the variables for dequeued image results are published with OPC UA status code "Bad_NotFound" if the underlying image data is no longer available.
  • If an IPv6 address was defined as host in the configuration of the "REST" plug-in, the IP address was not written correctly in the notification banner that provides information about the respective URL of the web application. This problem has been fixed.
  • The REST plug-in sometimes mishandled action requests sent in parallel or short succession due to a race condition. Once the plug-in was in an erroneous state, it refused all subsequent action requests until it was restarted. This problem has been fixed.
  • If the "MELSEC Communication" plug-in or the "MODICON" plug-in was used in debug mode and more than one Boolean result was allocated, they could wrongly output the message "Not all Boolean results fit within the allocated results" even if the plug-in was configured for the transmission of more Boolean results. This problem has been fixed.
  • When using the "VisionCompanion" extension of the "OPC UA" plug-in and setting the result mode to "Sync", starting a job for a recipe failed the first time it was called if a change of recipe was executed beforehand. This was caused by an incorrect signal of the internal result queue. This problem has been fixed. Now, the queue is only signaled if a user is waiting for a result.
  • In the built-in web application for the "REST" plug-in, it was possible to sort the columns in the result table on the "Results" page. However, sorting the columns is not useful in this table because the individual result pages are arranged by the result ID. This problem has been fixed. The sorting functionality has been deactivated to avoid confusion.
  • The license texts for some dependencies of the built-in web application for the "REST" plug-in were not set. This problem has been fixed. The versions of our dependencies were updated or forced to a newer version which contains the license file. For some dependencies, the license was taken from the repository or the given link in the readme file. One dependency was replaced with an empty package and the wrong text for one dependency was removed because it is public domain.
  • If the "OPC UA" plug-in was configured to use the security policy "Aes256Sha256RsaPss", the connection to the OPC UA server did not succeed. This problem has been fixed.
  • In the configuration of the "OPC UA" plug-in, it was not possible to enable the security policy "Basic256" if the security policy "Basic128Rsa15" was not enabled. This problem has been fixed.
  • The endpoints " /api/v1/jobs " and " /api/v1/recipes//jobs " of the RESTful API provided by the "REST" plug-in did not validate the numeric range of the "limit" parameter. This problem has been fixed.
  • The "MQTT" plug-in crashed if the connection to the MQTT broker was lost and the MERLIC Communicator tried to re-establish the connection to the broker. This problem has been fixed.
    
  
  

MERLIC Creator

• Enhancements
  
  • The status bar of the MERLIC Creator has been improved. It now shows the MVTec logo on the right which enables the user to quickly access the MVTec website with a click on it.
  • The behavior when starting MERLIC Creator and when creating a new MVApp in the MERLIC Creator has been improved. Previously, the deprecated tool "Acquire Image from File" was inserted automatically. Now, the tool "Image Source" is inserted instead because using the Image Source Manager is the recommended way to acquire images in MERLIC.
  • The workflow of deleting MERLIC tools has been improved. Previously, MERLIC tools were deleted without any further confirmation by the user which could lead to accidentally removed tools. Now, the user has to confirm that the selected tools should be deleted to avoid deleting any tools by accident.
    
  
  

• Fixed Problems
  
  • In some cases, the arrowhead of the connections between the tools in the Tool Flow panel was not displayed in the correct color. This problem has been fixed.
  • MERLIC Creator sometimes failed to start if one of the defined custom tool paths was invalid, for example, because the directory had been deleted. This problem has been fixed.
  • When adjusting a tool parameter at a tool board using the parameter slider, the slider was sometimes closed unexpectedly during the adjustment. This problem has been fixed.
  • The "Search Tool Library" button and "Clear Search" buttons in the search field of the Tool Library were missing a hover effect when moving the mouse pointer over the icons. This problem has been fixed.
  • When using the keyboard shortcuts in the Tool Flow to quickly group and/or ungroup tools, it was possible to perform further actions with the selected tools such as drag-and-drop while the previous grouping action was still being processed. This problem has been fixed. Drag-and-drop actions will now be aborted when a previous grouping action is still being processed.
  • The error message that occurred in the MERLIC Creator when opening an MVApp that could not be restored contained wrong information about the affected line and column number. This problem has been fixed.
  • When hovering and then clicking on any button at the toolbar of a MERLIC tool, the display of the respective icon was slightly shifted until the button was unchecked again. This problem has been fixed.
  • MERLIC crashed when a corrupted MVApp with an empty tool group was loaded and the user then tried to create a new tool group. This problem has been fixed.
  • If the list of recently opened files contained an entry that referred only to a directory instead of an MVApp, MERLIC Creator crashed during the startup. This problem has been fixed.
  • In the tool workspace of the MERLIC Creator, it was possible to create a new trigger connection to a subsequent tool group by dragging the connection arrow to the drop area on the bottom and selecting the tool group although trigger connections to tool groups are not allowed. This led to a crash of the MERLIC Creator. This problem has been fixed. It is not possible anymore to create a trigger connection to a tool group in any way.
  • In the quick info area of a MERLIC tool, it was possible to open a context menu similar to an internet browser. However, the context menu offered no useful functions. This problem has been fixed.
  • In the MERLIC Creator, some button texts and window titles within different types of dialogs were not translated. This problem has been fixed.
    
  
  

MERLIC Designer

• Fixed Problems
  
  • If Designer widgets were connected to tools that support easyTouch or training functionality and these tools were then grouped in the MERLIC Creator, the respective Designer widgets were highlighted as being misconfigured in the MERLIC Designer if the new tool group had no input image. This problem has been fixed.
  • The "easyTouch Button" widget could be connected to any tool with an input image regardless of whether the tool supports easyTouch. This problem has been fixed. Now, the widget can only be connected to tools that support easyTouch.
  • When both MERLIC Creator and MERLIC Designer were open and the MVApp was saved in the MERLIC Creator, the MERLIC Designer was not locked during saving and vice versa. In addition, the MERLIC Designer sometimes displayed the modified flag in the window title even if the MVApp had not been modified yet. Furthermore, Designer widgets were sometimes deleted when an MVApp with activated user management was opened via double-click. These problems have been fixed.
  • If an MVApp was loaded and the Frontend design contained a "Table" widget, the table cells were automatically resized. In addition, the cells were not correctly updated in the Frontend when the table dimensions were changed. These problems have been fixed. Note that this change affects the compatibility. Read more.
  • When a Designer widget was copied and pasted within the MERLIC Designer, the widget property "Connected Tool" did not show any available tools anymore. This problem has been fixed.
  • When changing the value in a "Text Box" widget in the MERLIC Designer, the new value was only accepted if the "Enter" key was pressed. This problem has been fixed. Now, the new value is also accepted when the focus is changed, for example, by clicking on a different area in the Designer.
    
  
  

MERLIC Frontend

• Fixed Problems
  
  • The MERLIC Frontend did not close after successfully saving the modified MVApp via the save dialog that appears when trying to close the Frontend. Instead, the dialog was displayed anew. After clicking "Save" again, the Frontend finally closed and MERLIC erroneously logged an error that saving failed. This problem has been fixed. Now, the MERLIC Frontend closes reliably after the MVApp is successfully saved via the save dialog.
  • If saving the MERLIC Frontend failed, no error message was displayed. Instead, the save dialog appeared again. This problem has been fixed.
  • When the Frontend design of an MVApp contained a "Table" widget with so many cells that a scrollbar is required, the scrollbar of the table did not work correctly in the MERLIC Frontend. This problem has been fixed.
    
  
  

Tools

• New Features
  
  • The tool "Merge Images" has been extended. It now provides new methods "high dynamic range" and "exposure fusion" for High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging. These methods enable the user to combine images of varying exposures into a single HDR image. This ensures that high contrast differences can be handled, effectively eliminating overexposed or underexposed areas in images. The new methods differ in the output format of the HDR image. When using the method "high dynamic range", the HDR image will be returned as an uint2 image and when using "exposure fusion", the HDR image will be returned as a byte image. To facilitate HDR imaging in MERLIC, acquisition sequences can be used for the image acquisition.
  • MERLIC has been extended by the new concept tool "Count with Deep Learning". It enables the counting of objects using a deep-learning-based approach. The tool comes with a training mode that allows the training of the objects to be counted with minimal labeling and to train a model that also detects the objects in various rotations and scaling factors.
    Concept tools are tools in an early stage of development. You can give feedback on the preliminary version of the tool early on via the feedback button on the top right of the MERLIC Creator. We appreciate all feedback on a concept tool. It helps us to improve upcoming MERLIC tools and to decide further development steps for future MERLIC versions. Concept tools are fully tested and stable for productive use. However, they may change in future MERLIC versions and compatibility is not guaranteed.
  • MERLIC has been extended by the new concept tool "Recognize Color". It enables the detection of one or multiple colors in various conditions. The tool comes with a training mode that allows the user to define the colors to be detected and to train a model with customized training settings to extend the range of the colors to be detected. If necessary, the user may further refine the detection by adjusting the search parameters such as the "Minimum Score" or "Minimum Ratio of Classified Pixels".
    Concept tools are tools in an early stage of development. You can give feedback on the preliminary version of the tool early on via the feedback button on the top right of the MERLIC Creator. We appreciate all feedback on a concept tool. It helps us to improve upcoming MERLIC tools and to decide further development steps for future MERLIC versions. Concept tools are fully tested and stable for productive use. However, they may change in future MERLIC versions and compatibility is not guaranteed.
    
  
  

• Enhancements
  
  • The tool "Find Objects" has been improved. Previously, the tool parameter "Maximum Number of Objects" only filtered the number of results during inference. It had no effect on the deep learning model. Now, the parameter can be used to overwrite the value of the model. If the parameter is set to 0, the maximum number of objects that was defined for the training of the model will be used. Setting a value greater than 0 enables the user to overwrite the value defined during the training with a different maximum number of objects.
    
  
  

• Fixed Problems
  
  • The "Result" parameters of the "Branch On Condition" tool and the "Evaluate Expression" were not translated. This problem has been fixed.
  • The expressions defined in the tool "Evaluate Expression" could still be edited while the MVApp was being executed. This led to the execution being stopped. This problem has been fixed. It is now no longer possible to edit the expressions during the execution.
  • In some cases, the tool "Read Bar Code" wrongly detected too many bar code candidates in large images with a lot of noise in the background of the actual bar code. This slowed down the easyTouch and training functionality of the tool. This problem has been fixed.
  • If tool parameters of the tool "Read Text and Numbers with Deep Learning" were adjusted using the slider and the execution time took longer than a few milliseconds, a long queue of pending parameter changes could occur. This queue would continue the execution long after the user stopped moving the slider. This problem has been fixed.
  • In the tool "Rotate Image", an empty result image was created by the tool if an invalid ROI was connected. This problem has been fixed. Now, the unrotated input image of the tool will be returned as the result image. In addition, a suitable error message will be displayed.
  • Several messages regarding errors, warnings, and tool states of the MERLIC tools were not correctly translated. This problem has been fixed.
    
  
  

Examples

• New Features
  
  • MERLIC has been extended by the new MVApp example "count_bottles_with_deep_learning.mvapp" which demonstrates the use of the new concept tool "Count with Deep Learning". The concept tool is meant for evaluation only and is not recommended to be used in production because it may be unstable, work-in-progress, or be changed or removed in future MERLIC releases.
  • MERLIC has been extended by the new MVApp example "recognize_color_of_cables.mvapp" which demonstrates the use of the new concept tool "Recognize Color". The concept tool is meant for evaluation only and is not recommended to be used in production because it may be unstable, work-in-progress, or be changed or removed in future MERLIC releases.
    
  
  

• Fixed Problems
  
  • The example "find_and_count_screws_type.mvapp" showed a class in the Frontend that did not exist. This problem has been fixed.
    
  
  

Documentation

• Enhancements
  
  • The documentation of the "REST" plug-in in the MERLIC Communicator manual has been improved. Previously, the documentation provided no information about security risks when exposing the RESTful API on the public internet. Therefore, the section regarding the requirements and limitations has been revised. It now provides information about security risks and how to mitigate them.
  • The MERLIC manual has been improved. Previously, the information regarding the use of the Image Source Manager while MERLIC RTE is running was hard to find and not clear enough. Now, the restrictions that apply in this case have been stated more clearly in the following topics:
    
    • MERLIC Process Integration > MERLIC Runtime Environment Setup > Image Sources
    • Image Acquisition in MERLIC > MERLIC Image Source Manager (ISM) > Configuring Image Sources
      
    In addition, the revised sections now provide a hyperlink to the topic that contains more information on this issue.
    
  
  

• Fixed Problems
  
  • In the MERLIC manual, the overview of the MERLIC components provided in the "Getting Started" showed a list of the standard Communicator plug-ins. However, the "REST" plug-in was not mentioned in this list. This problem has been fixed.
  • If the MERLIC Communicator manual was set to German or Japanese, the link in the table of contents to the MERLIC manual sometimes did not work. This problem has been fixed.
  • The topic "MERLIC Frontend > Starting the MERLIC Frontend > Starting the Frontend with MERLIC" in the MERLIC manual wrongly stated that the Frontend of an MVApp can be opened from the Windows Explorer via the respective context menu. This problem has been fixed.
  • The tool reference of "Evaluate Expression" provided some wrong example expressions for string operations. This problem has been fixed.
  • The topic "Getting Started with MERLIC > The MERLIC User Interfaces" in MERLIC manual provided a link that referenced the wrong section. This problem has been fixed.
  • The OpenAPI documentation for the REST plug-in incorrectly stated the possibility of "Info" and "Debug" values when querying the " /api/v1/errors " endpoint. This problem has been fixed.
    
  
  

Licensing

• Enhancements
  
  • The CodeMeter Runtime, the license management bundled with MERLIC, has been updated to version 7.6.0d as recommended by WIBU Systems.
    
  
  

Miscellaneous

• To profit from the improvements of the new HALCON version, the HALCON libraries used by MERLIC have been upgraded to the HALCON 23.11 Progress version. Note that this change affects the compatibility. Read more.
• If a warning occurred regarding the logging settings, the respective warning text mentioned an obsolete logging threshold that is not used anymore. This problem has been fixed.
• The icons of the MERLIC applications have been improved. Previously, all MERLIC applications were represented by the same icon which could make it hard to distinguish the different applications in some cases. For example, in the taskbar, the MERLIC Creator could not be distinguished from the MERLIC RTE Setup because the same icon was displayed for the applications in the taskbar. To avoid confusion, the MERLIC Communicator, MERLIC Frontend, and MERLIC RTE Setup are now represented by new icons. They will be displayed in the window title, the Windows start menu, and the taskbar as well as for the respective packages in the MVTec Software Manager.
  

Release Notes for Windows Systems Only

In this section, you can find the release notes that apply only for Windows systems.

• The licenses for the MERLIC trial version and the MERLIC RTE Setup were only installed if the user granted administrator privileges during the installation. This led to license errors and it was not possible to use the trial version or MERLIC RTE Setup. This problem has been fixed. The licenses are now also installed during an unprivileged installation if CodeMeter is already installed on the system.
• When MERLIC was installed for a single user whose user name contained a space, the "Start MERLIC RTE" and "Start MERLIC Communicator" buttons in the MERLIC RTE Setup failed to start the respective executable. This problem has been fixed.
• If overwriting an unprotected MVApp located on a network drive failed, a wrong error message was shown that the file could be write-protected. This problem has been fixed. Unprotected MVApps located on network drives can now be overwritten and for protected MVApps, the error will still be shown when attempting to overwrite them.
• The .dll files of the Communicator plug-ins were missing the file properties. This problem has been fixed. The file properties have been added for the standard Communicator plug-in. However, the .dll files of the example Communicator plug-ins are still affected.
• If the default log file path contained non-ASCII characters, usually only if the user name of the logged-in Windows user contains non-ASCII characters, MERLIC Creator crashed when opening the preferences dialog. This problem has been fixed.
  

Release Notes Linux Systems Only

In this section, you can find the release notes that apply only for Linux systems.

• The aarch64 Linux version of MERLIC RTE failed to shut down properly on some machines when an error occurred during startup. This problem has been fixed.
  

Known Issues

The following issue is already known and in development process. It will be fixed for upcoming releases.

• In frequent cases, when using TensorRT™ accelerated processing units in MERLIC tools with deep learning technology, MERLIC crashes if the required memory for the deep learning model exceeds the available memory on the GPU.
• When an instance of MERLIC Creator or MERLIC RTE of version 5.0 is remotely configured using a MERLIC RTE Setup 5.1 or newer, removing an image source from a configuration will cause the Creator or RTE application to crash. We recommend to upgrade Creator/RTE to the current version or, in lieu of that, to use RTE Setup 5.0 to configure Creator/RTE 5.0.
• When an instance of MERLIC Creator or MERLIC RTE of version 5.2 (or newer) is remotely configured using a MERLIC RTE Setup 5.1, it is not possible to rename image sources or configurations, despite the fact that this feature has been added in MERLIC 5.1. We recommend upgrading the MERLIC RTE Setup to version 5.2.
  

Legal Notes :

Modicon® is a registered trademark of Schneider Electric USA, Inc.

Intel, the Intel logo, OpenVINO, the OpenVINO logo, and Movidius are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries.