This file lists major or notable changes to OpenPnP in chronological order. This is not a complete change list, only those that may directly interest or affect users.
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Icon Improvements
With many thanks to @dzach we now have some much improved icons in many parts of OpenPnP. @dzach spent several days working on and refining icons to show their intent better, and to improve usability to persons with color blindness. As a result, several of the icons that used to require you to think for a moment to remember what they were are redesigned to be very clear and easy to understand.
References: openpnp#429 openpnp#426 openpnp#421
Thank you @dzach!
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ReferenceSlotAutoFeeder
A new feeder called ReferenceSlotAutoFeeder has been added which provides the capability of a movable auto feeder.
ReferenceSlotAutoFeeder allows you to define any number of feeder slots on your machine and each one can contain a feeder. By changing the feeder in a slot you move it's settings from slot to slot without having to reconfigure it's position, part or other settings.
The primary purpose of this feeder is for machines that have auto feeders that can be readily moved from position to position.
More information at https://github.com/openpnp/openpnp/wiki/ReferenceSlotAutoFeeder.
Work was done in openpnp#399.
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QR Code Based X Out Example Script
A new example script called QrCodeXout.js is now included with OpenPnP. It will scan each board in a job for a QR code and if one is found the board will be disabled. This is an easy way to mark bad boards in a panel before starting a job.
The purpose of the example script is to show how to use the QR code reader to do a complex task. It can easily be modified to search for other markings or other types of codes.
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ScriptRun CvPipeline Stage
A new CvPipeline stage has been added called ScriptRun. This stage take a file and runs it as a script with one of the supported built in script engines. This makes it very easy for people to add their own vision logic to a pipeline without having to write a stage.
The script is supplied globals of
pipelineandstage.An example script is shown below. It sets all of the pixels of the input image to the color green.
pipeline.workingImage.setTo(new Packages.org.opencv.core.Scalar(0, 255, 0));By saving the above to a file with the extension .js and selecting it in the stage the script will run each time the stage is evaluated.
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OpenCvCamera Capture Properties
You can now set a number of capture properties on the OpenCvCamera. Not all properties are supported on every system or every camera. This feature is experimental and is primarily intended to allow users to experiment with exposure and format control.
To set properties open the configuration for the camera, select the Camera Specific tab and look for the Properties section at the bottom.
More information is available at: openpnp#328
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Auto Feeder Improvements
ReferenceAutoFeeder can now use actuators in boolean or double mode and the configuration panel has been updated to support each.
ReferenceAutoFeeder also now supports a post pick actuator, which is helpful to support feeders that require two movements for a single feed operation. This is common in the Yamaha CL feeders that are becoming popular. The feed actuator is used to retract the guard and the post pick actuator is used to advance the tape after a pick.
Existing feeders should not require any changes to support these new features. The defaults have been maintained.
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Post Pick Supported in Feeder Panel
The post pick operation is now called from the Feeders tab when you run a Pick operation. This is useful when testing feeders that use this feature. Prior to this addition the post pick operation was only called when a job was running.
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Help Menu
There is now a new Help menu that has quick links to important documentation and a new option to let you check for updates to OpenPnP. This option is only enabled if you installed OpenPnP with the installer. It will not be available if you built it from source.
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Camera Improvements
ReferenceCamera is now much smarter about handling problems with invalid images and it should no longer cause high CPU usage when a camera configuration is incorrect. In addition, when it receives a null image it will retry up to 10 times before failing. This is helpful for cameras that sometimes return bad images; common with the ELP series of USB cameras.
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DipTrace Native Import
With many thanks to @BendRocks, we now have native DipTrace import support. Find the new importer under the File -> Import menu.
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User Interface Improvements
This change introduces a new layout and some changes to the main user interface. The purpose of this change is to improve use of screen real estate for the things that people spend the most time interacting with.
The main change is that the screen is now split vertically instead of horizontally. Cameras have been moved to the upper left and jog controls to the lower left. The tabs and tables have been moved to the right side of the screen and are now stacked rather than side by side.
The primary benefit of this change is that it takes better advantage of the trend towards wider screens. Previously, users with wide (but short) screens had very limited space to work in due to the fixed sizes of several components. With the screen now split vertically it is now possible to use the full height of the screen to see jobs, placements and configuration information.
Other minor changes are:
- You can now collapse the jog controls to get them out of the way if you prefer to use the keyboard shortcuts or camera jogging.
- DROs have been moved from the Machine Controls section to the bottom right of the status bar. For too long the DROs have taken up a huge amount of screen space for something that is really not that useful. You can still switch between relative and absolute mode by clicking on them.
Here are some screenshots to show the major differences. The first shows the interface before the changes, the next shows the new user interface with jog controls expanded and the third shows the new interface with jog controls collapsed.
Finally, I would like to send a special Thank You to @FinalPhoenix, who has generously volunteered to help with improving OpenPnP's user interface and overall user experience!
Many of these changes were suggested by @FinalPhoenix and with her help I hope to make OpenPnP far more enjoyable and easy to use than it has ever been.
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Introduction of Navigation Panel
The Navigation Panel is a new feature that shows a 2D rendered view of your machine and job and allows quick navigation around the various components. You can quickly jog to any location on the machine and you can see a live view of your cameras, nozzles, feeders, boards and placements. Additionally, it makes it very easy to quickly find these objects in the tables below by simply clicking on one of them in the panel.
This feature is still under heavy development. There are some known bugs and limitations:
- When an item is selected, the selection border rendering sometimes gets artifacts from the drag jog line.
- Board bottoms are not rendered correctly.
For more information about this feature, see openpnp#99.
Some things to try are:
- Load a job to see a visual representation of the boards and placements.
- Use your mouse wheel to zoom in and out.
- Mouse over objects to see their names.
- Click on various objects to select them and to instantly navigate to them in the tables below.
- Click and drag to jog the camera around.
- Click on the camera to turn it transparent so you can see what is under it.
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Add and Remove Cameras, Nozzles, Nozzle Tips, and Actuators in the Machine Setup tab.
You can now add and remove cameras, nozzles and actuators in the Machine Setup tab. To add, click on the heading for the thing you want to create and click the Add button above. To remove, click on the one you want to remove and then click on the Remove button above.
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Cameras Tab Removed
The Cameras tab has been removed and all of it's functionality moved to Machine Setup. This is part of a long running change to move all setup tasks into Machine Setup, and this is the final one.
More information at: openpnp#103
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Camera Drag Jogging
You can now click and drag in the camera view to move the camera. When you click and begin to drag, a white line is shown from the current center of the camera to where the camera will go when you release the button. This is in addition to the existing Shift-Click to jog system already in place. It is intended to eventually replace that system.
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Navigation View Updates
Navigation View is a feature that has been in development for some time but has been disabled in the code. It presents a 2D rendered view of the machine from the top down and allows you to quickly move around the machine and get information about objects such as boards, placements, feeders, etc. This feature is still under development and not ready for prime time, but it's become interesting enough that some people may want to try it out. To enable it you need to add -DenableNav=true to your command line.
Once enabled, there will be a new tab with the Cameras call Navigation. Try loading a job to see what the view shows. You should see boards, placements, feeders, cameras and a red dot for your nozzles. You can zoom in and out with the mouse wheel, mouse over objects to get information, click and drag to jog the machine, and click cameras to turn them transparent. Cameras move and update in real time.
This feature is going to grow quite a bit in the coming months. This is just a preview.
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Event Bus (Developers)
A simple event bus has been added at Configuration.getBus(). This is currently being tested with the Navigation View above and is intended to further decouple the UI. This new addition is being tested for further use. For more information, see:
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Scripting Events
Scripting Events is a new feature that will be getting a lot of use in the future. This allows scripts to be run when certain things happen in OpenPnP. The scripts are referenced by name and can be of any supported scripting extension. They are found in the scripts/Events directory.
The feature is used by calling
Scripting.on(String eventName, Map<String, Object> globals).As part of this feature, Scripting was moved into Configuration rather than MainFrame, so that it can be used outside of the UI.
For more information, see https://github.com/openpnp/openpnp/wiki/Scripting#scripting-events.
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Camera.BeforeCapture and Camera.AfterCapture Scripting Events
The first use of the new feature described above is two events that can be used to control lighting and other complex camera operations. Camera.BeforeCapture is fired before an image is captured and Camera.AfterCapture is fired after the capture is complete.
By using the scripting events in combination with named Actuators you can control any device on your machine.
For more information, see https://github.com/openpnp/openpnp/wiki/Scripting#camerabeforecapture and https://github.com/openpnp/openpnp/wiki/Scripting#cameraaftercapture
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Removed Deprecated LtiCivilCamera and VfwCamera
LtiCivilCamera and VfwCamera were camera implementations for Mac and Windows. These required native libraries that were out of date and, as far as I know, no longer used. These have been removed in an effort to remove dead code from the project.
If you were depending on these, please try switching to OpencvCamera or WebcamCamera. See https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/openpnp/JnOMjZWi9C8 for more information.
The Pick and Place Vacuum Sensing feature was originally released with different configuration
variable names. If you installed this version which was released yesterday then your configuration
will fail to load when you install this version. To fix it, edit your machine.xml and remove the
lines that include vacuum-level-min and vacuum-level-max.
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Pick and Place Vacuum Sensing
You can now set a "part on" and "part off" vacuum level on your nozzle tips. The values will be checked during the pick and place operations. Currently only supported in GcodeDriver. See https://github.com/openpnp/openpnp/wiki/GcodeDriver#vacuum_report_regex and https://github.com/openpnp/openpnp/wiki/GcodeDriver%3A-Command-Reference#vacuum_request_command for more information.
Thank you to Matt Brocklehurst for this feature.
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Camera View Zoom
You can now zoom into the camera view using the mouse wheel. The zoom level does not affect what the software sees when taking a picture, it only affects what you see. This can be used to make it easier to pinpoint locations when doing setup work.
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Feeder Post Pick Event
Feeders now support a post pick event which allows for actuation after the pick is complete. This feature is primarily for custom feeders and it is not currently used in the default feeders.
Thank you to Matt Brocklehurst for this feature.
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GcodeDriver Controller Error Detection
GcodeDriver can now detect error responses from the controller using the
COMMAND_ERROR_REGEX. See https://github.com/openpnp/openpnp/wiki/GcodeDriver#command_error_regex for more details.Thank you to Matt Brocklehurst for this feature.
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Nozzle Tip Changer Fourth Move Added
A fourth move option has been added to the nozzle tip changer to support LitePlacer like hardware configurations. By default the fourth move is cloned from the previous second move upon configuration load, so the change should not result in any new moves for existing configurations.
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Logging Changes
OpenPnP now uses TinyLog for logging instead of SLF and Log4J. TinyLog is much simpler to configure and far less complex to work with. It has quite a few less features, but based on feedback in openpnp#333 this was preferred.
- Logging now defaults to the INFO level.
- The level can be changed from the Log tab and it will be saved.
- Log level can be changed on the fly without restarting OpenPnP.
- Rotating log files are still created. The naming has changed slightly. The files now rotate after each startup instead of daily.
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Camera View Reticle Now Tracks Tool Rotation
Prior to this change, the camera view reticle / crosshair always tracked the rotation of the camera. Since most cameras don't rotate, this didn't make much sense. The view now tracks the rotation of the currently selected tool, which is almost always the nozzle.
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Strip Feeder Improvements
- Strip feeder now moves to the correct pick location before the first feed, i.e. when the feed count is 0. This is just a bit of user friendliness that does not really change any functionality. openpnp#352
- Strip feeder auto setup no longer captures or overwrites the Z value. openpnp#353
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GcodeDriver CamTransform
GcodeDriver now supports cam based Z axes like those used on the OpenBuilds reference design, the RobotDigg head and several other common head designs.
To use the new transform, see the example configuration below.
<axis name="z" type="Z" home-coordinate="0.0"> <head-mountable-ids class="java.util.HashSet"> <string>69edd567-df6c-495a-9b30-2fcbf5c9742f</string> <string>169edd567-df6c-495a-9b30-2fcbf5c9742f</string> </head-mountable-ids> <transform class="org.openpnp.machine.reference.driver.GcodeDriver$CamTransform" cam-radius="24.0" cam-wheel-radius="9.5" cam-wheel-gap="2.0"> <negated-head-mountable-id>169edd567-df6c-495a-9b30-2fcbf5c9742f</negated-head-mountable-id> </transform> </axis>In particular, you must define your Z axis head-mountable-ids to your two nozzles, and you must set the negated-head-mountable-id to the secondary nozzle. The parameters for defining the cam are:
- cam-radius: The radius of the cam itself.
- cam-wheel-radius: The radius of the bearings or wheels at the end of the cams that actually push the axis down.
- cam-wheel-gap: The gap, if any, between the cam wheels and the top of the axis which they push down.
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Success and Error Sounds, Signaler Interface
OpenPnP can now play sounds when a job finishes or fails due to error. This feature also introduces a Signaler interface which will be used in the future to allow for external hardware to be triggered for the same events.
For more information on this new feature, see: https://github.com/openpnp/openpnp/wiki/Signalers
Thank you to @pfried for contributing this feature!
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GcodeDriver Gcode Configuration UI
You can now configure all Gcode commands and RegExs via the driver configuration wizard found in Machine Setup -> Driver -> GcodeDriver. The wizard has two tabs: Serial and Gcode. In the Gcode tab you can choose the tool you want to configure and the command for that tool. By choosing the Default tool you configure the default set of commands which are used for fallbacks when tool specific commands are not found.
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GcodeDriver Commands Now In CDATA
GcodeDriver commands are switched to use CDATA now, instead of escaped XML. This makes it easier to include complex regexs that may include XML characters. In general, you don't have to change anything. OpenPnP will update your config the first time you run it. The resulting commands look like:
<command type="CONNECT_COMMAND"> <text><![CDATA[G21]]></text> <text><![CDATA[G90]]></text> <text><![CDATA[M82]]></text> </command>Only the data between the [] is considered part of the command.
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GcodeDriver Position Reporting
GcodeDriver will now read position reports from the controller. This can be used to provide feedback during moves or for controllers that may move externally to OpenPnP. This is a very new feature and is expected to require some iteration before it's perfect. If you run into issues with it, please report them.
To add position reporting, define a new regex in the format of:
<command type="POSITION_REPORT_REGEX"> <text><![CDATA[<Idle,MPos:(?<x>-?\d+\.\d+),(?<y>-?\d+\.\d+),(?<z>-?\d+\.\d+),(?<rotation>-?\d+\.\d+)>]]></text> </command>Note that the regex contains named groups. The named groups are used to identify the coordinates of each axis you have defined. You should name the groups with the same names in your axes section. In the command above the groups / axes are named x, y, z and rotation.
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GcodeDriver Tool Specific Commands
GcodeDriver now has the ability to send different commands based on the the tool that that the command is being sent for. This means that you can have different commands for each object on the head such as Nozzles, Cameras, Actuators, etc. Most importantly, you can now have separate pick and place commands for each Nozzle.
When you first start OpenPnP with this version it will automatically update your configuration and move the existing commands into a default command set. After closing OpenPnP, please inspect your machine.xml to see the changes.
To specify a specific tool for a command, the following syntax is used:
<command head-mountable-id="269edd567-df6c-495a-9b30-2fcbf5c9742f" type="PICK_COMMAND"> <text>M808</text> <text>M800</text> </command> <command head-mountable-id="69edd567-df6c-495a-9b30-2fcbf5c9742f" type="PICK_COMMAND"> <text>M808</text> <text>M802--</text> </command>Note that the PICK_COMMAND is specified twice. One for each nozzle. The head-mountable-id specifies which nozzle the command is for.
OpenPnP will first search for a command that matches the specified tool, and if it cannot find one for the tool then it will default to the command defined without a head-mountable-id.
The commands that support tool specific codes are:
- MOVE_TO_COMMAND
- PICK_COMMAND
- PLACE_COMMAND
- ACTUATE_BOOLEAN_COMMAND
- ACTUATE_DOUBLE_COMMAND
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Python Scripting Support
Python support is now included by default, instead of requiring an external install.
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GcodeDriver Pump On, Pump Off
GcodeDriver now has pump-on-command and pump-off-command commands which will trigger intelligently depending on whether there are any nozzles currently picking.
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GcodeDriver Axis Mapping
The GcodeDriver now has a system for mapping axes to object on the head, along with a system for transforming coordinates on each axis. This allows more complex head setups than the basic single nozzle, four axis setup. In particular, this system allows for the case where a single Z motor powers two Z axes either in a cam, belt or rack and pinion configuration by specifying a single Z axis with two nozzles mapped to it, along with an appropriate transform. See https://github.com/openpnp/openpnp/wiki/GcodeDriver#axis-mapping for more information.
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Scripting Engine
OpenPnP now has the ability to run user provided scripts that have full access to the OpenPnP API and GUI. This makes it easy to add new utilities and functionality to your installtion of OpenPnP without having to modify the code.
For more information, see: https://github.com/openpnp/openpnp/wiki/Scripting
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ONVIF Camera Support
Thanks to @richard-sim we now have support for IP cameras using the ONVIF standard. This standard is used by many IP cameras, especially in the realm of security cameras. This brings cheap IP camera support to OpenPnP and opens up the options for cameras much wider than before.
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Log Tab
There is a new main window tab called Log that shows logging output. This makes it easier for you to see the output of various commands in OpenPnP. It has options to limit the length of the log shown, and the log level. This is the first version of the feature and does not include all of the features that are planned. More information is available at: openpnp#288
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GcodeDriver Move To Complete Regex
You can now include in your GcodeDriver configuration to specify a regex that the move-to command will wait for before completing. This is used for motion controllers that return the command confirmation before movement is complete - TinyG in particular. See https://github.com/openpnp/openpnp/wiki/GcodeDriver#move-to-complete-regex for more information.
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OpenBuilds Driver Rotation Improvements
The OpenBuilds Driver now treats the rotary axes as rotary axes, instead of linear ones. This means that it will choose to turn the opposite direction if that is the faster way to reach a given position. In other words, if you are trying to move from 355 degrees to 10 degrees it will counterclockwise 15 degrees, passing through 360 degrees instead of clockwise 345 degrees passing through 180 degrees.
This greatly improves performance related to the recent change to treat all rotation moves as solo.
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Nozzle Park
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There is now a per head park location. You can set the location in Machine Setup -> Heads.
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The Zero buttons in the jog controls panel have been replaced with Park buttons. Each will move the selected nozzle to the park location.
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The Job Processor will now optionally park the nozzle after a job completes, instead of re-homing. You can turn this option on in Machine Setup -> Job Processors.
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Multi-Select on Parts and Packages Panels
You can now select multiple entries in the Parts and Packages panels for deletion.
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Job Processor Refactor
This is a major rewrite of the JobProcessor, which is the code the handles the actual running of jobs. The purpose of this rewrite is to address many issues that have cropped up over the years in the JobProcessor, primarily around error handling and retry. The following changes are included:
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Feed Retry: You can specify a retry count (default 3) in the feeder configuration and if a feed operation fails on a given feeder the operation will retry that many times before disabling the feeder and advancing to the next available one. If no more feeders are available for the part the feed operation fails and the user is notified. openpnp#206
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Job Error Recovery: If any part of a job fails the user is now presented a dialog offering the options Retry, Skip, Pause to resolve it. No more "The job will be paused" leaving the system broken. Retry will attempt to re-run the previous task. Skip will skip processing the current placement. Pause pauses the job and hides the dialog so that the user can make configuration changes to attempt to resolve the error. The job may be continued with the Run or Step button.
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Home After Job Complete: When a job completes normally the machine will return to home. openpnp#76
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Pre and Post Job Machine Cleanup: Before a job starts and after it either finishes or is aborted, if any nozzles are holding a part the part will be discarded. openpnp#102
Note to developers: The code and API for this feature is considered alpha quality and is expected to change. I am not happy with the code quality of the feature, but I am very happy with the functionality, so I am releasing it. I intend to revisit this and make significant changes to both the code and the API.
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Solder Paste Dispense Temporarily Disabled
Due to the Job Processor Refactor above, Solder Paste Dispense is temporarily disabled. Please see openpnp#271 for more information.
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Show Camera Names in All Camera View
When the "All Cameras" view is selected, the name of each camera will be shown in in a little box in the bottom left of the view. This makes it easier to know what you are looking at when you have multiple cameras in action.
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FPS Limit Option in OpenCvCamera
You can now set an FPS limit in the OpenCvCamera wizard. The default is 24. This is helpful to limit CPU usage on a machine with high resolution cameras.
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Removed Bottom Vision API from VisionProvider
Before the Bottom Vision feature was complete it had been stubbed into the VisionProvider API. Since Bottom Vision is it's own first level object now this is no longer needed, so it has been removed. Existing implementations should move to either ReferenceBottomVision or to their own specific implementation of PartAlignment.
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Camera Crop
You can now set a crop width and height on your camera. The crop is applied from the center, so setting a crop of 200x200 will make the output from the camera only the center 200x200 pixels. This is useful for when you have a high resolution camera but only care about a small portion of it. Cropping decreases the amount of data that is required to be processed and cuts down CPU and memory usage.
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Speed Values Normalized
Anywhere in the UI referring to a speed is now expressed as a percentage. This includes the new speed limit slider, parts speed and drag feeder speed.
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Global Speed Limit
There is now a slider in the jog controls that controls the overall speed of the machine from 0 - 100%. The speed is applied to all other speeds in the system. Specifically, if you have a part specific speed the speed applied to that part will be the global speed times the part speed.
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Bottom Vision!
This is the first release of the Bottom Vision feature. This is a feature that has been in development for quite a long time and along the way has picked up a number of small but important features to go along with it.
More information about Bottom Vision can be found at: https://github.com/openpnp/openpnp/wiki/Bottom-Vision
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Moved the jog controls from their dialog to the main window.
The jog controls are now always available and have been modified to take up less vertical space. The large START / STOP button has been replaced with a smaller "Power" button in the jog controls and the jog increment slider has been changed to vertical instead of horizontal and also integrated into the jog controls.
The end result is that the jog controls now take up about the same amount of space as the big START button + increment slider used to except now they are visible all the time.
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Changed Nozzle.pick() to Nozzle.pick(Part) and added Nozzle.getPart()
This change allows the Nozzle to be aware of what Part it has picked and also allows callers to find out the same. This is used in SimulatedUpCamera to render the Part, will be used in the Nav View to render parts, is used in controlling movement speed based on Part speed and will be used in future improvements to the part discard bin.
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Part speed is now enforced in Nozzle.moveTo instead of randomly all over the program.
This is possible due to the Nozzle.pick(Part) change above and improves the overall code quality related to part speed.
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Add a Discard Location to machine.
Discard location can be configured in Machine Settings -> Machine. The Discard location is used as a dumping area for parts when an error occurs.
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Add Discard button to Special Commands window.
Allows you to manually discard any part that is currently picked on the selected nozzle.
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Add Pick button to Parts panel.
The Pick button allows you to pick the selected part from the first available feeder.
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Remove Pick and Place buttons from Special Commands window.
This functionality was misnamed in that it did not actually pick or place a part, it was just used to turn vacuum on and off. Pick functionality is now handled by the Pick buttons on the Parts and Feeders panels and Place functionality is handled by the Discard button.