Unable to Add Camera File in NI MAX

Updated Aug 8, 2023

Reported In

Software

  • Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX)

Driver

  • Vision Acquisition Software

Issue Details

  • When I right click my camera on NI MAX to add the camera file, no other camera files appear listed.
  • I have an NI PCI/PCIe frame grabber device. When I look in Windows Device Manager, my frame grabber is showing up under NI Vision Acquisition Devices correctly. In NI MAX, the frame grabber is present, but the associated camera information shows up a 'Not available' and when I right-click on the camera, there are no options available. How can I add a camera file to this card?
 

Solution

This behavior can occur when the Vision Acquisition Software is not fully installed. To alleviate this behavior, reinstall the Vision Acquisition Software compatible with your software and hardware. (If not familiar with the reinstall process, review this documentation)

Once Vision Acquisition Software has been fully installed, your frame grabber and camera port should show up in NI MAX as 'Unknown Camera "im0".' When you right-click on the camera name, choose the Camera Selection that is applicable for your camera type.

Additional Information

This behavior may occur when on the Driver Support for Vision Acquision Software is installed, but the Development Support is not. To ensure that the camera files provided by NI are installed, choose the default installation features when installing Vision Acquisition Software, which includes Driver Support and Development Support for NI-IMAQ, NI-IMAQdx, and NI-IMAQ I/O. 


 
You can check whether camera files are installed by looking at the following file path: C:\Users\Public\Public Documents\National Instruments\NI-IMAQ\Data

(Note: this file path is true for Windows Vista and later. For other versions of Windows or early version of Vision Acquisition Software, check the file paths provided here for your camera files.)