Scaling#

The Scaling camera feature allows you to zoom in and zoom out of your images.

Using the Feature#

How It Works#

The Scaling feature introduces a virtual sensor plane that can be scaled using the BslScalingFactor parameter. The BslScaledSensorWidth and BslScaledSensorHeight parameters indicate the current size of the virtual sensor.

• A lower scaling factor increases the size of the virtual sensor.
• A higher scaling factor decreases the size of the virtual sensor.

Example: Assume your camera sensor has a resolution of 2592 x 1944 pixels. If you set the BslScalingFactor parameter to 0.5, the virtual sensor will be twice the size of the physical sensor, i.e., 5184 x 3888 pixels.

Zooming In#

To zoom in, set the BslScalingFactor parameter to a value lower than 1.0.

This increases the size of the virtual sensor while the image ROI size and position remain the same.

Example: In the example below, the BslScalingFactor parameter is set to 0.5. The size of the virtual sensor halves while the image ROI size and position remain the same.

As a result, image content will appear zoomed in and shifted to the upper left.

Zooming Out#

To zoom out, set the BslScalingFactor parameter to a value higher than 1.0.

This decreases the size of the virtual sensor while the image ROI size and position remain the same.

Example: In the example below, the BslScalingFactor parameter is set to 2.0. The size of the virtual sensor doubles while the image ROI size and position remain the same.

As a result, image content will appear zoomed out and shifted to the lower right.

Sample Code#

// Set scaling to 0.5, i.e., set the size of the
// virtual sensor to 2x the size of the physical sensor
camera.BslScalingFactor.SetValue(0.5);
// Get the size of the virtual sensor
double scaledWidth = camera.BslScaledSensorWidth.GetValue();
double scaledHeight = camera.BslScaledSensorHeight.GetValue();
// Disable scaling
camera.BslScalingFactor.SetValue(1.0);

INodeMap& nodemap = camera.GetNodeMap();
// Set scaling to 0.5, i.e., set the size of the
// virtual sensor to 2x the size of the physical sensor
CFloatParameter(nodemap, "BslScalingFactor").SetValue(0.5);
// Get the size of the virtual sensor
double scaledWidth = CFloatParameter(nodemap, "BslScaledSensorWidth").GetValue();
double scaledHeight = CFloatParameter(nodemap, "BslScaledSensorHeight").GetValue();
// Disable scaling
CFloatParameter(nodemap, "BslScalingFactor").SetValue(1.0);

// Set scaling to 0.5, i.e., set the size of the
// virtual sensor to 2x the size of the physical sensor
camera.Parameters[PLCamera.BslScalingFactor].SetValue(0.5);
// Get the size of the virtual sensor
double scaledWidth = camera.Parameters[PLCamera.BslScaledSensorWidth].GetValue();
double scaledHeight = camera.Parameters[PLCamera.BslScaledSensorHeight].GetValue();
// Disable scaling
camera.Parameters[PLCamera.BslScalingFactor].SetValue(1.0);

/* Macro to check for errors */
#define CHECK(errc) if (GENAPI_E_OK != errc) printErrorAndExit(errc)
GENAPIC_RESULT errRes = GENAPI_E_OK;  /* Return value of pylon methods */
double scaledWidth = 0;
double scaledHeight = 0;
/* Set scaling to 0.5, i.e., set the size of the */
/* virtual sensor to 2x the size of the physical sensor */
errRes = PylonDeviceSetFloatFeature(hdev, "BslScalingFactor", 0.5);
CHECK(errRes);
/* Get the size of the virtual sensor */
errRes = PylonDeviceGetFloatFeature(hdev, "BslScaledSensorWidth", &scaledWidth);
CHECK(errRes);
errRes = PylonDeviceGetFloatFeature(hdev, "BslScaledSensorHeight", &scaledHeight);
CHECK(errRes);
/* Disable scaling */
errRes = PylonDeviceSetFloatFeature(hdev, "BslScalingFactor", 1.0);
CHECK(errRes);

# Set scaling to 0.5, i.e., set the size of the
# virtual sensor to 2x the size of the physical sensor
camera.BslScalingFactor.Value = 0.5
# Get the size of the virtual sensor
scaledWidth = camera.BslScaledSensorWidth.Value
scaledHeight = camera.BslScaledSensorHeight.Value
# Disable scaling
camera.BslScalingFactor.Value = 1.0

You can also use the pylon Viewer to easily set the parameters.