Getting started with Baumer GAPI SDK for C

Prerequisites

  • Download the Baumer GAPI package for your operating system and architecture here
  • Have a suitable PC system (Windows 7, 10 or Linux) or ARM board (AArch64 or ARMhf Linux) with at least one Gigabit Ethernet or USB3 port ready
  • Have a Baumer GigE or USB camera including necessary cables and suitable power supply to play with
  • Have a suitable C development environment of your choice set up

Install the package and required drivers

  • Windows
    • The Baumer GAPI SDK for C is provided as part of the Baumer GAPI installer. Please install with the options of your choice
    • The Baumer USB-driver will be installed automatically as part of the Baumer GAPI installer
    • For GigE cameras the Baumer filter-driver reduces the system-load compared to the Windows socket driver. We recommend installing and using the filter-driver provided with the package (see <BaumerGAPIdir>\driver\GigE\Filter_Driver)
    • For further information how to get the most performance out a GigE connection on a Windows system please refer to the application notes AN201622 and AN201802.
  • Linux
    • The Baumer GAPI SDK for C is provided as part of the Baumer GAPI package. Install the Baumer GAPI SDK bei either using the *.deb or *.rpm package, depending on the package manager provided with your Linux distribution
    • If you are using Linux no driver needs to be installed.
    • As the Linux kernel usually sets a 16 MB memory limit for the USB system, it might be necessary to raise the memory limit, especially for multi-camera systems. Please see the application note AN201707 for details.

Attention

If you have trouble connecting to a Baumer GigE camera, it might be necessary to configure the network settings of the camera first. You'll find the graphical configuration tool “IPConfigTool” as part of your installed package.

Try the examples

Windows

By default, the examples are installed as part of the SDK into the following location: <BaumerGAPIdir>\Components\Examples\C\

Attention

The Baumer GAPI SDK and the examples are by default installed into the Windows folder Program Files. It is usually not allowed (and not a good idea) to edit files in this location. To try out the examples please copy the complete Components folder to a location of your choice before building the project.

Linux

By default, the examples are installed as part of the SDK into the following location: /opt/baumer_gapi_sdk/examples/C/.

Using CMake to build the examples project

The Baumer GAPI utilizes CMake to generate the examples project for you. CMake uses the included CMakeList.txt file to generate the project for many supported build-tools or IDE's. We provide CMake 3.10.2 with the installer. For your convenience, you'll find the batch file install_example_win.bat/.sh in the examples directory which will automatically run CMake with the required options for you.

Some of our examples require OpenCV which you need to install separately. Examples which require OpenCV will not be generated if OpenCV is not installed.