devwraps

A collection of device wrappers for Python 3 in Windows. This library includes support for some scientific cameras and deformable mirrors.

Supported devices

• Boston Micromachines deformable mirrors
  • Multi-DM and Kilo-C-S-DM (bmc)
• ALPAO deformable mirrors
  • (asdk)
• Imagine Optic Mirao52e deformable mirrors
  • (mirao52e)
• Thorlabs scientific cameras
  • Grayscale DCx compact USB cameras (thorcam)
• IDS scientific cameras
  • Grayscale DCx USB cameras (ueye)
• Andor scientific cameras
  • Grayscale devices (sdk3)
• Ximea scientific cameras
  • Grayscale devices (ximea)

DLLs and device drivers paths

If some device drivers are not installed in their default location then you should edit dll_paths.py. Just add the non-standard absolute paths to the corresponding dictionary entry. For example, if the Mirao52e folder is in C:\dir1\dir2\Mirao, then you should add 'C:\\dir1\\dir2\\Mirao' to 'mirao52e'. You may want to add the DLLs manually after installation.

import devwraps

# removes all DLLs
devwraps.remove_dlls()

# look for DLLs according to the paths specified in `dll_paths.py`
devwraps.look_for_dlls()

# print the root folder of this module
print(devwraps.get_root_folder)

Install

• Download and install the drivers for the devices you want to use from the ones listed above. Make sure to install the development API in case this is optional.
• You should then install the following software requirements:
  • Anaconda for Python 3. This includes Python as well as some necessary scientific libraries.
  • Build Tools for Visual Studio. Note that this is not Visual Studio ifself, but the command-line interface Build Tools for Visual Studio 2019. You can find that under Tools for Visual Studio. During the installation use the default configuration but make sure that the Windows 10 SDK and the C++ x64/x86 build tools options are enabled.
  • Git. This is necessary for the automatic version numbering of this package. Also make sure you choose Git from the command line and also 3rd-party software in Adjusting your PATH environment.
• Clone this repository using Git. Do not use GitHub's Download ZIP button above.
• Finally double-click on install.bat.

Testing

• Open an Anaconda Prompt and type python -m devwraps.test

Known bugs

• The asdk, sdk3, and mirao52e modules are mostly untested
• Timeout error handling in grab_image() is incomplete
• Continuous acquisition (start_video() and stop_video()) is mostly untested