Video Capture and Synchronisation System

How the system works

Stable Micro Systems' Video Capture & Synchronisation System enables manufacturers to replay visual recordings frame by frame, simultaneously with the corresponding force-distance-time graph.

Data collected through the system is processed by the Exponent software supplied with the TA.XTplus texture analyser. As the instrument begins collecting data, a signal is relayed to the Video Capture Interface that activates its commencement of recording.

When replayed later, each frame is automatically synchronised with the data points on the force-time graph, allowing slow replay of those frames that record a significant event which may not have been seen by the naked eye in real time. You are then able to relate graph events to visual events on the product.

Making use of Video Synchronisation

Capturing texture analysis on video offers genuine benefits to manufacturers.

Crucial visual elements of an experiment can be easily missed by the human eye, due to the rapid speed of the test or to the complex breaking pattern of the sample; brittle products, for example, break very quickly.

Interpreting visual and graphical information after an experiment has taken place can prove difficult if the data are not synchronised. For instance, correlating the peaks and troughs of a force-distance-time graph to specific moments in the test can be tricky, even if the experiment has also been captured on video. This is particularly true for products that have uneven textures or that break quickly, in a complex manner.

Features

• Collect Video Footage at up to 50 frames per second (depending on PC performance)

• Relate graph events to visual events on the product – video is automatically synchronised to Force-Distance-Time data for replay frame by frame alongside your graphs

• Associate video files automatically with its corresponding archive graph

• View samples or objects on your PC screen to preview focus and lighting

• Align very small samples or particles more easily before testing

Options of use

• Camera fixed to side: for the majority of applications

• Camera fixed above: for viewing of top of sample where a sample surface breaks e.g. gels or where the sample is larger than the probe e.g. needle probe going into surface

• Camera fixed underneath: for view of sample alignment or capture of small samples such as granules or grains.

The test platform, with its camera mounting points, fits easily to the test bed of the TA.XTplus Texture Analyser. The optional lighting system is also shown in the photograph above.

Don't miss a Texture Analysis moment!

Capture and replay each frame – and see the corresponding location on the force-distance-time curve.