Overview of the pylon Viewer
The pylon Viewer is an application for viewing and changing
most of the camera parameter settings using a graphical user interface.
The pylon Viewer is part of the Basler
pylon Camera Software Suite. It is available for Windows, Linux, and
macOS.

Menus
File Menu
Use the File menu to exit the pylon Viewer
and to save the current image.
View Menu
The View menu offers the following options:
- Zoom In: Use this option to zoom
into the image.
- Zoom Out: Use this option to zoom
out of the image.
- Zoom to Fit: Use this option to make
the image fit into the image display area.
- Zoom 100%: Use this option to restore
the image to its original size.
- Full Screen: Use this option to display
your image in full-screen mode.
- Clear Message Log: Use this option
to clear all messages from the Message Log
pane.
- Crosshair: Use this option to show
or hide a crosshair in the image
display area.
- Grid: Use this option to show or
hide a grid in the image display
area.
Camera Menu
The Camera menu gives you options to operate
the camera, to manipulate the camera's settings or to add a GigE camera
that wasn't detected automatically:
- Open Device: Use this option
to open a device, i.e.,
to make it available for use.
- Close Device: Use this option to
close a device.
- Single Shot: Use this option to capture
a single image.
- Continuous Shot: Use this option
to let the camera capture images continuously.
- Stop: Use this option to stop capturing
images or to stop a recording.
- Pause: Use this option to pause a
recording.
- Record: Use this option to record
a video. The recording will start with the current settings. If you
want to change any settings, open the Recording
Settings pane via the Window
menu.
- Save Features:
Use this option to save the current settings of the camera features
in a .pfs file. The extension ".pfs" stands
for "pylon feature stream".
- Load Features: Use this option to
load a .pfs file containing previously saved settings
of camera features. The extension ".pfs" stands for "pylon
feature stream".
- Copy Camera Features: Use this option to copy
the current settings of all camera features to the clipboard. This
allows you to use them in a different context.
- Add Remote GigE Camera: Use this
option to add a GigE camera by entering its IP address. This is useful
if you want to add a camera that is not in your network and therefore
doesn't get detected automatically.
- Automatic Image Adjustment: Use this
option to perform automatic
image adjustment.
- Vignetting Correction: Use this option
to remove vignetting
artifacts from your image.
- File Access: Use this option to access
the file system of the camera, for example for uploading or downloading
user sets.
Tools Menu
The Tools menu gives you access to the
Bandwidth Manager dialog as well as all
installed pylon tools, e.g., pylon USB Configurator (Windows only), pylon
IP Configurator, pylon CL Configurator (Windows only), or Color Calibrator
(only available if you're using a Basler
MED ace camera). It also gives you access to the Options
dialog.
- Options: Opens the Options
dialog. This has the following sections:
- General: You can customize the
pylon Viewer and select whether to use the online or the offline
version of the help.
- Language: You can change the
language of the pylon Viewer, the pylon IP Configurator, and the
pylon USB Configurator. Available languages are Simplified Chinese,
English, Japanese, and Korean.
- Camera Emulation: You can specify
the number of camera emulation
devices available in the pylon Viewer.
- Crosshair: You can modify the
appearance of the crosshair.
- Grid: You can modify the appearance
of the grid.
Window Menu
The Window menu allows you to select or
deselect the panes that you want to display, e.g.,
the Devices pane or the Histogram
pane.
Help Menu
Use the Help menu to submit feedback on
the pylon application, contact Basler support, and view general information
about the pylon Viewer, e.g., which plugins have been installed. From
here, you can also access the Basler Product Documentation, the pylon
Deployment Guide, the pylon SDK Samples Manual, and all the programmer's
guides (if SDKs have been installed).
Toolbar Buttons
- Save Image
: Click to save
the current image.
- Open Device
:
Click to open the device
currently selected.
- Close Device
: Click to close
the device currently selected.
- Single Shot
:
Click to capture a single image.
- Continuous Shot
: Click to let the camera capture
images continuously.
- Record
: The recording will
start with the current settings. If you want to change any settings,
open the Recording Settings pane via
the Window menu.
- Pause
: Click to pause the
recording.
- Stop
: Click to stop capturing
images or to stop a recording.
- Zoom In
: Click to zoom into the image.
- Zoom Out
: Click to
zoom out of the image.
- Zoom to Fit
: Click
to make the image fit into the image display area.
- Zoom 100%
: Click to
restore the image to its original size.
- Full screen
: Click
to display your image in full-screen mode.
- Crosshair
: Click to
show or hide a crosshair in the
image display area.
- Grid
: Click to show or hide a grid
in the image display area.
- Histogram
: Click to
open or close the Histogram pane.
- Sharpness Indicator
: Click to open the Sharpness
Indicator pane.
- Automatic Image Adjustment
: Click to let the
camera automatically make
all settings necessary to get a good image under current conditions.
When you open the pylon Viewer for the first time, the following panes
will be displayed:
The Devices pane displays a device tree
in which all cameras that are connected to your computer are listed grouped
by interface type. The interfaces shown vary depending on which options
you have chosen during the installation of the pylon Camera Software Suite.
As an example, a Basler ace GigE camera, a Basler ace USB camera and two
camera emulation devices are shown
in the screenshot above. Using the Show
Cameras Only option, you can display only the cameras without the
interface information.
In this pane, you can also select whether to auto-scan in regular intervals
for recently connected devices. Alternatively, you can click the Refresh button
to
refresh the device tree manually.
The Features pane displays all features
that are available on the camera that is selected in the Devices
pane.
In this pane, you can also select whether to automatically poll the
camera in regular intervals. Alternatively, you can click the Refresh
button
to refresh the features list manually.
Image Display Area
Images and videos taken by the camera are displayed here. There is an
image window tab for each camera that is currently open. At the bottom
is a status bar that provides information about the image you're capturing
or the video you're recording. When positioning your camera, you can display
a crosshair and grid as visual aids.
Images can be displayed in full-screen mode by clicking the
button in the toolbar. To move the full-screen image to a second screen,
right-click in the image and choose Screen #2
from the context menu. The image will then move to your second screen.
Feature Documentation Pane
The Feature Documentation pane displays
information about the feature currently selected in the Features
pane. The feature descriptions are available in a variety of languages.
Pick your language in the Language drop-down
list.
Message Log Pane
The Message Log pane displays information
about actions carried out with the pylon Viewer, e.g., opening and closing
a camera or starting a recording. There are different message levels:
Information, Warning, and Critical.
Adding Panes
Via the Window menu, you can select more
panes to display. By default, some of them will be docked on the right-hand
side of the pylon Viewer, others will be floating.
Rearranging Panes
All panes in the main window have buttons
for closing the pane and for undocking it from the pylon Viewer window.
If a pane is undocked, you can move it around freely on your desktop.
If you want to dock it again, follow these steps:
- Start dragging a pane.
A positioning aid appears.

- With the mouse cursor, point to the location where you want to
drop the pane.
The desired window area will be highlighted in blue.
- Drop the pane.
The following animation demonstrates this.

This way you can fully customize the pylon Viewer window and rearrange
panes as desired.