Cognex Designer is an integrated development environment for 2D multi-camera and 3D vision applications. Creating machine vision applications has become increasingly complex over the years, and Cognex Designer provides the tools for breaking down the complexity into manageable tasks in order to complete vision projects successfully in a shorter period of time.
Key capabilities of Cognex Designer:
What’s new in Cognex Designer 2.0?
Cognex Designer 2.0 is a major new software release that provides significant new capabilities to allow customers to build their vision applications completely and efficiently. Existing Cognex Designer 1.0 customers can upgrade for free to Cognex Designer 2.0.
Major new features in Designer 2.0:
Ordering Cognex Designer with Cognex VC5, 8704e, or CC24 Hardware
Cognex Designer and VisionPro software are available in a bundle with the VC5 Vision Controller, 8704e Frame Grabber, or CC24 IO and PLC Communication card. A development license is also available.
Cognex Designer makes it faster to build complete vision applications and allows developers to more easily take full advantage of the powerful VisionPro® tool library. A graphical, flow-chart-based programming environment results in a diagrammatic representation that’s easier to understand, explain to others, and maintain.
Key benefits of using Cognex Designer
![]() | 1: Configure Vision – Drag and drop data flow configuration for vision applications. Use interactive edit controls to set vision tool properties. Add plug-ins for external hardware devices such as 3D sensors, cameras, and I/O devices. |
![]() | 2: Develop HMI – Create a professional runtime operator interface to monitor and control your vision application. |
![]() | 3: Connect – Configure I/O and factory floor communications, control motion equipment, and archive results. |
![]() | 4: Deploy Install on a vision controller or industrial PC. |
The Cognex VC5 Vision Controller provides users a pre-qualified, ready-to-go, Cognex trusted brand vision system to create, deploy, and maintain 3D and 2D multi-camera machine vision applications.
The Cognex VC5 Vision Controller directly connects to Cognex industrial GigE Vision® cameras and Cognex 3D laser displacement sensors and allows for the combination of up to four area scan, line scan or 3D displacement sensors. Integrated and pre-qualified hardware and software does away with third party accessory evaluation and avoids driver incompatibility and similar performance issues to reduce development time and sourcing complexity.
The robust, fan-less design has no moving parts, which allows the VC5 to offer high vibration immunity and makes it suitable for dusty industrial environments. The VC5 offers high-speed parallel image acquisition from cameras or 3D displacement sensors and includes a rich set of discrete I/O and encoder inputs, deterministic precision I/O sub-system, and networking capabilities for common factory protocols.
Organizations can be more efficient in their vision application development and deployment without having to worry about PC selection, camera and IO connectivity, or software installation incompatibilities.
This hardware is always ordered with Cognex CIC Industrial Cameras for 2D multi-camera applications and/or Cognex 3D Displacement Sensors for 3D applications to provide a complete vision system delivered and supported by Cognex.
Download the VC5 Vision Controller Datasheet
Download the DS1000 Series Datasheet
Download the Cognex Industrial Cameras Datasheet
The Cognex 8704e is a new 4-port GigE Frame Grabber card available for use with Cognex and third-party cameras. It is the recommended GigE interface card for all new vision software applications going forward for organizations building their own industrial PCs for machine vision.
This card interfaces with up to four Cognex Industrial Cameras or third-party GigE cameras to your PC. It is qualified by Cognex for use with Cognex software and hardware. Cognex Designer and VisionPro software are included with the purchase of this card.
Capabilities:
Software Included:
The latest release of Cognex Designer Vision Software for machine vision application development is included with this hardware. The hardware also includes the latest VisionPro Vision software for access to the complete library of Cognex vision tools, including PatMax AutoTune.
Typical Cameras/Sensors Ordered Together:
This frame grabber is typically ordered with Cognex cameras or sensors (Cognex CIC Industrial Cameras for 2D multi-camera applications and/or Cognex 3D Displacement Sensors for 3D applications), or third-party 2D cameras that support the GigE standard. You may also order this hardware together with the Cognex CC24 I/O card if you need I/O or factory floor integration.
Cognex ready-to-go vision system now available:
The 8704e is suitable for those building their own industrial PC system. For users that are ready to obtain a pre-qualified, ready-to-go vision system, Cognex now provides complete vision software systems available with the Cognex VC5 Vision Controller. .
The Cognex CC24 is an I/O and factory integration card available for developing machine vision software applications with Cognex and third-party cameras. It is the recommended I/O and factory floor integration card for all new vision software applications going forward for organizations building their own industrial PCs for machine vision.
The CC24 is qualified by Cognex for use with Cognex software and hardware. Cognex Designer and VisionPro software are included with this I/O and PLC card.
Capabilities:
Software Included: The latest release of Cognex Designer Vision Software for machine vision application development is included with this hardware. The hardware also includes the latest VisionPro Vision software for access to the compete library of Cognex vision tools, including PatMax AutoTune.
Typical Cameras/Sensors/Hardware Ordered Together:
This I/O and PLC card is typically ordered with the GigE Frame Grabber when building a machine vision system that uses Cognex CIC Industrial Cameras for 2D multi-camera applications and Cognex 3D Displacement Sensors for 3D applications, or third-party 2D cameras that support the GigE standard.
Cognex ready-to-go vision system now available:
The CC24 is suitable for those building their own industrial PC system. For users that are ready to obtain a pre-qualified, ready-to-go vision solution, Cognex now provides complete vision software systems available with the Cognex VC5 Vision Controller.
The Cognex family of digital industrial cameras are designed for easy integration with industry-leading Cognex Designer Vision Software and VisionPro® software that is included with Designer. These small, lightweight GigE Vision® and Camera Link® cameras can are available in both area scan and line scan formats to address a wide variety of applications.
Cognex stands behind its reputation as being the leader in the machine vision market and now you can too. As a machine builder, the signature black and yellow Cognex cameras show your customers you have the leading machine vision technology integrated into your system. Large enterprise users easily recognize the systems that use Cognex Designer with these Cognex Industrial Cameras (CIC). Integration with Cognex Designer provides access to a comprehensive library of tools for meeting all of your machine vision needs.
These Cognex cameras are typically ordered with the Cognex VC5 Vision Controller for users that are ready to obtain a Cognex pre-qualified, ready-to-go vision solution. Alternatively, this hardware is typically ordered with the Cognex 8704e GigE Frame Grabber for those building an industrial PC. Both the VC5 and 8704e include Cognex Designer and Vision Pro software, to offer a complete vision solution delivered and supported by Cognex.
GigE Vision and Camera Link options
Need a value solution? Require high-performance to meet the most demanding requirements? Cognex offers industrial cameras to meet a variety of application requirements.
Features
Model Comparison – GigE Cameras | ![]() | |||||
Model | Resolution | Frame Rate | Type | Sensor Technology | Color/ Mono | |
CAM-CIC-300 | 0.3MP | 120fps | Area Scan | CCD/Global Shutter | M | |
CAM-CIC-1300 | 1.3MP | 60fps | Area Scan | CMOS/Global Shutter | C, M | |
CAM-CIC-2000-20 | 2MP | 20fps | Area Scan | CCD/Global Shutter | M | |
CAM-CIC-2000-60 | 2MP | 60fps | Area Scan | CMOS/Global Shutter | M | |
CAM-CIC-4000 | 4MP | 25fps | Area Scan | CMOS/Global Shutter | C, M | |
CAM-CIC-5MR/5000R | 5MP | 14fps | Area Scan | CMOS/Rolling Shutter | C, M | |
CAM-CIC-5000 | 5MP | 17fps | Area Scan | CCD/Global Shutter | M | |
CAM-CIC-10MR | 10MP | 10fps | Area Scan | CMOS/Rolling Shutter | C, M | |
CAM-CIC-4KL-24 | 4k | 24kHz | Line Scan | CMOS/Linear | M | |
Model Comparison – CameraLink Cameras | ||||||
Model | Resolution | Frame Rate | Type | Sensor Technology | Color/ Mono | |
CAM-CIC-4KL-80 | 4K | 80kHz | Line Scan | CMOS/Linear | M |
Cognex offers complete vision solutions consisting of vision controllers, vision hardware, and vision software to allow organizations to build 2D, 3D, and multi-camera vision software applications.
As a result, Cognex Designer and VisionPro software are provided together when you order the Cognex VC5 Vision Controller, 8704e Frame Grabber, or CC24 IO and PLC card. Specifically, a deployment license is provided that allows you to both develop and deploy the application into production. Since you purchased Cognex Designer together with hardware, you have a validated vision test solution qualified by Cognex.