# RGB camera profiles

A profile is a **settings XML exported from the VimbaX Viewer**. A profile named
`X` is `X.xml` in this directory, and `[Camera.rgb] profile = X` in `config.ini`
selects it.

The program hands the XML straight to the Vimba X SDK (`LoadSettings`). Nothing
else writes camera settings, and there is no fallback — a missing `X.xml` is a
startup error. That is deliberate: GenICam validity is *stateful*
(`AcquisitionFrameRate` is only writable once `AcquisitionFrameRateEnable` is
set, `Width`'s maximum depends on binning, `IntensityAutoPrecedence` takes
`Minimizenoise` but not `MinimizeNoise`), so a hand-written list can be
individually plausible and collectively wrong. The Viewer greys out invalid
combinations as you configure; that is the guardrail this design relies on.

## These files live on the device only

The XMLs are exported on the LattePanda, because that is where the camera is, so
they exist nowhere in the repo. `deploy.sh` therefore excludes `*.xml` and
`*.txt` under this directory from its `rsync --delete` — without that, the next
deploy erases them. This README does sync; it is repo documentation.

Keep a copy somewhere durable if a profile represents real tuning effort: a
reflash or a rebuilt device starts with an empty directory.

## To create or change a profile

1. Open the VimbaX Viewer and connect to the camera.
2. Configure it. The Viewer will not let you pick an invalid combination.
3. Save the settings XML over `<profile>.xml` here.
4. Restart. The program notices the file changed, regenerates `<profile>.txt`,
   and logs every setting that moved.

## The `.txt` files

Beside each `X.xml` the program writes `X.txt`: a generated, human-readable
record of the same settings, so a profile can be read and diffed without opening
the Viewer. **It configures nothing.** Editing it changes nothing; it is
overwritten whenever the XML changes.

## Profiles this rig expects

`config.ini` ships referencing `standard` and `night`. Both are **raw capture**
(docs/raw12-pipeline-measurements.md): full resolution, binning 1, packed 12-bit
Bayer, converted to colour on the tower and saved as 12-bit JPEG XL.
`scripts/export_camera_profile.py` builds them on the tower; these are its recipe.

| Setting | `standard` | `night` |
|---|---|---|
| `BinningHorizontal` / `Vertical` | 1 | 1 |
| `Width` / `Height` | sensor maximum | sensor maximum |
| `PixelFormat` | `BayerRG12p` | `BayerRG12p` |
| `DeviceLinkThroughputLimit` | 250000000 | 250000000 |
| `AcquisitionFrameRate` | camera maximum (9.86 on the 1800 U-1620c) | camera maximum (exposure-limited at night) |
| `ChunkModeActive` + `ChunkEnable` | ExposureTime, Gain, BalanceRatioRed/Blue, Timestamp | same |
| `BalanceWhiteAuto` | Off (fixed ratios) | Off |
| `ExposureAutoMin` / `Max` | 200 / 20000 µs | 1000 / 500000 µs |
| `GainAutoMax` | 24 | 48 |
| `IntensityAutoPrecedence` | MinimizeNoise | MinimizeNoise |
| `IntensityControllerRate` | 100 | 100 |
| `DeviceIndicatorMode` / `Luminance` | Active / 10 | Inactive / 0 |

The chunk data is what `settle_rule = brightness` reads (each item has to be
enabled before `ChunkModeActive`, which then locks them). A profile left on
`RGB8` still works: the program saves it as before.

Earlier profiles used 2×2 binning at RGB8. On the 1620c that gave **no** extra
frame rate (the camera budgets the link against the unbinned frame), which is one
reason they were replaced. Their values are in git history.

`settle_wait_ms` / `frame_timeout_ms` / `settle_rule` are *not* camera settings and are not in
the XML — they live in `config.ini` under `[Camera.rgb.<profile>]`.