Good news…. I have just completed Beta testing of the latest release of DYT’s thermal analysis software (V1.0.4).
The original software was not buggy so the new release is not about bug fixes, but rather, additional functionality
Who does not like an improved software eh ? When I reviewed the V1.0.0 software originally released with the CA-10 I knew that it was likely to be missing some features that were still under development as DYT were very clear that they intended to continue with the development of their analysis software. This is their new ‘baby’ and they are invested in it becoming better and better with each new version release.
As readers of my previous review will know, the software was already very well formed and capable. What it lacked was a sophisticated thermal plotting and recording function for R&D work. It also required Radiometric file saving, but more on that later.
I will be producing a review of the latest analysis software release but, in summary, it now provides a very neat temperature plotting module that can display the temperature of all ROI measurements simultaneously on a very nice graph. There are all manner of settings to control what the plotting module does and this is an excellent enhancement. There is even a picture capture trigger mode where a user sets a maximum temperature threshold and if the Device Under Test exceeds this threshold, a picture of the scene is automatically captured for later analysis. The time interval between measurements is user definable so this plotting mode can operate over long periods of time and could produce time lapse recordings. The mode also includes a video recorder function to capture the graph in real time. Saved files include a CSV data set for further analysis
More about this new temperature plotting module in my review, to follow.
The saving of images that contain Radiometric data is very desirable in a thermal analysis software package. DYT know this but do not want to delay release of their product by waiting for the Radiometric file save feature to be completed by their development team. Not everyone needs that ‘off-line’ analysis feature so I support their approach to ongoing development whilst releasing well formed software revisions at their earliest opportunity. Remember, these are not bug riddled releases, each is designed, tested and only released when they meet the high standards that DYT strive for ….. Microsoft take note ! With this in mind, I can state that DYT have produced the Radiometric file save feature that I hoped would be included in a future release. They are still developing the off-line image analysis interface however as it is a proprietary Radiometric file format. I have no further information on the data file format used and do not know whether DYT will make it public for 3rd party application development. We will have to wait and see. The Radiometric file analysis software will be released when DYT have completed its development. If their current software is anything to go by, we should see a well designed program that supports all the features desirable in such an analysis package
It may be a module integrated into the current software or a separate piece of analysis software. I do not have that detail yet but I look forward to its release. I may be wrong but from my communications with DYT the new software release saves images with the Radiometric data included. We just do not have a way to read that radiometric data …. Yet.
There is also an interesting new measurement feature in the pre-release BETA software that I just tested. Support for a USB thermometer with the temperature displayed on the thermal scene display. This will enable monitoring of an area in the scene with a physical contact type temperature sensor as well as the IR non contact measurements. A very nice feature that would be very useful as a thermal camera measurement confidence and Emissivity check
I do not know if this feature is ready for release yet so it may not be in the latest public release version of the software. I will check and I have already asked DYT about the availability of the USB temperature measurement dongle.
More on that when I have news.
The latest software release additional functionality review will follow as soon as I have time to write it
Fraser