MVTec
HALCON Progress 25.05
What is HALCON Progress
HALCON Progress is the fast track to the latest features. With new releases approximately every six months, it gives you access to the newest features quicker and more frequently than ever before. HALCON Progress development licenses are exclusively available via an annual subscription. A valid HALCON Progress development license grants access to all Progress releases within the subscription period. For more information about our licensing models, please visit.
HALCON Progress is the fast track to the latest features. With new releases approximately every six months, it gives you access to the newest features quicker and more frequently than ever before. HALCON Progress development licenses are exclusively available via an annual subscription. A valid HALCON Progress development license grants access to all Progress releases within the subscription period. For more information about our licensing models, please visit.
Highlights
- HALCON is your solution for the full range of applications in the field of machine vision
- Enabler of the Industrial Internet of Things (aka Industry 4.0)
- Large imaging library of more than 2,100 operators
- Integrated development environment (IDE) for machine vision: HDevelop
- Huge range of features including deep learning
- Easy programming in C, C++, C#, Python, and Visual Basic .NET
- Available for a multitude of platforms
- Support of multi-core and multiprocessor computers
- High performance through utilization of state-of-the-art instruction sets and GPU Acceleration
- Support of hundreds of industrial cameras, frame grabbers, and all common vision standards
Features
- Revolutionary software for 3D machine vision
- Matching to find even rotated or partly occluded objects
- Blob analysis with more than 50 shape and gray value features
- High-accuracy measuring
- Huge range of latest deep learning technologies
- Optical character recognition and verification (OCR/OCV)
- Arbitrarily shaped regions of interest (ROIs) for significant flexibility and speed
- Detection of lines, circles, and ellipses with an accuracy of up to 1/50 pixel
- Extremely fast morphology
- Color image processing and hyperspectral imaging
- Processing of extremely large images (more than 32k x 32k)
- Image sequence processing (e.g., for surveillance tasks)
- Accurate 3D camera calibration
Major features of HALCON 25.05
HALCON 25.05 will be released on May 27, 2025. This new version includes numerous improvements, as well as a new technology that combines deep learning algorithms with classic methods.：
Train your own Deep 3D Matching models
Deep 3D Matching is a new deep-learning-based technology for fast and robust 3D object detection and pose estimation using 2D images. It requires minimal parametrization and delivers high performance, making it ideal for applications such as bin picking and robotic handling – even in challenging conditions.
With HALCON 25.05, users can now train their Deep 3D Matching models independently, without requiring MVTec support. A new renderer makes it possible to generate training data from the CAD model of the relevant object and thus also enables training exclusively with synthetically generated, labeled data. This allows for a flexible setup and can cover various object properties like reflections and transparency. With the new training functionality, customers can now create 3D matching applications tailored to their specific needs and environment. If desired, model training can still be commissioned as a paid service through MVTec.
More robust Deep OCR with alignment-based text correction
In some applications, running Deep OCR’s detection model, which localizes word regions in the image, may not be feasible due to tight cycle time constraints. In such cases, users define text regions manually or through rule-based image processing, which can lead to inaccurate recognition due to suboptimal crops. With HALCON 25.05, Deep OCR thus includes an alignment step before recognition.
This step refines rough word crops, significantly improving reading accuracy even when text regions are placed imprecisely. As a result, users can bypass the detection model while maintaining reliable OCR results – leading to a considerable reduction in processing time. This makes text recognition workflows not only more flexible but also much faster, as precise ROI placement is no longer required. The alignment step itself is highly efficient and adds only minimal processing overhead.
Core feature improvements
HALCON 25.05 also includes various improvements to important core technologies like the code reader or Generic Shape Matching:
Enhanced code reader with QR code rectification
With version 25.05, HALCON improves its code reader with QR code rectification, enabling reliable reading even on curved or deformed surfaces. This expands application possibilities in industries such as logistics, packaging, food production, and bottle labeling, where QR codes often appear on non-flat materials.
The rectification process ensures higher readability without requiring perfectly flat surfaces. It is optional and can be enabled as needed. While processing time is slightly longer than standard QR code reading, the improved robustness makes it a valuable addition for demanding applications.
Interruptible training for Generic Shape Matching
The 25.05 release of HALCON adds the possibility to interrupt training for Generic Shape Matching, giving users greater flexibility and control over the process. Training can now be stopped manually or limited with a timeout (e.g., after 1 second), ensuring efficient operation without unnecessary waiting times. Previously, once training started, it had to run to completion, which could lead to delays – especially in embedded applications with limited resources. Now, users can seamlessly integrate training into their workflows, preventing long processing times and improving responsiveness.
New image acquisition interface for modern camera technologies
HALCON 25.05 introduces a new set of image acquisition operators designed for seamless integration with state-of-the-art camera technology. While MVTec has always focused on efficient camera connectivity, modern standards like GigE Vision and USB3 Vision bring both new opportunities and new challenges. The new interface simplifies camera handling while providing full control over advanced configurations. These new operators provide a clearer, more intuitive interface, optimized for standard use cases while maintaining full control over the GenICam GenTL architecture. Additionally, they support multiple streams if provided by GenICam GenTL devices. Users can expect performance equal to or even faster than previous operators, ensuring a smooth transition to the latest camera technology.
New preview version of HDevelopEVO
Use external procedure files in HDevelopEVO
HDevelopEVO 25.05 introduces support for referencing procedures stored in external files. Users can now split their programs into multiple files and reference procedures across them. This enables cleaner program structure and is a first step toward future support for modular libraries.
Gray value histogram: First machine vision tool in HDevelopEVO
To address a common need in machine vision workflows, HDevelopEVO 25.05 adds the gray value histogram – one of the most frequently used tools for image analysis. It enables the user to visualize the distribution of pixel intensities in an image and to interactively set thresholds to select relevant regions for further processing.
Integrated AI assistants for smarter development workflows
To support developers more effectively, HDevelopEVO 25.05 introduces AI assistants. These include an interactive chat, agents for, e.g., IDE commands and shell commands, and automatic code completion. Users can choose between cloud-based, self-hosted, or local AI models while maintaining full control over data and model usage. The AI assistants must be explicitly activated by the user.
Major features of HALCON 24.11
In this release the users can look forward to groundbreaking technologies and improvements. With HALCON 24.11, we are focusing on even better AI, specifically deep learning algorithms. Among other features, users can now detect and evaluate unexpected behavior in deep-learning-based classification.
Out of Distribution Detection (OOD) for Classification
new HALCON feature makes it easy to recognize unexpected behavior caused by incorrect classifications in production. Thus, users can take appropriate measures, such as stopping the machine, in a targeted and efficient manner. When using a deep learning classifier, unknown objects are assigned to one of the classes that the system has learned. This can lead to problems if, for example, the defects or objects themselves are of a type that has never occurred before. The new deep learning feature “Out of Distribution Detection (OOD)” indicates when an object is classified that was not included in the training data. For example, this could be a bottle with a green label if the system was only trained on bottles with red or yellow labels. In such cases, HALCON provides the message “Out of Distribution” together with an OOD score that indicates how much the deviation from the trained classes is.
The OOD score can also be useful when expanding deep learning models with new training images by indicating which of the new images will have the greatest value for the new model. For example, a high OOD score for a new training image indicates a greater deviation from the images already in the network – this means a higher information content and, therefore, greater value for the training.
Improved Shape-based Matching
The new HALCON version makes the “Shape-based Matching” feature, used in many applications, more user-friendly. This technology is used to find objects fast, accurately, and precisely. HALCON 24.11 includes the new patent pending "Extended Parameter Estimation" for this purpose. This allows parameters to be estimated with greater granularity, which significantly speeds up execution in some applications. “Extended Parameter Estimation” enables this estimation also for users without in-depth machine vision expertise.
Optimized QR code reader
The performance of HALCON's QR Code Reader has been significantly increased. This is particularly evident under difficult conditions, for example, when many codes need to be found in the image area or many textures in the image complicate the detection. The recognition rate has been increased and the evaluation time has been significantly reduced in demanding scenarios.
Deep 3D Matching
With this feature, HALCON 24.11 contains a deep-learning-based market innovation for the 3D vision sector, especially for bin-picking and pick-and-place applications. This feature is particularly robust in determining the exact position and rotation of a trained object and is characterized by very low parameterization effort and fast execution time. Depending on the accuracy requirements, one or more cost-efficient standard 2D cameras can be used to determine the position. Training is performed exclusively on synthetic data generated from a CAD model. Further training is therefore not required.
Customers can already run this feature in HALCON 24.11 – to train the model and evaluate applications, they can contact MVTec at any time. Training and evaluation within HALCON will follow in the next release.
HALCON’s GigE Vision interface supports RoCEv2
With this release, HALCON's GigE Vision interface supports the RoCEv2 network protocol, which enables increased performance in image transmission.
Improved HALCON Progress edition
HALCON Progress is now fully compatible with the HALCON Steady edition. Progress users can now collaborate with Steady users on the same projects. Additionally, HALCON Progress users will receive the same maintenance updates as HALCON Steady users. In the future, switching from Steady to Progress will simply require exchanging the license file.
AGRICULTURE & FOOD
Identification of natural products,automated fruit picking and sorting, or fill level measurement: HALCON is a technology for producers and packagers alike to achieve efficient and consistent production and keep up with the ever-changing demands of consumers.
AUTOMOTIVE & ROBOTICS
Determine the 3D pose of objects, extract 3D data for bin picking or robot path planning: HALCON's unique 3D vision techniques open new possibilities for numerous automotive and robotics applications.
LOGISTICS & PACKAGING
Quality control, completeness inspection, identification, or bar & data code reading: HALCON offers outstanding methods in all areas of logistics and packaging.
ELECTRONICS & SEMICONDUCTORS
Precise assembly, surface inspection or defect detection during the entire manufacturing process: With HALCON, system manufacturers are fully equipped to implement advanced processes at reduced costs.
HALCON Editions
|
Progress |
Steady |
|
|