Software Release History and Previous Versions

Versions go by build date. The software tells the build date in the log window at startup. If not, you are running the very first release. The newest release is the topmost. The download link is the header.

Build date 01.11.2022

New features

F1 now opens web help page about the item under mouse cursor
Camera delay measurement now does measurements using 0 to 15 frame delay and reports results
Control board recognition is redone.

Bug fixes

‘After placement’ -operations (park, camera switch etc) are now always done before
error/OK message is shown
No “ding” sound when pressing enter on the text to send box
Pixel to mm now calculated correctly, regardless of aspect ratio

Known issues

If you change camera resolution, you need to re-set pixel size
The application does not automatically restart when loading new settings from file. (there is now a dialog, though)
Place fast sometimes uses last hole (which might not be whole), not the second to last as expected

Build date 14/10/2022

New features

Added “Save All Settings” button
Vision results are now color coded: Red= wrong size; yellow= right size, wrong distance; green= OK

Bug fixes

Manually editing CAD position data now invalidates measurements
Jogging and test operations are now disabled during homing and startup
Failed measurements now always restart cameras
Clearer measurement results

Known issues

If you change camera resolution, you need to re-set pixel size
The application does not automatically restart when loading new settings from file. (there is now a dialog, though)
Place fast sometimes uses last hole (which might not be whole), not the second to last as expected

Release 13.10.2022 withdrawn (vision results did not always handle zoom correctly)

Build date 09/09/2022

Features as in beta, listed below, with some minor UI improvements added.

Beta release, build date 24/08/2022

The download link in the header is for the .exe file, intended to be copied to an existing LitePlacer installation directory. This is now a release candidate.

New Features, Significant Changes

Video to UI is scaled down to UI resolution (much better performance), measurements and visual processing use full resolution image for precision.
Cameras have properties button , and can now use fixed exposure. Details here.
Up camera assisted placement. Details here.

Minor changes

Multiple rows can be deleted from tapes data table
Negative move guard sizes are now user settable
Added +10 and -10 buttons on vision algorithm int parameter (greatly helps setting the contrast)
Data file backups now go to dated directories
Nozzle calibration from nozzle setup page depreciated (much easier done on vision processing page)

Bug Fixes

Setting machine size now sets the limits on control board, too
Better tooltip and error messages text in multiple places
Delete tape button now correctly labeled to refer on all selected tapes
Homing from cameras or vision algorithms setup pages now correctly shows down camera in use
Homing from nozzles setup page switches to basic setup page to restore z switch settings
Setting pixel size now works correctly regardless of zoom and show pixel setting
Changing zoom and show pixels status now recalculates the box size. Note, that this makes box size dynamic, it changes with zoom. The mm/pixel value is the important one.
Box size is not shown if it is not valid
No crash if nozzle correction is asked when no nozzle is loaded
Screen resolution settings did not always clear red error color
You can now click the image to move the machine even if it is not homed
Tape type drop box was not always filled with vision algorithm names
Job data value and footprint columns are narrower, so that nozzle number is visible
Deleting the first tape is now possible
Basic setup tab now shows pump and vacuum statuses correctly
Beta version is labeled as such on the main window header

Known issues

If you change camera resolution, you need to re-set pixel size
Releases dated 20.07.2022, 21.07.2022, 22.07.2022 , 25.07.2022 withdrawn

Build date 29/08/2021

Changes from previous (23.08.2021) version

Added variable delay (in frames) to camera measurements

Build date 23/08/2021

Changes from previous (28.06.2021) version

Removed automatic control board identity check
Camera switching, stopping and status reporting improved
On screen image processing paused for measurements (faster operation)
Minor reporting and logging changes

Build date 28/06/2021

Changes from previous (18.06.2021) version

Added frame rate measurement to camera setup
Added also the nominal frame rate promise from the camera
AForge vision libraries updated; this should give better video performance
Warning for measurement using default pixel size
Box now zooms with the rest of the display

Build date 18/06/2021

New Features, Significant Changes

This is a major revision. The vision algorithm is redone, allowing unlimited number of vision algorithms, filtering of acceptable result candidates etc. So many other improvements as well, that comparision to the old revision is about meaningless. Please see the software documentation, which is updated to this new version.

Breaking changes

The old vision algorithms are not imported. Please take a screenshot of your existing setups (or just redo them, it is easy).

The Z height calibration needs to be redone.

Bug Fixes

Too many to list.

Build date 05/07/2020

New Features, Significant Changes

Bug Fixes

Up camera assignment was forgotten in many cases
Grid drawing in tape window can now be selected

Build date 07/03/2020

New Features, Significant Changes

Place fast now calculates parts remaining to be placed, not
total number of parts (thanks to nkofl)
Place fast now uses second to last hole in measurement, as
the last hole might not be whole (thanks to nkofl)
“none” can be selected for up camera

Bug Fixes

Waits for quaranteed serial port close in closing the program (thanks to JonathanNorton)
Catches existing but corrupted setting file (thanks to JonathanNorton)
Fixed weird behaviour of camera image when edit tape dialog is up.
Removed move to stored position from test buttons
Pressing cancel in tape edit dialog doesn’t create a dummy tape
Camera status did not update when changing cameras when keep active was selected
Several typo fixes and internal changes

Build date 14/08/2019

New Features, Significant Changes

Reset tape now only resets the count. There are other methods for resetting z values, but there wasn’t a way to reset count only (= reload the tape)
Movement tests do only one move per click to prevent crash if motor stalls (except on A axis, where there is no danger)
Added a “Measure and set” homing button, that relatively quickly corrects drift: Machine goes to zero, and measures the homing mark. Result should be zero, but isn’t, so coordinates are set to the difference.

Bug Fixes

Fixed unwanted move in place assisted mode
Fixed issues in rotation and already placed status handling in placement
Better diagnostics on failed homing
More robust camera stream handling

Build date 06/08/2019

Version with build date 01/08/2019 is withdrawn.

New Features, Significant Changes

Z0 to PCB value can be manually edited
Slack correction distance is now editable, correction always applies
Show pixels is moved to be always visible
Goto Park now happens with A=0
Added a label for CAD file load and placed status reset (The operations are still slow, thanks to MicroSoft and the UI component used)
For developers: Now using Visual Studio 2019 and C# 8.0. For users, this should improve stability.

Bug Fixes

If camera refuses to stop, program doesn’t freeze anymore
Zguard works again (was broken in previous withdrawn version (08/01/2019))
Placement method selection works again (was broken in previous version (08/01/2019))
Pump and vacuum statuses are now “off” when recovering a board reset
Homing is now more accurate in certain conditions
On tapes grid, several rows can now be selected, Z reset only affects the selected rows
It was possible to jog with numpad keys even when nozzle was down
Clicking the picture now produced the expected amount of movement with showpixels on or off (triangular error is still there)
Manually moving Z with F11/F12 no more triggers nozzle down error
Fixed issue on identifiers on panelisation with more than 10 repeats
Camera zoom factors are now forced to be >1.0
Motor power checkbox now more accurately reflects the true status of the system
Tickmarks now show properly with show pixels on

Build date 07/09/2018

New Features, Significant Changes

Manually assisted placement: Machine takes the part almost to position, user can jog it on place (Thank you for contribution!)
Pump and vacuum relay output can now be inverted
Added button to set A=0
Greatly reduced video lag
Duplicate designators are now replaced (R1, R1; … => R1_1, R1_2, …)
Message boxes are now shown centered on the LitePlacer window (instead of Windows standard, center of the screen)

Bug Fixes

More stable operation when manually stopping placement job
Homing button is now red during homing
Increased homing timeout for long latch travels
Optical homing now takes several measurements and uses the median
Jig setup used too fine grid for HD cameras
Bad tape data doesn’t crash anymore on show part
Pump and vacuum checkboxes now show correct status at startup

Build date 28/05/2018

New Features, significant changes

Two fiducials works with some assumptions (thanks to Oskar Weigl)
Set machine coordinates button
Vigorous homing: Makes a few full speed machine movements before setting zero

Bug Fixes

Mouse Click on camera image works as expected with show pixels off
µ character now works in CAD data
Camera active label was sometimes incorrect
Log is less noisy

Read also forum discussion at https://liteplacer.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=6087

Build date 07/01/2018

New Features, significant changes

It is now possible to save and reload control board parameters.

Bug Fixes

Garbage collection is now forced to run, greatly adding stability on some systems
More robust nozzle change
When setting up nozzle changes, clicking header in goto start position (no nozzle selected) doesn’t crash anymore
Rotation coordinate now shows on status display at startup
Rotation coordinate now stored in bookmarks
Better diagnostics on serial port errors
Homing is now offered when recovering from serial port errors
Internal code improvements, more logging information in certain situations
Fixed a typo that prevented CAD files with Mid X/Mid Y coordinates to load correctly

(Build date 20/12/2017 withdrawn)

Build date 07/11/2017

New Features, significant changes

New method for saving settings. A settings transfer program must be run before updating to this release (Included in the zip). First install the settings transfer program. It will install just like the regular LitePlacer, and will be named as liteplacer.exe (it needs to look like a normal LitePlacer to the system to gain access to old format program settings). Run it once. The program reads the old format settings, writes a new settings file and exits. Then, install the actual release.
Application settings can now be loaded and saved

Bug Fixes

Stop placement operation was leaking (it can still give multiple error messages and wrong error information, but you know it was you. At least it doesn’t try to continue anymore.)
Fixed issue on panelized boards not finding component CAD data
Adding a row to empty jobdata or CADdata table doesn’t crash anymore.
More stable file handling in some environments
Much better handling of scaled displays, minor display adjustments
Added label for default nozzle.
Fixed issue when default nozzle was 0.
Pump on/off needs a dummy move. This is now +/-0.01mm Z axis, which is faster and much less annoying
It is now possible to calibrate nozzles even with nozzle correction disabled
CAD data file header text is now case-insensitive
If a tape does not have a nozzle defined, it is now a warning, not a crash
Nozzle height calibration process is more stable. It should not be possible to get the process into undefined state by clicking start/next or cancel when the previous move is still ongoing.
Nozzles setup remebers warning treshold. The default is 1.0mm
Z probing hysteresis default is 0.2mm

Build date 26/4/2017

New Features, significant changes

Improvements for fiducial recognition, mainly for boards without standard fiducials: Fiducials can be round, rectangle or either. User adjustable tolerance (how close to nominal position the fid needs to be found); this is useful if a via or pad is used as a fiducial, and there might not be much clearance to the closest board item. Optional manual confirmation for a found fid, to ensure the intended board feature is selected.

Build date 04/04/2017

Bug Fixes

Fixed an issue on panelizing using fiducials on sub-boards

Build date 30/3/2017

New Features, significant changes

Comma is internally converted to dot in input fields
Added adjustable hysteresis to Z probing

Bug Fixes

Increased default for “Allow Nozzle to below PCB” to 3mm
Fixed an issue when number of nozzles and number of table rows could get out of sync
Default number of nozzles is now six

Build date 15/3/2017

New Features, significant changes

Altium17 pnP file loads without edits (mm’s only)
Added a button to clear “placed” information
Simpler dialog for inputting fiducial coordinates on panelizing

Bug Fixes

Fixed using placement with nominal coordinates (no measurements)
Label for vacuum now mentions valve (helps first time troubleshooting)
For developers: Debugger ignores motor power timer interrupts
Negative coordinates in CAD data handled correctly on bottom side placement
Alt+F4 now asks before closing (too easy to accidentally close everything when trying to do Alt+F5 jog)
Job offset is remembered between runs

Build date 03/11/2016

Bug fixes

Fixed issue on machines with multiple serial ports, improved connecting diagnostics
Fixed saved tapes file loading issue, introduced on 10/28 release

Build date 28/10/2016

New features

It is now possible to use coordinates directly, bypassing optical measurements. This feature can be used to support feeders and jig based IC placement for placing small pitch parts. See this page about the latter.
Place fast is now the default method.
Made X, Y, Z, A labels on Goto section to buttons, allowing precise moving, one axis at a time

Bug fixes

Moved tape measuring and nozzle change deeper into the process, eliminating some unnecessary operations
Added back return to previous position to test buttons
Reset Zs on selected rows on Tape locations did not work as intended

Build date 12/10/2016

New features

Added reminders to home the machine at startup and error recovery
Added Z and A jogging: * = A+ (CCW), / = A- (CW), – = Z- (up), + = Z+ (down)

Bug fixes

Fixed the 2mm part pitch version and fast placement (again)

Build date 05/10/2016

New features

Nozzles can now be calibrated one at the time
Added check for unexpectedly large error in nozzle calibration
All references to needle changed to nozzle

Bug fixes

More robust; previous version crashed in several places if nozzles were not fully set up or not used
Rewrote nozzle calibration (re-calibration of nozzles recommended if you used 03/10 version!)
Fixed the 2mm part pitch version again

Build date 03/10/2016

New Features, significant changes

Automatic nozzle change support: A new page to set this up, nozzle data in tapes and job table, two nozzle vision operation tables
Job data table content is stored from one session to another and “dirty” status is indicated
Tapes can be set up with custom width and pitch
“Already placed” information can be reset (right click on the CAD data table)

Bug fixes

Some more error checking
2mm part pitch with -X direction were picked up in wrong order
Homing timeout fix improved
More robust circle measurement

Build date 11/09/2016

Bug fixes

With some machine settings, it was possible for homing to timeout even if all was ok

Build date 02/08/2016

New features

Added absolute/relative movement switch to “GO” button

Bug fixes

Fixed a bug that required TinyG reset on startup

Build date 30/07/2016

New features

CAD data table has “placed” column
CAD data table is autosaved and retrieved at startup
CAD data table “dirty” status is indicated

Build date 27/07/2016

Bug fixes

One more fix for memory protection on camera image boxes.

Build date 8/07/2016

Bug fixes

Improved memory protection on camera image boxes, hopefully fixing the red X error for good

Build date 27/06/2016

Bug fixes

Fixed KiCAD line reading, broken by the empty field fix 17.6.

Build date 22/06/2016

Bug fixes

On some machines and cameras, a red cross sometimes appeared instead of camera image. This is fixed/improved.

Build date 20/06/2016

Bug fixes

Fixed file loading error, introduced in 17.6. release

Build date 17/06/2016

New features

Added blur and gaussian blur to image processing functions

Bug fixes

Empty field in CAD data now produces a warning, not an error
No more crash in trying to reselect a disconnected camera

Build date 06/06/2016

Significant changes

Needle measurement now uses smallest circle found (was: nearest to center)
Find Circles now shows smallest and closest to center:
– if closest and smallest are the same, it is drawn in magenta (pink)
– if not, smallest is aqua (light blue) and closest is lime (green)
– other circles are drawn in orange

Bug fixes

Needle height calibration now asks for tapes Z reset, if needed
Fixed KiCad inches to mm’s conversion

Build date 18/05/2016

Bug fixes

Placing a single component from CAD data section sometimes used wrong tape information
Trying to work by nominal coordinates values did not always skip measurements
Adding a row to CAD data now puts dummy values to all required fields

Build date 28/04/2016

Bug fixes

Fixed a bug in storing tapes data
The file version is now determined by the file content, not by extension text

Build date 18/04/2016

Bug fixes

Better hiding “under development” features

Build date 11/04/2016

New features

Added user settable limit to allow Z movement below PCB level

Build date 08/04/2016

New features

Added support for 32mm hole

Bug fixes

Fixed an issue preventing clean camera startup on some systems

Build date 26/02/2016

New features

Tape alignment test now uses Next column, if the part # box is empty

Bug fixes

Moved camera initialization earlier in startup: Results should no longer depend on what order Windows brings things up
Fixed issue with “keep active” camera mode and needle calibration
Check updates date check fixed again

Significant changes

Changed internal data format in saved files. This became necessary for custom tape definitions, jig based placement and adding capacity for tapes (these features are not yet in this release, though). This should not cause any issues. However, old version data files are kept – if there are problems, please go back to an earlier release. Old data files are then used instead of v2 files. Please let me know if you needed to do this.

Build date 05/02/2016

Bug fixes

Fixed a memory leak when the camera image was not visible (basic setup page, application minimized)
NOTE: Changed bottom side rotation handling to match how most CAD system output the data (see https://liteplacer.com/double-side-data-handling/).
CAD data “save” button renamed to “Save as”, since that is what it actually does.
Software update available checking now works even if release date and month are single digits.

Build date 13/01/2016

New features

Added “Check now” button for updates
Better logging: Added color and log for button clicks (helps user support)

Bug fixes

Sometimes large XY movements were done with slow settings (side effect from previous fix)
Homing, CNC errors and some other cases now invalidate measurements
More robust camera startup, false starts are eliminated
Video measurement does not hang if camera is not running

Build date 10/12/2015

New features

Small layout changes to allow using 900 pixel high displays
Manually editing “next” column in tape data table now calculates new estimates for coordinates

Bug fixes

In some cases, small movement speed was used for large rotation values (resulting in very slow full rotations)
In some cases, unnecessary slack compensation movements were done

Build date 07/12/2015

New features

Optional check for updates in startup

Bug fixes

Leading and trailing spaces are stripped from CAD data. (These caused several problems in use.)

Build date 23/11/2015

New features

Added diagonal jogging with NumPad keys
It is now possible to disable mouse wheel and num pad jogging
Show part nominal position, show part measured position and show part on tape setup functions now show orientation of the part

Bug fixes

Setting a value using num keys no longer jog the machine
Connection to TinyG is no longer cut on error. Instead there is an error state. This allows to change TinyG settings, possibly correcting whatever caused the error.

Build date 17/11/2015

New feature

Added Goto boxes, moved the jogging remainder to a tooltip:

Build date 09/11/2015

New features & Bug fixes

Added “Keep Active” option to camera switching. This will consume more USB bandwidth but hopefully, gets rid of issues that some Windows setups have activating and deactivating the included cameras.

Build date 28/10/2015

New features & Bug fixes

Improved error handling on CAD file input to throw better error messages.
Fixed a couple of typos in error messages
Used term “needle calibration” for two different functions. Those are now “Needle Setup” and “Needle Measurement”.

Build date 26/10/2015, 2nd release

Bug fixes

Fixed calculation error on 2mm part pitch tape incrfementing

Build date 26/10/2015

Bug fixes

Fixed timeout on Z axis probing on slow speed settings

Build date 23/10/2015

New features:

Slack compensation for A axis added
Pickup and place operations now use settable height between probed (max. down) and barely touching (probed value – backoff). See this page.

Bug fixes

“Place fast” now displays the tape select dialog
Fixed “Bad data at tape” error

Build date 21/09/2015

NOTE: Please consider this version as beta, as some features are not tested as thoroughly as I would like to. Further, the documentation for new features in missing or incomplete. I will be updating it, but I wanted to get this out before some of the travelling I have to do this autumn.

NOTE2: You need to re-do your tape definitions before starting to use this release!

New features:

Fast placement mode, which measures only first and last holes, calculating component positions from these
Stored values for pickup and placement heights are now used, with user override possibility
Demo mode (buttons visibility toggled by F4). Assumes needle height calibration done and topmost tape to be 4mm part pitch, +X orientation.
Jogging is now with numpad keys, with settable plain, ctrl and alt speeds
In homing, settable Z shade guard: Moves Z down for X homing, so that shade and belt don’t collide
Mouse wheel rotation for jogging
Fast and (more) robust camera switching modes
Support for panelized PCBs
Support for component trays (Components for a certain product on a removable tray)
Support for custom tapes (should allow feeders, custom component holders etc)
Added save, add, delete, copy and paste buttons for CAD data grid.
Disabling log widow data speeds up the system

Bug fixes

Needle calibration sometimes crashed the machine if recognition failed
Arrow keys are problematic with focus in certain controls: Jogging is now with numpad keys, with settable plain, ctrl and alt speeds
Homing timeout values now derived from machine size and settings
Fast and (more) robust camera switching modes, should prevent lockups
deleting a tape from empty tape table no longer crashes
Disabling log widow data speeds up the system

Build date 04/05/2015

New features:

Changed resize node of the image boxes, which should give better results when used with other cameras

Bug fixes

Pickup of the first part after program starts no longer fails.

Build date 20/4/2015

New features:

Added user defined travel to Z test
Allow resize of the main window for small displays as a first aid. (This is still not the optimal solution, as the Run Job page needs a new or adaptive layout for smaller screens.)
Added version number and build date

Bug fixes

Better diagnostic and error messages in many places
Thread-tolerant messaging system allows error messaging propagation form deeper in the system (see above)
Updating the application should now preserve user settings. Removed manual install, which did not allow this. Added an uninstaller.
Removed a built in hysteresis from Z probing, allowing tight limit switch mounting. (This was a leftover from trying different switch types. The selected switch has hysteresis built-in, software adaptation is not needed.)
Added an additional frame delay if circle recognitions fails, improving robustness when cameras are behind a USB hub.