How to connect a Basler camera to MATLAB

Hi everyone,

I have a Basler acA1920-155um that I am trying to connect to MATLAB using USB 3.0. This has proven more difficult than anticipated.

I've followed this (outdated) guide:

https://www2.baslerweb.com/media/downloads/documents/application_notes/AW00134303000_Application_Note_Basler_pylon_GenTL_Producers_with_....pdf

My understanding of what should happen is this:

1. Install the current version of the Basler Pylon Software Suite

2. Install the Image Acquisition toolbox

3. Download the GenTL support package via MATLAB

and....it should work. I open the image acquisition app in MATLAB and it does not find any cameras. I checked using imacqhwinfo and it does show that the GenTL diver is present, but no devices.

What I've tried:

I've attempted to download the Pylon SDK, and the GenTL drivers to replace them, to no avail.

The camera runs fine in Basler Pylon Viewer so I know it's not a physical connection problem.

Any guidance is appreciated.

Answer 1

[Image Analyst]

Did you call videoinput()? You need to instantiate that before you will see any devices. Can you run the attached gentl demo program? Open it in AppDesigner.

[Samuel]

I was not calling videoinput before doing anything. I will feel kind of silly if that was the issue! I willl give that a try and get back to you, thank you.

[Samuel]

No luck. The applet you gave me doesn't work, either. When I call

>> vid = videoinput('gentl', 1)

[2025-10-19 15:37:19,934:2596:basler.pel.entities] NOTICE: [gtl=CL] [_sol_=gtl]

[2025-10-19 15:37:19,934:2596:basler.pel.entities] NOTICE: [gtl=CL] [_map_=gtl creating gtlLIB]

[2025-10-19 15:37:19,934:2596:basler.pel.entities] NOTICE: [gtlLIB=CL] [_sol_=gtlLIB]

[2025-10-19 15:37:19,934:2596:basler.pel.entities] NOTICE: [gtlLIB=CL] [_map_=gtlLIB creating gtlSYS]

[2025-10-19 15:37:19,934:2596:basler.pel.entities] NOTICE: [gtlSYS=CL] [_sol_=gtlSYS]

[2025-10-19 15:37:20,043:2596:basler.pel.entities] NOTICE: [gtlSYS=CL] [_eol_=gtlSYS]

[2025-10-19 15:37:20,043:2596:basler.pel.entities] NOTICE: [gtlLIB=CL] [_eol_=gtlLIB]

[2025-10-19 15:37:20,043:2596:basler.pel.entities] NOTICE: [gtl=CL] [_eol_=gtl]

and other similar lines. but when I tried to paste them here the system flagged them as spam.

Warning: No devices were detected for the 'gentl' adaptor. For troubleshooting device detection issues, click here.

Error using videoinput (line 373)

There are no devices installed for the specified ADAPTORNAME. See

IMAQHWINFO.

Sorry for the block of text.

Checking to see what I have installed from the MATLAB app explorer:

Image Acquisition Toolbox Support Package for GenICam Interface

BASLER GenTL Producer Drivers for USB3 cameras

Image Acquisition Toolbox Test Suite for GenICam GenTL

Plyon Viewer (most recent version)

[Samuel]

Here's the output from

>> imaqhwinfo

ans =

struct with fields:

InstalledAdaptors: {'gentl' 'gige' 'winvideo'}

MATLABVersion: '25.1 (R2025a)'

ToolboxName: 'Image Acquisition Toolbox'

ToolboxVersion: '25.1 (R2025a)'

[Image Analyst]

Does it work if you use winvideo? Though you may lose some capabilities, such as white balancing. Do you still have tech support for the toolbox? If so, call them.

[Samuel]

Nothing with winvideo, sadly. I wil reach out to support. I'll update this if we solve the problem. Thanks for trying.

[Image Analyst]

What did they say? Is it solved yet?

Answer 2

[Jonathan]

Matlab may not be able to find the GenTL Producer .cti files, which are .dll like drivers that translate to/from the GenTL standard. Pylon setup typically installs those at:

C:\Program Files\Basler\pylon\Runtime\x64

Then for Matlab to find the producer file: ProducerU3V.cti

It looks at the environment variable :

GENICAM_GENTL64_PATH = C:\Program Files\Basler\pylon\Runtime\x64\;

Use these at the Matlab command prompt to help diagnose:

getenv

imaqsupport

If indeed GENICAM_GENTL64_PATH does not point to the path of the Basler .cti files, then you'll need to set it correctly, which in Windows may be done through the control panel.

[Samuel]

Thanks, @Jonathan. I will check this on Monday. I have reached out to support and provided log files and according to them everything is configured correctly in terms of file path. But I will still give this a go.

[Image Analyst]

So I guess when you called Tech Support last week they weren't able to solve it?

[Samuel]

@Image Analyst they are still wokring on it. I have provided a treasure trove of files for them to go through and they seem optimistic at a resolution.

[Samuel]

@Jonathan I see the ProducerGEV.cti and the ProducerU3v.cti files in the Pylon Runtime folder. Those are all of the .cti files in that folder (C:\Program Files\Basler\pylon\Runtime\x64). When calling imaqsupport, the folder does come up on the PATH. Unless I need more files than those two, I think I'm back to where I was. But I appreciate the input.