Tau User’s Manual 3—Basic Operation of the Tau and GUI
TAU-0035-00-10, version 100 April 2009 3-15
Image-Orientation Mode:  Two Image-Orientation mode selections are provided. Select 
one or both to change the orientation of the video image.
(Invert/Revert functions will be supported in July 2009.)
Invert: The normal image is flipped vertically. The 
pixel on the upper-left corner of the detector array 
is displayed on the lower-left corner of the video 
display in Invert mode. Invert is used when 
mounting the camera upside-down.
Revert: The normal image is flipped horizontally. 
The pixel on the upper-right corner of the detector 
array is displayed on the upper-left corner of the 
video display in Revert mode. Revert mode 
produces a mirror-image of Normal mode; use for 
applications where the camera is imaged through 
a fold-mirror. 
Note
Pan & Zoom, Zoom:  
The Tau camera 
has a built-in 2X and 4X digital zoom 
capability. The Zoom checkboxes are used to 
turn on/off the camera zoom. With the 
Unzoom box checked, the Tau camera 
displays the full sensor array image (NTSC: 
320x240 pixels or PAL 320x256 pixels). 
When the Zoom 2x box is checked, a smaller 
central region of the sensor array is mapped 
to the video output creating the zoom effect. 
For NTSC and PAL video formats in zoom 
mode, 160x120 and 160x128 pixels, 
respectively, are mapped to the analog video 
output. When the Zoom 4x box is checked, 
80x60 (NTSC) and 80x64 (PAL) pixels, 
respectively, are mapped to the analog video 
output. This reduced region of the array is 
called the zoomed array region.
Pan & Zoom, Pan:  When in either zoomed mode, you can move the zoomed array region 
within the full array area. This digitally simulates panning and tilting. Panning and tilting are 
defined as moving the camera image in the horizontal and vertical axes, respectively. 
You can adjust the vertical and horizontal sliders to move the zoomed array region.
When the fine box is not checked the slider controls move the zoomed image from edge to 
edge of the full sized array. Checking the fine box increases the sensitivity of the slide control so 
that the zoomed array moves one half the total range but all values are achievable.
Simple experimentation while viewing the displayed image will quickly give you familiarity with this 
feature. 
   Any time the image orientation mode is changed, a flat-field correction takes place.
Select to
enter offsets
Click to
center
Tilt
slider
Pan
slider