MVTec Software has released 'Merlic 2'. The major release of the complete solution for the simple creation of machine vision applications is available in China, Germany, France, Japan, Canada, Austria, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand and the USA. In addition to improvements in terms of robustness and speed, the latest version offers a completely new feature, the "Merlic Engine". This interface allows users to create applications with the intuitive Merlic backend and then load, parameterize and execute them directly in their C++ or C# framework. This makes application creation more flexible. An ActiveX control also displays the user interface previously created with the Merlic Designer in the development environment. Changes and their effects on the user frontend can thus be checked directly.