The OpenCV Tutorials

Release 2.4.2

July 04, 2012

CONTENTS

Introduction to OpenCV
1.1 Installation in Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.2 Using OpenCV with gcc and CMake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.3 Using OpenCV with Eclipse (plugin CDT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.4 Installation in Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.5 How to build applications with OpenCV inside the Microsoft Visual Studio
1.6 Using Android binary package with Eclipse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.7 Using C++ OpenCV code with Android binary package . . . . . . . . . .
1.8 Installation in iOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.9 Load and Display an Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.10 Load, Modify, and Save an Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.11 How to write a tutorial for OpenCV? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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3
6
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9
15
26
35
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core module. The Core Functionality

2.1 Mat - The Basic Image Container . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.2 How to scan images, lookup tables and time measurement with OpenCV
2.3 Mask operations on matrices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.4 Adding (blending) two images using OpenCV . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.5 Changing the contrast and brightness of an image! . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.6 Basic Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.7 Random generator and text with OpenCV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.8 Discrete Fourier Transform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.9 File Input and Output using XML and YAML files . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.10 Interoperability with OpenCV 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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79
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imgproc module. Image Processing

3.1 Smoothing Images . . . . . . . . .
3.2 Eroding and Dilating . . . . . . . .
3.3 More Morphology Transformations
3.4 Image Pyramids . . . . . . . . . .
3.5 Basic Thresholding Operations . .
3.6 Making your own linear filters! . .
3.7 Adding borders to your images . .
3.8 Sobel Derivatives . . . . . . . . . .
3.9 Laplace Operator . . . . . . . . . .
3.10 Canny Edge Detector . . . . . . . .
3.11 Hough Line Transform . . . . . . .
3.12 Hough Circle Transform . . . . . .
3.13 Remapping . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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125
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3.14
3.15
3.16
3.17
3.18
3.19
3.20
3.21
3.22
3.23
3.24
3.25

Affine Transformations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Histogram Equalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Histogram Calculation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Histogram Comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Back Projection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Template Matching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Finding contours in your image . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Convex Hull . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Creating Bounding boxes and circles for contours . . . . .
Creating Bounding rotated boxes and ellipses for contours
Image Moments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Point Polygon Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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200
206
212
219
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239
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highgui module. High Level GUI and Media

251
4.1 Adding a Trackbar to our applications! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
4.2 Video Input with OpenCV and similarity measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
4.3 Creating a video with OpenCV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

calib3d module. Camera calibration and 3D reconstruction

269
5.1 Camera calibration with square chessboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
5.2 Camera calibration With OpenCV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

feature2d module. 2D Features framework

6.1 Feature Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.2 Harris corner detector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.3 Feature Matching with FLANN . . . . . . . . . .
6.4 Features2D + Homography to find a known object
6.5 Shi-Tomasi corner detector . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.6 Creating yor own corner detector . . . . . . . . .
6.7 Detecting corners location in subpixeles . . . . . .
6.8 Feature Detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.9 Feature Matching with FLANN . . . . . . . . . .
6.10 Features2D + Homography to find a known object
6.11 Detection of planar objects . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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281
283
285
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301
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312

video module. Video analysis

315

objdetect module. Object Detection

317
8.1 Cascade Classifier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

ml module. Machine Learning

323
9.1 Introduction to Support Vector Machines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
9.2 Support Vector Machines for Non-Linearly Separable Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329

10 gpu module. GPU-Accelerated Computer Vision

337
10.1 Similarity check (PNSR and SSIM) on the GPU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
11 General tutorials

ii

347

The OpenCV Tutorials, Release 2.4.2

The following links describe a set of basic OpenCV tutorials. All the source code mentioned here is provide as part
of the OpenCV regular releases, so check before you start copy & pasting the code. The list of tutorials below is
automatically generated from reST files located in our SVN repository.
As always, we would be happy to hear your comments and receive your contributions on any tutorial.
Introduction to OpenCV

You will learn how to setup OpenCV on your computer!

core module. The Core Functionality

Here you will learn the about the basic building blocks of the library. A
must read and know for understanding how to manipulate the images on a
pixel level.

imgproc module. Image Processing

In this section you will learn about the image processing (manipulation)
functions inside OpenCV.

highgui module. High Level GUI and Media

This section contains valuable tutorials about how to read/save your image/video files and how to use the built-in graphical user interface of the
library.

calib3d module. Camera calibration and 3D reconstruction

Although we got most of our images in a 2D format they do come from a 3D

world. Here you will learn how to find out from the 2D images information
about the 3D world.

feature2d module. 2D Features framework

CONTENTS

The OpenCV Tutorials, Release 2.4.2

Learn about how to use the feature points detectors, descriptors and matching framework found inside OpenCV.

video module. Video analysis

Look here in order to find use on your video stream algoritms like: motion
extraction, feature tracking and foreground extractions.

objdetect module. Object Detection

Ever wondered how your digital camera detects peoples and faces? Look
here to find out!

ml module. Machine Learning

Use the powerfull machine learning classes for statistical classification, regression and clustering of data.

gpu module. GPU-Accelerated Computer Vision

Squeeze out every little computation power from your system by using the
power of your video card to run the OpenCV algorithms.

General tutorials

These tutorials are the bottom of the iceberg as they link together multiple
of the modules presented above in order to solve complex problems.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

ONE

INTRODUCTION TO OPENCV
Here you can read tutorials about how to set up your computer to work with the OpenCV library. Additionaly you can
find a few very basic sample source code that will let introduce you to the world of the OpenCV.
Linux

Title: Installation in Linux

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
We will learn how to setup OpenCV in your computer!

Title: Using OpenCV with gcc and CMake

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
We will learn how to compile your first project using gcc and CMake

Title: Using OpenCV with Eclipse (plugin CDT)

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
We will learn how to compile your first project using the Eclipse environment

Windows

Title: Installation in Windows

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Bernt Gbor
You will learn how to setup OpenCV in your Windows Operating System!

The OpenCV Tutorials, Release 2.4.2

Title: How to build applications with OpenCV inside the Microsoft Visual
Studio
Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Bernt Gbor
You will learn what steps you need to perform in order to use the OpenCV
library inside a new Microsoft Visual Studio project.

Android

Title: Using Android binary package with Eclipse

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.3.1
Author: Andrey Kamaev
You will learn how to setup OpenCV for Android platform!

Title: Using C++ OpenCV code with Android binary package

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.3.1
Author: Leonid Beynenson
You will learn how to work with C++ OpenCV code for Android platform

iOS
Title: Installation in iOS
Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.3.1
Author: Artem Myagkov
We will learn how to setup OpenCV for using it in iOS!

Title: Load and Display an Image

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
We will learn how to display an image using OpenCV

Title: Load, Modify, and Save an Image

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
We will learn how to save an Image in OpenCV...plus a small conversion to
grayscale

Want to contribute, and see your own work between the OpenCV tutorials?

Chapter 1. Introduction to OpenCV

The OpenCV Tutorials, Release 2.4.2

Title: How to write a tutorial for OpenCV?

Compatibility: > OpenCV 1.0
Author: Bernt Gbor
If you already have a good grasp on using OpenCV and have made some projects that would
be perfect presenting an OpenCV feature not yet part of these tutorials, here it is what you
need to know.

The OpenCV Tutorials, Release 2.4.2

1.1 Installation in Linux

These steps have been tested for Ubuntu 10.04 but should work with other distros.

Required packages
GCC 4.4.x or later. This can be installed with
sudo apt-get install build-essential

CMake 2.6 or higher

Subversion (SVN) client
GTK+2.x or higher, including headers (libgtk2.0-dev)
pkgconfig
Python 2.6 or later and Numpy 1.5 or later with developer packages (python-dev, python-numpy)
ffmpeg or libav development packages: libavcodec-dev, libavformat-dev, libswscale-dev
[optional] libdc1394 2.x
[optional] libjpeg-dev, libpng-dev, libtiff-dev, libjasper-dev.
All the libraries above can be installed via Terminal or by using Synaptic Manager

Getting OpenCV source code

You can use the latest stable OpenCV version available in sourceforge or you can grab the latest snapshot from the
SVN repository.
Getting the latest stable OpenCV version
Go to http://sourceforge.net/projects/opencvlibrary
Download the source tarball and unpack it
Getting the cutting-edge OpenCV from SourceForge SVN repository
Launch SVN client and checkout either
1. the current OpenCV snapshot from here: http://code.opencv.org/svn/opencv/trunk
2. or the latest tested OpenCV snapshot from here: http://code.opencv.org/svn/opencv/tags/latest_tested_snapshot
In Ubuntu it can be done using the following command, e.g.:
cd ~/<my_working _directory>
svn co http://code.opencv.org/svn/opencv/trunk

Chapter 1. Introduction to OpenCV

The OpenCV Tutorials, Release 2.4.2

Building OpenCV from source using CMake, using the command line
1. Create a temporary directory, which we denote as <cmake_binary_dir>, where you want to put the generated
Makefiles, project files as well the object filees and output binaries
2. Enter the <cmake_binary_dir> and type
cmake [<some optional parameters>] <path to the OpenCV source directory>

For example
cd ~/opencv
mkdir release
cd release
cmake -D CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RELEASE -D CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local ..

3. Enter the created temporary directory (<cmake_binary_dir>) and proceed with:

make
sudo make install

Note:

If the size of the created library is a critical issue (like in case of an Android build) you can use the

install/strip command to get the smallest size as possible. The stripped version appears to be twice as small.

However, we do not recommend using this unless those extra megabytes do really matter.

1.2 Using OpenCV with gcc and CMake

Note: We assume that you have successfully installed OpenCV in your workstation.
The easiest way of using OpenCV in your code is to use CMake. A few advantages (taken from the Wiki):
1. No need to change anything when porting between Linux and Windows
2. Can easily be combined with other tools by CMake( i.e. Qt, ITK and VTK )
If you are not familiar with CMake, checkout the tutorial on its website.

Steps
Create a program using OpenCV
Lets use a simple program such as DisplayImage.cpp shown below.
#include <cv.h>
#include <highgui.h>
using namespace cv;
int main( int argc, char** argv )
{
Mat image;
image = imread( argv[1], 1 );
if( argc != 2 || !image.data )

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{
printf( "No image data \n" );
return -1;
}
namedWindow( "Display Image", CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
imshow( "Display Image", image );
waitKey(0);
return 0;
}

Create a CMake file

Now you have to create your CMakeLists.txt file. It should look like this:
project( DisplayImage )
find_package( OpenCV REQUIRED )
add_executable( DisplayImage DisplayImage )
target_link_libraries( DisplayImage ${OpenCV_LIBS} )

Generate the executable

This part is easy, just proceed as with any other project using CMake:
cd <DisplayImage_directory>
cmake .
make

Result
By now you should have an executable (called DisplayImage in this case). You just have to run it giving an image
location as an argument, i.e.:
./DisplayImage lena.jpg

You should get a nice window as the one shown below:

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1.3 Using OpenCV with Eclipse (plugin CDT)

Note: Two ways, one by forming a project directly, and another by CMake

Prerequisites
1. Having installed Eclipse in your workstation (only the CDT plugin for C/C++ is needed). You can follow the
following steps:
Go to the Eclipse site
Download Eclipse IDE for C/C++ Developers . Choose the link according to your workstation.
2. Having installed OpenCV. If not yet, go here.

Making a project
1. Start Eclipse. Just run the executable that comes in the folder.
2. Go to File -> New -> C/C++ Project

3. Choose a name for your project (i.e. DisplayImage). An Empty Project should be okay for this example.

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4. Leave everything else by default. Press Finish.

5. Your project (in this case DisplayImage) should appear in the Project Navigator (usually at the left side of your
window).

6. Now, lets add a source file using OpenCV:

Right click on DisplayImage (in the Navigator). New -> Folder .

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Name your folder src and then hit Finish

Right click on your newly created src folder. Choose New source file:
Call it DisplayImage.cpp. Hit Finish

7. So, now you have a project with a empty .cpp file. Lets fill it with some sample code (in other words, copy and
paste the snippet below):
#include <cv.h>
#include <highgui.h>
using namespace cv;
int main( int argc, char** argv )
{
Mat image;
image = imread( argv[1], 1 );
if( argc != 2 || !image.data )
{
printf( "No image data \n" );
return -1;
}
namedWindow( "Display Image", CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
imshow( "Display Image", image );
waitKey(0);
return 0;
}

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8. We are only missing one final step: To tell OpenCV where the OpenCV headers and libraries are. For this, do
the following:
Go to Project>Properties
In C/C++ Build, click on Settings. At the right, choose the Tool Settings Tab. Here we will enter the
headers and libraries info:
(a) In GCC C++ Compiler, go to Includes. In Include paths(-l) you should include the path of the
folder where opencv was installed. In our example, this is /usr/local/include/opencv.

Note: If you do not know where your opencv files are, open the Terminal and type:
pkg-config --cflags opencv

For instance, that command gave me this output:

-I/usr/local/include/opencv -I/usr/local/include

(b) Now go to GCC C++ Linker,there you have to fill two spaces:
First in Library search path (-L) you have to write the path to where the opencv libraries reside, in
my case the path is:
/usr/local/lib

Then in Libraries(-l) add the OpenCV libraries that you may need. Usually just the 3 first on the list
below are enough (for simple applications) . In my case, I am putting all of them since I plan to use
the whole bunch:
opencv_core opencv_imgproc opencv_highgui opencv_ml opencv_video opencv_features2d
opencv_calib3d opencv_objdetect opencv_contrib opencv_legacy opencv_flann

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If you dont know where your libraries are (or you are just psychotic and want to make sure the path
is fine), type in Terminal:
pkg-config --libs opencv

My output (in case you want to check) was: .. code-block:: bash

-L/usr/local/lib -lopencv_core -lopencv_imgproc -lopencv_highgui -lopencv_ml lopencv_video -lopencv_features2d -lopencv_calib3d -lopencv_objdetect -lopencv_contrib
-lopencv_legacy -lopencv_flann
Now you are done. Click OK
Your project should be ready to be built. For this, go to Project->Build all
In the Console you should get something like

If you check in your folder, there should be an executable there.

Running the executable

So, now we have an executable ready to run. If we were to use the Terminal, we would probably do something like:

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cd <DisplayImage_directory>
cd src
./DisplayImage ../images/HappyLittleFish.png

Assuming that the image to use as the argument would be located

age_directory>/images/HappyLittleFish.png. We can still do this, but lets do it from Eclipse:

in

<DisplayIm-

1. Go to Run->Run Configurations
2. Under C/C++ Application you will see the name of your executable + Debug (if not, click over C/C++ Application a couple of times). Select the name (in this case DisplayImage Debug).
3. Now, in the right side of the window, choose the Arguments Tab. Write the path of the image file we want to
open (path relative to the workspace/DisplayImage folder). Lets use HappyLittleFish.png:

4. Click on the Apply button and then in Run. An OpenCV window should pop up with the fish image (or whatever
you used).

5. Congratulations! You are ready to have fun with OpenCV using Eclipse.
V2: Using CMake+OpenCV with Eclipse (plugin CDT)
(See the getting started <http://opencv.willowgarage.com/wiki/Getting_started> section of the OpenCV Wiki)
Say you have or create a new file, helloworld.cpp in a directory called foo:
#include <cv.h>
#include <highgui.h>
int main ( int argc, char **argv )
{
cvNamedWindow( "My Window", 1 );
IplImage *img = cvCreateImage( cvSize( 640, 480 ), IPL_DEPTH_8U, 1 );
CvFont font;
double hScale = 1.0;
double vScale = 1.0;
int lineWidth = 1;
cvInitFont( &font, CV_FONT_HERSHEY_SIMPLEX | CV_FONT_ITALIC,

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hScale, vScale, 0, lineWidth );

cvPutText( img, "Hello World!", cvPoint( 200, 400 ), &font,
cvScalar( 255, 255, 0 ) );
cvShowImage( "My Window", img );
cvWaitKey();
return 0;
}

1. Create a build directory, say, under foo: mkdir /build. Then cd build.
2. Put a CmakeLists.txt file in build:
PROJECT( helloworld_proj )
FIND_PACKAGE( OpenCV REQUIRED )
ADD_EXECUTABLE( helloworld helloworld.cxx )
TARGET_LINK_LIBRARIES( helloworld ${OpenCV_LIBS} )

1. Run: cmake-gui .. and make sure you fill in where opencv was built.
2. Then click configure and then generate. If its OK, quit cmake-gui
3. Run make -j4 (the -j4 is optional, it just tells the compiler to build in 4 threads). Make sure it builds.
4. Start eclipse . Put the workspace in some directory but not in foo or foo\\build
5. Right click in the Project Explorer section. Select Import And then open the C/C++ filter. Choose Existing
Code as a Makefile Project
6. Name your project, say helloworld. Browse to the Existing Code location foo\\build (where you ran your
cmake-gui from). Select Linux GCC in the Toolchain for Indexer Settings and press Finish.
7. Right click in the Project Explorer section. Select Properties. Under C/C++ Build, set the build directory: from something like ${workspace_loc:/helloworld} to ${workspace_loc:/helloworld}/build
since thats where you are building to.
1. You can also optionally modify the Build command: from make to something like make VERBOSE=1 -j4
which tells the compiler to produce detailed symbol files for debugging and also to compile in 4 parallel threads.
1. Done!

1.4 Installation in Windows

The description here was tested by the author using the Windows 7 SP1 operating system (OS). Nevertheless, it should
also work on any other Windows OS too. If you encounter errors after following the steps described here feel free to
contact us via our user group and we will try to fix your problem.
Note: To use the OpenCV library you have two options: Installation by using the pre-built libraries or Installation
by making your own libraries from the source files. While the first one is easier to complete, it only works if you
are coding inside the latest Microsoft Visual Studio integrated development environments (IDE) and doesnt takes
advantage of the most novel technologies we integrate into our library.

Installation by using the pre-built libraries

1. Open up a web browser and go to: http://sourceforge.net/projects/opencvlibrary/files/opencv-win/
2. Open the folder for the latest version (currently this is 2.4.2).

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3. Choose a build you want to use and download it. The naming conventions used will show what kind of support
they offer. For example:
vs2010 means the Visual Studio
win32 means that it is for 32 bit applications in the OS
gpu means that it includes the support for using your GPU in order to further increase the performance of
the library).
If you downloaded the source files present here see Installation by making your own libraries from the source
files.
4. Make sure you have admin rights. Start the setup and follow the wizard. Agree to the License Agreement .
5. While adding the OpenCV library to the system path is a good decision for a better control of this we will do it
manually. Therefore, make sure you do not set this option.
6. Most of the time it is a good idea to install the source files as this will allow for you to debug into the OpenCV
library, if it is necessary. Therefore, just follow the default settings of the wizard and finish the installation.
7. You can check the installation at the chosen path as you can see below.

8. To finalize the installation go to the Set the OpenCV enviroment variable and add it to the systems path section.

Installation by making your own libraries from the source files

You may find the content of this tutorial also inside the following videos: Part 1 and Part 2, hosted on YouTube.
If you are building your own libraries you can take either the source files from our latest:
stable and tested build - http://code.opencv.org/svn/opencv/tags/2.4.2 (the number at the end will
change with every new realease, so change it to that)
development build - http://code.opencv.org/svn/opencv/trunk/
While the later one may contain a couple of new and experimental algorithms, performance increases and interface
improvements, be aware, that it may also contain some bugs. Using the first one is recommended in most of the cases.
That is unless you are extending the OpenCV library itself or really need the most up to date version of it.
Building the OpenCV library from scratch requires a couple of tools installed beforehand:

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An Integrated Developer Enviroment (IDE) preferably, or just a CC++ compiler that will actually make the
binary files. Here I will use the Microsoft Visual Studio. Nevertheless, you can use any other IDE that has a
valid C\C++ compiler.
Then CMake is a neat tool that will make the project files (for your choosen IDE) from the OpenCV source files.
It will also allow an easy configuration of the OpenCV build files, in order to make binary files that fits exactly
to your needs.
A Subversion Control System (SVN) to acquire the OpenCV source files. A good tool for this is TortoiseSVN.
Alternatively, you can just download an archived version of the source files from the Sourceforge OpenCV page.
OpenCV may come in multiple flavors. There is a core section that will work on its own. Nevertheless, they are a
couple of tools, libraries made by other organizations (so called 3rd parties) that offer services of which the OpenCV
may take advantage. These will improve in many ways its capabilities. In order to use any of them, you need to
download and install them on your system.
The Python libraries are required to build the Python interface of OpenCV. For now use the version 2.7.x. This
is also a must have if you want to build the OpenCV documentation.
Numpy is a scientific computing package for Python. Required for the Python interface.
Intel Threading Building Blocks (TBB) is used inside OpenCV for parallel code snippets. Using this will
make sure that the OpenCV library will take advantage of all the cores you have in your systems CPU.
Intel Integrated Performance Primitives (IPP) may be used to improve the performance of color conversion,
Haar training and DFT functions of the OpenCV library. Watch out as this isnt a free service.
OpenCV offers a somewhat fancier and more useful graphical user interface, than the default one by using the
Qt framework. For a quick overview of what this has to offer look into the documentations highgui module,
under the Qt New Functions section. Version 4.6 or later of the framework is required.
Eigen is a C++ template library for linear algebra.
The latest CUDA Toolkit will allow you to use the power lying inside your GPU. This will drastically improve
performance for some of the algorithms, like the HOG descriptor. Getting to work more and more of our
algorithms on the GPUs is a constant effort of the OpenCV team.
OpenEXR source files are required for the library to work with this high dynamic range (HDR) image file
format.
The OpenNI Framework contains a set of open source APIs that provide support for natural interaction with
devices via methods such as voice command recognition, hand gestures and body motion tracking.
Miktex is the best TEX implementation on the Windows OS. It is required to build the OpenCV documentation.
Sphinx is a python documentation generator and is the tool that will actually create the OpenCV documentation.
This on its own requires a couple of tools installed, I will cover this in depth at the How to Install Sphinx section.
Now I will describe the steps to follow for a full build (using all the above frameworks, tools and libraries). If you do
not need the support for some of these you can just freely skip those parts.
Building the library
1. Make sure you have a working IDE with a valid compiler. In case of the Microsoft Visual Studio just install it
and make sure it starts up.
2. Install CMake. Simply follow the wizard, no need to add it to the path. The default install options are great. No
need to change them.
3. Install TortoiseSVN. Choose the 32 or 64 bit version according to the type of OS you work in. Again follow the
wizard, default options are good. Restart of your system is required.

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4. Choose a directory in your file system where you will download the OpenCV libraries. I recommend creating
a new one that has short path and no special charachters in it, for example D:/OpenCV. During this tutorial Ill
suppose youve done so. If you use a different directory just change this front part of the path in my future
examples. Then, Right Click SVN Checkout... in the directory.

A window will appear where you can select from what repository you want to download source files (1) and to
which directory (2):

Add here either ones of the versions described above. Then push the OK button and be patient as the repository
currently is over 330MB to download. It will take some time until it is finished depending on your Internet
connection.

When you are done you should have a opencv and an opencv_extra directory as seen at (3).
5. In this section I will cover installing the 3rd party libraries.
(a) Download the Python libraries and install it with the default options. You will need a couple other python
extensions. Luckily installing all these may be automated by a nice tool called Setuptools. Download and
install again.
(b) Installing Sphinx is easy once you have installed Setuptools. This contains a little application that will
automatically connect to the python databases and download the latest version of many python scripts.
Start up a command window (enter cmd into the windows start menu and press enter) and use the CD
command to navigate to your Python folders Script sub-folder. Here just pass to the easy_install.exe as

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argument the name of the program you want to install. Add the sphinx argument.

Note: The CD navigation command works only inside a drive. For example if you are somewhere in
the C: drive you cannot use it this to go to another drive (like for example D:). To do so you first need
to change drives letters. For this simply enter the command D:. Then you can use the CD to navigate to
specific folder inside the drive. Bonus tip: you can clear the screen by using the CLS command.
This will also install its prerequisites Jinja2 and Pygments.
(c) The easiest way to install Numpy is to just download its binaries from the sourceforga page. Make sure
your download and install exactly the binary for your python version (so for version 2.7).
(d) Download the Miktex and install it. Again just follow the wizard. At the fourth step make sure you select
for the Install missing packages on-the-fly the Yes option, as you can see on the image below. Again this
will take quite some time so be patient.

(e) For the Intel Threading Building Blocks (TBB) download the source files and extract it inside a directory
on your system. For example let there be D:/OpenCV/dep. For installing the Intel Integrated Perfor-

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mance Primitives (IPP) the story is the same. For exctracting the archives I recommend using the 7-Zip
application.

(f) In case of the Eigen library it is again a case of download and extract to the D:/OpenCV/dep directory.
(g) Same as above with OpenEXR.
(h) For the OpenNI Framework you need to install both the development build and the PrimeSensor Module.
(i) For the CUDA you need again two modules: the latest CUDA Toolkit and the CUDA Tools SDK. Download
and install both of them with a complete option by using the 32 or 64 bit setups according to your OS.
(j) In case of the Qt framework you need to build yourself the binary files (unless you use the Microsoft Visual
Studio 2008 with 32 bit compiler). To do this go to the Qt Downloads page. Download the source files
(not the installers!!!):

Extract it into a nice and short named directory like D:/OpenCV/dep/qt/ . Then you need to build it. Start
up a Visual Studio Command Prompt (2010) by using the start menu search (or navigate through the start
menu All Programs Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Visual Studio Tools Visual Studio Command
Prompt (2010)).

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Now navigate to the extracted folder and enter inside it by using this console window. You should have a
folder containing files like Install, Make and so on. Use the dir command to list files inside your current
directory. Once arrived at this directory enter the following command:
configure.exe -release -no-webkit -no-phonon -no-phonon-backend -no-script -no-scripttools
-no-qt3support -no-multimedia -no-ltcg

Completing this will take around 10-20 minutes. Then enter the next command that will take a lot longer
(can easily take even more than a full hour):
nmake

After this set the Qt enviroment variables using the following command on Windows 7:
setx -m QTDIR D:/OpenCV/dep/qt/qt-everywhere-opensource-src-4.7.3

Also, add the built binary files path to the system path by using the Path Editor. In our case this is
D:/OpenCV/dep/qt/qt-everywhere-opensource-src-4.7.3/bin.
Note: If you plan on doing Qt application development you can also install at this point the Qt Visual
Studio Add-in. After this you can make and build Qt applications without using the Qt Creator. Everything
is nicely integrated into Visual Studio.
6. Now start the CMake (cmake-gui). You may again enter it in the start menu search or get it from the All Programs
CMake 2.8 CMake (cmake-gui). First, select the directory for the source files of the OpenCV library (1).
Then, specify a directory where you will build the binary files for OpenCV (2).

Press the Configure button to specify the compiler (and IDE) you want to use. Note that in case you can choose
between different compilers for making either 64 bit or 32 bit libraries. Select the one you use in your application
development.

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CMake will start out and based on your system variables will try to automatically locate as many packages as
possible. You can modify the packages to use for the build in the WITH WITH_X menu points (where X is
the package abbreviation). Here are a list of current packages you can turn on or off:

Select all the packages you want to use and press again the Configure button. For an easier overview of the
build options make sure the Grouped option under the binary directory selection is turned on. For some of the
packages CMake may not find all of the required files or directories. In case of these CMake will throw an error
in its output window (located at the bottom of the GUI) and set its field values, to not found constants. For
example:

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For these you need to manually set the queried directories or files path. After this press again the Configure
button to see if the value entered by you was accepted or not. Do this until all entries are good and you cannot
see errors in the field/value or the output part of the GUI. Now I want to emphasize an option that you will
definitely love: ENABLE ENABLE_SOLUTION_FOLDERS. OpenCV will create many-many projects and
turning this option will make sure that they are categorized inside directories in the Solution Explorer. It is a
must have feature, if you ask me.

Furthermore, you need to select what part of OpenCV you want to build.
BUILD_DOCS -> It creates two projects for building the documentation of OpenCV (there will be a
separate project for building the HTML and the PDF files). Note that these arent built together with the
solution. You need to make an explicit build project command on these to do so.
BUILD_EXAMPLES -> OpenCV comes with many example applications from which you may learn most
of the libraries capabilities. This will also come handy to easily try out if OpenCV is fully functional on
your computer.
BUILD_PACKAGE -> Prior to version 2.3 with this you could build a project that will build an OpenCV
installer. With this you can easily install your OpenCV flavor on other systems. For the latest source files
of OpenCV it generates a new project that simply creates zip archive with OpenCV sources.
BUILD_SHARED_LIBS -> With this you can control to build DLL files (when turned on) or static library
files (*.lib) otherwise.
BUILD_TESTS -> Each module of OpenCV has a test project assigned to it. Building these test projects is
also a good way to try out, that the modules work just as expected on your system too.
BUILD_PERF_TESTS -> There are also performance tests for many OpenCV functions. If youre concerned about performance, build them and run.
BUILD_opencv_python -> Self-explanatory. Create the binaries to use OpenCV from the Python language.
Press again the Configure button and ensure no errors are reported. If this is the case you can tell CMake to
create the project files by pushing the Generate button. Go to the build directory and open the created OpenCV
solution. Depending on just how much of the above options you have selected the solution may contain quite a
lot of projects so be tolerant on the IDE at the startup. Now you need to build both the Release and the Debug
binaries. Use the drop-down menu on your IDE to change to another of these after building for one of them.

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In the end you can observe the built binary files inside the bin directory:

For the documentation you need to explicitly issue the build commands on the doc project for the PDF files
and on the doc_html for the HTML ones. Each of these will call Sphinx to do all the hard work. You can find
the generated documentation inside the Build/Doc/_html for the HTML pages and within the Build/Doc the
PDF manuals.

To collect the header and the binary files, that you will use during your own projects, into a separate directory
(simillary to how the pre-built binaries ship) you need to explicitely build the Install project.

This will create an install directory inside the Build one collecting all the built binaries into a single place. Use
this only after you built both the Release and Debug versions.
Note: To create an installer you need to install NSIS. Then just build the Package project to build the installer
into the Build/_CPack_Packages/win32/NSIS folder. You can then use this to distribute OpenCV with your
build settings on other systems.

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To test your build just go into the Build/bin/Debug or Build/bin/Release directory and start a couple of
applications like the contours.exe. If they run, you are done. Otherwise, something definitely went awfully
wrong. In this case you should contact us via our user group. If everything is okay the contours.exe output
should resemble the following image (if built with Qt support):

Note: If you use the GPU module (CUDA libraries) make sure you also upgrade to the latest drivers of your
GPU. Error messages containing invalid entries in (or cannot find) the nvcuda.dll are caused mostly by old video
card drivers. For testing the GPU (if built) run the performance_gpu.exe sample application.

Set the OpenCV enviroment variable and add it to the systems path
First we set an enviroment variable to make easier our work. This will hold the install directory of our OpenCV library
that we use in our projects. Start up a command window and enter:
setx -m OPENCV_DIR D:\OpenCV\Build\Install

Here the directory is where you have your OpenCV binaries (installed or built). Inside this you should have folders
like bin and include. The -m should be added if you wish to make the settings computer wise, instead of user wise.
If you built static libraries then you are done. Otherwise, you need to add the bin folders path to the systems path.This
is cause you will use the OpenCV library in form of Dynamic-link libraries (also known as DLL). Inside these are
stored all the algorithms and information the OpenCV library contains. The operating system will load them only on
demand, during runtime. However, to do this he needs to know where they are. The systems PATH contains a list of
folders where DLLs can be found. Add the OpenCV library path to this and the OS will know where to look if he ever
needs the OpenCV binaries. Otherwise, you will need to copy the used DLLs right beside the applications executable
file (exe) for the OS to find it, which is highly unpleasent if you work on many projects. To do this start up again the
Path Editor and add the following new entry (right click in the application to bring up the menu):
%OPENCV_DIR%\bin

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Save it to the registry and you are done. If you ever change the location of your install directories or want to try out
your applicaton with a different build all you will need to do is to update the OPENCV_DIR variable via the setx
command inside a command window.
Now you can continue reading the tutorials with the How to build applications with OpenCV inside the Microsoft
Visual Studio section. There you will find out how to use the OpenCV library in your own projects with the help of
the Microsoft Visual Studio IDE.

1.5 How to build applications with OpenCV inside the Microsoft Visual Studio
Everything I describe here will apply to the C\C++ interface of OpenCV. I start out from the assumption that you have
read and completed with success the Installation in Windows tutorial. Therefore, before you go any further make sure
you have an OpenCV directory that contains the OpenCV header files plus binaries and you have set the environment
variables as described here.

The OpenCV libraries, distributed by us, on the Microsoft Windows operating system are in a Dynamic Linked
Libraries (DLL). These have the advantage that all the content of the library are loaded only at runtime, on demand,
and that countless programs may use the same library file. This means that if you have ten applications using the
OpenCV library, no need to have around a version for each one of them. Of course you need to have the dll of the
OpenCV on all systems where you want to run your application.
Another approach is to use static libraries that have lib extensions. You may build these by using our source files as
described in the Installation in Windows tutorial. When you use this the library will be built-in inside your exe file. So
there is no chance that the user deletes them, for some reason. As a drawback your application will be larger one and
as, it will take more time to load it during its startup.
To build an application with OpenCV you need to do two things:
Tell to the compiler how the OpenCV library looks. You do this by showing it the header files.

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Tell to the linker from where to get the functions or data structures of OpenCV, when they are needed.
If you use the lib system you must set the path where the library files are and specify in which one of them to
look. During the build the linker will look into these libraries and add the definitions and implementation of all
used functions and data structures to the executable file.
If you use the DLL system you must again specify all this, however now for a different reason. This is a
Microsoft OS specific stuff. It seems that the linker needs to know that where in the DLL to search for the data
structure or function at the runtime. This information is stored inside lib files. Nevertheless, they arent static
libraries. They are so called import libraries. This is why when you make some DLLs in Windows you will also
end up with some lib extension libraries. The good part is that at runtime only the DLL is required.
To pass on all this information to the Visual Studio IDE you can either do it globally (so all your future projects will
get these information) or locally (so only for you current project). The advantage of the global one is that you only
need to do it once; however, it may be undesirable to clump all your projects all the time with all these information. In
case of the global one how you do it depends on the Microsoft Visual Studio you use. There is a 2008 and previous
versions and a 2010 way of doing it. Inside the global section of this tutorial Ill show what the main differences are.
The base item of a project in Visual Studio is a solution. A solution may contain multiple projects. Projects are the
building blocks of an application. Every project will realize something and you will have a main project in which you
can put together this project puzzle. In case of the many simple applications (like many of the tutorials will be) you
do not need to break down the application into modules. In these cases your main project will be the only existing
one. Now go create a new solution inside Visual studio by going through the File New Project menu selection.
Choose Win32 Console Application as type. Enter its name and select the path where to create it. Then in the upcoming
dialog make sure you create an empty project.

The local method

Every project is built separately from the others. Due to this every project has its own rule package. Inside this rule
packages are stored all the information the IDE needs to know to build your project. For any application there are
at least two build modes: a Release and a Debug one. The Debug has many features that exist so you can find and
resolve easier bugs inside your application. In contrast the Release is an optimized version, where the goal is to make
the application run as fast as possible or to be as small as possible. You may figure that these modes also require
different rules to use during build. Therefore, there exist different rule packages for each of your build modes. These
rule packages are called inside the IDE as project properties and you can view and modify them by using the Property
Manger. You can bring up this with View Property Pages. Expand it and you can see the existing rule packages
(called Proporty Sheets).

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The really useful stuff of these is that you may create a rule package once and you can later just add it to your new
projects. Create it once and reuse it later. We want to create a new Property Sheet that will contain all the rules that
the compiler and linker needs to know. Of course we will need a separate one for the Debug and the Release Builds.
Start up with the Debug one as shown in the image below:

Use for example the OpenCV_Debug name. Then by selecting the sheet Right Click Properties. In the following I
will show to set the OpenCV rules locally, as I find unnecessary to pollute projects with custom rules that I do not use
it. Go the C++ groups General entry and under the Additional Include Directories add the path to your OpenCV
include. If you dont have C/C++ group, you should add any .c/.cpp file to the project.
$(OPENCV_DIR)\include

When adding third party libraries settings it is generally a good idea to use the power behind the environment variables.
The full location of the OpenCV library may change on each system. Moreover, you may even end up yourself with
moving the install directory for some reason. If you would give explicit paths inside your property sheet your project
will end up not working when you pass it further to someone else who has a different OpenCV install path. Moreover,
fixing this would require to manually modifying every explicit path. A more elegant solution is to use the environment
variables. Anything that you put inside a parenthesis started with a dollar sign will be replaced at runtime with the
current environment variables value. Here comes in play the environment variable setting we already made in our
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previous tutorial.
Next go to the Linker General and under the Additional Library Directories add the libs directory:
$(OPENCV_DIR)\libs

Then you need to specify the libraries in which the linker should look into. To do this go to the Linker Input and
under the Additional Dependencies entry add the name of all modules which you want to use:

The names of the libraries are as follow:

opencv_(The Name of the module)(The version Number of the library you use)d.lib

A full list, for the currently latest trunk version would contain:
opencv_core231d.lib
opencv_imgproc231d.lib
opencv_highgui231d.lib
opencv_ml231d.lib
opencv_video231d.lib
opencv_features2d231d.lib
opencv_calib3d231d.lib
opencv_objdetect231d.lib
opencv_contrib231d.lib
opencv_legacy231d.lib
opencv_flann231d.lib

The letter d at the end just indicates that these are the libraries required for the debug. Now click ok to save and do the
same with a new property inside the Release rule section. Make sure to omit the d letters from the library names and
to save the property sheets with the save icon above them.

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You can find your property sheets inside your projects directory. At this point it is a wise decision to back them up
into some special directory, to always have them at hand in the future, whenever you create an OpenCV project. Note
that for Visual Studio 2010 the file extension is props, while for 2008 this is vsprops.

Next time when you make a new OpenCV project just use the Add Existing Property Sheet... menu entry inside the
Property Manager to easily add the OpenCV build rules.

The global method

In case you find to troublesome to add the property pages to each and every one of your projects you can also add this
rules to a global property page. However, this applies only to the additional include and library directories. The
name of the libraries to use you still need to specify manually by using for instance: a Property page.
In Visual Studio 2008 you can find this under the: Tools Options Projects and Solutions VC++ Directories.

In Visual Studio 2010 this has been moved to a global property sheet which is automatically added to every project
you create:

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The process is the same as described in case of the local approach. Just add the include directories by using the
environment variable OPENCV_DIR.

Test it!
Now to try this out download our little test source code or get it from the sample code folder of the OpenCV sources.
Add this to your project and build it. Heres its content:
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4
5

// Video
#include
#include
#include
#include

Image PSNR
<iostream>
<string>
<iomanip>
<sstream>

and SSIM
// for standard I/O
// for strings
// for controlling float print precision
// string to number conversion

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#include <opencv2/imgproc/imgproc.hpp>
#include <opencv2/core/core.hpp>
#include <opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp>

// Gaussian Blur
// Basic OpenCV structures (cv::Mat, Scalar)
// OpenCV window I/O

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using namespace std;

using namespace cv;

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double getPSNR ( const Mat& I1, const Mat& I2);

Scalar getMSSIM( const Mat& I1, const Mat& I2);

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void help()
{
cout
<< "\n--------------------------------------------------------------------------" << endl
<< "This program shows how to read a video file with OpenCV. In addition, it tests the"
<< " similarity of two input videos first with PSNR, and for the frames below a PSNR " << endl
<< "trigger value, also with MSSIM."<< endl
<< "Usage:"
<< endl
<< "./video-source referenceVideo useCaseTestVideo PSNR_Trigger_Value Wait_Between_Frames " << endl
<< "--------------------------------------------------------------------------"
<< endl
<< endl;
}
int main(int argc, char *argv[], char *window_name)
{
help();
if (argc != 5)
{
cout << "Not enough parameters" << endl;
return -1;
}
stringstream conv;

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const string sourceReference = argv[1],sourceCompareWith = argv[2];

int psnrTriggerValue, delay;
conv << argv[3] << argv[4];
// put in the strings
conv >> psnrTriggerValue >> delay;// take out the numbers

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char c;
int frameNum = -1;

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// Frame counter

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VideoCapture captRefrnc(sourceReference),
captUndTst(sourceCompareWith);

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if ( !captRefrnc.isOpened())
{
cout << "Could not open reference " << sourceReference << endl;
return -1;
}

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if( !captUndTst.isOpened())
{
cout << "Could not open case test " << sourceCompareWith << endl;
return -1;
}

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Size refS = Size((int)

(int)
uTSi = Size((int)
(int)

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captRefrnc.get(CV_CAP_PROP_FRAME_WIDTH),
captRefrnc.get(CV_CAP_PROP_FRAME_HEIGHT)),
captUndTst.get(CV_CAP_PROP_FRAME_WIDTH),
captUndTst.get(CV_CAP_PROP_FRAME_HEIGHT));

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if (refS != uTSi)
{
cout << "Inputs have different size!!! Closing." << endl;
return -1;
}

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const char* WIN_UT = "Under Test";

const char* WIN_RF = "Reference";

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// Windows
namedWindow(WIN_RF, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
namedWindow(WIN_UT, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
cvMoveWindow(WIN_RF, 400
,
cvMoveWindow(WIN_UT, refS.width,

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0);
0);

//750, 2 (bernat =0)

//1500, 2

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cout << "Frame resolution: Width=" << refS.width << " Height=" << refS.height
<< " of nr#: " << captRefrnc.get(CV_CAP_PROP_FRAME_COUNT) << endl;

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cout << "PSNR trigger value " <<

setiosflags(ios::fixed) << setprecision(3) << psnrTriggerValue << endl;

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Mat frameReference, frameUnderTest;

double psnrV;
Scalar mssimV;

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while( true) //Show the image captured in the window and repeat
{
captRefrnc >> frameReference;
captUndTst >> frameUnderTest;

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if( frameReference.empty() || frameUnderTest.empty())

{
cout << " < < < Game over! > > > ";
break;

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++frameNum;
cout <<"Frame:" << frameNum;

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///////////////////////////////// PSNR ////////////////////////////////////////////////////

psnrV = getPSNR(frameReference,frameUnderTest);
//get PSNR
cout << setiosflags(ios::fixed) << setprecision(3) << psnrV << "dB";

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//////////////////////////////////// MSSIM /////////////////////////////////////////////////

if (psnrV < psnrTriggerValue)
{
mssimV = getMSSIM(frameReference,frameUnderTest);

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cout <<
<<
<<
<<

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" MSSIM: "

"R" << setiosflags(ios::fixed) << setprecision(3) << mssimV.val[2] * 100
"G" << setiosflags(ios::fixed) << setprecision(3) << mssimV.val[1] * 100
"B" << setiosflags(ios::fixed) << setprecision(3) << mssimV.val[0] * 100;

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cout << endl;

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////////////////////////////////// Show Image /////////////////////////////////////////////

imshow( WIN_RF, frameReference);
imshow( WIN_UT, frameUnderTest);

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c = cvWaitKey(delay);
if (c == 27) break;

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return 0;

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double getPSNR(const Mat& I1, const Mat& I2)

{
Mat s1;
absdiff(I1, I2, s1);
// |I1 - I2|
s1.convertTo(s1, CV_32F); // cannot make a square on 8 bits
s1 = s1.mul(s1);
// |I1 - I2|^2

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Scalar s = sum(s1);

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// sum elements per channel

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double sse = s.val[0] + s.val[1] + s.val[2]; // sum channels

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if( sse <=

return
else
{
double
double
return
}

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1e-10) // for small values return zero

0;

mse =sse /(double)(I1.channels() * I1.total());

psnr = 10.0*log10((255*255)/mse);
psnr;

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Scalar getMSSIM( const Mat& i1, const Mat& i2)

{
const double C1 = 6.5025, C2 = 58.5225;
/***************************** INITS **********************************/

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int d

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= CV_32F;

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Mat I1, I2;

i1.convertTo(I1, d);
i2.convertTo(I2, d);

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// cannot calculate on one byte large values

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Mat I2_2
Mat I1_2
Mat I1_I2

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= I2.mul(I2);
= I1.mul(I1);
= I1.mul(I2);

// I2^2
// I1^2
// I1 * I2

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/*************************** END INITS **********************************/

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Mat mu1, mu2;

// PRELIMINARY COMPUTING
GaussianBlur(I1, mu1, Size(11, 11), 1.5);
GaussianBlur(I2, mu2, Size(11, 11), 1.5);

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Mat mu1_2
=
Mat mu2_2
=
Mat mu1_mu2 =

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mu1.mul(mu1);
mu2.mul(mu2);
mu1.mul(mu2);

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Mat sigma1_2, sigma2_2, sigma12;

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GaussianBlur(I1_2, sigma1_2, Size(11, 11), 1.5);

sigma1_2 -= mu1_2;

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GaussianBlur(I2_2, sigma2_2, Size(11, 11), 1.5);

sigma2_2 -= mu2_2;

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GaussianBlur(I1_I2, sigma12, Size(11, 11), 1.5);

sigma12 -= mu1_mu2;

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///////////////////////////////// FORMULA ////////////////////////////////

Mat t1, t2, t3;

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t1 = 2 * mu1_mu2 + C1;
t2 = 2 * sigma12 + C2;
t3 = t1.mul(t2);

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// t3 = ((2*mu1_mu2 + C1).*(2*sigma12 + C2))

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t1 = mu1_2 + mu2_2 + C1;

t2 = sigma1_2 + sigma2_2 + C2;
t1 = t1.mul(t2);
// t1 =((mu1_2 + mu2_2 + C1).*(sigma1_2 + sigma2_2 + C2))

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Mat ssim_map;
divide(t3, t1, ssim_map);

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// ssim_map =

t3./t1;

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Scalar mssim = mean( ssim_map ); // mssim = average of ssim map

return mssim;

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You can start a Visual Studio build from two places. Either inside from the IDE (keyboard combination: Control-F5)
or by navigating to your build directory and start the application with a double click. The catch is that these two arent
the same. When you start it from the IDE its current working directory is the projects directory, while otherwise it is
the folder where the application file currently is (so usually your build directory). Moreover, in case of starting from
the IDE the console window will not close once finished. It will wait for a keystroke of yours.
This is important to remember when you code inside the code open and save commands. Youre resources will be
saved ( and queried for at opening!!!) relatively to your working directory. This is unless you give a full, explicit path
as parameter for the I/O functions. In the code above we open this OpenCV logo. Before starting up the application

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make sure you place the image file in your current working directory. Modify the image file name inside the code to
try it out on other images too. Run it and voil:

Command line arguments with Visual Studio

Throughout some of our future tutorials youll see that the programs main input method will be by giving a runtime
argument. To do this you can just start up a commmand windows (cmd + Enter in the start menu), navigate to your
executable file and start it with an argument. So for example in case of my upper project this would look like:
1
2
3

D:
CD OpenCV\MySolutionName\Release
MySolutionName.exe exampleImage.jpg

Here I first changed my drive (if your project isnt on the OS local drive), navigated to my project and start it with an
example image argument. While under Linux system it is common to fiddle around with the console window on the
Microsoft Windows many people come to use it almost never. Besides, adding the same argument again and again
while you are testing your application is, somewhat, a cumbersome task. Luckily, in the Visual Studio there is a menu
to automate all this:

Specify here the name of the inputs and while you start your application from the Visual Studio enviroment you have
automatic argument passing. In the next introductionary tutorial youll see an in-depth explanation of the upper source
code: Load and Display an Image.

1.6 Using Android binary package with Eclipse

This tutorial was tested using Ubuntu 10.04 and Windows 7 SP1 operating systems. Nevertheless, it should also work
on any other OSes supported by Android SDK (including Mac OS X). If you encounter errors after following the steps
described here, feel free to contact us via OpenCV4Android discussion group or OpenCV Q&A forum and we will try
to help you.

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Quick environment setup for Android development

If you are making a clean environment installation then you can try Tegra Android Development Pack (TADP) released
by NVIDIA:
It will cover all of the environment set up automatically and you can go to the next step Get the OpenCV package for
Android development right after automatic setup.
If you are a beginner in Android development then we recommend you to start with TADP.
Note: NVIDIAs Tegra Android Development Pack includes some special features for NVIDIAs Tegra platform but
it is not just for Tegra devices
You need at least 1.6 Gb free disk space for installation.
TADP will download Android SDK platforms and Android NDK from Googles server, so you need an Internet
connection for the installation.
TADP can ask you to flash your development kit at the end of installation process. Just skip this step if you have
no Tegra Ventana Development Kit.
(UNIX) TADP will ask you for a root in the middle of installation, so you need to be a member of sudo group.

Manual environment setup for Android Development

You need the following tools to be installed:
1. Sun JDK 6
Visit Java SE Downloads page and download installer for your OS.
Here is a detailed JDK (Java Development Kit) installation guide for Ubuntu and Mac OS (only JDK sections
are applicable for OpenCV)
Note: OpenJDK is not usable for Android development because Android SDK supports only Sun JDK. If you
use Ubuntu, after installation of Sun JDK you should run the following command to set Sun java environment:
sudo update-java-alternatives --set java-6-sun

2. Android SDK
Get the latest Android SDK from http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html
Here is Googles install guide for SDK.
Note: If you choose SDK packed into Windows installer, then you should have 32-bit JRE installed. It is not
needed for Android development, but installer is x86 application and requires 32-bit Java runtime.

Note: If you are running x64 version of Ubuntu Linux, then you need ia32 shared libraries for use on amd64
and ia64 systems to be installed. You can install them with the following command:
sudo apt-get install ia32-libs

For Red Hat based systems the following command might be helpful:

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sudo yum install libXtst.i386

3. Android SDK components

You need the following SDK components to be installed:
Android SDK Tools, revision14 or newer
Older revisions should also work, but they are not recommended.
SDK Platform Android 3.0, API 11 (also known as android-11)
The minimal platform supported by OpenCV Java API is Android 2.2 (API 8).
This is
also the minimum API Level required for the provided samples to run. See the <uses-sdk
android:minSdkVersion="8"/> tag in their AndroidManifest.xml files. But for successful compilation of some samples the target platform should be set to Android 3.0 (API 11) or higher. It will not block
them from running on Android 2.2+.

See Adding SDK Components for help with installing/updating SDK components.
4. Eclipse IDE
Check the Android SDK System Requirements document for a list of Eclipse versions that are compatible with
the Android SDK. For OpenCV 2.4.x we recommend Eclipse 3.7 (Indigo) or later versions. They work well for
OpenCV under both Windows and Linux.
If you have no Eclipse installed, you can get it from the download page.
5. ADT plugin for Eclipse
This instruction is copied from Android Developers site. Please, visit that page if you have any troubles with
ADT (Android Development Tools) plugin installation.

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Assuming that you have Eclipse IDE installed, as described above, follow these steps to download and install
the ADT plugin:
(a) Start Eclipse, then select Help Install New Software...
(b) Click Add (in the top-right corner).
(c) In the Add Repository dialog that appears, enter ADT Plugin for the Name and the following URL for
the Location:
https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/
(d) Click OK
Note: If you have trouble acquiring the plugin, try using http in the Location URL, instead of https
(https is preferred for security reasons).
(e) In the Available Software dialog, select the checkbox next to Developer Tools and click Next.
(f) In the next window, youll see a list of the tools to be downloaded. Click Next.
(g) Read and accept the license agreements, then click Finish.
Note: If you get a security warning saying that the authenticity or validity of the software cant be
established, click OK.
(h) When the installation completes, restart Eclipse.

Get the OpenCV package for Android development

1. Go to the OpenCV dowload page on SourceForge and download the latest available version. Currently it is
OpenCV-2.4.2-android-sdk.zip
2. Create new folder for Android+OpenCV development. For this tutorial I have unpacked OpenCV to the
C:\Work\android-opencv\ directory.
Note: Better to use a path without spaces in it. Otherwise you will probably have problems with
ndk-build.
3. Unpack the OpenCV package into that dir.
You can unpack it using any popular archiver (for example with 7-Zip):

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On Unix you can use the following command:

unzip ~/Downloads/OpenCV-2.4.2-android-sdk.zip

Open OpenCV library and samples in Eclipse

1. Start the Eclipse and choose your workspace location.
I recommend to start familiarizing yourself with OpenCV for Android from a new clean workspace. So I have
chosen my OpenCV package directory for the new workspace:

2. Configure your ADT plugin (if needed)

Important: In most cases the ADT plugin finds Android SDK automatically, but sometimes it fails and shows
the following prompt:

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Select Use existing SDKs option, browse for Android SDK folder and click Finish.
To make sure the SDK folder is set correctly do the following step taken from Configuring the ADT Plugin
document from Google:
Select Window Preferences... to open the Preferences panel (Mac OS X: Eclipse Preferences):

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Select Android from the left panel.

You may see a dialog asking whether you want to send usage statistics to Google. If so, make your
choice and click Proceed. You cannot continue with this procedure until you click Proceed.
If the SDK folder isnt set youll see the following:

For the SDK Location in the main panel, click Browse... and locate your Android SDK directory.
Click Apply button at the bottom right corner of main panel.
If the SDK folder is already set correctly youll see something like this:

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Click OK to close preferences dialog.

3. Import OpenCV and samples into workspace.
OpenCV library is packed as a ready-for-use Android Library Project. You can simply reference it in your
projects.
Each sample included into the OpenCV-2.4.2-android-sdk.zip is a regular Android project that already references OpenCV library. Follow the steps below to import OpenCV and samples into the workspace:
Right click on the Package Explorer window and choose Import... option from the context menu:

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In the main panel select General Existing Projects into Workspace and press Next button:

For the Select root directory in the main panel locate your OpenCV package folder. (If you have created
workspace in the package directory, then just click Browse... button and instantly close directory choosing
dialog with OK button!) Eclipse should automatically locate OpenCV library and samples:

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Click Finish button to complete the import operation.

After clicking Finish button Eclipse will load all selected projects into workspace. And... will indicate numerous
errors:

However all these errors are only false-alarms!

To help Eclipse to understand that there are no any errors choose OpenCV library in Package Explorer (left
mouse click) and press F5 button on your keyboard. Then choose any sample (except first samples in Tutorial
Base and Tutorial Advanced) and also press F5.

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In some cases these errors disappear after Project Clean... Clean all OK.
Sometimes more advanced manipulations are needed:
The provided projects are configured for android-11 target that can be missing platform in your Android
SDK. After right click on any project select Properties and then Android on the left pane. Click some
target with API Level 11 or higher:

After this manipulation Eclipse will rebuild your workspace and error icons will disappear one after another:

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Once Eclipse completes build you will have the clean workspace without any build errors:

Running OpenCV Samples

At this point you should be able to build and run all samples except the last two (Tutorial 3 and 4). These samples
include native code and require Android NDK to build working applications, see the next tutorial Using C++ OpenCV
code with Android binary package to learn how to compile them.
Also I want to note that only Tutorial 0 - Android Camera and Tutorial 1 - Add OpenCV samples are able to
run on Emulator from the Android SDK. Other samples are using OpenCV Native Camera which does not work with
emulator.
Note: Latest Android SDK tools, revision 19 can run ARM v7a OS images but Google provides such image for
Android 4.x only.

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Well, running samples from Eclipse is very simple:

Connect your device with adb tool from Android SDK or create Emulator with camera support.
See Managing Virtual Devices document for help with Android Emulator.
See Using Hardware Devices for help with real devices (not emulators).
Select project you want to start in Package Explorer and just press Ctrl + F11 or select option Run Run
from the main menu, or click Run button on the toolbar.
Note: Android Emulator can take several minutes to start. So, please, be patient.
On the first run Eclipse will ask you about the running mode for your application:

Select the Android Application option and click OK button. Eclipse will install and run the sample.
Here is Tutorial 1 - Add OpenCV sample detecting edges using Canny algorithm from OpenCV:

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How to use OpenCV library project in your application

In this section we will explain how to make some existing application to use OpenCV. Starting from 2.4.2 release on
Android so-called OpenCV Manager is used for providing applications with the best version of OpenCV. You can
get more information here: Android_OpenCV_Manager.
Application development with async initialization
Using async initialization is a preferred way for application development. It uses OpenCV Manager Android service
to get OpenCV libraries.
1. Add OpenCV library project to your workspace. Go to File > Import > Existing project in your workspace,
push Browse button and select OpenCV SDK path.

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2. In application project add reference to OpenCV Java SDK in Project > Properties > Android > Library >
Add select OpenCV Library - 2.4.2;

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If you want to use OpenCV Manager-based approach you need to install packages with the Service and OpenCV
package for you platform. You can do it using Google Play service or manually with adb tool:
1
2

adb install ./org.opencv.engine.apk

adb install ./org.opencv.lib_v24_<hardware version>.apk

There is a very base code snippet for Async init. It shows only basis principles of library Initiation. See the 15-puzzle
OpenCV sample for details.
1
2
3
4
5

public class MyActivity extends Activity implements HelperCallbackInterface

{
private BaseLoaderCallback mOpenCVCallBack = new BaseLoaderCallback(this) {
@Override
public void onManagerConnected(int status) {

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switch (status) {
case LoaderCallbackInterface.SUCCESS:
{
Log.i(TAG, "OpenCV loaded successfully");
// Create and set View
mView = new puzzle15View(mAppContext);
setContentView(mView);
} break;
default:
{
super.onManagerConnected(status);
} break;
}
}

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};

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/** Called when the activity is first created. */

@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
Log.i(TAG, "onCreate");
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

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Log.i(TAG, "Trying to load OpenCV library");

if (!OpenCVLoader.initAsync(OpenCVLoader.OPENCV_VERSION_2_4_2, this, mOpenCVCallBack))
{
Log.e(TAG, "Cannot connect to OpenCV Manager");
}

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// ...
}

It this case application works with OpenCV Manager in asynchronous fashion. OnManagerConnected callback will be
called in UI thread, when initialization finishes. Please note, that it is not allowed to use OpenCV calls or load OpenCVdependent native libs before invoking this callback. Load your own native libraries after OpenCV initialization.
Application development with static initialization
According to this approach all OpenCV binaries are linked and put to your application package. It is designed mostly
for development purposes. This way is deprecated for the production code, release package should communicate with
OpenCV Manager, use the async initialization described above.
1. Add OpenCV library project to your workspace. Go to File > Import > Existing project in your workspace,
push Browse button and select OpenCV SDK path.

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2. In application project add reference to OpenCV Java SDK in Project > Properties > Android > Library >
Add select OpenCV Library - 2.4.2;

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3. Copy native libs to your project directory to folder libs/target_arch/.

After adding depedency from OpenCV library project, Eclipse will automatically copy all needed libraries to the
application package. To use OpenCV functionality you need to add OpenCV library initialization code before using
any OpenCV specific code, for example, to the static section of Activity class.
1
2
3
4
5

static {
if (!OpenCVLoader.initDebug()) {
// Report initialization error
}
}

If you application includes other OpenCV-dependent native libraries you need to init OpenCV before them.

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static {
if (OpenCVLoader.initDebug()) {
System.loadLibrary("my_super_lib1");
System.loadLibrary("my_super_lib2");
} else {
// Report initialization error
}
}

Whats next?
Read the Using C++ OpenCV code with Android binary package tutorial to learn how to add native OpenCV code to
your Android project.

1.7 Using C++ OpenCV code with Android binary package

The Android way is writing all your code in Java. But sometimes it is not enough and you need to go to the native level
and write some parts of your application in C/C++. This is especially important when you already have some computer
vision code which is written in C++ and uses OpenCV, and you want to reuse it in your Android application, but do
not want to rewrite the C++ code to Java. In this case the only way is to use JNI - a Java framework for interaction
with native code. It means, that you should add a Java class with native methods exposing your C++ functionality to
the Java part of your Android application.
This tutorial describes a fast way to create and build Android applications containing OpenCV code written in C++.
It shows how to build an application which uses OpenCV inside its JNI calls. Tutorial 3 and 4 from the OpenCV for
Android SDK can be used as examples. OpenCV Sample face-detect also contain a call to C++ class.
Please note that before starting this tutorial you should fulfill all the steps, described in the tutorial Using Android
binary package with Eclipse.
This tutorial was tested using Ubuntu 10.04 and Windows 7 SP1 operating systems. Nevertheless, it should also
work on Mac OS X. If you encounter errors after following the steps described here, feel free to contact us via
OpenCV4Android discussion group or OpenCV Q&A forum and we will try to help you.

Prerequisites: Setup Android NDK

To compile C++ code for Android platform you need Android Native Development Kit (NDK).
You can get the latest version of NDK from the download page. To install Android NDK just extract the archive to
some folder on your computer. Here are installation instructions.
Note: Before start you can read official Android NDK documentation which is in the Android NDK archive, in the
folder docs/.
The main article about using Android NDK build system is in the ANDROID-MK.html file.
Some additional information you can find in the APPLICATION-MK.html, NDK-BUILD.html files, and
CPU-ARM-NEON.html, CPLUSPLUS-SUPPORT.html, PREBUILTS.html.

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Theory: Android application structure

Usually code of an Android application has the following structure:
root folder of the project/
jni/
libs/
res/
src/
AndroidManifest.xml
project.properties
...

other files ...

where
the src folder contains Java code of the application,
the res folder contains resources of the application (images, xml files describing UI layout , etc),
the libs folder will contain native libraries after successful build,
and the jni folder contains C/C++ application source code and NDKs build scripts Android.mk and
Application.mk.
These scripts control the C++ build process (they are written in Makefile language).
Also the root folder should contain the following files:
AndroidManifest.xml file presents essential information about application to the Android system (name of
the Application, name of main applications package, components of the application, required permissions, etc).
It can be created using Eclipse wizard or android tool from Android SDK.
project.properties is a text file containing information about target Android platform and other build details.
This file is generated by Eclipse or can be created with android tool from Android SDK.
Note: Both files (AndroidManifest.xml and project.properties) are required to compile the C++ part of the
application (NDK build system uses information from these files). If any of these files does not exist, compile the Java
part of the project before the C++ part.

Theory: Building application with C++ native part from command line
Here is the standard way to compile C++ part of an Android application:
1. Open console and go to the root folder of Android application
cd <root folder of the project>/

Note: Alternatively you can go to the jni folder of Android project. But samples from OpenCV binary package
are configured for building from the project root level (because of relative path to the OpenCV library).
2. Run the following command

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<path_where_NDK_is_placed>/ndk-build

Note: On Windows we recommend to use ndk-build.cmd in standard Windows console (cmd.exe) rather
than the similar bash script in Cygwin shell.

3. After executing this command the C++ part of the source code is compiled.
After that the Java part of the application can be (re)compiled (using either Eclipse or ant build tool).
Note: Some parameters can be set for the ndk-build:
Example 1: Verbose compilation
<path_where_NDK_is_placed>/ndk-build V=1

Example 2: Rebuild all

<path_where_NDK_is_placed>/ndk-build -B

Theory: Building application with C++ native part from Eclipse

There are several possible ways to integrate compilation of C++ code by Android NDK into Eclipse compilation
process. We recommend the approach based on Eclipse CDT (C/C++ Development Tooling) Builder.
Important: Make sure your Eclipse IDE has the CDT plugin installed. Menu Help -> About Eclipse SDK and push
Installation Details button.

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To install the CDT plugin use menu Help -> Install New Software..., then paste the CDT 8.0 repository URL
http://download.eclipse.org/tools/cdt/releases/indigo as shown in the picture below and click Add..., name it CDT and
click OK.

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CDT Main Features should be enough:

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Important: OpenCV for Android 2.4.2 package contains sample projects pre-configured to use CDT Builder. It
automatically builds JNI part via ndk-build.
1. Define the NDKROOT environment variable containing the path to Android NDK in your system (e.g.
X:\Apps\android-ndk-r8 or /opt/android-ndk-r8).
2. CDT Builder is configured for Windows hosts, on Linux or MacOS open Project Properties of the projects
having JNI part (face-detection, Tutorial 3 and Tutorial 4), select C/C++ Build in the left pane, remove .cmd
and leave "${NDKROOT}/ndk-build" in the Build command edit box and click OK.

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3. Use menu Project -> Clean... to make sure that NDK build is invoked on the project build:

Theory: The structure of Android.mk and Application.mk scripts

The script Android.mk usually have the following structure:
LOCAL_PATH := $(call my-dir)
include $(CLEAR_VARS)
LOCAL_MODULE
:= <module_name>
LOCAL_SRC_FILES := <list of .c and .cpp project files>
<some variable name> := <some variable value>
...
<some variable name> := <some variable value>
include $(BUILD_SHARED_LIBRARY)

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This is the minimal file Android.mk, which builds a C++ source code of an Android application. Note that the first
two lines and the last line are mandatory for any Android.mk.
Usually the file Application.mk is optional, but in case of project using OpenCV, when STL and exceptions are used
in C++, it also should be written. Example of the file Application.mk:
APP_STL := gnustl_static
APP_CPPFLAGS := -frtti -fexceptions
APP_ABI := armeabi-v7a

Practice: Build samples from OpenCV binary package

OpenCV binary package includes 3 samples having JNI resources:
Tutorial 3 (Advanced) - Add Native OpenCV
This sample illustrates how you can use OpenCV in C++ but without OpenCV Java API.
Tutorial 4 (Advanced) - Mix Java+Native OpenCV
This sample shows how you can mix OpenCV Java API and native C++ code.
Sample - face-detection
This sample illustrates usage of both simple OpenCV face detector via Java API and advanced detection based
face tracker via JNI and C++.
Important: Before OpenCV 2.4.2 for Android these projects were not configured to use CDT for building their
native part , so you can do it yourself.

Practice: Create an Android application, which uses OpenCV

To build your own Android application, which uses OpenCV from native part, the following steps should be done:
1. The archive with OpenCV binary package should be downloaded and extracted to some folder (e.g.
C:\Work\android-opencv\OpenCV-2.4.0)
2. You can use an environment variable to specify the location of OpenCV package or just hardcode full or relative
path in the jni/Android.mk of your projects.
3. The file jni/Android.mk should be written for the current application using the common rules for the file.
For detailed information see the Android NDK documentation from the Android NDK archive, in the file
<path_where_NDK_is_placed>/docs/ANDROID-MK.html

4. The line
include C:\Work\android-opencv\OpenCV-2.4.0\share\OpenCV\OpenCV.mk

should be inserted into the jni/Android.mk file right after the line
include $(CLEAR_VARS)

Several variables can be used to customize OpenCV stuff, they should be set before the "include
...\OpenCV.mk" line:
OPENCV_INSTALL_MODULES:=on

Copies necessary OpenCV dynamic libs to the project libs folder in order to include them into the APK.

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OPENCV_CAMERA_MODULES:=off

Skip native OpenCV camera related libs copying to the project libs folder.
OPENCV_LIB_TYPE:=STATIC

Perform static link with OpenCV. By default dynamic link is used and the project JNI lib depends on
libopencv_java.so.
5. The file Application.mk should exist and should contain lines
APP_STL := gnustl_static
APP_CPPFLAGS := -frtti -fexceptions

Also the line

APP_ABI := armeabi-v7a

is recommended for the applications targeting modern ARMs

6. Either use manual ndk-build invocation or setup Eclipse CDT Builder to build native JNI lib before Java part
[re]build and APK creation.

1.8 Installation in iOS

Required packages
CMake 2.8.8 or higher
Xcode 4.3 or higher
Getting the cutting-edge OpenCV from SourceForge SVN repository
Launch
SVN
client
and
checkout
http://code.opencv.org/svn/opencv/trunk/opencv

the

current

OpenCV

snapshot

from

here:

In MacOS it can be done using the following command in Terminal:

cd ~/<my_working _directory>
svn co http://code.opencv.org/svn/opencv/trunk/opencv

Building OpenCV from source using CMake, using the command line
1. Make symbolic link for Xcode to let OpenCV build scripts find the compiler, header files etc.
cd /
sudo ln -s /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer Developer

2. Build OpenCV framework

cd ~/<my_working_directory>
python opencv/ios/build_framework.py ios

If everythings fine, after a few minutes you will get ~/<my_working_directory>/ios/opencv2.framework. You can add
this framework to your Xcode projects.

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1.9 Load and Display an Image

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Load an image (using imread)
Create a named OpenCV window (using namedWindow)
Display an image in an OpenCV window (using imshow)

Source Code
Download the source code from here.
1
2
3

#include <opencv2/core/core.hpp>
#include <opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp>
#include <iostream>

4
5
6

using namespace cv;

using namespace std;

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9
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int main( int argc, char** argv )

{
if( argc != 2)
{
cout <<" Usage: display_image ImageToLoadAndDisplay" << endl;
return -1;
}

15

Mat image;
image = imread(argv[1], CV_LOAD_IMAGE_COLOR);

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// Read the file

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if(! image.data )
// Check for invalid input
{
cout << "Could not open or find the image" << std::endl ;
return -1;
}

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namedWindow( "Display window", CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );// Create a window for display.

imshow( "Display window", image );
// Show our image inside it.

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waitKey(0);
return 0;

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// Wait for a keystroke in the window

Explanation
In OpenCV 2 we have multiple modules. Each one takes care of a different area or approach towards image processing.
You could already observe this in the structure of the user guide of these tutorials itself. Before you use any of them
you first need to include the header files where the content of each individual module is declared.
Youll almost always end up using the:
core section, as here are defined the basic building blocks of the library

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highgui module, as this contains the functions for input and output operations
// Video Image PSNR and SSIM
#include <iostream> // for standard I/O
#include <string>
// for strings

We also include the iostream to facilitate console line output and input. To avoid data structure and function name
conflicts with other libraries, OpenCV has its own namespace: cv. To avoid the need appending prior each of these the
cv:: keyword you can import the namespace in the whole file by using the lines:
using namespace cv;
using namespace std;

This is true for the STL library too (used for console I/O). Now, lets analyze the main function. We start up assuring
that we acquire a valid image name argument from the command line.
if( argc != 2)
{
cout <<" Usage: display_image ImageToLoadAndDisplay" << endl;
return -1;
}

Then create a Mat object that will store the data of the loaded image.
Mat image;

Now we call the imread function which loads the image name specified by the first argument (argv[1]). The second
argument specifies the format in what we want the image. This may be:
CV_LOAD_IMAGE_UNCHANGED (<0) loads the image as is (including the alpha channel if present)
CV_LOAD_IMAGE_GRAYSCALE ( 0) loads the image as an intensity one
CV_LOAD_IMAGE_COLOR (>0) loads the image in the RGB format
image = imread(argv[1], CV_LOAD_IMAGE_COLOR);

// Read the file

Note: OpenCV offers support for the image formats Windows bitmap (bmp), portable image formats (pbm, pgm,
ppm) and Sun raster (sr, ras). With help of plugins (you need to specify to use them if you build yourself the library,
nevertheless in the packages we ship present by default) you may also load image formats like JPEG (jpeg, jpg, jpe),
JPEG 2000 (jp2 - codenamed in the CMake as Jasper), TIFF files (tiff, tif) and portable network graphics (png).
Furthermore, OpenEXR is also a possibility.
After checking that the image data was loaded correctly, we want to display our image, so we create an OpenCV
window using the namedWindow function. These are automatically managed by OpenCV once you create them. For
this you need to specify its name and how it should handle the change of the image it contains from a size point of
view. It may be:
CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE is the only supported one if you do not use the Qt backend. In this case the window
size will take up the size of the image it shows. No resize permitted!
CV_WINDOW_NORMAL on Qt you may use this to allow window resize. The image will resize itself according
to the current window size. By using the | operator you also need to specify if you would like the image to keep
its aspect ratio (CV_WINDOW_KEEPRATIO) or not (CV_WINDOW_FREERATIO).
namedWindow( "Display window", CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );// Create a window for display.

Finally, to update the content of the OpenCV window with a new image use the imshow function. Specify the OpenCV
window name to update and the image to use during this operation:

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imshow( "Display window", image );

// Show our image inside it.

Because we want our window to be displayed until the user presses a key (otherwise the program would end far too
quickly), we use the waitKey function whose only parameter is just how long should it wait for a user input (measured
in milliseconds). Zero means to wait forever.
waitKey(0);

// Wait for a keystroke in the window

Result
Compile your code and then run the executable giving an image path as argument. If youre on Windows the
executable will of course contain an exe extension too. Of course assure the image file is near your program file.
./DisplayImage HappyFish.jpg

You should get a nice window as the one shown below:

1.10 Load, Modify, and Save an Image

Note: We assume that by now you know how to load an image using imread and to display it in a window (using
imshow). Read the Load and Display an Image tutorial otherwise.

Goals
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Load an image using imread
Transform an image from RGB to Grayscale format by using cvtColor
Save your transformed image in a file on disk (using imwrite)

Code
Here it is:
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1
2

#include <cv.h>
#include <highgui.h>

3
4

using namespace cv;

5
6
7
8

int main( int argc, char** argv )

{
char* imageName = argv[1];

9
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11

Mat image;
image = imread( imageName, 1 );

12
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14
15
16
17

if( argc != 2 || !image.data )

{
printf( " No image data \n " );
return -1;
}

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Mat gray_image;
cvtColor( image, gray_image, CV_RGB2GRAY );

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imwrite( "../../images/Gray_Image.jpg", gray_image );

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namedWindow( imageName, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );

namedWindow( "Gray image", CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );

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imshow( imageName, image );

imshow( "Gray image", gray_image );

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waitKey(0);

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return 0;
}

Explanation
1. We begin by:
Creating a Mat object to store the image information
Load an image using imread, located in the path given by imageName. Fort this example, assume you are
loading a RGB image.
2. Now we are going to convert our image from RGB to Grayscale format. OpenCV has a really nice function to
do this kind of transformations:
cvtColor( image, gray_image, CV_RGB2GRAY );

As you can see, cvtColor takes as arguments:

a source image (image)
a destination image (gray_image), in which we will save the converted image.
an additional parameter that indicates what kind of transformation will be performed. In this case we use
CV_RGB2GRAY (self-explanatory).
3. So now we have our new gray_image and want to save it on disk (otherwise it will get lost after the program
ends). To save it, we will use a function analagous to imread: imwrite

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imwrite( "../../images/Gray_Image.jpg", gray_image );

Which will save our gray_image as Gray_Image.jpg in the folder images located two levels up of my current
location.
4. Finally, lets check out the images. We create two windows and use them to show the original image as well as
the new one:
namedWindow( imageName, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
namedWindow( "Gray image", CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
imshow( imageName, image );
imshow( "Gray image", gray_image );

5. Add add the waitKey(0) function call for the program to wait forever for an user key press.

Result
When you run your program you should get something like this:

And if you check in your folder (in my case images), you should have a newly .jpg file named Gray_Image.jpg:

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Congratulations, you are done with this tutorial!

1.11 How to write a tutorial for OpenCV?

Okay, so assume you have just finished a project of yours implementing something based on OpenCV and you want
to present/share it with the community. Luckily, OpenCV is an open source project. This means that in theory anyone
has access to the full source code and may extend it. While making a robust and practical library (like OpenCV) is
great, the success of a library also depends on how user friendly it is. To improve on this aspect, the OpenCV team has
already been listening to user feedback from its Yahoo user group and by making samples you can find in the source
directories sample folder. The addition of the tutorials (in both online and PDF format) is an extension of these efforts.

Goal
The tutorials are just as an important part of the library as the implementation of those crafty data structures and
algorithms you can find in OpenCV. Therefore, the source codes for the tutorials are part of the library. And yes, I
meant source codes. The reason for this formulation is that the tutorials are written by using the Sphinx documentation generation system. This is based on the popular python documentation system called reStructuredText (reST).
ReStructuredText is a really neat language that by using a few simple conventions (indentation, directives) and emulating old school e-mail writing techniques (text only) tries to offer a simple way to create and edit documents. Sphinx
extends this with some new features and creates the resulting document in both HTML (for web) and PDF (for offline
usage) format.
Usually, an OpenCV tutorial has the following parts:
1. A source code demonstration of an OpenCV feature:
(a) One or more CPP, Python, Java or other type of files depending for what OpenCV offers support and for
what language you make the tutorial.
(b) Occasionaly, input resource files required for running your tutorials application.
2. A table of content entry (so people may easily find the tutorial):
(a) Adding your stuff to the tutorials table of content (reST file).
(b) Add an image file near the TOC entry.
3. The content of the tutorial itself:
(a) The reST text of the tutorial
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(b) Images following the idea that A picture is worth a thousand words.
(c) For more complex demonstrations you may create a video.
As you can see you will need at least some basic knowledge of the reST system in order to complete the task at hand
with success. However, dont worry reST (and Sphinx) was made with simplicity in mind. It is easy to grasp its basics.
I found that the OpenAlea documentations introduction on this subject (or the Thomas Cokelaer one ) should enough
for this. If for some directive or feature you need a more in-depth description look it up in the official reStructuredText
help files or at the Sphinx documentation.
In our world achieving some tasks is possible in multiple ways. However, some of the roads to take may have obvious
or hidden advantages over others. Then again, in some other cases it may come down to just simple user preference.
Here, Ill present how I decided to write the tutorials, based on my personal experience. If for some of them you know
a better solution and you can back it up feel free to use that. Ive nothing against it, as long as it gets the job done in
an elegant fashion.
Now the best would be if you could make the integration yourself. For this you need first to have the source code. I
recommend following the guides for your operating system on acquiring OpenCV sources. For Linux users look here
and for Windows here. You must also install python and sphinx with its dependencies in order to be able to build the
documentation.
Once you have downloaded the repository to your hard drive you can take a look in the OpenCV directory to
make sure you have both the samples and doc folder present. Anyone may download the trunk source files from
/svn/opencv/trunk/ . Nevertheless, not everyone has upload (commit/submit) rights. This is to protect the integrity
of the library. If you plan doing more than one tutorial, and would like to have an account with commit user rights
you should first register an account at http://code.opencv.org/ and then contact dr. Gary Bradski at [email protected]. Otherwise, you can just send the resulting files to us via the Yahoo user group or to me at
[email protected] and Ill add it. If you have questions, suggestions or constructive critics I will
gladly listen to them. If you send it to the OpenCV group please tag its subject with a [Tutorial] entry.

Format the Source Code

Before I start this let it be clear: the main goal is to have a working sample code. However, for your tutorial to be of a
top notch quality you should follow a few guide lines I am going to present here.
In case you have an application by using the older interface (with IplImage, CVMat, cvLoadImage and such) consider
migrating it to the new C++ interface. The tutorials are intended to be an up to date help for our users. And as of
OpenCV 2 the OpenCV emphasis on using the less error prone and clearer C++ interface. Therefore, if possible
please convert your code to the C++ interface. For this it may help to read the Interoperability with OpenCV 1 tutorial.
However, once you have an OpenCV 2 working code, then you should make your source code snippet as easy to read
as possible. Herere a couple of advices for this:
Add a standard output with the description of what your program does. Keep it short and yet, descriptive. This
output is at the start of the program. In my example files this usually takes the form of a help function containing
the output. This way both the source file viewer and application runner can see what all is about in your sample.
Heres an instance of this:
void help()
{
cout
<< "--------------------------------------------------------------------------"
<< endl
<< "This program shows how to write video files. You can extract the R or G or B color channel "
<< " of the input video. You can choose to use the source codec (Y) or select a custom one. (N)"<< endl
<< "Usage:"
<< endl
<< "./video-write inputvideoName [ R | G | B] [Y | N]"
<< endl
<< "--------------------------------------------------------------------------"
<< endl
<< endl;
}

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// ...
int main(int argc, char *argv[], char *window_name)
{
help();
// here comes the actual source code
}

Additionally, finalize the description with a short usage guide. This way the user will know how to call your
programs, what leads us to the next point.
Prefer command line argument controlling instead of hard coded one. If your program has some variables that
may be changed use command line arguments for this. The tutorials, can be a simple try-out ground for the user.
If you offer command line controlling for the input image (for example), then you offer the possibility for the
user to try it out with his/her own images, without the need to mess in the source code. In the upper example
you can see that the input image, channel and codec selection may all be changed from the command line. Just
compile the program and run it with your own input arguments.
Be as verbose as possible. There is no shame in filling the source code with comments. This way the more
advanced user may figure out whats happening right from the sample code. This advice goes for the output
console too. Specify to the user whats happening. Never leave the user hanging there and thinking on: Is this
program now crashing or just doing some computationally intensive task?. So, if you do a training task that
may take some time, make sure you print out a message about this before starting and after finishing it.
Throw out unnecessary stuff from your source code. This is a warning to not take the previous point too
seriously. Balance is the key. If its something that can be done in a fewer lines or simpler than thats the way
you should do it. Nevertheless, if for some reason you have such sections notify the user why you have chosen
to do so. Keep the amount of information as low as possible, while still getting the job done in an elegant way.
Put your sample file into the opencv/samples/cpp/tutorial_code/sectionName folder. If you write a
tutorial for other languages than cpp, then change that part of the path. Before completing this you need to
decide that to what section (module) does your tutorial goes. Think about on what module relies most heavily
your code and that is the one to use. If the answer to this question is more than one modules then the general
section is the one to use. For finding the opencv directory open up your file system and navigate where you
downloaded our repository.
If the input resources are hard to acquire for the end user consider adding a few of them to the
opencv/samples/cpp/tutorial_code/images. Make sure that who reads your code can try it out!

Add the TOC entry

For this you will need to know some reStructuredText. There is no going around this. reStructuredText files have rst
extensions. However, these are simple text files. Use any text editor you like. Finding a text editor that offers syntax
highlighting for reStructuredText was quite a challenge at the time of writing this tutorial. In my experience, Intype is
a solid option on Windows, although there is still place for improvement.
Adding your source code to a table of content is important for multiple reasons. First and foremost this will allow for
the user base to find your tutorial from our websites tutorial table of content. Secondly, if you omit this Sphinx will
throw a warning that your tutorial file isnt part of any TOC tree entry. And there is nothing more than the developer
team hates than an ever increasing warning/error list for their builds. Sphinx also uses this to build up the previousback-up buttons on the website. Finally, omitting this step will lead to that your tutorial will not be added to the PDF
version of the tutorials.
Navigate to the opencv/doc/tutorials/section/table_of_content_section folder (where the section is the
module to which youre adding the tutorial). Open the table_of_content_section file. Now this may have two forms.
If no prior tutorials are present in this section that there is a template message about this and has the following form:

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.. _Table-Of-Content-Section:
Section title
----------------------------------------------------------Description about the section.
.. include:: ../../definitions/noContent.rst
.. raw:: latex
\pagebreak

The first line is a reference to the section title in the reST system. The section title will be a link and you may refer to it
via the :ref: directive. The include directive imports the template text from the definitions directories noContent.rst
file. Sphinx does not creates the PDF from scratch. It does this by first creating a latex file. Then creates the PDF from
the latex file. With the raw directive you can directly add to this output commands. Its unique argument is for what
kind of output to add the content of the directive. For the PDFs it may happen that multiple sections will overlap on a
single page. To avoid this at the end of the TOC we add a pagebreak latex command, that hints to the LATEX system
that the next line should be on a new page.
If you have one of this, try to transform it to the following form:
.. _Table-Of-Content-Section:
Section title
----------------------------------------------------------.. include:: ../../definitions/tocDefinitions.rst
+
.. tabularcolumns:: m{100pt} m{300pt}
.. cssclass:: toctableopencv
=============== ======================================================
|MatBasicIma| **Title:** :ref:matTheBasicImageContainer
*Compatibility:* > OpenCV 2.0
*Author:* |Author_BernatG|
You will learn how to store images in the memory and how to print out their content to the console.
=============== =====================================================
.. |MatBasicIma| image:: images/matTheBasicImageStructure.jpg
:height: 90pt
:width: 90pt
.. raw:: latex
\pagebreak
.. toctree::
:hidden:
../mat - the basic image container/mat - the basic image container

If this is already present just add a new section of the content between the include and the raw directives (excluding
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those lines). Here youll see a new include directive. This should be present only once in a TOC tree and the reST file
contains the definitions of all the authors contributing to the OpenCV tutorials. We are a multicultural community and
some of our name may contain some funky characters. However, reST only supports ANSI characters. Luckily we can
specify Unicode characters with the unicode directive. Doing this for all of your tutorials is a troublesome procedure.
Therefore, the tocDefinitions file contains the definition of your author name. Add it here once and afterwards just use
the replace construction. For example heres the definition for my name:
.. |Author_BernatG| unicode:: Bern U+00E1 t U+0020 G U+00E1 bor

The |Author_BernatG| is the text definitions alias. I can use later this to add the definition, like Ive done in the
TOCs Author part. After the :: and a space you start the definition. If you want to add an UNICODE character
(non-ASCI) leave an empty space and specify it in the format U+(UNICODE code). To find the UNICODE code of
a character I recommend using the FileFormat websites service. Spaces are trimmed from the definition, therefore we
add a space by its UNICODE character (U+0020).
Until the raw directive what you can see is a TOC tree entry. Heres how a TOC entry will look like:

Title: Mat - The Basic Image Container

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Bernt Gbor
You will learn how to store images in the memory and how to print out their
content to the console.

As you can see we have an image to the left and a description box to the right. To create two boxes we use a table with
two columns and a single row. In the left column is the image and in the right one the description. However, the image
directive is way too long to fit in a column. Therefore, we need to use the substitution definition system. We add this
definition after the TOC tree. All images for the TOC tree are to be put in the images folder near its reStructuredText
file. We use the point measurement system because we are also creating PDFs. PDFs are printable documents, where
there is no such thing that pixels (px), just points (pt). And while generally space is no problem for web pages (we
have monitors with huge resolutions) the size of the paper (A4 or letter) is constant and will be for a long time in the
future. Therefore, size constrains come in play more like for the PDF, than the generated HTML code.
Now your images should be as small as possible, while still offering the intended information for the user. Remember
that the tutorial will become part of the OpenCV source code. If you add large images (that manifest in form of
large image size) it will just increase the size of the repository pointlessly. If someone wants to download it later, its
download time will be that much longer. Not to mention the larger PDF size for the tutorials and the longer load time
for the web pages. In terms of pixels a TOC image should not be larger than 120 X 120 pixels. Resize your images if
they are larger!
Note: If you add a larger image and specify a smaller image size, Sphinx will not resize that. At build time will
add the full size image and the resize will be done by your browser after the image is loaded. A 120 X 120 image is
somewhere below 10KB. If you add a 110KB image, you have just pointlessly added a 100KB extra data to transfer
over the internet for every user!
Generally speaking you shouldnt need to specify your images size (excluding the TOC entries). If no such is found
Sphinx will use the size of the image itself (so no resize occurs). Then again if for some reason you decide to specify a
size that should be the width of the image rather than its height. The reason for this again goes back to the PDFs. On a
PDF page the height is larger than the width. In the PDF the images will not be resized. If you specify a size that does
not fit in the page, then what does not fits in will be cut off. When creating your images for your tutorial you should
try to keep the image widths below 500 pixels, and calculate with around 400 point page width when specifying image
widths.
The image format depends on the content of the image. If you have some complex scene (many random like colors)
then use jpg. Otherwise, prefer using png. They are even some tools out there that optimize the size of PNG images,
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such as PNGGauntlet. Use them to make your images as small as possible in size.
Now on the right side column of the table we add the information about the tutorial:
In the first line it is the title of the tutorial. However, there is no need to specify it explicitly. We use the reference
system. Well start up our tutorial with a reference specification, just like in case of this TOC entry with its ..
_Table-Of-Content-Section: . If after this you have a title (pointed out by the following line of -), then Sphinx
will replace the :ref:Table-Of-Content-Section directive with the tile of the section in reference form
(creates a link in web page). Heres how the definition looks in my case:
.. _matTheBasicImageContainer:
Mat - The Basic Image Container
*******************************

Note, that according to the reStructuredText rules the * should be as long as your title.
Compatibility. What version of OpenCV is required to run your sample code.
Author. Use the substitution markup of reStructuredText.
A short sentence describing the essence of your tutorial.
Now before each TOC entry you need to add the three lines of:
+
.. tabularcolumns:: m{100pt} m{300pt}
.. cssclass:: toctableopencv

The plus sign (+) is to enumerate tutorials by using bullet points. So for every TOC entry we have a corresponding
bullet point represented by the +. Sphinx is highly indenting sensitive. Indentation is used to express from which point
until to which point does a construction last. Un-indentation means end of that construction. So to keep all the bullet
points to the same group the following TOC entries (until the next +) should be indented by two spaces.
Here, I should also mention that always prefer using spaces instead of tabs. Working with only spaces makes possible
that if we both use monotype fonts we will see the same thing. Tab size is text editor dependent and as should be
avoided. Sphinx translates all tabs into 8 spaces before interpreting it.
It turns out that the automatic formatting of both the HTML and PDF(LATEX) system messes up our tables. Therefore,
we need to help them out a little. For the PDF generation we add the .. tabularcolumns:: m{100pt} m{300pt}
directive. This means that the first column should be 100 points wide and middle aligned. For the HTML look we simply name the following table of a toctableopencv class type. Then, we can modify the look of the table by modifying
the CSS of our web page. The CSS definitions go into the opencv/doc/_themes/blue/static/default.css_t
file.
.toctableopencv
{
width: 100% ;
table-layout: fixed;
}

.toctableopencv colgroup col:first-child

{
width: 100pt !important;
max-width: 100pt !important;
min-width: 100pt !important;
}
.toctableopencv colgroup col:nth-child(2)
{

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width: 100% !important;

}

However, you should not need to modify this. Just add these three lines (plus keep the two space indentation) for all
TOC entries you add. At the end of the TOC file youll find:
.. raw:: latex
\pagebreak
.. toctree::
:hidden:
../mat - the basic image container/mat - the basic image container

The page break entry comes for separating sections and should be only one in a TOC tree reStructuredText file. Finally,
at the end of the TOC tree we need to add our tutorial to the Sphinx TOC tree system. Sphinx will generate from this
the previous-next-up information for the HTML file and add items to the PDF according to the order here. By default
this TOC tree directive generates a simple table of contents. However, we already created a fancy looking one so we
no longer need this basic one. Therefore, we add the hidden option to do not show it.
The path is of a relative type. We step back in the file system and then go into the mat - the basic image
container directory for the mat - the basic image container.rst file. Putting out the rst extension for the
file is optional.

Write the tutorial

Create a folder with the name of your tutorial. Preferably, use small letters only. Then create a text file in this folder
with rst extension and the same name. If you have images for the tutorial create an images folder and add your images
there. When creating your images follow the guidelines described in the previous part!
Now heres our recommendation for the structure of the tutorial (although, remember that this is not carved in the
stone; if you have a better idea, use it!):
Create the reference point and the title.
.. _matTheBasicImageContainer:
Mat - The Basic Image Container
*******************************

You start the tutorial by specifying a reference point by the .. _matTheBasicImageContainer: and then its
title. The name of the reference point should be a unique one over the whole documentation. Therefore, do not
use general names like tutorial1. Use the * character to underline the title for its full width. The subtitles of the
tutorial should be underlined with = charachter.
Goals. You start your tutorial by specifying what you will present. You can also enumerate the sub jobs to be
done. For this you can use a bullet point construction. There is a single configuration file for both the reference
manual and the tutorial documentation. In the reference manuals at the argument enumeration we do not want
any kind of bullet point style enumeration. Therefore, by default all the bullet points at this level are set to do
not show the dot before the entries in the HTML. You can override this by putting the bullet point in a container.
Ive defined a square type bullet point view under the name enumeratevisibleitemswithsquare. The CSS style
definition for this is again in the opencvdoc_themesbluestaticdefault.css_t file. Heres a quick example
of using it:
.. container:: enumeratevisibleitemswithsquare

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+ Create the reference point and the title.

+ Second entry
+ Third entry

Note that you need the keep the indentation of the container directive. Directive indentations are always three
(3) spaces. Here you may even give usage tips for your sample code.
Source code. Present your samples code to the user. Its a good idea to offer a quick download link for the
HTML page by using the download directive and pointing out where the user may find your source code in the
file system by using the file directive:
Text :file:samples/cpp/tutorial_code/highgui/video-write/ folder of the OpenCV source library
or :download:text to appear in the webpage
<../../../../samples/cpp/tutorial_code/HighGUI/video-write/video-write.cpp>.

For the download link the path is a relative one, hence the multiple back stepping operations (..). Then you can
add the source code either by using the code block directive or the literal include one. In case of the code block
you will need to actually add all the source code text into your reStructuredText text and also apply the required
indentation:
.. code-block:: cpp
int i = 0;
l = ++j;

The only argument of the directive is the language used (here CPP). Then you add the source code into its
content (meaning one empty line after the directive) by keeping the indentation of the directive (3 spaces). With
the literal include directive you do not need to add the source code of the sample. You just specify the sample
and Sphinx will load it for you, during build time. Heres an example usage:
.. literalinclude:: ../../../../samples/cpp/tutorial_code/HighGUI/video-write/video-write.cpp
:language: cpp
:linenos:
:tab-width: 4
:lines: 1-8, 21-22, 24-

After the directive you specify a relative path to the file from what to import. It has four options: the language to use, if you add the :linenos: the line numbers will be shown, you can specify the tab size with the
:tab-width: and you do not need to load the whole file, you can show just the important lines. Use the lines
option to do not show redundant information (such as the help function). Here basically you specify ranges, if
the second range line number is missing than that means that until the end of the file. The ranges specified here
do no need to be in an ascending order, you may even reorganize the structure of how you want to show your
sample inside the tutorial.
The tutorial. Well here goes the explanation for why and what have you used. Try to be short, clear, concise and
yet a thorough one. Theres no magic formula. Look into a few already made tutorials and start out from there.
Try to mix sample OpenCV code with your explanations. If with words is hard to describe something do not
hesitate to add in a reasonable size image, to overcome this issue.
When you present OpenCV functionality its a good idea to give a link to the used OpenCV data structure or
function. Because the OpenCV tutorials and reference manual are in separate PDF files it is not possible to
make this link work for the PDF format. Therefore, we use here only web page links to the opencv.itseez.com
website. The OpenCV functions and data structures may be used for multiple tasks. Nevertheless, we want to
avoid that every users creates its own reference to a commonly used function. So for this we use the global link
collection of Sphinx. This is defined in the file:opencv/doc/conf.py configuration file. Open it and go all the way
down to the last entry:

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# ---- External links for tutorials ----------------extlinks = {

huivideo : (http://opencv.itseez.com/modules/highgui/doc/reading_and_writing_images_and_video.html#%s, No
}

In short here we defined a new huivideo directive that refers to an external webpage link. Its usage is:

A sample function of the highgui modules image write and read page is the :huivideo:imread() function <imread>.

Which turns to: A sample function of the highgui modules image write and read page is the imread()
function. The argument you give between the <> will be put in place of the %s in the upper definition, and as the link will anchor to the correct function. To find out the anchor of a given function
just open up a web page, search for the function and click on it. In the address bar it should appear like:
http://opencv.itseez.com/modules/highgui/doc/reading_and_writing_images_and_video.html#imread

. Look here for the name of the directives for each page of the OpenCV reference manual. If none present for
one of them feel free to add one for it.
For formulas you can add LATEX code that will translate in the web pages into images. You do this by using
the math directive. A usage tip:
.. math::
MSE = \frac{1}{c*i*j} \sum{(I_1-I_2)^2}

That after build turns into:

MSE =

X
1
(I1 I2 )2
cij

You can evenP

use it inline as :math: MSE = \frac{1}{c*i*j} \sum{(I_1-I_2)^2} that turns into
1
MSE = cij
(I1 I2 )2 .
If you use some crazy LATEX library extension you need to add those to the ones to use at build time. Look
into the file:opencv/doc/conf.py configuration file for more information on this.
Results. Well, here depending on your program show one of more of the following:
Console outputs by using the code block directive.
Output images.
Runtime videos, visualization. For this use your favorite screens capture software. Camtasia Studio certainly is one of the better choices, however their prices are out of this world. CamStudio is a free alternative, but less powerful. If you do a video you can upload it to YouTube and then use the raw directive with
HTML option to embed it into the generated web page:

You may observe a runtime instance of this on the YouTube here <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpBwHxsl1_0
.. raw:: html

<div align="center">
<iframe title="Creating a video with OpenCV" width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/j
</div>

This results in the text and video: You may observe a runtime instance of this on the YouTube here.
When these arent self-explanatory make sure to throw in a few guiding lines about what and why we can see.
Build the documentation and check for errors or warnings. In the CMake make sure you check or pass the option
for building documentation. Then simply build the docs project for the PDF file and the docs_html project for
the web page. Read the output of the build and check for errors/warnings for what you have added. This is also
the time to observe and correct any kind of not so good looking parts. Remember to keep clean our build logs.
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Read again your tutorial and check for both programming and spelling errors. If found any, please correct them.

Take home the pride and joy of a job well done!

Once you are done contact me or dr. Gary Bradski with the tutorial. We may submit the tutorial ourselves to the trunk
branch of our repository or ask you to do so.
Now, to see your work live you may need to wait some time. The PDFs are updated usually at the launch of a new
OpenCV version. The web pages are a little more diverse. They are automatically rebuilt in each evening. However,
the opencv.itseez.com website contains only the most recent stable branch of OpenCV. Currently this is 2.3. When
we add something new (like a tutorial) that first goes to the trunk branch of our repository. A build of this you may
find on the opencv.itseez.com/trunk website. Although, we try to make a build every night occasionally we might
freeze any of the branches to fix upcoming issues. During this it may take a little longer to see your work live, however
if you submited it, be sure that eventually it will show up.
If you have any questions or advices relating to this tutorial you can contact me at [email protected]. Of course, delete the -delete- parts of that e-mail address.

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Chapter 1. Introduction to OpenCV

CHAPTER

TWO

CORE MODULE. THE CORE

FUNCTIONALITY
Here you will learn the about the basic building blocks of the library. A must read and know for understanding how to
manipulate the images on a pixel level.

Title: Mat - The Basic Image Container

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Bernt Gbor
You will learn how to store images in the memory and how to print out their
content to the console.

Title: How to scan images, lookup tables and time measurement with
OpenCV
Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Bernt Gbor
Youll find out how to scan images (go through each of the image pixels)
with OpenCV. Bonus: time measurement with OpenCV.

Title: Mask operations on matrices

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Bernt Gbor
Youll find out how to scan images with neighbor access and use the filter2D
function to apply kernel filters on images.

Title: Adding (blending) two images using OpenCV

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
We will learn how to blend two images!

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80

Title: Changing the contrast and brightness of an image!

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
We will learn how to change our image appearance!

Title: Basic Drawing

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
We will learn how to draw simple geometry with OpenCV!

Title: Random generator and text with OpenCV

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
We will draw some fancy-looking stuff using OpenCV!

Title: Discrete Fourier Transform

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Bernt Gbor
You will see how and why use the Discrete Fourier transformation with
OpenCV.

Title: File Input and Output using XML and YAML files
Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Bernt Gbor
You will see how to use the FileStorage data structure of OpenCV to write
and read data to XML or YAML file format.

Title: Interoperability with OpenCV 1

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Bernt Gbor
Did you used OpenCV before its 2.0 version? Do you wanna know what
happened with your library with 2.0? Dont you know how to convert your
old OpenCV programs to the new C++ interface? Look here to shed light
on all this questions.

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2.1 Mat - The Basic Image Container

Goal
We have multiple ways to acquire digital images from the real world: digital cameras, scanners, computed tomography
or magnetic resonance imaging to just name a few. In every case what we (humans) see are images. However, when
transforming this to our digital devices what we record are numerical values for each of the points of the image.

For example in the above image you can see that the mirror of the care is nothing more than a matrix containing
all the intensity values of the pixel points. Now, how we get and store the pixels values may vary according to
what fits best our need, in the end all images inside a computer world may be reduced to numerical matrices and
some other informations describing the matric itself. OpenCV is a computer vision library whose main focus is to
process and manipulate these information to find out further ones. Therefore, the first thing you need to learn and get
accommodated with is how OpenCV stores and handles images.

Mat
OpenCV has been around ever since 2001. In those days the library was built around a C interface. In those days
to store the image in the memory they used a C structure entitled IplImage. This is the one youll see in most of the
older tutorials and educational materials. The problem with this is that it brings to the table all the minuses of the
C language. The biggest issue is the manual management. It builds on the assumption that the user is responsible
for taking care of memory allocation and deallocation. While this is no issue in case of smaller programs once your
code base start to grove larger and larger it will be more and more a struggle to handle all this rather than focusing on
actually solving your development goal.
Luckily C++ came around and introduced the concept of classes making possible to build another road for the user:
automatic memory management (more or less). The good news is that C++ if fully compatible with C so no compatibility issues can arise from making the change. Therefore, OpenCV with its 2.0 version introduced a new C++
interface that by taking advantage of these offers a new way of doing things. A way, in which you do not need to fiddle
with memory management; making your code concise (less to write, to achieve more). The only main downside of the
C++ interface is that many embedded development systems at the moment support only C. Therefore, unless you are
targeting this platform, theres no point on using the old methods (unless youre a masochist programmer and youre
asking for trouble).
The first thing you need to know about Mat is that you no longer need to manually allocate its size and release it as
soon as you do not need it. While doing this is still a possibility, most of the OpenCV functions will allocate its output
data manually. As a nice bonus if you pass on an already existing Mat object, what already has allocated the required
space for the matrix, this will be reused. In other words we use at all times only as much memory as much we must to
perform the task.
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Mat is basically a class having two data parts: the matrix header (containing information such as the size of the matrix,
the method used for storing, at which address is the matrix stored and so on) and a pointer to the matrix containing
the pixel values (may take any dimensionality depending on the method chosen for storing) . The matrix header size
is constant. However, the size of the matrix itself may vary from image to image and usually is larger by order of
magnitudes. Therefore, when youre passing on images in your program and at some point you need to create a copy
of the image the big price you will need to build is for the matrix itself rather than its header. OpenCV is an image
processing library. It contains a large collection of image processing functions. To solve a computational challenge
most of the time you will end up using multiple functions of the library. Due to this passing on images to functions
is a common practice. We should not forget that we are talking about image processing algorithms, which tend to be
quite computational heavy. The last thing we want to do is to further decrease the speed of your program by making
unnecessary copies of potentially large images.
To tackle this issue OpenCV uses a reference counting system. The idea is that each Mat object has its own header,
however the matrix may be shared between two instance of them by having their matrix pointer point to the same
address. Moreover, the copy operators will only copy the headers, and as also copy the pointer to the large matrix
too, however not the matrix itself.
1
2

Mat A, C;
// creates just the header parts
A = imread(argv[1], CV_LOAD_IMAGE_COLOR); // here well know the method used (allocate matrix)

3
4

Mat B(A);

// Use the copy constructor

C = A;

// Assignment operator

5
6

All the above objects, in the end point to the same single data matrix. Their headers are different, however making any
modification using either one of them will affect all the other ones too. In practice the different objects just provide
different access method to the same underlying data. Nevertheless, their header parts are different. The real interesting
part comes that you can create headers that refer only to a subsection of the full data. For example, to create a region
of interest (ROI) in an image you just create a new header with the new boundaries:
1
2

Mat D (A, Rect(10, 10, 100, 100) ); // using a rectangle

Mat E = A(Range:all(), Range(1,3)); // using row and column boundaries

Now you may ask if the matrix itself may belong to multiple Mat objects who will take responsibility for its cleaning
when its no longer needed. The short answer is: the last object that used it. For this a reference counting mechanism
is used. Whenever somebody copies a header of a Mat object a counter is increased for the matrix. Whenever a header
is cleaned this counter is decreased. When the counter reaches zero the matrix too is freed. Because, sometimes you
will still want to copy the matrix itself too, there exists the clone() or the copyTo() function.
1
2
3

Mat F = A.clone();
Mat G;
A.copyTo(G);

Now modifying F or G will not affect the matrix pointed by the Mat header. What you need to remember from all this
is that:
Output image allocation for OpenCV functions is automatic (unless specified otherwise).
No need to think about memory freeing with OpenCVs C++ interface.
The assignment operator and the copy constructor (ctor)copies only the header.
Use the clone() or the copyTo() function to copy the underlying matrix of an image.

Storing methods
This is about how you store the pixel values. You can select the color space and the data type used. The color space
refers to how we combine color components in order to code a given color. The simplest one is the gray scale. Here

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the colors at our disposal are black and white. The combination of these allows us to create many shades of gray.
For colorful ways we have a lot more of methods to choose from. However, every one of them breaks it down to
three or four basic components and the combination of this will give all others. The most popular one of this is RGB,
mainly because this is also how our eye builds up colors in our eyes. Its base colors are red, green and blue. To code
the transparency of a color sometimes a fourth element: alpha (A) is added.
However, they are many color systems each with their own advantages:
RGB is the most common as our eyes use something similar, our display systems also compose colors using
these.
The HSV and HLS decompose colors into their hue, saturation and value/luminance components, which is a
more natural way for us to describe colors. Using you may for example dismiss the last component, making
your algorithm less sensible to light conditions of the input image.
YCrCb is used by the popular JPEG image format.
CIE L*a*b* is a perceptually uniform color space, which comes handy if you need to measure the distance of a
given color to another color.
Now each of the building components has their own valid domains. This leads to the data type used. How we store
a component defines just how fine control we have over its domain. The smallest data type possible is char, which
means one byte or 8 bits. This may be unsigned (so can store values from 0 to 255) or signed (values from -127 to
+127). Although in case of three components this already gives 16 million possible colors to represent (like in case of
RGB) we may acquire an even finer control by using the float (4 byte = 32 bit) or double (8 byte = 64 bit) data types
for each component. Nevertheless, remember that increasing the size of a component also increases the size of the
whole picture in the memory.

Creating explicitly a Mat object

In the Load, Modify, and Save an Image tutorial you could already see how to write a matrix to an image file by
using the :readWriteImageVideo: imwrite() <imwrite> function. However, for debugging purposes its much more
convenient to see the actual values. You can achieve this via the << operator of Mat. However, be aware that this only
works for two dimensional matrices.
Although Mat is a great class as image container it is also a general matrix class. Therefore, it is possible to create and
manipulate multidimensional matrices. You can create a Mat object in multiple ways:
Mat() Constructor
Mat M(2,2, CV_8UC3, Scalar(0,0,255));
cout << "M = " << endl << " " << M << endl << endl;

For two dimensional and multichannel images we first define their size: row and column count wise.
Then we need to specify the data type to use for storing the elements and the number of channels per
matrix point. To do this we have multiple definitions made according to the following convention:
CV_[The number of bits per item][Signed or Unsigned][Type Prefix]C[The channel number]

For instance, CV_8UC3 means we use unsigned char types that are 8 bit long and each pixel has three
items of this to form the three channels. This are predefined for up to four channel numbers. The Scalar
is four element short vector. Specify this and you can initialize all matrix points with a custom value.

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However if you need more you can create the type with the upper macro and putting the channel number
in parenthesis as you can see below.
Use C\C++ arrays and initialize via constructor
int sz[3] = {2,2,2};
Mat L(3,sz, CV_8UC(1), Scalar::all(0));

The upper example shows how to create a matrix with more than two dimensions. Specify its dimension, then
pass a pointer containing the size for each dimension and the rest remains the same.
Create a header for an already existing IplImage pointer:
IplImage* img = cvLoadImage("greatwave.png", 1);
Mat mtx(img); // convert IplImage* -> Mat

Create() function:
M.create(4,4, CV_8UC(2));
cout << "M = "<< endl << " "

<< M << endl << endl;

You cannot initialize the matrix values with this construction. It will only reallocate its matrix data
memory if the new size will not fit into the old one.
MATLAB style initializer: zeros(), ones(), :eyes(). Specify size and data type to use:
Mat E = Mat::eye(4, 4, CV_64F);
cout << "E = " << endl << " " << E << endl << endl;
Mat O = Mat::ones(2, 2, CV_32F);
cout << "O = " << endl << " " << O << endl << endl;
Mat Z = Mat::zeros(3,3, CV_8UC1);
cout << "Z = " << endl << " " << Z << endl << endl;

For small matrices you may use comma separated initializers:

Mat C = (Mat_<double>(3,3) << 0, -1, 0, -1, 5, -1, 0, -1, 0);
cout << "C = " << endl << " " << C << endl << endl;

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Create a new header for an existing Mat object and clone() or copyTo() it.
Mat RowClone = C.row(1).clone();
cout << "RowClone = " << endl << " " << RowClone << endl << endl;

Print out formatting

Note: You can fill out a matrix with random values using the randu() function. You need to give the lover and upper
value between what you want the random values:
Mat R = Mat(3, 2, CV_8UC3);
randu(R, Scalar::all(0), Scalar::all(255));

In the above examples you could see the default formatting option. Nevertheless, OpenCV allows you to format your
matrix output format to fit the rules of:
Default
cout << "R (default) = " << endl <<

<< endl << endl;

Python
cout << "R (python)

= " << endl << format(R,"python") << endl << endl;

Comma separated values (CSV)

cout << "R (csv)

= " << endl << format(R,"csv"

) << endl << endl;

Numpy
cout << "R (numpy)

= " << endl << format(R,"numpy" ) << endl << endl;

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C
cout << "R (c)

= " << endl << format(R,"C"

) << endl << endl;

Print for other common items

OpenCV offers support for print of other common OpenCV data structures too via the << operator like:
2D Point
Point2f P(5, 1);
cout << "Point (2D) = " << P << endl << endl;

3D Point
Point3f P3f(2, 6, 7);
cout << "Point (3D) = " << P3f << endl << endl;

std::vector via cv::Mat

vector<float> v;
v.push_back( (float)CV_PI);

v.push_back(2);

v.push_back(3.01f);

cout << "Vector of floats via Mat = " << Mat(v) << endl << endl;

std::vector of points
vector<Point2f> vPoints(20);
for (size_t E = 0; E < vPoints.size(); ++E)
vPoints[E] = Point2f((float)(E * 5), (float)(E % 7));
cout << "A vector of 2D Points = " << vPoints << endl << endl;

Most of the samples here have been included into a small console application. You can download it from here or in
the core section of the cpp samples.
A quick video demonstration of this you can find on YouTube.
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2.2 How to scan images, lookup tables and time measurement with
OpenCV
Goal
Well seek answers for the following questions:
How to go through each and every pixel of an image?
How is OpenCV matrix values stored?
How to measure the performance of our algorithm?
What are lookup tables and why use them?

Our test case

Let us consider a simple color reduction method. Using the unsigned char C and C++ type for matrix item storing a
channel of pixel may have up to 256 different values. For a three channel image this can allow the formation of way
too many colors (16 million to be exact). Working with so many color shades may give a heavy blow to our algorithm
performance. However, sometimes it is enough to work with a lot less of them to get the same final result.
In this cases its common that we make a color space reduction. This means that we divide the color space current
value with a new input value to end up with fewer colors. For instance every value between zero and nine takes the
new value zero, every value between ten and nineteen the value ten and so on.
When you divide an uchar (unsigned char - aka values between zero and 255) value with an int value the result will
be also char. These values may only be char values. Therefore, any fraction will be rounded down. Taking advantage
of this fact the upper operation in the uchar domain may be expressed as:
Inew = (

Iold
) 10
10

A simple color space reduction algorithm would consist of just passing through every pixel of an image matrix and
applying this formula. Its worth noting that we do a divide and a multiplication operation. These operations are bloody
expensive for a system. If possible its worth avoiding them by using cheaper operations such as a few subtractions,
addition or in best case a simple assignment. Furthermore, note that we only have a limited number of input values for
the upper operation. In case of the uchar system this is 256 to be exact.
Therefore, for larger images it would be wise to calculate all possible values beforehand and during the assignment
just make the assignment, by using a lookup table. Lookup tables are simple arrays (having one or more dimensions)
that for a given input value variation holds the final output value. Its strength lies that we do not need to make the
calculation, we just need to read the result.
Our test case program (and the sample presented here) will do the following: read in a console line argument image
(that may be either color or gray scale - console line argument too) and apply the reduction with the given console
line argument integer value. In OpenCV, at the moment they are three major ways of going through an image pixel by
pixel. To make things a little more interesting will make the scanning for each image using all of these methods, and
print out how long it took.
You can download the full source code here or look it up in the samples directory of OpenCV at the cpp tutorial code
for the core section. Its basic usage is:
how_to_scan_images imageName.jpg intValueToReduce [G]

The final argument is optional. If given the image will be loaded in gray scale format, otherwise the RGB color way
is used. The first thing is to calculate the lookup table.

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int divideWith; // convert our input string to number - C++ style

stringstream s;
s << argv[2];
s >> divideWith;
if (!s)
{
cout << "Invalid number entered for dividing. " << endl;
return -1;
}
uchar table[256];
for (int i = 0; i < 256; ++i)
table[i] = divideWith* (i/divideWith);

Here we first use the C++ stringstream class to convert the third command line argument from text to an integer format.
Then we use a simple look and the upper formula to calculate the lookup table. No OpenCV specific stuff here.
Another issue is how do we measure time? Well OpenCV offers two simple functions to achieve this getTickCount()
and getTickFrequency(). The first returns the number of ticks of your systems CPU from a certain event (like since
you booted your system). The second returns how many times your CPU emits a tick during a second. So to measure
in seconds the number of time elapsed between two operations is easy as:
double t = (double)getTickCount();
// do something ...
t = ((double)getTickCount() - t)/getTickFrequency();
cout << "Times passed in seconds: " << t << endl;

How the image matrix is stored in the memory?

As you could already read in my Mat - The Basic Image Container tutorial the size of the matrix depends of the color
system used. More accurately, it depends from the number of channels used. In case of a gray scale image we have
something like:
Row 0
Row 1
Row ...
Row n

Column 0
0,0
1,0
...,0
n,0

Column 1
0,1
1,1
...,1
n,1

Column ...
...
...
...
n,...

Column m
0, m
1, m
..., m
n, m

For multichannel images the columns contain as many sub columns as the number of channels. For example in case
of an RGB color system:
Row 0
Row 1
Row ...
Row n

0,0
1,0
...,0
n,0

Column 0
0,0
0,0
1,0
1,0
...,0 ...,0
n,0
n,0

0,1
1,1
...,1
n,1

Column 1
0,1
0,1
1,1
1,1
...,1 ...,1
n,1
n,1

...
...
...
n,...

Column ...
...
...
...
...
...
...
n,...
n,...

0, m
1, m
..., m
n, m

Column m
0, m
0, m
1, m
1, m
..., m ..., m
n, m
n, m

Note that the order of the channels is inverse: BGR instead of RGB. Because in many cases the memory is large
enough to store the rows in a successive fashion the rows may follow one after another, creating a single long row.
Because everything is in a single place following one after another this may help to speed up the scanning process.
We can use the isContinuous() function to ask the matrix if this is the case. Continue on to the next section to find an
example.

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The efficient way

When it comes to performance you cannot beat the classic C style operator[] (pointer) access. Therefore, the most
efficient method we can recommend for making the assignment is:
Mat& ScanImageAndReduceC(Mat& I, const uchar* const table)
{
// accept only char type matrices
CV_Assert(I.depth() != sizeof(uchar));
int channels = I.channels();
int nRows = I.rows * channels;
int nCols = I.cols;
if (I.isContinuous())
{
nCols *= nRows;
nRows = 1;
}
int i,j;
uchar* p;
for( i = 0; i < nRows; ++i)
{
p = I.ptr<uchar>(i);
for ( j = 0; j < nCols; ++j)
{
p[j] = table[p[j]];
}
}
return I;
}

Here we basically just acquire a pointer to the start of each row and go through it until it ends. In the special case that
the matrix is stored in a continues manner we only need to request the pointer a single time and go all the way to the
end. We need to look out for color images: we have three channels so we need to pass through three times more items
in each row.
Theres another way of this. The data data member of a Mat object returns the pointer to the first row, first column. If
this pointer is null you have no valid input in that object. Checking this is the simplest method to check if your image
loading was a success. In case the storage is continues we can use this to go through the whole data pointer. In case of
a gray scale image this would look like:
uchar* p = I.data;
for( unsigned int i =0; i < ncol*nrows; ++i)
*p++ = table[*p];

You would get the same result. However, this code is a lot harder to read later on. It gets even harder if you have some
more advanced technique there. Moreover, in practice Ive observed youll get the same performance result (as most
of the modern compilers will probably make this small optimization trick automatically for you).

The iterator (safe) method

In case of the efficient way making sure that you pass through the right amount of uchar fields and to skip the gaps that
may occur between the rows was your responsibility. The iterator method is considered a safer way as it takes over

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these tasks from the user. All you need to do is ask the begin and the end of the image matrix and then just increase
the begin iterator until you reach the end. To acquire the value pointed by the iterator use the * operator (add it before
it).
Mat& ScanImageAndReduceIterator(Mat& I, const uchar* const table)
{
// accept only char type matrices
CV_Assert(I.depth() != sizeof(uchar));
const int channels = I.channels();
switch(channels)
{
case 1:
{
MatIterator_<uchar> it, end;
for( it = I.begin<uchar>(), end = I.end<uchar>(); it != end; ++it)
*it = table[*it];
break;
}
case 3:
{
MatIterator_<Vec3b> it, end;
for( it = I.begin<Vec3b>(), end = I.end<Vec3b>(); it != end; ++it)
{
(*it)[0] = table[(*it)[0]];
(*it)[1] = table[(*it)[1]];
(*it)[2] = table[(*it)[2]];
}
}
}
return I;
}

In case of color images we have three uchar items per column. This may be considered a short vector of uchar items,
that has been baptized in OpenCV with the Vec3b name. To access the n-th sub column we use simple operator[]
access. Its important to remember that OpenCV iterators go through the columns and automatically skip to the next
row. Therefore in case of color images if you use a simple uchar iterator youll be able to access only the blue channel
values.

On-the-fly address calculation with reference returning

The final method isnt recommended for scanning. It was made to acquire or modify somehow random elements in
the image. Its basic usage is to specify the row and column number of the item you want to access. During our earlier
scanning methods you could already observe that is important through what type we are looking at the image. Its no
different here as you need manually to specify what type to use at the automatic lookup. You can observe this in case
of the gray scale images for the following source code (the usage of the + at() function):
Mat& ScanImageAndReduceRandomAccess(Mat& I, const uchar* const table)
{
// accept only char type matrices
CV_Assert(I.depth() != sizeof(uchar));
const int channels = I.channels();
switch(channels)
{
case 1:

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{
for( int i = 0; i < I.rows; ++i)
for( int j = 0; j < I.cols; ++j )
I.at<uchar>(i,j) = table[I.at<uchar>(i,j)];
break;
}
case 3:
{
Mat_<Vec3b> _I = I;
for( int i = 0; i < I.rows; ++i)
for( int j = 0; j < I.cols; ++j )
{
_I(i,j)[0] = table[_I(i,j)[0]];
_I(i,j)[1] = table[_I(i,j)[1]];
_I(i,j)[2] = table[_I(i,j)[2]];
}
I = _I;
break;
}
}
return I;
}

The functions takes your input type and coordinates and calculates on the fly the address of the queried item. Then
returns a reference to that. This may be a constant when you get the value and non-constant when you set the value.
As a safety step in debug mode only* there is performed a check that your input coordinates are valid and does exist.
If this isnt the case youll get a nice output message of this on the standard error output stream. Compared to the
efficient way in release mode the only difference in using this is that for every element of the image youll get a new
row pointer for what we use the C operator[] to acquire the column element.
If you need to multiple lookups using this method for an image it may be troublesome and time consuming to enter
the type and the at keyword for each of the accesses. To solve this problem OpenCV has a Mat_ data type. Its the
same as Mat with the extra need that at definition you need to specify the data type through what to look at the data
matrix, however in return you can use the operator() for fast access of items. To make things even better this is easily
convertible from and to the usual Mat data type. A sample usage of this you can see in case of the color images of the
upper function. Nevertheless, its important to note that the same operation (with the same runtime speed) could have
been done with the at() function. Its just a less to write for the lazy programmer trick.

The Core Function

This is a bonus method of achieving lookup table modification in an image. Because in image processing its quite
common that you want to replace all of a given image value to some other value OpenCV has a function that makes
the modification without the need from you to write the scanning of the image. We use the LUT() function of the core
module. First we build a Mat type of the lookup table:
Mat lookUpTable(1, 256, CV_8U);
uchar* p = lookUpTable.data;
for( int i = 0; i < 256; ++i)
p[i] = table[i];

Finally call the function (I is our input image and J the output one):
LUT(I, lookUpTable, J);

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Performance Difference
For the best result compile the program and run it on your own speed. For showing off better the differences Ive used
a quite large (2560 X 1600) image. The performance presented here are for color images. For a more accurate value
Ive averaged the value I got from the call of the function for hundred times.
Efficient Way
Iterator
On-The-Fly RA
LUT function

79.4717 milliseconds
83.7201 milliseconds
93.7878 milliseconds
32.5759 milliseconds

We can conclude a couple of things. If possible, use the already made functions of OpenCV (instead reinventing these).
The fastest method turns out to be the LUT function. This is because the OpenCV library is multi-thread enabled via
Intel Threaded Building Blocks. However, if you need to write a simple image scan prefer the pointer method. The
iterator is a safer bet, however quite slower. Using the on-the-fly reference access method for full image scan is the
most costly in debug mode. In the release mode it may beat the iterator approach or not, however it surely sacrifices
for this the safety trait of iterators.
Finally, you may watch a sample run of the program on the video posted on our YouTube channel.

2.3 Mask operations on matrices

Mask operations on matrices are quite simple. The idea is that we recalculate each pixels value in an image according
to a mask matrix (also known as kernel). This mask holds values that will adjust how much influence neighboring
pixels (and the current pixel) have on the new pixel value. From a mathematical point of view we make a weighted
average, with our specified values.

Our test case

Let us consider the issue of an image contrast enhancement method. Basically we want to apply for every pixel of the
image the following formula:
I(i, j) = 5 I(i, j) [I(i 1, j) + I(i + 1, j) + I(i, j 1) + I(i, j + 1)]
j
i\

+1

I(i, j) M, where M = 0 1
+1

5
1

1
0

The first notation is by using a formula, while the second is a compacted version of the first by using a mask. You
use the mask by putting the center of the mask matrix (in the upper case noted by the zero-zero index) on the pixel
you want to calculate and sum up the pixel values multiplied with the overlapped matrix values. Its the same thing,
however in case of large matrices the latter notation is a lot easier to look over.
Now let us see how we can make this happen by using the basic pixel access method or by using the filter2D function.

The Basic Method

Heres a function that will do this:
void Sharpen(const Mat& myImage,Mat& Result)
{
CV_Assert(myImage.depth() == CV_8U); // accept only uchar images

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Result.create(myImage.size(),myImage.type());
const int nChannels = myImage.channels();
for(int j
{
const
const
const

= 1 ; j < myImage.rows-1; ++j)

uchar* previous = myImage.ptr<uchar>(j - 1);
uchar* current = myImage.ptr<uchar>(j
);
uchar* next
= myImage.ptr<uchar>(j + 1);

uchar* output = Result.ptr<uchar>(j);

for(int i= nChannels;i < nChannels*(myImage.cols-1); ++i)
{
*output++ = saturate_cast<uchar>(5*current[i]
-current[i-nChannels] - current[i+nChannels] - previous[i] - next[i]);
}
}
Result.row(0).setTo(Scalar(0));
Result.row(Result.rows-1).setTo(Scalar(0));
Result.col(0).setTo(Scalar(0));
Result.col(Result.cols-1).setTo(Scalar(0));
}

At first we make sure that the input images data is in unsigned char format. For this we use the CV_Assert function
that throws an error when the expression inside it is false.
CV_Assert(myImage.depth() == CV_8U);

// accept only uchar images

We create an output image with the same size and the same type as our input. As you can see in the How the image
matrix is stored in the memory? section, depending on the number of channels we may have one or more subcolumns.
We will iterate through them via pointers so the total number of elements depends from this number.
Result.create(myImage.size(),myImage.type());
const int nChannels = myImage.channels();

Well use the plain C [] operator to access pixels. Because we need to access multiple rows at the same time well
acquire the pointers for each of them (a previous, a current and a next line). We need another pointer to where were
going to save the calculation. Then simply access the right items with the [] operator. For moving the output pointer
ahead we simply increase this (with one byte) after each operation:
for(int j
{
const
const
const

= 1 ; j < myImage.rows-1; ++j)

uchar* previous = myImage.ptr<uchar>(j - 1);
uchar* current = myImage.ptr<uchar>(j
);
uchar* next
= myImage.ptr<uchar>(j + 1);

uchar* output = Result.ptr<uchar>(j);

for(int i= nChannels;i < nChannels*(myImage.cols-1); ++i)
{
*output++ = saturate_cast<uchar>(5*current[i]
-current[i-nChannels] - current[i+nChannels] - previous[i] - next[i]);
}
}

On the borders of the image the upper notation results inexistent pixel locations (like minus one - minus one). In these
points our formula is undefined. A simple solution is to not apply the mask in these points and, for example, set the

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pixels on the borders to zeros:

Result.row(0).setTo(Scalar(0));
Result.row(Result.rows-1).setTo(Scalar(0));
Result.col(0).setTo(Scalar(0));
Result.col(Result.cols-1).setTo(Scalar(0));

//
//
//
//

The
The
The
The

top row
bottom row
left column
right column

The filter2D function

Applying such filters are so common in image processing that in OpenCV there exist a function that will take care of
applying the mask (also called a kernel in some places). For this you first need to define a Mat object that holds the
mask:
Mat kern = (Mat_<char>(3,3) <<

0, -1, 0,
-1, 5, -1,
0, -1, 0);

Then call the filter2D function specifying the input, the output image and the kernell to use:
filter2D(I, K, I.depth(), kern );

The function even has a fifth optional argument to specify the center of the kernel, and a sixth one for determining what
to do in the regions where the operation is undefined (borders). Using this function has the advantage that its shorter,
less verbose and because there are some optimization techniques implemented it is usually faster than the hand-coded
method. For example in my test while the second one took only 13 milliseconds the first took around 31 milliseconds.
Quite some difference.
For example:

You can download this source code from here or look in the OpenCV source code libraries sample directory at
samples/cpp/tutorial_code/core/mat_mask_operations/mat_mask_operations.cpp.
Check out an instance of running the program on our YouTube channel .

2.4 Adding (blending) two images using OpenCV

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
What is linear blending and why it is useful.
Add two images using addWeighted

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Theory
Note: The explanation below belongs to the book Computer Vision: Algorithms and Applications by Richard Szeliski
From our previous tutorial, we know already a bit of Pixel operators. An interesting dyadic (two-input) operator is the
linear blend operator:
g(x) = (1 )f0 (x) + f1 (x)
By varying from 0 1 this operator can be used to perform a temporal cross-disolve between two images or videos,
as seen in slide shows and film productions (cool, eh?)

Code
As usual, after the not-so-lengthy explanation, lets go to the code:
#include <cv.h>
#include <highgui.h>
#include <iostream>
using namespace cv;
int main( int argc, char** argv )
{
double alpha = 0.5; double beta; double input;
Mat src1, src2, dst;
/// Ask the user enter alpha
std::cout<<" Simple Linear Blender "<<std::endl;
std::cout<<"-----------------------"<<std::endl;
std::cout<<"* Enter alpha [0-1]: ";
std::cin>>input;
/// We use the alpha provided by the user iff it is between 0 and 1
if( alpha >= 0 && alpha <= 1 )
{ alpha = input; }
/// Read image ( same size, same type )
src1 = imread("../../images/LinuxLogo.jpg");
src2 = imread("../../images/WindowsLogo.jpg");
if( !src1.data ) { printf("Error loading src1 \n"); return -1; }
if( !src2.data ) { printf("Error loading src2 \n"); return -1; }
/// Create Windows
namedWindow("Linear Blend", 1);
beta = ( 1.0 - alpha );
addWeighted( src1, alpha, src2, beta, 0.0, dst);
imshow( "Linear Blend", dst );
waitKey(0);
return 0;
}

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Explanation
1. Since we are going to perform:
g(x) = (1 )f0 (x) + f1 (x)
We need two source images (f0 (x) and f1 (x)). So, we load them in the usual way:
src1 = imread("../../images/LinuxLogo.jpg");
src2 = imread("../../images/WindowsLogo.jpg");

Warning: Since we are adding src1 and src2, they both have to be of the same size (width and height) and
type.
2. Now we need to generate the g(x) image. For this, the function addWeighted comes quite handy:
beta = ( 1.0 - alpha );
addWeighted( src1, alpha, src2, beta, 0.0, dst);

since addWeighted produces:

dst = src1 + src2 +
In this case, is the argument 0.0 in the code above.
3. Create windows, show the images and wait for the user to end the program.

Result

2.5 Changing the contrast and brightness of an image!

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Access pixel values
Initialize a matrix with zeros

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Learn what saturate_cast does and why it is useful

Get some cool info about pixel transformations

Theory
Note: The explanation below belongs to the book Computer Vision: Algorithms and Applications by Richard Szeliski

Image Processing
A general image processing operator is a function that takes one or more input images and produces an output
image.
Image transforms can be seen as:
Point operators (pixel transforms)
Neighborhood (area-based) operators
Pixel Transforms

In this kind of image processing transform, each output pixels value depends on only the corresponding input
pixel value (plus, potentially, some globally collected information or parameters).
Examples of such operators include brightness and contrast adjustments as well as color correction and transformations.
Brightness and contrast adjustments
Two commonly used point processes are multiplication and addition with a constant:
g(x) = f(x) +
The parameters > 0 and are often called the gain and bias parameters; sometimes these parameters are said
to control contrast and brightness respectively.
You can think of f(x) as the source image pixels and g(x) as the output image pixels. Then, more conveniently
we can write the expression as:
g(i, j) = f(i, j) +
where i and j indicates that the pixel is located in the i-th row and j-th column.

Code
The following code performs the operation g(i, j) = f(i, j) + :
#include <cv.h>
#include <highgui.h>
#include <iostream>
using namespace cv;

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double alpha; /**< Simple contrast control */

int beta; /**< Simple brightness control */
int main( int argc, char** argv )
{
/// Read image given by user
Mat image = imread( argv[1] );
Mat new_image = Mat::zeros( image.size(), image.type() );
/// Initialize values
std::cout<<" Basic Linear Transforms "<<std::endl;
std::cout<<"-------------------------"<<std::endl;
std::cout<<"* Enter the alpha value [1.0-3.0]: ";std::cin>>alpha;
std::cout<<"* Enter the beta value [0-100]: "; std::cin>>beta;
/// Do the operation new_image(i,j) = alpha*image(i,j) + beta
for( int y = 0; y < image.rows; y++ )
{ for( int x = 0; x < image.cols; x++ )
{ for( int c = 0; c < 3; c++ )
{
new_image.at<Vec3b>(y,x)[c] =
saturate_cast<uchar>( alpha*( image.at<Vec3b>(y,x)[c] ) + beta );
}
}
}
/// Create Windows
namedWindow("Original Image", 1);
namedWindow("New Image", 1);
/// Show stuff
imshow("Original Image", image);
imshow("New Image", new_image);
/// Wait until user press some key
waitKey();
return 0;
}

Explanation
1. We begin by creating parameters to save and to be entered by the user:
double alpha;
int beta;

2. We load an image using imread and save it in a Mat object:

Mat image = imread( argv[1] );

3. Now, since we will make some transformations to this image, we need a new Mat object to store it. Also, we
want this to have the following features:
Initial pixel values equal to zero
Same size and type as the original image

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Mat new_image = Mat::zeros( image.size(), image.type() );

We observe that Mat::zeros returns a Matlab-style zero initializer based on image.size() and image.type()
4. Now, to perform the operation g(i, j) = f(i, j) + we will access to each pixel in image. Since we are
operating with RGB images, we will have three values per pixel (R, G and B), so we will also access them
separately. Here is the piece of code:
for( int y = 0; y < image.rows; y++ )
{ for( int x = 0; x < image.cols; x++ )
{ for( int c = 0; c < 3; c++ )
{ new_image.at<Vec3b>(y,x)[c] =
saturate_cast<uchar>( alpha*( image.at<Vec3b>(y,x)[c] ) + beta ); }
}
}

Notice the following:

To access each pixel in the images we are using this syntax: image.at<Vec3b>(y,x)[c] where y is the row,
x is the column and c is R, G or B (0, 1 or 2).
Since the operation p(i, j) + can give values out of range or not integers (if is float), we use
saturate_cast to make sure the values are valid.
5. Finally, we create windows and show the images, the usual way.
namedWindow("Original Image", 1);
namedWindow("New Image", 1);
imshow("Original Image", image);
imshow("New Image", new_image);
waitKey(0);

Note: Instead of using the for loops to access each pixel, we could have simply used this command:
image.convertTo(new_image, -1, alpha, beta);

where convertTo would effectively perform new_image = a*image + beta. However, we wanted to show you how to
access each pixel. In any case, both methods give the same result.

Result
Running our code and using = 2.2 and = 50
$ ./BasicLinearTransforms lena.jpg
Basic Linear Transforms
------------------------* Enter the alpha value [1.0-3.0]: 2.2
* Enter the beta value [0-100]: 50

We get this:

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2.6 Basic Drawing

Goals
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Use Point to define 2D points in an image.
Use Scalar and why it is useful
Draw a line by using the OpenCV function line
Draw an ellipse by using the OpenCV function ellipse
Draw a rectangle by using the OpenCV function rectangle
Draw a circle by using the OpenCV function circle
Draw a filled polygon by using the OpenCV function fillPoly

OpenCV Theory
For this tutorial, we will heavily use two structures: Point and Scalar:
Point
It represents a 2D point, specified by its image coordinates x and y. We can define it as:
Point pt;
pt.x = 10;
pt.y = 8;

or
Point pt =

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Scalar
Represents a 4-element vector. The type Scalar is widely used in OpenCV for passing pixel values.
In this tutorial, we will use it extensively to represent RGB color values (3 parameters). It is not necessary to
define the last argument if it is not going to be used.
Lets see an example, if we are asked for a color argument and we give:
Scalar( a, b, c )

We would be defining a RGB color such as: Red = c, Green = b and Blue = a

Code
This code is in your OpenCV sample folder. Otherwise you can grab it from here

Explanation
1. Since we plan to draw two examples (an atom and a rook), we have to create 02 images and two windows to
display them.
/// Windows names
char atom_window[] = "Drawing 1: Atom";
char rook_window[] = "Drawing 2: Rook";
/// Create black empty images
Mat atom_image = Mat::zeros( w, w, CV_8UC3 );
Mat rook_image = Mat::zeros( w, w, CV_8UC3 );

2. We created functions to draw different geometric shapes. For instance, to draw the atom we used MyEllipse and
MyFilledCircle:
/// 1. Draw a simple atom:
/// 1.a. Creating ellipses
MyEllipse( atom_image, 90 );
MyEllipse( atom_image, 0 );
MyEllipse( atom_image, 45 );
MyEllipse( atom_image, -45 );
/// 1.b. Creating circles
MyFilledCircle( atom_image, Point( w/2.0, w/2.0) );

3. And to draw the rook we employed MyLine, rectangle and a MyPolygon:

/// 2. Draw a rook
/// 2.a. Create a convex polygon
MyPolygon( rook_image );
/// 2.b. Creating rectangles
rectangle( rook_image,
Point( 0, 7*w/8.0 ),
Point( w, w),
Scalar( 0, 255, 255 ),
-1,

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8 );
/// 2.c. Create a few lines
MyLine( rook_image, Point( 0, 15*w/16 ), Point( w, 15*w/16 ) );
MyLine( rook_image, Point( w/4, 7*w/8 ), Point( w/4, w ) );
MyLine( rook_image, Point( w/2, 7*w/8 ), Point( w/2, w ) );
MyLine( rook_image, Point( 3*w/4, 7*w/8 ), Point( 3*w/4, w ) );

4. Lets check what is inside each of these functions:

MyLine
void MyLine( Mat img, Point start, Point end )
{
int thickness = 2;
int lineType = 8;
line( img,
start,
end,
Scalar( 0, 0, 0 ),
thickness,
lineType );
}

As we can see, MyLine just call the function line, which does the following:
Draw a line from Point start to Point end
The line is displayed in the image img
The line color is defined by Scalar( 0, 0, 0) which is the RGB value correspondent to Black
The line thickness is set to thickness (in this case 2)
The line is a 8-connected one (lineType = 8)
MyEllipse
void MyEllipse( Mat img, double angle )
{
int thickness = 2;
int lineType = 8;
ellipse( img,
Point( w/2.0, w/2.0 ),
Size( w/4.0, w/16.0 ),
angle,
0,
360,
Scalar( 255, 0, 0 ),
thickness,
lineType );
}

From the code above, we can observe that the function ellipse draws an ellipse such that:
The ellipse is displayed in the image img
The ellipse center is located in the point (w/2.0, w/2.0) and is enclosed in a box of size (w/4.0, w/16.0)
The ellipse is rotated angle degrees
The ellipse extends an arc between 0 and 360 degrees
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The color of the figure will be Scalar( 255, 255, 0) which means blue in RGB value.
The ellipses thickness is 2.
MyFilledCircle
void MyFilledCircle( Mat img, Point center )
{
int thickness = -1;
int lineType = 8;
circle( img,
center,
w/32.0,
Scalar( 0, 0, 255 ),
thickness,
lineType );
}

Similar to the ellipse function, we can observe that circle receives as arguments:
The image where the circle will be displayed (img)
The center of the circle denoted as the Point center
The radius of the circle: w/32.0
The color of the circle: Scalar(0, 0, 255) which means Red in BGR
Since thickness = -1, the circle will be drawn filled.
MyPolygon
void MyPolygon( Mat img )
{
int lineType = 8;
/** Create some points */
Point rook_points[1][20];
rook_points[0][0] = Point( w/4.0, 7*w/8.0 );
rook_points[0][1] = Point( 3*w/4.0, 7*w/8.0 );
rook_points[0][2] = Point( 3*w/4.0, 13*w/16.0 );
rook_points[0][3] = Point( 11*w/16.0, 13*w/16.0 );
rook_points[0][4] = Point( 19*w/32.0, 3*w/8.0 );
rook_points[0][5] = Point( 3*w/4.0, 3*w/8.0 );
rook_points[0][6] = Point( 3*w/4.0, w/8.0 );
rook_points[0][7] = Point( 26*w/40.0, w/8.0 );
rook_points[0][8] = Point( 26*w/40.0, w/4.0 );
rook_points[0][9] = Point( 22*w/40.0, w/4.0 );
rook_points[0][10] = Point( 22*w/40.0, w/8.0 );
rook_points[0][11] = Point( 18*w/40.0, w/8.0 );
rook_points[0][12] = Point( 18*w/40.0, w/4.0 );
rook_points[0][13] = Point( 14*w/40.0, w/4.0 );
rook_points[0][14] = Point( 14*w/40.0, w/8.0 );
rook_points[0][15] = Point( w/4.0, w/8.0 );
rook_points[0][16] = Point( w/4.0, 3*w/8.0 );
rook_points[0][17] = Point( 13*w/32.0, 3*w/8.0 );
rook_points[0][18] = Point( 5*w/16.0, 13*w/16.0 );
rook_points[0][19] = Point( w/4.0, 13*w/16.0) ;
const Point* ppt[1] = { rook_points[0] };
int npt[] = { 20 };

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fillPoly( img,
ppt,
npt,
1,
Scalar( 255, 255, 255 ),
lineType );
}

To draw a filled polygon we use the function fillPoly. We note that:

The polygon will be drawn on img
The vertices of the polygon are the set of points in ppt
The total number of vertices to be drawn are npt
The number of polygons to be drawn is only 1
The color of the polygon is defined by Scalar( 255, 255, 255), which is the BGR value for white
rectangle
rectangle( rook_image,
Point( 0, 7*w/8.0 ),
Point( w, w),
Scalar( 0, 255, 255 ),
-1,
8 );

Finally we have the rectangle function (we did not create a special function for this guy). We note that:
The rectangle will be drawn on rook_image
Two opposite vertices of the rectangle are defined by ** Point( 0, 7*w/8.0 )** and Point( w, w)
The color of the rectangle is given by Scalar(0, 255, 255) which is the BGR value for yellow
Since the thickness value is given by -1, the rectangle will be filled.

Result
Compiling and running your program should give you a result like this:

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2.7 Random generator and text with OpenCV

Goals
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Use the Random Number generator class (RNG) and how to get a random number from a uniform distribution.
Display text on an OpenCV window by using the function putText

Code
In the previous tutorial (Basic Drawing) we drew diverse geometric figures, giving as input parameters such as
coordinates (in the form of Points), color, thickness, etc. You might have noticed that we gave specific values
for these arguments.
In this tutorial, we intend to use random values for the drawing parameters. Also, we intend to populate our
image with a big number of geometric figures. Since we will be initializing them in a random fashion, this
process will be automatic and made by using loops .
This code is in your OpenCV sample folder. Otherwise you can grab it from here .

Explanation
1. Lets start by checking out the main function. We observe that first thing we do is creating a Random Number
Generator object (RNG):
RNG rng( 0xFFFFFFFF );

RNG implements a random number generator. In this example, rng is a RNG element initialized with the value
0xFFFFFFFF
2. Then we create a matrix initialized to zeros (which means that it will appear as black), specifying its height,
width and its type:

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/// Initialize a matrix filled with zeros

Mat image = Mat::zeros( window_height, window_width, CV_8UC3 );
/// Show it in a window during DELAY ms
imshow( window_name, image );

3. Then we proceed to draw crazy stuff. After taking a look at the code, you can see that it is mainly divided in 8
sections, defined as functions:
/// Now, lets draw some lines
c = Drawing_Random_Lines(image, window_name, rng);
if( c != 0 ) return 0;
/// Go on drawing, this time nice rectangles
c = Drawing_Random_Rectangles(image, window_name, rng);
if( c != 0 ) return 0;
/// Draw some ellipses
c = Drawing_Random_Ellipses( image, window_name, rng );
if( c != 0 ) return 0;
/// Now some polylines
c = Drawing_Random_Polylines( image, window_name, rng );
if( c != 0 ) return 0;
/// Draw filled polygons
c = Drawing_Random_Filled_Polygons( image, window_name, rng );
if( c != 0 ) return 0;
/// Draw circles
c = Drawing_Random_Circles( image, window_name, rng );
if( c != 0 ) return 0;
/// Display text in random positions
c = Displaying_Random_Text( image, window_name, rng );
if( c != 0 ) return 0;
/// Displaying the big end!
c = Displaying_Big_End( image, window_name, rng );

All of these functions follow the same pattern, so we will analyze only a couple of them, since the same explanation applies for all.
4. Checking out the function Drawing_Random_Lines:
int Drawing_Random_Lines( Mat image, char* window_name, RNG rng )
{
int lineType = 8;
Point pt1, pt2;
for( int
{
pt1.x =
pt1.y =
pt2.x =
pt2.y =

i = 0; i < NUMBER; i++ )

rng.uniform(
rng.uniform(
rng.uniform(
rng.uniform(

x_1,
y_1,
x_1,
y_1,

x_2
y_2
x_2
y_2

);
);
);
);

line( image, pt1, pt2, randomColor(rng), rng.uniform(1, 10), 8 );

imshow( window_name, image );

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if( waitKey( DELAY ) >= 0 )

{ return -1; }
}
return 0;
}

We can observe the following:

The for loop will repeat NUMBER times. Since the function line is inside this loop, that means that
NUMBER lines will be generated.
The line extremes are given by pt1 and pt2. For pt1 we can see that:
pt1.x = rng.uniform( x_1, x_2 );
pt1.y = rng.uniform( y_1, y_2 );

We know that rng is a Random number generator object. In the code above we are calling
rng.uniform(a,b). This generates a radombly uniformed distribution between the values a and b
(inclusive in a, exclusive in b).
From the explanation above, we deduce that the extremes pt1 and pt2 will be random values, so the
lines positions will be quite impredictable, giving a nice visual effect (check out the Result section
below).
As another observation, we notice that in the line arguments, for the color input we enter:
randomColor(rng)

Lets check the function implementation:

static Scalar randomColor( RNG& rng )
{
int icolor = (unsigned) rng;
return Scalar( icolor&255, (icolor>>8)&255, (icolor>>16)&255 );
}

As we can see, the return value is an Scalar with 3 randomly initialized values, which are used as the
R, G and B parameters for the line color. Hence, the color of the lines will be random too!
5. The explanation above applies for the other functions generating circles, ellipses, polygones, etc. The parameters
such as center and vertices are also generated randomly.
6. Before finishing, we also should take a look at the functions Display_Random_Text and Displaying_Big_End,
since they both have a few interesting features:
7. Display_Random_Text:
int Displaying_Random_Text( Mat image, char* window_name, RNG rng )
{
int lineType = 8;
for ( int i = 1; i < NUMBER; i++ )
{
Point org;
org.x = rng.uniform(x_1, x_2);
org.y = rng.uniform(y_1, y_2);
putText( image, "Testing text rendering", org, rng.uniform(0,8),
rng.uniform(0,100)*0.05+0.1, randomColor(rng), rng.uniform(1, 10), lineType);

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imshow( window_name, image );

if( waitKey(DELAY) >= 0 )
{ return -1; }
}
return 0;
}

Everything looks familiar but the expression:

putText( image, "Testing text rendering", org, rng.uniform(0,8),
rng.uniform(0,100)*0.05+0.1, randomColor(rng), rng.uniform(1, 10), lineType);

So, what does the function putText do? In our example:

Draws the text Testing text rendering in image
The bottom-left corner of the text will be located in the Point org
The font type is a random integer value in the range: [0, 8 >.
The scale of the font is denoted by the expression rng.uniform(0, 100)x0.05 + 0.1 (meaning its range is:
[0.1, 5.1 >)
The text color is random (denoted by randomColor(rng))
The text thickness ranges between 1 and 10, as specified by rng.uniform(1,10)
As a result, we will get (analagously to the other drawing functions) NUMBER texts over our image, in random
locations.
8. Displaying_Big_End
int Displaying_Big_End( Mat image, char* window_name, RNG rng )
{
Size textsize = getTextSize("OpenCV forever!", CV_FONT_HERSHEY_COMPLEX, 3, 5, 0);
Point org((window_width - textsize.width)/2, (window_height - textsize.height)/2);
int lineType = 8;
Mat image2;
for( int i = 0; i < 255; i += 2 )
{
image2 = image - Scalar::all(i);
putText( image2, "OpenCV forever!", org, CV_FONT_HERSHEY_COMPLEX, 3,
Scalar(i, i, 255), 5, lineType );
imshow( window_name, image2 );
if( waitKey(DELAY) >= 0 )
{ return -1; }
}
return 0;
}

Besides the function getTextSize (which gets the size of the argument text), the new operation we can observe
is inside the foor loop:
image2 = image - Scalar::all(i)

So, image2 is the substraction of image and Scalar::all(i). In fact, what happens here is that every pixel of
image2 will be the result of substracting every pixel of image minus the value of i (remember that for each pixel
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we are considering three values such as R, G and B, so each of them will be affected)
Also remember that the substraction operation always performs internally a saturate operation, which
means that the result obtained will always be inside the allowed range (no negative and between 0 and
255 for our example).

Result
As you just saw in the Code section, the program will sequentially execute diverse drawing functions, which will
produce:
1. First a random set of NUMBER lines will appear on screen such as it can be seen in this screenshot:

2. Then, a new set of figures, these time rectangles will follow.

3. Now some ellipses will appear, each of them with random position, size, thickness and arc length:

4. Now, polylines with 03 segments will appear on screen, again in random configurations.

5. Filled polygons (in this example triangles) will follow.

6. The last geometric figure to appear: circles!

7. Near the end, the text Testing Text Rendering will appear in a variety of fonts, sizes, colors and positions.
8. And the big end (which by the way expresses a big truth too):

2.8 Discrete Fourier Transform

Goal
Well seek answers for the following questions:
What is a Fourier transform and why use it?

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How to do it in OpenCV?
Usage of functions such as: copyMakeBorder(), merge(), dft(), getOptimalDFTSize(), log() and normalize() .

Source code

You can download this from here or find it in the samples/cpp/tutorial_code/core/discrete_fourier_transform/discret

of the OpenCV source code library.
Heres a sample usage of dft() :
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#include "opencv2/core/core.hpp"
#include "opencv2/imgproc/imgproc.hpp"
#include "opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp"
#include <iostream>
int main(int argc, char ** argv)
{
const char* filename = argc >=2 ? argv[1] : "lena.jpg";

Mat I = imread(filename, CV_LOAD_IMAGE_GRAYSCALE);

if( I.empty())
return -1;

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Mat padded;
//expand input image to optimal size
int m = getOptimalDFTSize( I.rows );
int n = getOptimalDFTSize( I.cols ); // on the border add zero values
copyMakeBorder(I, padded, 0, m - I.rows, 0, n - I.cols, BORDER_CONSTANT, Scalar::all(0));

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Mat planes[] = {Mat_<float>(padded), Mat::zeros(padded.size(), CV_32F)};

Mat complexI;
merge(planes, 2, complexI);
// Add to the expanded another plane with zeros

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dft(complexI, complexI);

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// this way the result may fit in the source matrix

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// compute the magnitude and switch to logarithmic scale

// => log(1 + sqrt(Re(DFT(I))^2 + Im(DFT(I))^2))
split(complexI, planes);
// planes[0] = Re(DFT(I), planes[1] = Im(DFT(I))
magnitude(planes[0], planes[1], planes[0]);// planes[0] = magnitude
Mat magI = planes[0];

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magI += Scalar::all(1);
log(magI, magI);

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// switch to logarithmic scale

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// crop the spectrum, if it has an odd number of rows or columns

magI = magI(Rect(0, 0, magI.cols & -2, magI.rows & -2));

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// rearrange the quadrants of Fourier image

int cx = magI.cols/2;
int cy = magI.rows/2;

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so that the origin is at the image center

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Mat
Mat
Mat
Mat

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q0(magI,
q1(magI,
q2(magI,
q3(magI,

Rect(0, 0, cx, cy));

Rect(cx, 0, cx, cy));
Rect(0, cy, cx, cy));
Rect(cx, cy, cx, cy));

//
//
//
//

Top-Left - Create a ROI per quadrant

Top-Right
Bottom-Left
Bottom-Right

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Mat tmp;
q0.copyTo(tmp);
q3.copyTo(q0);

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tmp.copyTo(q3);

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q1.copyTo(tmp);
q2.copyTo(q1);
tmp.copyTo(q2);

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// swap quadrant (Top-Right with Bottom-Left)

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normalize(magI, magI, 0, 1, CV_MINMAX); // Transform the matrix with float values into a
// viewable image form (float between values 0 and 1).

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imshow("Input Image"
, I
);
imshow("spectrum magnitude", magI);
waitKey();

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// Show the result

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return 0;

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Explanation
The Fourier Transform will decompose an image into its sinus and cosines components. In other words, it will transform an image from its spatial domain to its frequency domain. The idea is that any function may be approximated
exactly with the sum of infinite sinus and cosines functions. The Fourier Transform is a way how to do this. Mathematically a two dimensional images Fourier transform is:
F(k, l) =

N1
X N1
X

ki

lj

f(i, j)ei2( N + N )

i=0 j=0

eix = cos x + i sin x

Here f is the image value in its spatial domain and F in its frequency domain. The result of the transformation is
complex numbers. Displaying this is possible either via a real image and a complex image or via a magnitude and a
phase image. However, throughout the image processing algorithms only the magnitude image is interesting as this
contains all the information we need about the images geometric structure. Nevertheless, if you intend to make some
modifications of the image in these forms and then you need to retransform it youll need to preserve both of these.
In this sample Ill show how to calculate and show the magnitude image of a Fourier Transform. In case of digital
images are discrete. This means they may take up a value from a given domain value. For example in a basic gray
scale image values usually are between zero and 255. Therefore the Fourier Transform too needs to be of a discrete
type resulting in a Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT). Youll want to use this whenever you need to determine the
structure of an image from a geometrical point of view. Here are the steps to follow (in case of a gray scale input
image I):
1. Expand the image to an optimal size. The performance of a DFT is dependent of the image size. It tends to be
the fastest for image sizes that are multiple of the numbers two, three and five. Therefore, to achieve maximal
performance it is generally a good idea to pad border values to the image to get a size with such traits. The
getOptimalDFTSize() returns this optimal size and we can use the copyMakeBorder() function to expand the
borders of an image:
Mat padded;
//expand input image to optimal size
int m = getOptimalDFTSize( I.rows );
int n = getOptimalDFTSize( I.cols ); // on the border add zero pixels
copyMakeBorder(I, padded, 0, m - I.rows, 0, n - I.cols, BORDER_CONSTANT, Scalar::all(0));

The appended pixels are initialized with zero.

2. Make place for both the complex and the real values. The result of a Fourier Transform is complex. This
implies that for each image value the result is two image values (one per component). Moreover, the frequency

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domains range is much larger than its spatial counterpart. Therefore, we store these usually at least in a float
format. Therefore well convert our input image to this type and expand it with another channel to hold the
complex values:
Mat planes[] = {Mat_<float>(padded), Mat::zeros(padded.size(), CV_32F)};
Mat complexI;
merge(planes, 2, complexI);
// Add to the expanded another plane with zeros

3. Make the Discrete Fourier Transform. Its possible an in-place calculation (same input as output):
dft(complexI, complexI);

// this way the result may fit in the source matrix

4. Transform the real and complex values to magnitude. A complex number has a real (Re) and a complex
(imaginary - Im) part. The results of a DFT are complex numbers. The magnitude of a DFT is:
q
2
2
2
M = Re(DFT (I)) + Im(DFT (I))
Translated to OpenCV code:
split(complexI, planes);
// planes[0] = Re(DFT(I), planes[1] = Im(DFT(I))
magnitude(planes[0], planes[1], planes[0]);// planes[0] = magnitude
Mat magI = planes[0];

5. Switch to a logarithmic scale. It turns out that the dynamic range of the Fourier coefficients is too large to be
displayed on the screen. We have some small and some high changing values that we cant observe like this.
Therefore the high values will all turn out as white points, while the small ones as black. To use the gray scale
values to for visualization we can transform our linear scale to a logarithmic one:
M1 = log (1 + M)
Translated to OpenCV code:
magI += Scalar::all(1);
log(magI, magI);

// switch to logarithmic scale

6. Crop and rearrange. Remember, that at the first step, we expanded the image? Well, its time to throw away
the newly introduced values. For visualization purposes we may also rearrange the quadrants of the result, so
that the origin (zero, zero) corresponds with the image center.
magI = magI(Rect(0, 0, magI.cols & -2, magI.rows & -2));
int cx = magI.cols/2;
int cy = magI.rows/2;
Mat
Mat
Mat
Mat

q0(magI,
q1(magI,
q2(magI,
q3(magI,

Rect(0, 0, cx, cy));

Rect(cx, 0, cx, cy));
Rect(0, cy, cx, cy));
Rect(cx, cy, cx, cy));

//
//
//
//

Top-Left - Create a ROI per quadrant

Top-Right
Bottom-Left
Bottom-Right

Mat tmp;
q0.copyTo(tmp);
q3.copyTo(q0);
tmp.copyTo(q3);

// swap quadrants (Top-Left with Bottom-Right)

q1.copyTo(tmp);
q2.copyTo(q1);
tmp.copyTo(q2);

// swap quadrant (Top-Right with Bottom-Left)

7. Normalize. This is done again for visualization purposes. We now have the magnitudes, however this are still
out of our image display range of zero to one. We normalize our values to this range using the normalize()
function.
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normalize(magI, magI, 0, 1, CV_MINMAX); // Transform the matrix with float values into a
// viewable image form (float between values 0 and 1).

Result
An application idea would be to determine the geometrical orientation present in the image. For example, let us find
out if a text is horizontal or not? Looking at some text youll notice that the text lines sort of form also horizontal lines
and the letters form sort of vertical lines. These two main components of a text snippet may be also seen in case of the
Fourier transform. Let us use this horizontal and this rotated image about a text.
In case of the horizontal text:

In case of a rotated text:

You can see that the most influential components of the frequency domain (brightest dots on the magnitude image)
follow the geometric rotation of objects on the image. From this we may calculate the offset and perform an image
rotation to correct eventual miss alignments.

2.9 File Input and Output using XML and YAML files
Goal
Youll find answers for the following questions:
How to print and read text entries to a file and OpenCV using YAML or XML files?
How to do the same for OpenCV data structures?
How to do this for your data structures?
Usage of OpenCV data structures such as FileStorage, FileNode or FileNodeIterator.

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Source code

You can download this from here or find it in the samples/cpp/tutorial_code/core/file_input_output/file_input_outpu

of the OpenCV source code library.
Heres a sample code of how to achieve all the stuff enumerated at the goal list.
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#include <opencv2/core/core.hpp>
#include <iostream>
#include <string>

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using namespace cv;

using namespace std;

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class MyData
{
public:
MyData() : A(0), X(0), id()
{}
explicit MyData(int) : A(97), X(CV_PI), id("mydata1234") // explicit to avoid implicit conversion
{}
void write(FileStorage& fs) const
//Write serialization for this class
{
fs << "{" << "A" << A << "X" << X << "id" << id << "}";
}
void read(const FileNode& node)
//Read serialization for this class
{
A = (int)node["A"];
X = (double)node["X"];
id = (string)node["id"];
}
public:
// Data Members
int A;
double X;
string id;
};

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//These write and read functions must be defined for the serialization in FileStorage to work
void write(FileStorage& fs, const std::string&, const MyData& x)
{
x.write(fs);
}
void read(const FileNode& node, MyData& x, const MyData& default_value = MyData()){
if(node.empty())
x = default_value;
else
x.read(node);
}

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// This function will print our custom class to the console

ostream& operator<<(ostream& out, const MyData& m)
{
out << "{ id = " << m.id << ", ";
out << "X = " << m.X << ", ";
out << "A = " << m.A << "}";
return out;
}

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int main(int ac, char** av)

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{
if (ac != 2)
{
help(av);
return 1;
}

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string filename = av[1];

{ //write
Mat R = Mat_<uchar>::eye(3, 3),
T = Mat_<double>::zeros(3, 1);
MyData m(1);

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FileStorage fs(filename, FileStorage::WRITE);

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fs
fs
fs
fs

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<<
<<
<<
<<

"iterationNr" << 100;

"strings" << "[";
// text - string sequence
"image1.jpg" << "Awesomeness" << "baboon.jpg";
"]";
// close sequence

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fs << "Mapping";
fs << "{" << "One" << 1;
fs <<
"Two" << 2 << "}";

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// text - mapping

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fs << "R" << R;

fs << "T" << T;

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// cv::Mat

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fs << "MyData" << m;

// your own data structures

fs.release();
cout << "Write Done." << endl;

// explicit close

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{//read
cout << endl << "Reading: " << endl;
FileStorage fs;
fs.open(filename, FileStorage::READ);

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int itNr;
//fs["iterationNr"] >> itNr;
itNr = (int) fs["iterationNr"];
cout << itNr;
if (!fs.isOpened())
{
cerr << "Failed to open " << filename << endl;
help(av);
return 1;
}

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FileNode n = fs["strings"];
// Read string sequence - Get node
if (n.type() != FileNode::SEQ)
{
cerr << "strings is not a sequence! FAIL" << endl;
return 1;
}

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FileNodeIterator it = n.begin(), it_end = n.end(); // Go through the node

for (; it != it_end; ++it)

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cout << (string)*it << endl;

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n = fs["Mapping"];
// Read mappings from a sequence
cout << "Two " << (int)(n["Two"]) << "; ";
cout << "One " << (int)(n["One"]) << endl << endl;

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MyData m;
Mat R, T;

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fs["R"] >> R;
fs["T"] >> T;
fs["MyData"] >> m;

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// Read cv::Mat
// Read your own structure_

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cout << endl

<< "R = " << R << endl;
cout << "T = " << T << endl << endl;
cout << "MyData = " << endl << m << endl << endl;

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//Show default behavior for non existing nodes

cout << "Attempt to read NonExisting (should initialize the data structure with its default).";
fs["NonExisting"] >> m;
cout << endl << "NonExisting = " << endl << m << endl;

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cout << endl

<< "Tip: Open up " << filename << " with a text editor to see the serialized data." << endl;

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return 0;

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Explanation
Here we talk only about XML and YAML file inputs. Your output (and its respective input) file may have only one of
these extensions and the structure coming from this. They are two kinds of data structures you may serialize: mappings
(like the STL map) and element sequence (like the STL vector>. The difference between these is that in a map every
element has a unique name through what you may access it. For sequences you need to go through them to query a
specific item.
1. XML\YAML File Open and Close. Before you write any content to such file you need to open it and at the
end to close it. The XMLYAML data structure in OpenCV is FileStorage. To specify that this structure to which
file binds on your hard drive you can use either its constructor or the open() function of this:
string filename = "I.xml";
FileStorage fs(filename, FileStorage::WRITE);
\\...
fs.open(filename, FileStorage::READ);

Either one of this you use the second argument is a constant specifying the type of operations youll be able to
on them: WRITE, READ or APPEND. The extension specified in the file name also determinates the output
format that will be used. The output may be even compressed if you specify an extension such as .xml.gz.
The file automatically closes when the FileStorage objects is destroyed. However, you may explicitly call for
this by using the release function:

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fs.release();

// explicit close

2. Input and Output of text and numbers. The data structure uses the same << output operator that the STL
library. For outputting any type of data structure we need first to specify its name. We do this by just simply
printing out the name of this. For basic types you may follow this with the print of the value :
fs << "iterationNr" << 100;

Reading in is a simple addressing (via the [] operator) and casting operation or a read via the >> operator :
int itNr;
fs["iterationNr"] >> itNr;
itNr = (int) fs["iterationNr"];

3. Input\Output of OpenCV Data structures. Well these behave exactly just as the basic C++ types:
Mat R = Mat_<uchar >::eye (3, 3),
T = Mat_<double>::zeros(3, 1);
fs << "R" << R;
fs << "T" << T;

// Write cv::Mat

fs["R"] >> R;
fs["T"] >> T;

// Read cv::Mat

4. Input\Output of vectors (arrays) and associative maps. As I mentioned beforehand we can output maps and
sequences (array, vector) too. Again we first print the name of the variable and then we have to specify if our
output is either a sequence or map.
For sequence before the first element print the [ character and after the last one the ] character:
fs << "strings" << "[";
// text - string sequence
fs << "image1.jpg" << "Awesomeness" << "baboon.jpg";
fs << "]";
// close sequence

For maps the drill is the same however now we use the { and } delimiter characters:
fs << "Mapping";
fs << "{" << "One" << 1;
fs <<
"Two" << 2 << "}";

// text - mapping

To read from these we use the FileNode and the FileNodeIterator data structures. The [] operator of the FileStorage class returns a FileNode data type. If the node is sequential we can use the FileNodeIterator to iterate through
the items:
FileNode n = fs["strings"];
// Read string sequence - Get node
if (n.type() != FileNode::SEQ)
{
cerr << "strings is not a sequence! FAIL" << endl;
return 1;
}
FileNodeIterator it = n.begin(), it_end = n.end(); // Go through the node
for (; it != it_end; ++it)
cout << (string)*it << endl;

For maps you can use the [] operator again to acces the given item (or the >> operator too):

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n = fs["Mapping"];
// Read mappings from a sequence
cout << "Two " << (int)(n["Two"]) << "; ";
cout << "One " << (int)(n["One"]) << endl << endl;

5. Read and write your own data structures. Suppose you have a data structure such as:
class MyData
{
public:
MyData() : A(0), X(0), id() {}
public:
// Data Members
int A;
double X;
string id;
};

Its possible to serialize this through the OpenCV I/O XML/YAML interface (just as in case of the OpenCV data
structures) by adding a read and a write function inside and outside of your class. For the inside part:
void write(FileStorage& fs) const
//Write serialization for this class
{
fs << "{" << "A" << A << "X" << X << "id" << id << "}";
}
void read(const FileNode& node)
{
A = (int)node["A"];
X = (double)node["X"];
id = (string)node["id"];
}

//Read serialization for this class

Then you need to add the following functions definitions outside the class:
void write(FileStorage& fs, const std::string&, const MyData& x)
{
x.write(fs);
}
void read(const FileNode& node, MyData& x, const MyData& default_value = MyData())
{
if(node.empty())
x = default_value;
else
x.read(node);
}

Here you can observe that in the read section we defined what happens if the user tries to read a non-existing
node. In this case we just return the default initialization value, however a more verbose solution would be to
return for instance a minus one value for an object ID.
Once you added these four functions use the >> operator for write and the << operator for read:
MyData m(1);
fs << "MyData" << m;
fs["MyData"] >> m;

// your own data structures

// Read your own structure_

Or to try out reading a non-existing read:

fs["NonExisting"] >> m;
// Do not add a fs << "NonExisting" << m command for this to work
cout << endl << "NonExisting = " << endl << m << endl;

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Result
Well mostly we just print out the defined numbers. On the screen of your console you could see:
Write Done.
Reading:
100image1.jpg
Awesomeness
baboon.jpg
Two 2; One 1

R = [1,
0, 1,
0, 0,
T = [0;

0, 0;
0;
1]
0; 0]

MyData =
{ id = mydata1234, X = 3.14159, A = 97}
Attempt to read NonExisting (should initialize the data structure with its default).
NonExisting =
{ id = , X = 0, A = 0}
Tip: Open up output.xml with a text editor to see the serialized data.

Nevertheless, its much more interesting what you may see in the output xml file:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<opencv_storage>
<iterationNr>100</iterationNr>
<strings>
image1.jpg Awesomeness baboon.jpg</strings>
<Mapping>
<One>1</One>
<Two>2</Two></Mapping>
<R type_id="opencv-matrix">
<rows>3</rows>
<cols>3</cols>
<dt>u</dt>
<data>
1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1</data></R>
<T type_id="opencv-matrix">
<rows>3</rows>
<cols>1</cols>
<dt>d</dt>
<data>
0. 0. 0.</data></T>
<MyData>
<A>97</A>
<X>3.1415926535897931e+000</X>
<id>mydata1234</id></MyData>
</opencv_storage>

Or the YAML file:

%YAML:1.0
iterationNr: 100

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strings:
- "image1.jpg"
- Awesomeness
- "baboon.jpg"
Mapping:
One: 1
Two: 2
R: !!opencv-matrix
rows: 3
cols: 3
dt: u
data: [ 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1 ]
T: !!opencv-matrix
rows: 3
cols: 1
dt: d
data: [ 0., 0., 0. ]
MyData:
A: 97
X: 3.1415926535897931e+000
id: mydata1234

You may observe a runtime instance of this on the YouTube here .

2.10 Interoperability with OpenCV 1

Goal
For the OpenCV developer team its important to constantly improve the library. We are constantly thinking about
methods that will ease your work process, while still maintain the libraries flexibility. The new C++ interface is a
development of us that serves this goal. Nevertheless, backward compatibility remains important. We do not want
to break your code written for earlier version of the OpenCV library. Therefore, we made sure that we add some
functions that deal with this. In the following youll learn:
What changed with the version 2 of OpenCV in the way you use the library compared to its first version
How to add some Gaussian noise to an image
What are lookup tables and why use them?

General
When making the switch you first need to learn some about the new data structure for images: Mat - The Basic Image
Container, this replaces the old CvMat and IplImage ones. Switching to the new functions is easier. You just need to
remember a couple of new things.
OpenCV 2 received reorganization. No longer are all the functions crammed into a single library. We have many
modules, each of them containing data structures and functions relevant to certain tasks. This way you do not need to
ship a large library if you use just a subset of OpenCV. This means that you should also include only those headers
you will use. For example:
#include <opencv2/core/core.hpp>
#include <opencv2/imgproc/imgproc.hpp>
#include <opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp>

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All the OpenCV related stuff is put into the cv namespace to avoid name conflicts with other libraries data structures
and functions. Therefore, either you need to prepend the cv:: keyword before everything that comes from OpenCV or
after the includes, you just add a directive to use this:
using namespace cv;

// The new C++ interface API is inside this namespace. Import it.

Because the functions are already in a namespace there is no need for them to contain the cv prefix in their name.
As such all the new C++ compatible functions dont have this and they follow the camel case naming rule. This
means the first letter is small (unless its a name, like Canny) and the subsequent words start with a capital letter (like
copyMakeBorder).
Now, remember that you need to link to your application all the modules you use, and in case you are on Windows
using the DLL system you will need to add, again, to the path all the binaries. For more in-depth information if youre
on Windows read How to build applications with OpenCV inside the Microsoft Visual Studio and for Linux an example
usage is explained in Using OpenCV with Eclipse (plugin CDT).
Now for converting the Mat object you can use either the IplImage or the CvMat operators. While in the C interface
you used to work with pointers here its no longer the case. In the C++ interface we have mostly Mat objects. These
objects may be freely converted to both IplImage and CvMat with simple assignment. For example:
Mat I;
IplImage pI = I;
CvMat
mI = I;

Now if you want pointers the conversion gets just a little more complicated. The compilers can no longer automatically
determinate what you want and as you need to explicitly specify your goal. This is to call the IplImage and CvMat
operators and then get their pointers. For getting the pointer we use the & sign:
Mat I;
IplImage* pI
CvMat* mI

= &I.operator IplImage();
= &I.operator CvMat();

One of the biggest complaints of the C interface is that it leaves all the memory management to you. You need to figure
out when it is safe to release your unused objects and make sure you do so before the program finishes or you could
have troublesome memory leeks. To work around this issue in OpenCV there is introduced a sort of smart pointer.
This will automatically release the object when its no longer in use. To use this declare the pointers as a specialization
of the Ptr :
Ptr<IplImage> piI = &I.operator IplImage();

Converting from the C data structures to the Mat is done by passing these inside its constructor. For example:
Mat K(piL), L;
L = Mat(pI);

A case study
Now that you have the basics done heres an example that mixes the usage of the C interface with
the C++ one. You will also find it in the sample directory of the OpenCV source code library at the
samples/cpp/tutorial_code/core/interoperability_with_OpenCV_1/interoperability_with_OpenCV_1.cpp

. To further help on seeing the difference the programs supports two modes: one mixed C and C++ and one pure C++.
If you define the DEMO_MIXED_API_USE youll end up using the first. The program separates the color planes,
does some modifications on them and in the end merge them back together.
1
2

#include <stdio.h>
#include <iostream>

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5
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#include <opencv2/core/core.hpp>
#include <opencv2/imgproc/imgproc.hpp>
#include <opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp>

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using namespace cv; // The new C++ interface API is inside this namespace. Import it.
using namespace std;
#define DEMO_MIXED_API_USE

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int main( int argc, char** argv )

{
const char* imagename = argc > 1 ? argv[1] : "lena.jpg";

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#ifdef DEMO_MIXED_API_USE
Ptr<IplImage> IplI = cvLoadImage(imagename);
// Ptr<T> is safe ref-counting pointer class
if(IplI.empty())
{
cerr << "Can not load image " << imagename << endl;
return -1;
}
Mat I(IplI); // Convert to the new style container. Only header created. Image not copied.
#else
Mat I = imread(imagename);
// the newer cvLoadImage alternative, MATLAB-style function
if( I.empty() )
// same as if( !I.data )
{
cerr << "Can not load image " << imagename << endl;
return -1;
}
#endif

Here you can observe that with the new structure we have no pointer problems, although it is possible to use the old
functions and in the end just transform the result to a Mat object.
// convert image to YUV color space. The output image will be created automatically.
Mat I_YUV;
cvtColor(I, I_YUV, CV_BGR2YCrCb);

1
2
3
4

vector<Mat> planes;
split(I_YUV, planes);

5
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// Use the STLs vector structure to store multiple Mat objects

// split the image into separate color planes (Y U V)

Because, we want to mess around with the images luma component we first convert from the default RGB to the YUV
color space and then split the result up into separate planes. Here the program splits: in the first example it processes
each plane using one of the three major image scanning algorithms in OpenCV (C [] operator, iterator, individual
element access). In a second variant we add to the image some Gaussian noise and then mix together the channels
according to some formula.
The scanning version looks like:
// Method 1. process Y plane using an iterator
MatIterator_<uchar> it = planes[0].begin<uchar>(), it_end = planes[0].end<uchar>();
for(; it != it_end; ++it)
{
double v = *it * 1.7 + rand()%21 - 10;
*it = saturate_cast<uchar>(v*v/255);
}

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3
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for( int y = 0; y < I_YUV.rows; y++ )

{
// Method 2. process the first chroma plane using pre-stored row pointer.
uchar* Uptr = planes[1].ptr<uchar>(y);

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for( int x = 0; x < I_YUV.cols; x++ )

{
Uptr[x] = saturate_cast<uchar>((Uptr[x]-128)/2 + 128);

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// Method 3. process the second chroma plane using individual element access
uchar& Vxy = planes[2].at<uchar>(y, x);
Vxy =
saturate_cast<uchar>((Vxy-128)/2 + 128);

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21

Here you can observe that we may go through all the pixels of an image in three fashions: an iterator, a C pointer
and an individual element access style. You can read a more in-depth description of these in the How to scan images,
lookup tables and time measurement with OpenCV tutorial. Converting from the old function names is easy. Just
remove the cv prefix and use the new Mat data structure. Heres an example of this by using the weighted addition
function:
1

Mat noisyI(I.size(), CV_8U);

// Create a matrix of the specified size and type

2
3
4
5

// Fills the matrix with normally distributed random values (around number with deviation off).
// There is also randu() for uniformly distributed random number generation
randn(noisyI, Scalar::all(128), Scalar::all(20));

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8

// blur the noisyI a bit, kernel size is 3x3 and both sigmas are set to 0.5
GaussianBlur(noisyI, noisyI, Size(3, 3), 0.5, 0.5);

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const double brightness_gain = 0;

const double contrast_gain = 1.7;

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#ifdef
//
//
//

DEMO_MIXED_API_USE
To pass the new matrices to the functions that only work with IplImage or CvMat do:
step 1) Convert the headers (tip: data will not be copied).
step 2) call the function
(tip: to pass a pointer do not forget unary "&" to form pointers)

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IplImage cv_planes_0 = planes[0], cv_noise = noisyI;

cvAddWeighted(&cv_planes_0, contrast_gain, &cv_noise, 1, -128 + brightness_gain, &cv_planes_0);
#else
addWeighted(planes[0], contrast_gain, noisyI, 1, -128 + brightness_gain, planes[0]);
#endif

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const double color_scale = 0.5;

// Mat::convertTo() replaces cvConvertScale.
// One must explicitly specify the output matrix type (we keep it intact - planes[1].type())
planes[1].convertTo(planes[1], planes[1].type(), color_scale, 128*(1-color_scale));

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// alternative form of cv::convertScale if we know the datatype at compile time ("uchar" here).
// This expression will not create any temporary arrays ( so should be almost as fast as above)
planes[2] = Mat_<uchar>(planes[2]*color_scale + 128*(1-color_scale));

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// Mat::mul replaces cvMul(). Again, no temporary arrays are created in case of simple expressions.
planes[0] = planes[0].mul(planes[0], 1./255);

As you may observe the planes variable is of type Mat. However, converting from Mat to IplImage is easy and made
automatically with a simple assignment operator.
1
2
3

merge(planes, I_YUV);
cvtColor(I_YUV, I, CV_YCrCb2BGR);

// now merge the results back

// and produce the output RGB image

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namedWindow("image with grain", CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE);

// use this to create images

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#ifdef DEMO_MIXED_API_USE
// this is to demonstrate that I and IplI really share the data - the result of the above
// processing is stored in I and thus in IplI too.
cvShowImage("image with grain", IplI);
#else
imshow("image with grain", I); // the new MATLAB style function show

The new imshow highgui function accepts both the Mat and IplImage data structures. Compile and run the program
and if the first image below is your input you may get either the first or second as output:

You may observe a runtime instance of this on the YouTube here and you can download the source code from
here or find it in the samples/cpp/tutorial_code/core/interoperability_with_OpenCV_1/interoperability_with_OpenCV_
of the OpenCV source code library.

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CHAPTER

THREE

IMGPROC MODULE. IMAGE

PROCESSING
In this section you will learn about the image processing (manipulation) functions inside OpenCV.

Title: Smoothing Images

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
Lets take a look at some basic linear filters!

Title: Eroding and Dilating

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
Lets change the shape of objects!

Title: More Morphology Transformations

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
Here we investigate different morphology operators

Title: Image Pyramids

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
What if I need a bigger/smaller image?

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126

Title: Basic Thresholding Operations

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
After so much processing, it is time to decide which pixels stay!

Title: Making your own linear filters!

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
Where we learn to design our own filters by using OpenCV functions

Title: Adding borders to your images

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
Where we learn how to pad our images!

Title: Sobel Derivatives

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
Where we learn how to calculate gradients and use them to detect edges!

Title: Laplace Operator

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
Where we learn about the Laplace operator and how to detect edges with it.

Title: Canny Edge Detector

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
Where we learn a sophisticated alternative to detect edges.

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Title: Hough Line Transform

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
Where we learn how to detect lines

Title: Hough Circle Transform

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
Where we learn how to detect circles

Title: Remapping
Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
Where we learn how to manipulate pixels locations

Title: Affine Transformations

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
Where we learn how to rotate, translate and scale our images

Title: Histogram Equalization

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
Where we learn how to improve the contrast in our images

Title: Histogram Calculation

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
Where we learn how to create and generate histograms

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Title: Histogram Comparison

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
Where we learn to calculate metrics between histograms

Title: Back Projection

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
Where we learn how to use histograms to find similar objects in images

Title: Template Matching

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
Where we learn how to match templates in an image

Title: Finding contours in your image

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
Where we learn how to find contours of objects in our image

Title: Convex Hull

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
Where we learn how to get hull contours and draw them!

Title: Creating Bounding boxes and circles for contours

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
Where we learn how to obtain bounding boxes and circles for our contours.

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The OpenCV Tutorials, Release 2.4.2

Title: Creating Bounding rotated boxes and ellipses for contours

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
Where we learn how to obtain rotated bounding boxes and ellipses for our
contours.

Title: Image Moments

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
Where we learn to calculate the moments of an image

Title: Point Polygon Test

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
Where we learn how to calculate distances from the image to contours

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3.1 Smoothing Images

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn how to apply diverse linear filters to smooth images using OpenCV functions such as:
blur
GaussianBlur
medianBlur
bilateralFilter

Theory
Note: The explanation below belongs to the book Computer Vision: Algorithms and Applications by Richard Szeliski
and to LearningOpenCV
Smoothing, also called blurring, is a simple and frequently used image processing operation.
There are many reasons for smoothing. In this tutorial we will focus on smoothing in order to reduce noise
(other uses will be seen in the following tutorials).
To perform a smoothing operation we will apply a filter to our image. The most common type of filters are
linear, in which an output pixels value (i.e. g(i, j)) is determined as a weighted sum of input pixel values (i.e.
f(i + k, j + l)) :
X
g(i, j) =
f(i + k, j + l)h(k, l)
k,l

h(k, l) is called the kernel, which is nothing more than the coefficients of the filter.
It helps to visualize a filter as a window of coefficients sliding across the image.
There are many kind of filters, here we will mention the most used:
Normalized Box Filter
This filter is the simplest of all! Each output pixel is the mean of its kernel neighbors ( all of them contribute
with equal weights)
The kernel is below:

K=

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Gaussian Filter
Probably the most useful filter (although not the fastest). Gaussian filtering is done by convolving each point in
the input array with a Gaussian kernel and then summing them all to produce the output array.
Just to make the picture clearer, remember how a 1D Gaussian kernel look like?

Assuming that an image is 1D, you can notice that the pixel located in the middle would have the biggest weight.
The weight of its neighbors decreases as the spatial distance between them and the center pixel increases.
Note: Remember that a 2D Gaussian can be represented as :
(x x )2 (y y )2
+
22x
22y
G0 (x, y) = Ae
where is the mean (the peak) and represents the variance (per each of the variables x and y)

Median Filter
The median filter run through each element of the signal (in this case the image) and replace each pixel with the
median of its neighboring pixels (located in a square neighborhood around the evaluated pixel).
Bilateral Filter
So far, we have explained some filters which main goal is to smooth an input image. However, sometimes the
filters do not only dissolve the noise, but also smooth away the edges. To avoid this (at certain extent at least),
we can use a bilateral filter.
In an analogous way as the Gaussian filter, the bilateral filter also considers the neighboring pixels with weights
assigned to each of them. These weights have two components, the first of which is the same weighting used by
the Gaussian filter. The second component takes into account the difference in intensity between the neighboring
pixels and the evaluated one.
For a more detailed explanation you can check this link

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Code
What does this program do?
Loads an image
Applies 4 different kinds of filters (explained in Theory) and show the filtered images sequentially
Downloadable code: Click here
Code at glance:
#include "opencv2/imgproc/imgproc.hpp"
#include "opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp"
using namespace std;
using namespace cv;
///
int
int
int

Global Variables
DELAY_CAPTION = 1500;
DELAY_BLUR = 100;
MAX_KERNEL_LENGTH = 31;

Mat src; Mat dst;

char window_name[] = "Filter Demo 1";
/// Function headers
int display_caption( char* caption );
int display_dst( int delay );
/**
* function main
*/
int main( int argc, char** argv )
{
namedWindow( window_name, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
/// Load the source image
src = imread( "../images/lena.jpg", 1 );
if( display_caption( "Original Image" ) != 0 ) { return 0; }
dst = src.clone();
if( display_dst( DELAY_CAPTION ) != 0 ) { return 0; }
/// Applying Homogeneous blur
if( display_caption( "Homogeneous Blur" ) != 0 ) { return 0; }
for ( int i = 1; i < MAX_KERNEL_LENGTH; i = i + 2 )
{ blur( src, dst, Size( i, i ), Point(-1,-1) );
if( display_dst( DELAY_BLUR ) != 0 ) { return 0; } }
/// Applying Gaussian blur
if( display_caption( "Gaussian Blur" ) != 0 ) { return 0; }
for ( int i = 1; i < MAX_KERNEL_LENGTH; i = i + 2 )
{ GaussianBlur( src, dst, Size( i, i ), 0, 0 );
if( display_dst( DELAY_BLUR ) != 0 ) { return 0; } }
/// Applying Median blur

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if( display_caption( "Median Blur" ) != 0 ) { return 0; }

for ( int i = 1; i < MAX_KERNEL_LENGTH; i = i + 2 )
{ medianBlur ( src, dst, i );
if( display_dst( DELAY_BLUR ) != 0 ) { return 0; } }
/// Applying Bilateral Filter
if( display_caption( "Bilateral Blur" ) != 0 ) { return 0; }
for ( int i = 1; i < MAX_KERNEL_LENGTH; i = i + 2 )
{ bilateralFilter ( src, dst, i, i*2, i/2 );
if( display_dst( DELAY_BLUR ) != 0 ) { return 0; } }
/// Wait until user press a key
display_caption( "End: Press a key!" );
waitKey(0);
return 0;
}
int display_caption( char* caption )
{
dst = Mat::zeros( src.size(), src.type() );
putText( dst, caption,
Point( src.cols/4, src.rows/2),
CV_FONT_HERSHEY_COMPLEX, 1, Scalar(255, 255, 255) );
imshow( window_name, dst );
int c = waitKey( DELAY_CAPTION );
if( c >= 0 ) { return -1; }
return 0;
}
int display_dst( int delay )
{
imshow( window_name, dst );
int c = waitKey ( delay );
if( c >= 0 ) { return -1; }
return 0;
}

Explanation
1. Lets check the OpenCV functions that involve only the smoothing procedure, since the rest is already known
by now.
2. Normalized Block Filter:
OpenCV offers the function blur to perform smoothing with this filter.
for ( int i = 1; i < MAX_KERNEL_LENGTH; i = i + 2 )
{ blur( src, dst, Size( i, i ), Point(-1,-1) );
if( display_dst( DELAY_BLUR ) != 0 ) { return 0; } }

We specify 4 arguments (more details, check the Reference):

src: Source image

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dst: Destination image

Size( w,h ): Defines the size of the kernel to be used ( of width w pixels and height h pixels)
Point(-1, -1): Indicates where the anchor point (the pixel evaluated) is located with respect to the neighborhood. If there is a negative value, then the center of the kernel is considered the anchor point.
3. Gaussian Filter:
It is performed by the function GaussianBlur :
for ( int i = 1; i < MAX_KERNEL_LENGTH; i = i + 2 )
{ GaussianBlur( src, dst, Size( i, i ), 0, 0 );
if( display_dst( DELAY_BLUR ) != 0 ) { return 0; } }

Here we use 4 arguments (more details, check the OpenCV reference):

src: Source image
dst: Destination image
Size(w, h): The size of the kernel to be used (the neighbors to be considered). w and h have to be odd and
positive numbers otherwise thi size will be calculated using the x and y arguments.
x : The standard deviation in x. Writing 0 implies that x is calculated using kernel size.
y : The standard deviation in y. Writing 0 implies that y is calculated using kernel size.
4. Median Filter:
This filter is provided by the medianBlur function:
for ( int i = 1; i < MAX_KERNEL_LENGTH; i = i + 2 )
{ medianBlur ( src, dst, i );
if( display_dst( DELAY_BLUR ) != 0 ) { return 0; } }

We use three arguments:

src: Source image
dst: Destination image, must be the same type as src
i: Size of the kernel (only one because we use a square window). Must be odd.
5. Bilateral Filter
Provided by OpenCV function bilateralFilter
for ( int i = 1; i < MAX_KERNEL_LENGTH; i = i + 2 )
{ bilateralFilter ( src, dst, i, i*2, i/2 );
if( display_dst( DELAY_BLUR ) != 0 ) { return 0; } }

We use 5 arguments:
src: Source image
dst: Destination image
d: The diameter of each pixel neighborhood.
Color : Standard deviation in the color space.
Space : Standard deviation in the coordinate space (in pixel terms)

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Results
The code opens an image (in this case lena.jpg) and display it under the effects of the 4 filters explained.
Here is a snapshot of the image smoothed using medianBlur:

3.2 Eroding and Dilating

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Apply two very common morphology operators: Dilation and Erosion. For this purpose, you will use the
following OpenCV functions:
erode
dilate

Cool Theory
Note: The explanation below belongs to the book Learning OpenCV by Bradski and Kaehler.

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Morphological Operations
In short: A set of operations that process images based on shapes. Morphological operations apply a structuring
element to an input image and generate an output image.
The most basic morphological operations are two: Erosion and Dilation. They have a wide array of uses, i.e. :
Removing noise
Isolation of individual elements and joining disparate elements in an image.
Finding of intensity bumps or holes in an image
We will explain dilation and erosion briefly, using the following image as an example:

Dilation

This operations consists of convoluting an image A with some kernel (B), which can have any shape or size,
usually a square or circle.
The kernel B has a defined anchor point, usually being the center of the kernel.
As the kernel B is scanned over the image, we compute the maximal pixel value overlapped by B and replace the
image pixel in the anchor point position with that maximal value. As you can deduce, this maximizing operation
causes bright regions within an image to grow (therefore the name dilation). Take as an example the image
above. Applying dilation we can get:

The background (bright) dilates around the black regions of the letter.

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Erosion

This operation is the sister of dilation. What this does is to compute a local minimum over the area of the kernel.
As the kernel B is scanned over the image, we compute the minimal pixel value overlapped by B and replace
the image pixel under the anchor point with that minimal value.
Analagously to the example for dilation, we can apply the erosion operator to the original image (shown above).
You can see in the result below that the bright areas of the image (the background, apparently), get thinner,
whereas the dark zones (the writing( gets bigger.

Code
This tutorial codes is shown lines below. You can also download it from here
#include
#include
#include
#include
#include

"opencv2/imgproc/imgproc.hpp"
"opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp"
"highgui.h"
<stdlib.h>
<stdio.h>

using namespace cv;

/// Global variables
Mat src, erosion_dst, dilation_dst;
int
int
int
int
int
int

erosion_elem = 0;
erosion_size = 0;
dilation_elem = 0;
dilation_size = 0;
const max_elem = 2;
const max_kernel_size = 21;

/** Function Headers */

void Erosion( int, void* );
void Dilation( int, void* );
/** @function main */
int main( int argc, char** argv )
{
/// Load an image
src = imread( argv[1] );

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if( !src.data )
{ return -1; }
/// Create windows
namedWindow( "Erosion Demo", CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
namedWindow( "Dilation Demo", CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
cvMoveWindow( "Dilation Demo", src.cols, 0 );
/// Create Erosion Trackbar
createTrackbar( "Element:\n 0: Rect \n 1: Cross \n 2: Ellipse", "Erosion Demo",
&erosion_elem, max_elem,
Erosion );
createTrackbar( "Kernel size:\n 2n +1", "Erosion Demo",
&erosion_size, max_kernel_size,
Erosion );
/// Create Dilation Trackbar
createTrackbar( "Element:\n 0: Rect \n 1: Cross \n 2: Ellipse", "Dilation Demo",
&dilation_elem, max_elem,
Dilation );
createTrackbar( "Kernel size:\n 2n +1", "Dilation Demo",
&dilation_size, max_kernel_size,
Dilation );
/// Default start
Erosion( 0, 0 );
Dilation( 0, 0 );
waitKey(0);
return 0;
}
/** @function Erosion */
void Erosion( int, void* )
{
int erosion_type;
if( erosion_elem == 0 ){ erosion_type = MORPH_RECT; }
else if( erosion_elem == 1 ){ erosion_type = MORPH_CROSS; }
else if( erosion_elem == 2) { erosion_type = MORPH_ELLIPSE; }
Mat element = getStructuringElement( erosion_type,
Size( 2*erosion_size + 1, 2*erosion_size+1 ),
Point( erosion_size, erosion_size ) );
/// Apply the erosion operation
erode( src, erosion_dst, element );
imshow( "Erosion Demo", erosion_dst );
}
/** @function Dilation */
void Dilation( int, void* )
{
int dilation_type;
if( dilation_elem == 0 ){ dilation_type = MORPH_RECT; }
else if( dilation_elem == 1 ){ dilation_type = MORPH_CROSS; }
else if( dilation_elem == 2) { dilation_type = MORPH_ELLIPSE; }

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Mat element = getStructuringElement( dilation_type,

Size( 2*dilation_size + 1, 2*dilation_size+1 ),
Point( dilation_size, dilation_size ) );
/// Apply the dilation operation
dilate( src, dilation_dst, element );
imshow( "Dilation Demo", dilation_dst );
}

Explanation
1. Most of the stuff shown is known by you (if you have any doubt, please refer to the tutorials in previous sections).
Lets check the general structure of the program:
Load an image (can be RGB or grayscale)
Create two windows (one for dilation output, the other for erosion)
Create a set of 02 Trackbars for each operation:
The first trackbar Element returns either erosion_elem or dilation_elem
The second trackbar Kernel size return erosion_size or dilation_size for the corresponding operation.
Every time we move any slider, the users function Erosion or Dilation will be called and it will update
the output image based on the current trackbar values.
Lets analyze these two functions:
2. erosion:
/** @function Erosion */
void Erosion( int, void* )
{
int erosion_type;
if( erosion_elem == 0 ){ erosion_type = MORPH_RECT; }
else if( erosion_elem == 1 ){ erosion_type = MORPH_CROSS; }
else if( erosion_elem == 2) { erosion_type = MORPH_ELLIPSE; }
Mat element = getStructuringElement( erosion_type,
Size( 2*erosion_size + 1, 2*erosion_size+1 ),
Point( erosion_size, erosion_size ) );
/// Apply the erosion operation
erode( src, erosion_dst, element );
imshow( "Erosion Demo", erosion_dst );
}

The function that performs the erosion operation is erode. As we can see, it receives three arguments:
src: The source image
erosion_dst: The output image
element: This is the kernel we will use to perform the operation. If we do not specify, the default
is a simple 3x3 matrix. Otherwise, we can specify its shape. For this, we need to use the function
getStructuringElement:
Mat element = getStructuringElement( erosion_type,
Size( 2*erosion_size + 1, 2*erosion_size+1 ),
Point( erosion_size, erosion_size ) );

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We can choose any of three shapes for our kernel:

* Rectangular box: MORPH_RECT
* Cross: MORPH_CROSS
* Ellipse: MORPH_ELLIPSE
Then, we just have to specify the size of our kernel and the anchor point. If not specified, it is assumed
to be in the center.
That is all. We are ready to perform the erosion of our image.
Note: Additionally, there is another parameter that allows you to perform multiple erosions (iterations) at once.
We are not using it in this simple tutorial, though. You can check out the Reference for more details.
3. dilation:
The code is below. As you can see, it is completely similar to the snippet of code for erosion. Here we also have the
option of defining our kernel, its anchor point and the size of the operator to be used.
/** @function Dilation */
void Dilation( int, void* )
{
int dilation_type;
if( dilation_elem == 0 ){ dilation_type = MORPH_RECT; }
else if( dilation_elem == 1 ){ dilation_type = MORPH_CROSS; }
else if( dilation_elem == 2) { dilation_type = MORPH_ELLIPSE; }
Mat element = getStructuringElement( dilation_type,
Size( 2*dilation_size + 1, 2*dilation_size+1 ),
Point( dilation_size, dilation_size ) );
/// Apply the dilation operation
dilate( src, dilation_dst, element );
imshow( "Dilation Demo", dilation_dst );
}

Results
Compile the code above and execute it with an image as argument. For instance, using this image:

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We get the results below. Varying the indices in the Trackbars give different output images, naturally. Try them
out! You can even try to add a third Trackbar to control the number of iterations.

3.3 More Morphology Transformations

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Use the OpenCV function morphologyEx to apply Morphological Transformation such as:
Opening
Closing

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Morphological Gradient
Top Hat
Black Hat

Theory
Note: The explanation below belongs to the book Learning OpenCV by Bradski and Kaehler.
In the previous tutorial we covered two basic Morphology operations:
Erosion
Dilation.
Based on these two we can effectuate more sophisticated transformations to our images. Here we discuss briefly 05
operations offered by OpenCV:
Opening
It is obtained by the erosion of an image followed by a dilation.
dst = open(src, element) = dilate(erode(src, element))
Useful for removing small objects (it is assumed that the objects are bright on a dark foreground)
For instance, check out the example below. The image at the left is the original and the image at the right is
the result after applying the opening transformation. We can observe that the small spaces in the corners of the
letter tend to dissapear.

Closing
It is obtained by the dilation of an image followed by an erosion.
dst = close(src, element) = erode(dilate(src, element))
Useful to remove small holes (dark regions).

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Morphological Gradient
It is the difference between the dilation and the erosion of an image.
dst = morphgrad (src, element) = dilate(src, element) erode(src, element)
It is useful for finding the outline of an object as can be seen below:

Top Hat
It is the difference between an input image and its opening.
dst = tophat(src, element) = src open(src, element)

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Black Hat
It is the difference between the closing and its input image
dst = blackhat(src, element) = close(src, element) src

Code
This tutorial codes is shown lines below. You can also download it from here
#include
#include
#include
#include

"opencv2/imgproc/imgproc.hpp"
"opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp"
<stdlib.h>
<stdio.h>

using namespace cv;

/// Global variables
Mat src, dst;
int
int
int
int
int
int

morph_elem = 0;
morph_size = 0;
morph_operator = 0;
const max_operator = 4;
const max_elem = 2;
const max_kernel_size = 21;

char* window_name = "Morphology Transformations Demo";

/** Function Headers */
void Morphology_Operations( int, void* );
/** @function main */
int main( int argc, char** argv )
{
/// Load an image
src = imread( argv[1] );
if( !src.data )
{ return -1; }
/// Create window
namedWindow( window_name, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );

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/// Create Trackbar to select Morphology operation

createTrackbar("Operator:\n 0: Opening - 1: Closing \n 2: Gradient - 3: Top Hat \n 4: Black Hat", window_name, &morph
/// Create Trackbar to select kernel type
createTrackbar( "Element:\n 0: Rect - 1: Cross - 2: Ellipse", window_name,
&morph_elem, max_elem,
Morphology_Operations );
/// Create Trackbar to choose kernel size
createTrackbar( "Kernel size:\n 2n +1", window_name,
&morph_size, max_kernel_size,
Morphology_Operations );
/// Default start
Morphology_Operations( 0, 0 );
waitKey(0);
return 0;
}
/**
* @function Morphology_Operations
*/
void Morphology_Operations( int, void* )
{
// Since MORPH_X : 2,3,4,5 and 6
int operation = morph_operator + 2;

Mat element = getStructuringElement( morph_elem, Size( 2*morph_size + 1, 2*morph_size+1 ), Point( morph_size, morph_
/// Apply the specified morphology operation
morphologyEx( src, dst, operation, element );
imshow( window_name, dst );
}

Explanation
1. Lets check the general structure of the program:
Load an image
Create a window to display results of the Morphological operations
Create 03 Trackbars for the user to enter parameters:
The first trackbar Operator returns the kind of morphology operation to use (morph_operator).
createTrackbar("Operator:\n 0: Opening - 1: Closing \n 2: Gradient - 3: Top Hat \n 4: Black Hat",
window_name, &morph_operator, max_operator,
Morphology_Operations );

The second trackbar Element returns morph_elem, which indicates what kind of structure our
kernel is:
createTrackbar( "Element:\n 0: Rect - 1: Cross - 2: Ellipse", window_name,
&morph_elem, max_elem,
Morphology_Operations );

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The final trackbar Kernel Size returns the size of the kernel to be used (morph_size)
createTrackbar( "Kernel size:\n 2n +1", window_name,
&morph_size, max_kernel_size,
Morphology_Operations );

Every time we move any slider, the users function Morphology_Operations will be called to effectuate
a new morphology operation and it will update the output image based on the current trackbar values.
/**
* @function Morphology_Operations
*/
void Morphology_Operations( int, void* )
{
// Since MORPH_X : 2,3,4,5 and 6
int operation = morph_operator + 2;

Mat element = getStructuringElement( morph_elem, Size( 2*morph_size + 1, 2*morph_size+1 ), Point( morph_si

/// Apply the specified morphology operation
morphologyEx( src, dst, operation, element );
imshow( window_name, dst );
}

We can observe that the key function to perform the morphology transformations is morphologyEx. In this
example we use four arguments (leaving the rest as defaults):
src : Source (input) image
dst: Output image
operation: The kind of morphology transformation to be performed. Note that we have 5 alternatives:
* Opening: MORPH_OPEN : 2
* Closing: MORPH_CLOSE: 3
* Gradient: MORPH_GRADIENT: 4
* Top Hat: MORPH_TOPHAT: 5
* Black Hat: MORPH_BLACKHAT: 6
As you can see the values range from <2-6>, that is why we add (+2) to the values entered by the
Trackbar:
int operation = morph_operator + 2;

element: The kernel to be used. We use the function getStructuringElement to define our own structure.

Results
After compiling the code above we can execute it giving an image path as an argument. For this tutorial we use
as input the image: baboon.png:

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And here are two snapshots of the display window. The first picture shows the output after using the operator
Opening with a cross kernel. The second picture (right side, shows the result of using a Blackhat operator with
an ellipse kernel.

3.4 Image Pyramids

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Use the OpenCV functions pyrUp and pyrDown to downsample or upsample a given image.

Theory
Note: The explanation below belongs to the book Learning OpenCV by Bradski and Kaehler.
Usually we need to convert an image to a size different than its original. For this, there are two possible options:
1. Upsize the image (zoom in) or
2. Downsize it (zoom out).
Although there is a geometric transformation function in OpenCV that -literally- resize an image (resize, which
we will show in a future tutorial), in this section we analyze first the use of Image Pyramids, which are widely
applied in a huge range of vision applications.

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Image Pyramid
An image pyramid is a collection of images - all arising from a single original image - that are successively
downsampled until some desired stopping point is reached.
There are two common kinds of image pyramids:
Gaussian pyramid: Used to downsample images
Laplacian pyramid: Used to reconstruct an upsampled image from an image lower in the pyramid (with
less resolution)
In this tutorial well use the Gaussian pyramid.
Gaussian Pyramid

Imagine the pyramid as a set of layers in which the higher the layer, the smaller the size.

Every layer is numbered from bottom to top, so layer (i + 1) (denoted as Gi+1 is smaller than layer i (Gi ).
To produce layer (i + 1) in the Gaussian pyramid, we do the following:
Convolve Gi with a Gaussian kernel:

1
4
1
6
16
4
1

4
16
24
16
4

6
24
36
24
6

4 1
16 4

24 6

16 4
4 1

Remove every even-numbered row and column.

You can easily notice that the resulting image will be exactly one-quarter the area of its predecessor. Iterating
this process on the input image G0 (original image) produces the entire pyramid.
The procedure above was useful to downsample an image. What if we want to make it bigger?:
First, upsize the image to twice the original in each dimension, wit the new even rows and columns filled
with zeros (0)
Perform a convolution with the same kernel shown above (multiplied by 4) to approximate the values of
the missing pixels
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These two procedures (downsampling and upsampling as explained above) are implemented by the OpenCV
functions pyrUp and pyrDown, as we will see in an example with the code below:
Note: When we reduce the size of an image, we are actually losing information of the image.

Code
This tutorial codes is shown lines below. You can also download it from here
#include
#include
#include
#include
#include

"opencv2/imgproc/imgproc.hpp"
"opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp"
<math.h>
<stdlib.h>
<stdio.h>

using namespace cv;

/// Global variables
Mat src, dst, tmp;
char* window_name = "Pyramids Demo";

/**
* @function main
*/
int main( int argc, char** argv )
{
/// General instructions
printf( "\n Zoom In-Out demo \n " );
printf( "------------------ \n" );
printf( " * [u] -> Zoom in \n" );
printf( " * [d] -> Zoom out \n" );
printf( " * [ESC] -> Close program \n \n" );
///
src
if(
{

Test image - Make sure it s divisible by 2^{n}

= imread( "../images/chicky_512.jpg" );
!src.data )
printf(" No data! -- Exiting the program \n");
return -1; }

tmp = src;
dst = tmp;
/// Create window
namedWindow( window_name, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
imshow( window_name, dst );
/// Loop
while( true )
{
int c;
c = waitKey(10);
if( (char)c == 27 )
{ break; }
if( (char)c == u )

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{ pyrUp( tmp, dst, Size( tmp.cols*2, tmp.rows*2 ) );

printf( "** Zoom In: Image x 2 \n" );
}
else if( (char)c == d )
{ pyrDown( tmp, dst, Size( tmp.cols/2, tmp.rows/2 ) );
printf( "** Zoom Out: Image / 2 \n" );
}
imshow( window_name, dst );
tmp = dst;
}
return 0;
}

Explanation
1. Lets check the general structure of the program:
Load an image (in this case it is defined in the program, the user does not have to enter it as an argument)
///
src
if(
{

Test image - Make sure it s divisible by 2^{n}

= imread( "../images/chicky_512.jpg" );
!src.data )
printf(" No data! -- Exiting the program \n");
return -1; }

Create a Mat object to store the result of the operations (dst) and one to save temporal results (tmp).
Mat src, dst, tmp;
/* ... */
tmp = src;
dst = tmp;

Create a window to display the result

namedWindow( window_name, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
imshow( window_name, dst );

Perform an infinite loop waiting for user input.

while( true )
{
int c;
c = waitKey(10);
if(
{
if(
{

(char)c == 27 )
break; }
(char)c == u )
pyrUp( tmp, dst, Size( tmp.cols*2, tmp.rows*2 ) );
printf( "** Zoom In: Image x 2 \n" );

}
else if( (char)c == d )
{ pyrDown( tmp, dst, Size( tmp.cols/2, tmp.rows/2 ) );
printf( "** Zoom Out: Image / 2 \n" );
}
imshow( window_name, dst );

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tmp = dst;
}

Our program exits if the user presses ESC. Besides, it has two options:
Perform upsampling (after pressing u)
pyrUp( tmp, dst, Size( tmp.cols*2, tmp.rows*2 )

We use the function pyrUp with 03 arguments:

* tmp: The current image, it is initialized with the src original image.
* dst: The destination image (to be shown on screen, supposedly the double of the input image)
* Size( tmp.cols*2, tmp.rows*2 ) : The destination size. Since we are upsampling, pyrUp expects a
size double than the input image (in this case tmp).
Perform downsampling (after pressing d)
pyrDown( tmp, dst, Size( tmp.cols/2, tmp.rows/2 )

Similarly as with pyrUp, we use the function pyrDown with 03 arguments:

* tmp: The current image, it is initialized with the src original image.
* dst: The destination image (to be shown on screen, supposedly half the input image)
* Size( tmp.cols/2, tmp.rows/2 ) : The destination size. Since we are upsampling, pyrDown expects
half the size the input image (in this case tmp).
Notice that it is important that the input image can be divided by a factor of two (in both dimensions).
Otherwise, an error will be shown.
Finally, we update the input image tmp with the current image displayed, so the subsequent operations
are performed on it.
tmp = dst;

Results
After compiling the code above we can test it. The program calls an image chicky_512.jpg that comes in the
tutorial_code/image folder. Notice that this image is 512 512, hence a downsample wont generate any error
(512 = 29 ). The original image is shown below:

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First we apply two successive pyrDown operations by pressing d. Our output is:

Note that we should have lost some resolution due to the fact that we are diminishing the size of the image. This
is evident after we apply pyrUp twice (by pressing u). Our output is now:

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3.5 Basic Thresholding Operations

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Perform basic thresholding operations using OpenCV function threshold

Cool Theory
Note: The explanation below belongs to the book Learning OpenCV by Bradski and Kaehler.

What is Thresholding?
The simplest segmentation method
Application example: Separate out regions of an image corresponding to objects which we want to analyze.
This separation is based on the variation of intensity between the object pixels and the background pixels.
To differentiate the pixels we are interested in from the rest (which will eventually be rejected), we perform a
comparison of each pixel intensity value with respect to a threshold (determined according to the problem to
solve).

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Once we have separated properly the important pixels, we can set them with a determined value to identify them
(i.e. we can assign them a value of 0 (black), 255 (white) or any value that suits your needs).

Types of Thresholding
OpenCV offers the function threshold to perform thresholding operations.
We can effectuate 5 types of Thresholding operations with this function. We will explain them in the following
subsections.
To illustrate how these thresholding processes work, lets consider that we have a source image with pixels with
intensity values src(x, y). The plot below depicts this. The horizontal blue line represents the threshold thresh
(fixed).

Threshold Binary

This thresholding operation can be expressed as:


maxVal if src(x, y) > thresh
dst(x, y) =
0
otherwise
So, if the intensity of the pixel src(x, y) is higher than thresh, then the new pixel intensity is set to a MaxVal.
Otherwise, the pixels are set to 0.

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Threshold Binary, Inverted

This thresholding operation can be expressed as:


0
dst(x, y) =

maxVal

if src(x, y) > thresh

otherwise

If the intensity of the pixel src(x, y) is higher than thresh, then the new pixel intensity is set to a 0. Otherwise,
it is set to MaxVal.

Truncate

This thresholding operation can be expressed as:


threshold
dst(x, y) =
src(x, y)

if src(x, y) > thresh

otherwise

The maximum intensity value for the pixels is thresh, if src(x, y) is greater, then its value is truncated. See
figure below:

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Threshold to Zero

This operation can be expressed as:


dst(x, y) =

src(x, y)

if src(x, y) > thresh

otherwise

If src(x, y) is lower than thresh, the new pixel value will be set to 0.

Threshold to Zero, Inverted

This operation can be expressed as:


dst(x, y) =

0
src(x, y)

if src(x, y) > thresh

otherwise

If src(x, y) is greater than thresh, the new pixel value will be set to 0.

Code
The tutorial codes is shown lines below. You can also download it from here
#include
#include
#include
#include

"opencv2/imgproc/imgproc.hpp"
"opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp"
<stdlib.h>
<stdio.h>

using namespace cv;

/// Global variables

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int
int
int
int
int

threshold_value = 0;
threshold_type = 3;;
const max_value = 255;
const max_type = 4;
const max_BINARY_value = 255;

Mat src, src_gray, dst;

char* window_name = "Threshold Demo";
char* trackbar_type = "Type: \n 0: Binary \n 1: Binary Inverted \n 2: Truncate \n 3: To Zero \n 4: To Zero Inverted";
char* trackbar_value = "Value";
/// Function headers
void Threshold_Demo( int, void* );
/**
* @function main
*/
int main( int argc, char** argv )
{
/// Load an image
src = imread( argv[1], 1 );
/// Convert the image to Gray
cvtColor( src, src_gray, CV_RGB2GRAY );
/// Create a window to display results
namedWindow( window_name, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
/// Create Trackbar to choose type of Threshold
createTrackbar( trackbar_type,
window_name, &threshold_type,
max_type, Threshold_Demo );
createTrackbar( trackbar_value,
window_name, &threshold_value,
max_value, Threshold_Demo );
/// Call the function to initialize
Threshold_Demo( 0, 0 );
/// Wait until user finishes program
while(true)
{
int c;
c = waitKey( 20 );
if( (char)c == 27 )
{ break; }
}
}

/**
* @function Threshold_Demo
*/
void Threshold_Demo( int, void* )
{

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/* 0:
1:
2:
3:
4:
*/

Binary
Binary Inverted
Threshold Truncated
Threshold to Zero
Threshold to Zero Inverted

threshold( src_gray, dst, threshold_value, max_BINARY_value,threshold_type );

imshow( window_name, dst );
}

Explanation
1. Lets check the general structure of the program:
Load an image. If it is RGB we convert it to Grayscale. For this, remember that we can use the function
cvtColor:
src = imread( argv[1], 1 );
/// Convert the image to Gray
cvtColor( src, src_gray, CV_RGB2GRAY );

Create a window to display the result

namedWindow( window_name, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );

Create 2 trackbars for the user to enter user input:

Type of thresholding: Binary, To Zero, etc...
Threshold value
createTrackbar( trackbar_type,
window_name, &threshold_type,
max_type, Threshold_Demo );
createTrackbar( trackbar_value,
window_name, &threshold_value,
max_value, Threshold_Demo );

Wait until the user enters the threshold value, the type of thresholding (or until the program exits)
Whenever the user changes the value of any of the Trackbars, the function Threshold_Demo is called:
/**
* @function Threshold_Demo
*/
void Threshold_Demo( int, void* )
{
/* 0: Binary
1: Binary Inverted
2: Threshold Truncated
3: Threshold to Zero
4: Threshold to Zero Inverted
*/
threshold( src_gray, dst, threshold_value, max_BINARY_value,threshold_type );

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imshow( window_name, dst );

}

As you can see, the function threshold is invoked. We give 5 parameters:

src_gray: Our input image
dst: Destination (output) image
threshold_value: The thresh value with respect to which the thresholding operation is made
max_BINARY_value: The value used with the Binary thresholding operations (to set the chosen pixels)
threshold_type: One of the 5 thresholding operations. They are listed in the comment section of the
function above.

Results
1. After compiling this program, run it giving a path to an image as argument. For instance, for an input image as:

2. First, we try to threshold our image with a binary threhold inverted. We expect that the pixels brighter than the
thresh will turn dark, which is what actually happens, as we can see in the snapshot below (notice from the
original image, that the doggies tongue and eyes are particularly bright in comparison with the image, this is
reflected in the output image).

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3. Now we try with the threshold to zero. With this, we expect that the darkest pixels (below the threshold) will
become completely black, whereas the pixels with value greater than the threshold will keep its original value.
This is verified by the following snapshot of the output image:

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3.6 Making your own linear filters!

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Use the OpenCV function filter2D to create your own linear filters.

Theory
Note: The explanation below belongs to the book Learning OpenCV by Bradski and Kaehler.

Convolution
In a very general sense, convolution is an operation between every part of an image and an operator (kernel).
What is a kernel?
A kernel is essentially a fixed size array of numerical coefficeints along with an anchor point in that array, which is
tipically located at the center.

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How does convolution with a kernel work?

Assume you want to know the resulting value of a particular location in the image. The value of the convolution is
calculated in the following way:
1. Place the kernel anchor on top of a determined pixel, with the rest of the kernel overlaying the corresponding
local pixels in the image.
2. Multiply the kernel coefficients by the corresponding image pixel values and sum the result.
3. Place the result to the location of the anchor in the input image.
4. Repeat the process for all pixels by scanning the kernel over the entire image.
Expressing the procedure above in the form of an equation we would have:
H(x, y) =

M
j 1
i 1 M
X
X
i=0

I(x + i ai , y + j aj )K(i, j)

j=0

Fortunately, OpenCV provides you with the function filter2D so you do not have to code all these operations.

Code
1. What does this program do?
Loads an image
Performs a normalized box filter. For instance, for a kernel of size size = 3, the kernel would be:

1 1 1
1
1 1 1
K=
33
1 1 1
The program will perform the filter operation with kernels of sizes 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11.
The filter output (with each kernel) will be shown during 500 milliseconds
2. The tutorial codes is shown lines below. You can also download it from here
#include
#include
#include
#include

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"opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp"
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using namespace cv;

/** @function main */
int main ( int argc, char** argv )
{
/// Declare variables
Mat src, dst;
Mat kernel;
Point anchor;
double delta;
int ddepth;
int kernel_size;
char* window_name = "filter2D Demo";
int c;
/// Load an image
src = imread( argv[1] );
if( !src.data )
{ return -1; }
/// Create window
namedWindow( window_name, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
/// Initialize arguments for the filter
anchor = Point( -1, -1 );
delta = 0;
ddepth = -1;
/// Loop - Will filter the image with different kernel sizes each 0.5 seconds
int ind = 0;
while( true )
{
c = waitKey(500);
/// Press ESC to exit the program
if( (char)c == 27 )
{ break; }
/// Update kernel size for a normalized box filter
kernel_size = 3 + 2*( ind%5 );
kernel = Mat::ones( kernel_size, kernel_size, CV_32F )/ (float)(kernel_size*kernel_size);
/// Apply filter
filter2D(src, dst, ddepth , kernel, anchor, delta, BORDER_DEFAULT );
imshow( window_name, dst );
ind++;
}
return 0;
}

Explanation
1. Load an image

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src = imread( argv[1] );

if( !src.data )
{ return -1; }

2. Create a window to display the result

namedWindow( window_name, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );

3. Initialize the arguments for the linear filter

anchor = Point( -1, -1 );
delta = 0;
ddepth = -1;

4. Perform an infinite loop updating the kernel size and applying our linear filter to the input image. Lets analyze
that more in detail:
5. First we define the kernel our filter is going to use. Here it is:
kernel_size = 3 + 2*( ind%5 );
kernel = Mat::ones( kernel_size, kernel_size, CV_32F )/ (float)(kernel_size*kernel_size);

The first line is to update the kernel_size to odd values in the range: [3, 11]. The second line actually builds the
kernel by setting its value to a matrix filled with 1 0 s and normalizing it by dividing it between the number of
elements.
6. After setting the kernel, we can generate the filter by using the function filter2D:
filter2D(src, dst, ddepth , kernel, anchor, delta, BORDER_DEFAULT );

The arguments denote:

(a) src: Source image
(b) dst: Destination image
(c) ddepth: The depth of dst. A negative value (such as 1) indicates that the depth is the same as the source.
(d) kernel: The kernel to be scanned through the image
(e) anchor: The position of the anchor relative to its kernel. The location Point(-1, -1) indicates the center by
default.
(f) delta: A value to be added to each pixel during the convolution. By default it is 0
(g) BORDER_DEFAULT: We let this value by default (more details in the following tutorial)
7. Our program will effectuate a while loop, each 500 ms the kernel size of our filter will be updated in the range
indicated.

Results
1. After compiling the code above, you can execute it giving as argument the path of an image. The result should
be a window that shows an image blurred by a normalized filter. Each 0.5 seconds the kernel size should change,
as can be seen in the series of snapshots below:

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3.7 Adding borders to your images

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Use the OpenCV function copyMakeBorder to set the borders (extra padding to your image).

Theory
Note: The explanation below belongs to the book Learning OpenCV by Bradski and Kaehler.
1. In our previous tutorial we learned to use convolution to operate on images. One problem that naturally arises is
how to handle the boundaries. How can we convolve them if the evaluated points are at the edge of the image?
2. What most of OpenCV functions do is to copy a given image onto another slightly larger image and then
automatically pads the boundary (by any of the methods explained in the sample code just below). This way,
the convolution can be performed over the needed pixels without problems (the extra padding is cut after the
operation is done).
3. In this tutorial, we will briefly explore two ways of defining the extra padding (border) for an image:
(a) BORDER_CONSTANT: Pad the image with a constant value (i.e. black or 0
(b) BORDER_REPLICATE: The row or column at the very edge of the original is replicated to the extra
border.
This will be seen more clearly in the Code section.

Code
1. What does this program do?
Load an image
Let the user choose what kind of padding use in the input image. There are two options:
(a) Constant value border: Applies a padding of a constant value for the whole border. This value will be
updated randomly each 0.5 seconds.
(b) Replicated border: The border will be replicated from the pixel values at the edges of the original
image.

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The user chooses either option by pressing c (constant) or r (replicate)

The program finishes when the user presses ESC
2. The tutorial codes is shown lines below. You can also download it from here
#include
#include
#include
#include

"opencv2/imgproc/imgproc.hpp"
"opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp"
<stdlib.h>
<stdio.h>

using namespace cv;

/// Global Variables
Mat src, dst;
int top, bottom, left, right;
int borderType;
Scalar value;
char* window_name = "copyMakeBorder Demo";
RNG rng(12345);
/** @function main */
int main( int argc, char** argv )
{
int c;
/// Load an image
src = imread( argv[1] );
if( !src.data )
{ return -1;
printf(" No data entered, please enter the path to an image file \n");
}
/// Brief how-to for this program
printf( "\n \t copyMakeBorder Demo: \n" );
printf( "\t -------------------- \n" );
printf( " ** Press c to set the border to a random constant value \n");
printf( " ** Press r to set the border to be replicated \n");
printf( " ** Press ESC to exit the program \n");
/// Create window
namedWindow( window_name, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
/// Initialize arguments for the filter
top = (int) (0.05*src.rows); bottom = (int) (0.05*src.rows);
left = (int) (0.05*src.cols); right = (int) (0.05*src.cols);
dst = src;
imshow( window_name, dst );
while( true )
{
c = waitKey(500);
if( (char)c == 27 )
{ break; }
else if( (char)c == c )
{ borderType = BORDER_CONSTANT; }

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else if( (char)c == r )

{ borderType = BORDER_REPLICATE; }
value = Scalar( rng.uniform(0, 255), rng.uniform(0, 255), rng.uniform(0, 255) );
copyMakeBorder( src, dst, top, bottom, left, right, borderType, value );
imshow( window_name, dst );
}
return 0;
}

Explanation
1. First we declare the variables we are going to use:
Mat src, dst;
int top, bottom, left, right;
int borderType;
Scalar value;
char* window_name = "copyMakeBorder Demo";
RNG rng(12345);

Especial attention deserves the variable rng which is a random number generator. We use it to generate the
random border color, as we will see soon.
2. As usual we load our source image src:
src = imread( argv[1] );
if( !src.data )
{ return -1;
printf(" No data entered, please enter the path to an image file \n");
}

3. After giving a short intro of how to use the program, we create a window:
namedWindow( window_name, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );

4. Now we initialize the argument that defines the size of the borders (top, bottom, left and right). We give them a
value of 5% the size of src.
top = (int) (0.05*src.rows); bottom = (int) (0.05*src.rows);
left = (int) (0.05*src.cols); right = (int) (0.05*src.cols);

5. The program begins a while loop. If the user presses c or r, the borderType variable takes the value of
BORDER_CONSTANT or BORDER_REPLICATE respectively:
while( true )
{
c = waitKey(500);
if( (char)c == 27 )
{ break; }
else if( (char)c == c )
{ borderType = BORDER_CONSTANT; }
else if( (char)c == r )
{ borderType = BORDER_REPLICATE; }

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6. In each iteration (after 0.5 seconds), the variable value is updated...

value = Scalar( rng.uniform(0, 255), rng.uniform(0, 255), rng.uniform(0, 255) );

with a random value generated by the RNG variable rng. This value is a number picked randomly in the range
[0, 255]
7. Finally, we call the function copyMakeBorder to apply the respective padding:
copyMakeBorder( src, dst, top, bottom, left, right, borderType, value );

The arguments are:

(a) src: Source image
(b) dst: Destination image
(c) top, bottom, left, right: Length in pixels of the borders at each side of the image. We define them as being
5% of the original size of the image.
(d) borderType: Define what type of border is applied. It can be constant or replicate for this example.
(e) value: If borderType is BORDER_CONSTANT, this is the value used to fill the border pixels.
8. We display our output image in the image created previously
imshow( window_name, dst );

Results
1. After compiling the code above, you can execute it giving as argument the path of an image. The result should
be:
By default, it begins with the border set to BORDER_CONSTANT. Hence, a succession of random colored
borders will be shown.
If you press r, the border will become a replica of the edge pixels.
If you press c, the random colored borders will appear again
If you press ESC the program will exit.
Below some screenshot showing how the border changes color and how the BORDER_REPLICATE option
looks:

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3.8 Sobel Derivatives

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Use the OpenCV function Sobel to calculate the derivatives from an image.
Use the OpenCV function Scharr to calculate a more accurate derivative for a kernel of size 3 3

Theory
Note: The explanation below belongs to the book Learning OpenCV by Bradski and Kaehler.
1. In the last two tutorials we have seen applicative examples of convolutions. One of the most important convolutions is the computation of derivatives in an image (or an approximation to them).
2. Why may be important the calculus of the derivatives in an image? Lets imagine we want to detect the edges
present in the image. For instance:

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You can easily notice that in an edge, the pixel intensity changes in a notorious way. A good way to express
changes is by using derivatives. A high change in gradient indicates a major change in the image.
3. To be more graphical, lets assume we have a 1D-image. An edge is shown by the jump in intensity in the plot
below:

4. The edge jump can be seen more easily if we take the first derivative (actually, here appears as a maximum)

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5. So, from the explanation above, we can deduce that a method to detect edges in an image can be performed by
locating pixel locations where the gradient is higher than its neighbors (or to generalize, higher than a threshold).
6. More detailed explanation, please refer to Learning OpenCV by Bradski and Kaehler
Sobel Operator
1. The Sobel Operator is a discrete differentiation operator. It computes an approximation of the gradient of an
image intensity function.
2. The Sobel Operator combines Gaussian smoothing and differentiation.
Formulation

Assuming that the image to be operated is I:

1. We calculate two derivatives:
(a) Horizontal changes: This is computed by convolving I with a kernel Gx with odd size. For example for
a kernel size of 3, Gx would be computed as:

1 0 +1
Gx = 2 0 +2 I
1 0 +1
(b) Vertical changes: This is computed by convolving I with a kernel Gy with odd size. For example for a
kernel size of 3, Gy would be computed as:

1 2 1
0
0 I
Gy = 0
+1 +2 +1
2. At each point of the image we calculate an approximation of the gradient in that point by combining both results
above:

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G=

G2x + G2y

Although sometimes the following simpler equation is used:

G = |Gx | + |Gy |

Note:
When the size of the kernel is 3, the Sobel kernel shown above may produce noticeable inaccuracies (after
all, Sobel is only an approximation of the derivative). OpenCV addresses this inaccuracy for kernels of
size 3 by using the Scharr function. This is as fast but more accurate than the standar Sobel function. It
implements the following kernels:

3 0 +3
Gx = 10 0 +10
3 0 +3

3 10 3
0
0
Gy = 0
+3 +10 +3

You can check out more information of this function in the OpenCV reference (Scharr). Also, in the sample code
below, you will notice that above the code for Sobel function there is also code for the Scharr function commented.
Uncommenting it (and obviously commenting the Sobel stuff) should give you an idea of how this function works.

Code
1. What does this program do?
Applies the Sobel Operator and generates as output an image with the detected edges bright on a darker
background.
2. The tutorial codes is shown lines below. You can also download it from here
#include
#include
#include
#include

"opencv2/imgproc/imgproc.hpp"
"opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp"
<stdlib.h>
<stdio.h>

using namespace cv;

/** @function main */
int main( int argc, char** argv )
{
Mat src, src_gray;
Mat grad;
char* window_name = "Sobel Demo - Simple Edge Detector";
int scale = 1;
int delta = 0;
int ddepth = CV_16S;

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int c;
/// Load an image
src = imread( argv[1] );
if( !src.data )
{ return -1; }
GaussianBlur( src, src, Size(3,3), 0, 0, BORDER_DEFAULT );
/// Convert it to gray
cvtColor( src, src_gray, CV_RGB2GRAY );
/// Create window
namedWindow( window_name, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
/// Generate grad_x and grad_y
Mat grad_x, grad_y;
Mat abs_grad_x, abs_grad_y;
/// Gradient X
//Scharr( src_gray, grad_x, ddepth, 1, 0, scale, delta, BORDER_DEFAULT );
Sobel( src_gray, grad_x, ddepth, 1, 0, 3, scale, delta, BORDER_DEFAULT );
convertScaleAbs( grad_x, abs_grad_x );
/// Gradient Y
//Scharr( src_gray, grad_y, ddepth, 0, 1, scale, delta, BORDER_DEFAULT );
Sobel( src_gray, grad_y, ddepth, 0, 1, 3, scale, delta, BORDER_DEFAULT );
convertScaleAbs( grad_y, abs_grad_y );
/// Total Gradient (approximate)
addWeighted( abs_grad_x, 0.5, abs_grad_y, 0.5, 0, grad );
imshow( window_name, grad );
waitKey(0);
return 0;
}

Explanation
1. First we declare the variables we are going to use:
Mat src, src_gray;
Mat grad;
char* window_name = "Sobel Demo - Simple Edge Detector";
int scale = 1;
int delta = 0;
int ddepth = CV_16S;

2. As usual we load our source image src:

src = imread( argv[1] );
if( !src.data )
{ return -1; }

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3. First, we apply a GaussianBlur to our image to reduce the noise ( kernel size = 3 )
GaussianBlur( src, src, Size(3,3), 0, 0, BORDER_DEFAULT );

4. Now we convert our filtered image to grayscale:

cvtColor( src, src_gray, CV_RGB2GRAY );

5. Second, we calculate the derivatives in x and y directions. For this, we use the function Sobel as shown below:
Mat grad_x, grad_y;
Mat abs_grad_x, abs_grad_y;
/// Gradient X
Sobel( src_gray, grad_x, ddepth, 1, 0, 3, scale, delta, BORDER_DEFAULT );
/// Gradient Y
Sobel( src_gray, grad_y, ddepth, 0, 1, 3, scale, delta, BORDER_DEFAULT );

The function takes the following arguments:

src_gray: In our example, the input image. Here it is CV_8U
grad_x/grad_y: The output image.
ddepth: The depth of the output image. We set it to CV_16S to avoid overflow.
x_order: The order of the derivative in x direction.
y_order: The order of the derivative in y direction.
scale, delta and BORDER_DEFAULT: We use default values.
Notice that to calculate the gradient in x direction we use: xorder = 1 and yorder = 0. We do analogously for
the y direction.
6. We convert our partial results back to CV_8U:
convertScaleAbs( grad_x, abs_grad_x );
convertScaleAbs( grad_y, abs_grad_y );

7. Finally, we try to approximate the gradient by adding both directional gradients (note that this is not an exact
calculation at all! but it is good for our purposes).
addWeighted( abs_grad_x, 0.5, abs_grad_y, 0.5, 0, grad );

8. Finally, we show our result:

imshow( window_name, grad );

Results
1. Here is the output of applying our basic detector to lena.jpg:

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3.9 Laplace Operator

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Use the OpenCV function Laplacian to implement a discrete analog of the Laplacian operator.

Theory
1. In the previous tutorial we learned how to use the Sobel Operator. It was based on the fact that in the edge area,
the pixel intensity shows a jump or a high variation of intensity. Getting the first derivative of the intensity,
we observed that an edge is characterized by a maximum, as it can be seen in the figure:

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2. And...what happens if we take the second derivative?

You can observe that the second derivative is zero! So, we can also use this criterion to attempt to detect edges in
an image. However, note that zeros will not only appear in edges (they can actually appear in other meaningless
locations); this can be solved by applying filtering where needed.
Laplacian Operator
1. From the explanation above, we deduce that the second derivative can be used to detect edges. Since images are
2D, we would need to take the derivative in both dimensions. Here, the Laplacian operator comes handy.
2. The Laplacian operator is defined by:

Laplace(f) =

2 f
2 f
+
x2 y2

1. The Laplacian operator is implemented in OpenCV by the function Laplacian. In fact, since the Laplacian uses
the gradient of images, it calls internally the Sobel operator to perform its computation.

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Code
1. What does this program do?
Loads an image
Remove noise by applying a Gaussian blur and then convert the original image to grayscale
Applies a Laplacian operator to the grayscale image and stores the output image
Display the result in a window
2. The tutorial codes is shown lines below. You can also download it from here
#include
#include
#include
#include

"opencv2/imgproc/imgproc.hpp"
"opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp"
<stdlib.h>
<stdio.h>

using namespace cv;

/** @function main */
int main( int argc, char** argv )
{
Mat src, src_gray, dst;
int kernel_size = 3;
int scale = 1;
int delta = 0;
int ddepth = CV_16S;
char* window_name = "Laplace Demo";
int c;
/// Load an image
src = imread( argv[1] );
if( !src.data )
{ return -1; }
/// Remove noise by blurring with a Gaussian filter
GaussianBlur( src, src, Size(3,3), 0, 0, BORDER_DEFAULT );
/// Convert the image to grayscale
cvtColor( src, src_gray, CV_RGB2GRAY );
/// Create window
namedWindow( window_name, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
/// Apply Laplace function
Mat abs_dst;
Laplacian( src_gray, dst, ddepth, kernel_size, scale, delta, BORDER_DEFAULT );
convertScaleAbs( dst, abs_dst );
/// Show what you got
imshow( window_name, abs_dst );
waitKey(0);
return 0;

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Explanation
1. Create some needed variables:
Mat src, src_gray, dst;
int kernel_size = 3;
int scale = 1;
int delta = 0;
int ddepth = CV_16S;
char* window_name = "Laplace Demo";

2. Loads the source image:

src = imread( argv[1] );
if( !src.data )
{ return -1; }

3. Apply a Gaussian blur to reduce noise:

GaussianBlur( src, src, Size(3,3), 0, 0, BORDER_DEFAULT );

4. Convert the image to grayscale using cvtColor

cvtColor( src, src_gray, CV_RGB2GRAY );

5. Apply the Laplacian operator to the grayscale image:

Laplacian( src_gray, dst, ddepth, kernel_size, scale, delta, BORDER_DEFAULT );

where the arguments are:

src_gray: The input image.
dst: Destination (output) image
ddepth: Depth of the destination image. Since our input is CV_8U we define ddepth = CV_16S to avoid
overflow
kernel_size: The kernel size of the Sobel operator to be applied internally. We use 3 in this example.
scale, delta and BORDER_DEFAULT: We leave them as default values.
6. Convert the output from the Laplacian operator to a CV_8U image:
convertScaleAbs( dst, abs_dst );

7. Display the result in a window:

imshow( window_name, abs_dst );

Results
1. After compiling the code above, we can run it giving as argument the path to an image. For example, using as
an input:

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2. We obtain the following result. Notice how the trees and the silhouette of the cow are approximately well defined
(except in areas in which the intensity are very similar, i.e. around the cows head). Also, note that the roof of
the house behind the trees (right side) is notoriously marked. This is due to the fact that the contrast is higher in
that region.

3.10 Canny Edge Detector

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Use the OpenCV function Canny to implement the Canny Edge Detector.

Theory
1. The Canny Edge detector was developed by John F. Canny in 1986. Also known to many as the optimal detector,
Canny algorithm aims to satisfy three main criteria:

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Low error rate: Meaning a good detection of only existent edges.

Good localization: The distance between edge pixels detected and real edge pixels have to be minimized.
Minimal response: Only one detector response per edge.
Steps
1. Filter out any noise. The Gaussian filter is used for this purpose. An example of a Gaussian kernel of size = 5
that might be used is shown below:

2 4 5 4 2
4 9 12 9 4

1
5 12 15 12 5
K=

159
4 9 12 9 4
2 4 5 4 2
2. Find the intensity gradient of the image. For this, we follow a procedure analogous to Sobel:
(a) Apply a pair of convolution masks (in x and y directions:

1 0 +1
Gx = 2 0 +2
1 0 +1

1 2 1
0
0
Gy = 0
+1 +2 +1
(b) Find the gradient strength and direction with:
q

G2x + G2y
Gy
= arctan(
)
Gx

G=

The direction is rounded to one of four possible angles (namely 0, 45, 90 or 135)
3. Non-maximum suppression is applied. This removes pixels that are not considered to be part of an edge. Hence,
only thin lines (candidate edges) will remain.
4. Hysteresis: The final step. Canny does use two thresholds (upper and lower):
(a) If a pixel gradient is higher than the upper threshold, the pixel is accepted as an edge
(b) If a pixel gradient value is below the lower threshold, then it is rejected.
(c) If the pixel gradient is between the two thresholds, then it will be accepted only if it is connected to a pixel
that is above the upper threshold.
Canny recommended a upper:lower ratio between 2:1 and 3:1.
5. For more details, you can always consult your favorite Computer Vision book.

Code
1. What does this program do?

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Asks the user to enter a numerical value to set the lower threshold for our Canny Edge Detector (by means
of a Trackbar)
Applies the Canny Detector and generates a mask (bright lines representing the edges on a black background).
Applies the mask obtained on the original image and display it in a window.
2. The tutorial codes is shown lines below. You can also download it from here
#include
#include
#include
#include

"opencv2/imgproc/imgproc.hpp"
"opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp"
<stdlib.h>
<stdio.h>

using namespace cv;

/// Global variables
Mat src, src_gray;
Mat dst, detected_edges;
int edgeThresh = 1;
int lowThreshold;
int const max_lowThreshold = 100;
int ratio = 3;
int kernel_size = 3;
char* window_name = "Edge Map";
/**
* @function CannyThreshold
* @brief Trackbar callback - Canny thresholds input with a ratio 1:3
*/
void CannyThreshold(int, void*)
{
/// Reduce noise with a kernel 3x3
blur( src_gray, detected_edges, Size(3,3) );
/// Canny detector
Canny( detected_edges, detected_edges, lowThreshold, lowThreshold*ratio, kernel_size );
/// Using Cannys output as a mask, we display our result
dst = Scalar::all(0);
src.copyTo( dst, detected_edges);
imshow( window_name, dst );
}

/** @function main */

int main( int argc, char** argv )
{
/// Load an image
src = imread( argv[1] );
if( !src.data )
{ return -1; }
/// Create a matrix of the same type and size as src (for dst)
dst.create( src.size(), src.type() );

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/// Convert the image to grayscale

cvtColor( src, src_gray, CV_BGR2GRAY );
/// Create a window
namedWindow( window_name, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
/// Create a Trackbar for user to enter threshold
createTrackbar( "Min Threshold:", window_name, &lowThreshold, max_lowThreshold, CannyThreshold );
/// Show the image
CannyThreshold(0, 0);
/// Wait until user exit program by pressing a key
waitKey(0);
return 0;
}

Explanation
1. Create some needed variables:
Mat src, src_gray;
Mat dst, detected_edges;
int edgeThresh = 1;
int lowThreshold;
int const max_lowThreshold = 100;
int ratio = 3;
int kernel_size = 3;
char* window_name = "Edge Map";
Note the following:

a. We establish a ratio of lower:upper threshold of 3:1 (with the variable *ratio*)

b. We set the kernel size of :math:3 (for the Sobel operations to be performed internally by the Canny function
c. We set a maximum value for the lower Threshold of :math:100.

2. Loads the source image:

/// Load an image
src = imread( argv[1] );
if( !src.data )
{ return -1; }

3. Create a matrix of the same type and size of src (to be dst)
dst.create( src.size(), src.type() );

4. Convert the image to grayscale (using the function cvtColor:

cvtColor( src, src_gray, CV_BGR2GRAY );

5. Create a window to display the results

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namedWindow( window_name, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );

6. Create a Trackbar for the user to enter the lower threshold for our Canny detector:
createTrackbar( "Min Threshold:", window_name, &lowThreshold, max_lowThreshold, CannyThreshold );

Observe the following:

(a) The variable to be controlled by the Trackbar is lowThreshold with a limit of max_lowThreshold (which
we set to 100 previously)
(b) Each time the Trackbar registers an action, the callback function CannyThreshold will be invoked.
7. Lets check the CannyThreshold function, step by step:
(a) First, we blur the image with a filter of kernel size 3:
blur( src_gray, detected_edges, Size(3,3) );

(b) Second, we apply the OpenCV function Canny:

Canny( detected_edges, detected_edges, lowThreshold, lowThreshold*ratio, kernel_size );

where the arguments are:

detected_edges: Source image, grayscale
detected_edges: Output of the detector (can be the same as the input)
lowThreshold: The value entered by the user moving the Trackbar
highThreshold: Set in the program as three times the lower threshold (following Cannys recommendation)
kernel_size: We defined it to be 3 (the size of the Sobel kernel to be used internally)
8. We fill a dst image with zeros (meaning the image is completely black).
dst = Scalar::all(0);

9. Finally, we will use the function copyTo to map only the areas of the image that are identified as edges (on a
black background).
src.copyTo( dst, detected_edges);

copyTo copy the src image onto dst. However, it will only copy the pixels in the locations where they have nonzero values. Since the output of the Canny detector is the edge contours on a black background, the resulting
dst will be black in all the area but the detected edges.
10. We display our result:
imshow( window_name, dst );

Result
After compiling the code above, we can run it giving as argument the path to an image. For example, using as
an input the following image:

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Moving the slider, trying different threshold, we obtain the following result:

Notice how the image is superposed to the black background on the edge regions.

3.11 Hough Line Transform

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Use the OpenCV functions HoughLines and HoughLinesP to detect lines in an image.

Theory
Note: The explanation below belongs to the book Learning OpenCV by Bradski and Kaehler.

Hough Line Transform

1. The Hough Line Transform is a transform used to detect straight lines.
2. To apply the Transform, first an edge detection pre-processing is desirable.

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How does it work?

1. As you know, a line in the image space can be expressed with two variables. For example:
(a) In the Cartesian coordinate system: Parameters: (m, b).
(b) In the Polar coordinate system: Parameters: (r, )

For Hough Transforms, we will express lines in the Polar system. Hence, a line equation can be written as:


 r 
cos
y=
x+
sin
sin
Arranging the terms: r = x cos + y sin
1. In general for each point (x0 , y0 ), we can define the family of lines that goes through that point as:
r = x0 cos + y0 sin
Meaning that each pair (r , ) represents each line that passes by (x0 , y0 ).
2. If for a given (x0 , y0 ) we plot the family of lines that goes through it, we get a sinusoid. For instance, for x0 = 8
and y0 = 6 we get the following plot (in a plane - r):

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We consider only points such that r > 0 and 0 < < 2.

3. We can do the same operation above for all the points in an image. If the curves of two different points intersect
in the plane - r, that means that both points belong to a same line. For instance, following with the example
above and drawing the plot for two more points: x1 = 9, y1 = 4 and x2 = 12, y2 = 3, we get:

The three plots intersect in one single point (0.925, 9.6), these coordinates are the parameters (, r) or the line
in which (x0 , y0 ), (x1 , y1 ) and (x2 , y2 ) lay.
4. What does all the stuff above mean? It means that in general, a line can be detected by finding the number of
intersections between curves.The more curves intersecting means that the line represented by that intersection
have more points. In general, we can define a threshold of the minimum number of intersections needed to
detect a line.
5. This is what the Hough Line Transform does. It keeps track of the intersection between curves of every point in
the image. If the number of intersections is above some threshold, then it declares it as a line with the parameters
(, r ) of the intersection point.
Standard and Probabilistic Hough Line Transform

OpenCV implements two kind of Hough Line Transforms:

1. The Standard Hough Transform
It consists in pretty much what we just explained in the previous section. It gives you as result a vector of
couples (, r )
In OpenCV it is implemented with the function HoughLines
2. The Probabilistic Hough Line Transform
A more efficient implementation of the Hough Line Transform. It gives as output the extremes of the detected
lines (x0 , y0 , x1 , y1 )
In OpenCV it is implemented with the function HoughLinesP

Code
1. What does this program do?
Loads an image
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Applies either a Standard Hough Line Transform or a Probabilistic Line Transform.

Display the original image and the detected line in two windows.
2. The sample code that we will explain can be downloaded from here. A slightly fancier version (which shows
both Hough standard and probabilistic with trackbars for changing the threshold values) can be found here.
#include "opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp"
#include "opencv2/imgproc/imgproc.hpp"
#include <iostream>
using namespace cv;
using namespace std;
void help()
{
cout << "\nThis program demonstrates line finding with the Hough transform.\n"
"Usage:\n"
"./houghlines <image_name>, Default is pic1.jpg\n" << endl;
}
int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
const char* filename = argc >= 2 ? argv[1] : "pic1.jpg";
Mat src = imread(filename, 0);
if(src.empty())
{
help();
cout << "can not open " << filename << endl;
return -1;
}
Mat dst, cdst;
Canny(src, dst, 50, 200, 3);
cvtColor(dst, cdst, CV_GRAY2BGR);
#if 0
vector<Vec2f> lines;
HoughLines(dst, lines, 1, CV_PI/180, 100, 0, 0 );
for( size_t i = 0; i < lines.size(); i++ )
{
float rho = lines[i][0], theta = lines[i][1];
Point pt1, pt2;
double a = cos(theta), b = sin(theta);
double x0 = a*rho, y0 = b*rho;
pt1.x = cvRound(x0 + 1000*(-b));
pt1.y = cvRound(y0 + 1000*(a));
pt2.x = cvRound(x0 - 1000*(-b));
pt2.y = cvRound(y0 - 1000*(a));
line( cdst, pt1, pt2, Scalar(0,0,255), 3, CV_AA);
}
#else
vector<Vec4i> lines;
HoughLinesP(dst, lines, 1, CV_PI/180, 50, 50, 10 );
for( size_t i = 0; i < lines.size(); i++ )
{

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Vec4i l = lines[i];
line( cdst, Point(l[0], l[1]), Point(l[2], l[3]), Scalar(0,0,255), 3, CV_AA);
}
#endif
imshow("source", src);
imshow("detected lines", cdst);
waitKey();
return 0;
}

Explanation
1. Load an image
Mat src = imread(filename, 0);
if(src.empty())
{
help();
cout << "can not open " << filename << endl;
return -1;
}

2. Detect the edges of the image by using a Canny detector

Canny(src, dst, 50, 200, 3);

Now we will apply the Hough Line Transform. We will explain how to use both OpenCV functions available
for this purpose:
3. Standard Hough Line Transform
(a) First, you apply the Transform:
vector<Vec2f> lines;
HoughLines(dst, lines, 1, CV_PI/180, 100, 0, 0 );

with the following arguments:

dst: Output of the edge detector. It should be a grayscale image (although in fact it is a binary one)
lines: A vector that will store the parameters (r, ) of the detected lines
rho : The resolution of the parameter r in pixels. We use 1 pixel.
theta: The resolution of the parameter in radians. We use 1 degree (CV_PI/180)
threshold: The minimum number of intersections to detect a line
srn and stn: Default parameters to zero. Check OpenCV reference for more info.
(b) And then you display the result by drawing the lines.
for( size_t i = 0; i < lines.size(); i++ )
{
float rho = lines[i][0], theta = lines[i][1];
Point pt1, pt2;
double a = cos(theta), b = sin(theta);
double x0 = a*rho, y0 = b*rho;
pt1.x = cvRound(x0 + 1000*(-b));

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pt1.y
pt2.x
pt2.y
line(

= cvRound(y0 + 1000*(a));
= cvRound(x0 - 1000*(-b));
= cvRound(y0 - 1000*(a));
cdst, pt1, pt2, Scalar(0,0,255), 3, CV_AA);

4. Probabilistic Hough Line Transform

(a) First you apply the transform:
vector<Vec4i> lines;
HoughLinesP(dst, lines, 1, CV_PI/180, 50, 50, 10 );

with the arguments:

dst: Output of the edge detector. It should be a grayscale image (although in fact it is a binary one)
lines: A vector that will store the parameters (xstart , ystart , xend , yend ) of the detected lines
rho : The resolution of the parameter r in pixels. We use 1 pixel.
theta: The resolution of the parameter in radians. We use 1 degree (CV_PI/180)
threshold: The minimum number of intersections to detect a line
minLinLength: The minimum number of points that can form a line. Lines with less than this number
of points are disregarded.
maxLineGap: The maximum gap between two points to be considered in the same line.
(b) And then you display the result by drawing the lines.
for( size_t i = 0; i < lines.size(); i++ )
{
Vec4i l = lines[i];
line( cdst, Point(l[0], l[1]), Point(l[2], l[3]), Scalar(0,0,255), 3, CV_AA);
}

5. Display the original image and the detected lines:

imshow("source", src);
imshow("detected lines", cdst);

6. Wait until the user exits the program

waitKey();

Result
Note: The results below are obtained using the slightly fancier version we mentioned in the Code section. It still
implements the same stuff as above, only adding the Trackbar for the Threshold.
Using an input image such as:

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We get the following result by using the Probabilistic Hough Line Transform:

You may observe that the number of lines detected vary while you change the threshold. The explanation is sort of
evident: If you establish a higher threshold, fewer lines will be detected (since you will need more points to declare a
line detected).

3.12 Hough Circle Transform

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Use the OpenCV function HoughCircles to detect circles in an image.

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Theory
Hough Circle Transform
The Hough Circle Transform works in a roughly analogous way to the Hough Line Transform explained in the
previous tutorial.
In the line detection case, a line was defined by two parameters (r, ). In the circle case, we need three parameters to define a circle:
C : (xcenter , ycenter , r)
where (xcenter , ycenter ) define the center position (gree point) and r is the radius, which allows us to completely define a circle, as it can be seen below:

For sake of efficiency, OpenCV implements a detection method slightly trickier than the standard Hough Transform: The Hough gradient method. For more details, please check the book Learning OpenCV or your favorite
Computer Vision bibliography

Code
1. What does this program do?
Loads an image and blur it to reduce the noise
Applies the Hough Circle Transform to the blurred image .
Display the detected circle in a window.
2. The sample code that we will explain can be downloaded from here. A slightly fancier version (which shows
both Hough standard and probabilistic with trackbars for changing the threshold values) can be found here.
#include
#include
#include
#include

"opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp"
"opencv2/imgproc/imgproc.hpp"
<iostream>
<stdio.h>

using namespace cv;

/** @function main */

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int main(int argc, char** argv)

{
Mat src, src_gray;
/// Read the image
src = imread( argv[1], 1 );
if( !src.data )
{ return -1; }
/// Convert it to gray
cvtColor( src, src_gray, CV_BGR2GRAY );
/// Reduce the noise so we avoid false circle detection
GaussianBlur( src_gray, src_gray, Size(9, 9), 2, 2 );
vector<Vec3f> circles;
/// Apply the Hough Transform to find the circles
HoughCircles( src_gray, circles, CV_HOUGH_GRADIENT, 1, src_gray.rows/8, 200, 100, 0, 0 );
/// Draw the circles detected
for( size_t i = 0; i < circles.size(); i++ )
{
Point center(cvRound(circles[i][0]), cvRound(circles[i][1]));
int radius = cvRound(circles[i][2]);
// circle center
circle( src, center, 3, Scalar(0,255,0), -1, 8, 0 );
// circle outline
circle( src, center, radius, Scalar(0,0,255), 3, 8, 0 );
}
/// Show your results
namedWindow( "Hough Circle Transform Demo", CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
imshow( "Hough Circle Transform Demo", src );
waitKey(0);
return 0;
}

Explanation
1. Load an image
src = imread( argv[1], 1 );
if( !src.data )
{ return -1; }

2. Convert it to grayscale:
cvtColor( src, src_gray, CV_BGR2GRAY );

3. Apply a Gaussian blur to reduce noise and avoid false circle detection:
GaussianBlur( src_gray, src_gray, Size(9, 9), 2, 2 );

4. Proceed to apply Hough Circle Transform:

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vector<Vec3f> circles;
HoughCircles( src_gray, circles, CV_HOUGH_GRADIENT, 1, src_gray.rows/8, 200, 100, 0, 0 );

with the arguments:

src_gray: Input image (grayscale)
circles: A vector that stores sets of 3 values: xc , yc , r for each detected circle.
CV_HOUGH_GRADIENT: Define the detection method. Currently this is the only one available in
OpenCV
dp = 1: The inverse ratio of resolution
min_dist = src_gray.rows/8: Minimum distance between detected centers
param_1 = 200: Upper threshold for the internal Canny edge detector
param_2 = 100*: Threshold for center detection.
min_radius = 0: Minimum radio to be detected. If unknown, put zero as default.
max_radius = 0: Maximum radius to be detected. If unknown, put zero as default
5. Draw the detected circles:
for( size_t i = 0; i < circles.size(); i++ )
{
Point center(cvRound(circles[i][0]), cvRound(circles[i][1]));
int radius = cvRound(circles[i][2]);
// circle center
circle( src, center, 3, Scalar(0,255,0), -1, 8, 0 );
// circle outline
circle( src, center, radius, Scalar(0,0,255), 3, 8, 0 );
}

You can see that we will draw the circle(s) on red and the center(s) with a small green dot
6. Display the detected circle(s):
namedWindow( "Hough Circle Transform Demo", CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
imshow( "Hough Circle Transform Demo", src );

7. Wait for the user to exit the program

waitKey(0);

Result
The result of running the code above with a test image is shown below:

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3.13 Remapping
Goal
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
1. Use the OpenCV function remap to implement simple remapping routines.

Theory
What is remapping?
It is the process of taking pixels from one place in the image and locating them in another position in a new
image.
To accomplish the mapping process, it might be necessary to do some interpolation for non-integer pixel locations, since there will not always be a one-to-one-pixel correspondence between source and destination images.
We can express the remap for every pixel location (x, y) as:
g(x, y) = f(h(x, y))
where g() is the remapped image, f() the source image and h(x, y) is the mapping function that operates on
(x, y).
Lets think in a quick example. Imagine that we have an image I and, say, we want to do a remap such that:
h(x, y) = (I.cols x, y)
What would happen? It is easily seen that the image would flip in the x direction. For instance, consider the
input image:

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observe how the red circle changes positions with respect to x (considering x the horizontal direction):

In OpenCV, the function remap offers a simple remapping implementation.

Code
1. What does this program do?
Loads an image
Each second, apply 1 of 4 different remapping processes to the image and display them indefinitely in a
window.
Wait for the user to exit the program
2. The tutorial codes is shown lines below. You can also download it from here
#include
#include
#include
#include

"opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp"
"opencv2/imgproc/imgproc.hpp"
<iostream>
<stdio.h>

using namespace cv;

/// Global variables
Mat src, dst;

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Mat map_x, map_y;

char* remap_window = "Remap demo";
int ind = 0;
/// Function Headers
void update_map( void );
/**
* @function main
*/
int main( int argc, char** argv )
{
/// Load the image
src = imread( argv[1], 1 );
/// Create dst, map_x and map_y with the same size as src:
dst.create( src.size(), src.type() );
map_x.create( src.size(), CV_32FC1 );
map_y.create( src.size(), CV_32FC1 );
/// Create window
namedWindow( remap_window, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
/// Loop
while( true )
{
/// Each 1 sec. Press ESC to exit the program
int c = waitKey( 1000 );
if( (char)c == 27 )
{ break; }
/// Update map_x & map_y. Then apply remap
update_map();
remap( src, dst, map_x, map_y, CV_INTER_LINEAR, BORDER_CONSTANT, Scalar(0,0, 0) );
/// Display results
imshow( remap_window, dst );
}
return 0;
}
/**
* @function update_map
* @brief Fill the map_x and map_y matrices with 4 types of mappings
*/
void update_map( void )
{
ind = ind%4;
for( int j = 0; j
{ for( int i = 0;
{
switch( ind
{
case 0:
if( i >
{

196

< src.rows; j++ )

i < src.cols; i++ )
)

src.cols*0.25 && i < src.cols*0.75 && j > src.rows*0.25 && j < src.rows*0.75 )

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map_x.at<float>(j,i)
map_y.at<float>(j,i)
}
else
{ map_x.at<float>(j,i)
map_y.at<float>(j,i)
}
break;
case 1:
map_x.at<float>(j,i)
map_y.at<float>(j,i)
break;
case 2:
map_x.at<float>(j,i)
map_y.at<float>(j,i)
break;
case 3:
map_x.at<float>(j,i)
map_y.at<float>(j,i)
break;
} // end of switch

= 2*( i - src.cols*0.25 ) + 0.5 ;

= 2*( j - src.rows*0.25 ) + 0.5 ;

= 0 ;
= 0 ;

= i ;
= src.rows - j ;

= src.cols - i ;
= j ;

= src.cols - i ;
= src.rows - j ;

}
}
ind++;
}

Explanation
1. Create some variables we will use:
Mat src, dst;
Mat map_x, map_y;
char* remap_window = "Remap demo";
int ind = 0;

2. Load an image:
src = imread( argv[1], 1 );

3. Create the destination image and the two mapping matrices (for x and y )
dst.create( src.size(), src.type() );
map_x.create( src.size(), CV_32FC1 );
map_y.create( src.size(), CV_32FC1 );

4. Create a window to display results

namedWindow( remap_window, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );

5. Establish a loop. Each 1000 ms we update our mapping matrices (mat_x and mat_y) and apply them to our
source image:
while( true )
{
/// Each 1 sec. Press ESC to exit the program
int c = waitKey( 1000 );
if( (char)c == 27 )

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{ break; }
/// Update map_x & map_y. Then apply remap
update_map();
remap( src, dst, map_x, map_y, CV_INTER_LINEAR, BORDER_CONSTANT, Scalar(0,0, 0) );
/// Display results
imshow( remap_window, dst );
}

The function that applies the remapping is remap. We give the following arguments:
src: Source image
dst: Destination image of same size as src
map_x: The mapping function in the x direction. It is equivalent to the first component of h(i, j)
map_y: Same as above, but in y direction. Note that map_y and map_x are both of the same size as src
CV_INTER_LINEAR: The type of interpolation to use for non-integer pixels. This is by default.
BORDER_CONSTANT: Default
How do we update our mapping matrices mat_x and mat_y? Go on reading:
6. Updating the mapping matrices: We are going to perform 4 different mappings:
(a) Reduce the picture to half its size and will display it in the middle:
h(i, j) = (2 i src.cols/2 + 0.5, 2 j src.rows/2 + 0.5)
src.cols
3 src.cols
src.rows
3 src.rows
<i<
and
<j<
4
4
4
4
(b) Turn the image upside down: h(i, j) = (i, src.rows j)
for all pairs (i, j) such that:

(c) Reflect the image from left to right: h(i, j) = (src.cols i, j)

(d) Combination of b and c: h(i, j) = (src.cols i, src.rows j)
This is expressed in the following snippet. Here, map_x represents the first coordinate of h(i,j) and map_y
the second coordinate.
for( int j = 0; j < src.rows; j++ )
{ for( int i = 0; i < src.cols; i++ )
{
switch( ind )
{
case 0:
if( i > src.cols*0.25 && i < src.cols*0.75 && j > src.rows*0.25 && j < src.rows*0.75 )
{
map_x.at<float>(j,i) = 2*( i - src.cols*0.25 ) + 0.5 ;
map_y.at<float>(j,i) = 2*( j - src.rows*0.25 ) + 0.5 ;
}
else
{ map_x.at<float>(j,i) = 0 ;
map_y.at<float>(j,i) = 0 ;
}
break;
case 1:
map_x.at<float>(j,i) = i ;
map_y.at<float>(j,i) = src.rows - j ;

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break;
case 2:
map_x.at<float>(j,i)
map_y.at<float>(j,i)
break;
case 3:
map_x.at<float>(j,i)
map_y.at<float>(j,i)
break;
} // end of switch

= src.cols - i ;
= j ;

= src.cols - i ;
= src.rows - j ;

}
}
ind++;
}

Result
1. After compiling the code above, you can execute it giving as argument an image path. For instance, by using
the following image:

2. This is the result of reducing it to half the size and centering it:

3. Turning it upside down:

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4. Reflecting it in the x direction:

5. Reflecting it in both directions:

3.14 Affine Transformations

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
1. Use the OpenCV function warpAffine to implement simple remapping routines.
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2. Use the OpenCV function getRotationMatrix2D to obtain a 2 3 rotation matrix

Theory
What is an Affine Transformation?
1. It is any transformation that can be expressed in the form of a matrix multiplication (linear transformation)
followed by a vector addition (translation).
2. From the above, We can use an Affine Transformation to express:
(a) Rotations (linear transformation)
(b) Translations (vector addition)
(c) Scale operations (linear transformation)
you can see that, in essence, an Affine Transformation represents a relation between two images.
3. The usual way to represent an Affine Transform is by using a 2 3 matrix.




b00
a00 a01
B=
A=
b10 21
a10 a11 22




a
a01 b00
M = A B = 00
a10 a11 b10 23
Considering that we want to transform a 2D vector X =

 
x
by using A and B, we can do it equivalently with:
y

 
x
T =A
+ B or T = M [x, y, 1]T
y


a00 x + a01 y + b00
T=
a10 x + a11 y + b10
How do we get an Affine Transformation?
1. Excellent question. We mentioned that an Affine Transformation is basically a relation between two images.
The information about this relation can come, roughly, in two ways:
(a) We know both X and T and we also know that they are related. Then our job is to find M
(b) We know M and :math:X. To obtain T we only need to apply T = M X. Our information for M may
be explicit (i.e. have the 2-by-3 matrix) or it can come as a geometric relation between points.
2. Lets explain a little bit better (b). Since M relates 02 images, we can analyze the simplest case in which it
relates three points in both images. Look at the figure below:

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the points 1, 2 and 3 (forming a triangle in image 1) are mapped into image 2, still forming a triangle, but now
they have changed notoriously. If we find the Affine Transformation with these 3 points (you can choose them
as you like), then we can apply this found relation to the whole pixels in the image.

Code
1. What does this program do?
Loads an image
Applies an Affine Transform to the image. This Transform is obtained from the relation between three
points. We use the function warpAffine for that purpose.
Applies a Rotation to the image after being transformed. This rotation is with respect to the image center
Waits until the user exits the program
2. The tutorial codes is shown lines below. You can also download it from here
#include
#include
#include
#include

"opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp"
"opencv2/imgproc/imgproc.hpp"
<iostream>
<stdio.h>

using namespace cv;

using namespace std;
/// Global variables
char* source_window = "Source image";
char* warp_window = "Warp";
char* warp_rotate_window = "Warp + Rotate";
/** @function main */
int main( int argc, char** argv )
{
Point2f srcTri[3];
Point2f dstTri[3];
Mat rot_mat( 2, 3, CV_32FC1 );
Mat warp_mat( 2, 3, CV_32FC1 );
Mat src, warp_dst, warp_rotate_dst;
/// Load the image
src = imread( argv[1], 1 );

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/// Set the dst image the same type and size as src
warp_dst = Mat::zeros( src.rows, src.cols, src.type() );
/// Set your 3 points to calculate the Affine Transform
srcTri[0] = Point2f( 0,0 );
srcTri[1] = Point2f( src.cols - 1, 0 );
srcTri[2] = Point2f( 0, src.rows - 1 );
dstTri[0] = Point2f( src.cols*0.0, src.rows*0.33 );
dstTri[1] = Point2f( src.cols*0.85, src.rows*0.25 );
dstTri[2] = Point2f( src.cols*0.15, src.rows*0.7 );
/// Get the Affine Transform
warp_mat = getAffineTransform( srcTri, dstTri );
/// Apply the Affine Transform just found to the src image
warpAffine( src, warp_dst, warp_mat, warp_dst.size() );
/** Rotating the image after Warp */
/// Compute a rotation matrix with respect to the center of the image
Point center = Point( warp_dst.cols/2, warp_dst.rows/2 );
double angle = -50.0;
double scale = 0.6;
/// Get the rotation matrix with the specifications above
rot_mat = getRotationMatrix2D( center, angle, scale );
/// Rotate the warped image
warpAffine( warp_dst, warp_rotate_dst, rot_mat, warp_dst.size() );
/// Show what you got
namedWindow( source_window, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
imshow( source_window, src );
namedWindow( warp_window, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
imshow( warp_window, warp_dst );
namedWindow( warp_rotate_window, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
imshow( warp_rotate_window, warp_rotate_dst );
/// Wait until user exits the program
waitKey(0);
return 0;
}

Explanation
1. Declare some variables we will use, such as the matrices to store our results and 2 arrays of points to store the
2D points that define our Affine Transform.
Point2f srcTri[3];
Point2f dstTri[3];
Mat rot_mat( 2, 3, CV_32FC1 );

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Mat warp_mat( 2, 3, CV_32FC1 );

Mat src, warp_dst, warp_rotate_dst;

2. Load an image:
src = imread( argv[1], 1 );

3. Initialize the destination image as having the same size and type as the source:
warp_dst = Mat::zeros( src.rows, src.cols, src.type() );

4. Affine Transform: As we explained lines above, we need two sets of 3 points to derive the affine transform
relation. Take a look:
srcTri[0] = Point2f( 0,0 );
srcTri[1] = Point2f( src.cols - 1, 0 );
srcTri[2] = Point2f( 0, src.rows - 1 );
dstTri[0] = Point2f( src.cols*0.0, src.rows*0.33 );
dstTri[1] = Point2f( src.cols*0.85, src.rows*0.25 );
dstTri[2] = Point2f( src.cols*0.15, src.rows*0.7 );

You may want to draw the points to make a better idea of how they change. Their locations are approximately
the same as the ones depicted in the example figure (in the Theory section). You may note that the size and
orientation of the triangle defined by the 3 points change.
5. Armed with both sets of points, we calculate the Affine Transform by using OpenCV function getAffineTransform:
warp_mat = getAffineTransform( srcTri, dstTri );

We get as an output a 2 3 matrix (in this case warp_mat)

6. We apply the Affine Transform just found to the src image
warpAffine( src, warp_dst, warp_mat, warp_dst.size() );

with the following arguments:

src: Input image
warp_dst: Output image
warp_mat: Affine transform
warp_dst.size(): The desired size of the output image
We just got our first transformed image! We will display it in one bit. Before that, we also want to rotate it...
7. Rotate: To rotate an image, we need to know two things:
(a) The center with respect to which the image will rotate
(b) The angle to be rotated. In OpenCV a positive angle is counter-clockwise
(c) Optional: A scale factor
We define these parameters with the following snippet:
Point center = Point( warp_dst.cols/2, warp_dst.rows/2 );
double angle = -50.0;
double scale = 0.6;

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8. We generate the rotation matrix with the OpenCV function getRotationMatrix2D, which returns a 2 3 matrix
(in this case rot_mat)
rot_mat = getRotationMatrix2D( center, angle, scale );

9. We now apply the found rotation to the output of our previous Transformation.
warpAffine( warp_dst, warp_rotate_dst, rot_mat, warp_dst.size() );

10. Finally, we display our results in two windows plus the original image for good measure:
namedWindow( source_window, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
imshow( source_window, src );
namedWindow( warp_window, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
imshow( warp_window, warp_dst );
namedWindow( warp_rotate_window, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
imshow( warp_rotate_window, warp_rotate_dst );

11. We just have to wait until the user exits the program
waitKey(0);

Result
1. After compiling the code above, we can give it the path of an image as argument. For instance, for a picture
like:

after applying the first Affine Transform we obtain:

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and finally, after applying a negative rotation (remember negative means clockwise) and a scale factor, we get:

3.15 Histogram Equalization

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn:
What an image histogram is and why it is useful
To equalize histograms of images by using the OpenCV function:equalize_hist:equalizeHist <>

Theory
What is an Image Histogram?
It is a graphical representation of the intensity distribution of an image.
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It quantifies the number of pixels for each intensity value considered.

What is Histogram Equalization?

It is a method that improves the contrast in an image, in order to stretch out the intensity range.
To make it clearer, from the image above, you can see that the pixels seem clustered around the middle of the
available range of intensities. What Histogram Equalization does is to stretch out this range. Take a look at the
figure below: The green circles indicate the underpopulated intensities. After applying the equalization, we get
an histogram like the figure in the center. The resulting image is shown in the picture at right.

How does it work?

Equalization implies mapping one distribution (the given histogram) to another distribution (a wider and more
uniform distribution of intensity values) so the intensity values are spreaded over the whole range.
To accomplish the equalization effect, the remapping should be the cumulative distribution function (cdf) (more

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details, refer to Learning OpenCV). For the histogram H(i), its cumulative distribution H (i) is:
X
0
H(j)
H (i) =
0j<i
0

To use this as a remapping function, we have to normalize H (i) such that the maximum value is 255 ( or the
maximum value for the intensity of the image ). From the example above, the cumulative function is:

Finally, we use a simple remapping procedure to obtain the intensity values of the equalized image:
0

equalized(x, y) = H (src(x, y))

Code
What does this program do?
Loads an image
Convert the original image to grayscale
Equalize the Histogram by using the OpenCV function EqualizeHist
Display the source and equalized images in a window.
Downloadable code: Click here
Code at glance:
#include
#include
#include
#include

"opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp"
"opencv2/imgproc/imgproc.hpp"
<iostream>
<stdio.h>

using namespace cv;

using namespace std;
/** @function main */
int main( int argc, char** argv )
{
Mat src, dst;

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char* source_window = "Source image";

char* equalized_window = "Equalized Image";
/// Load image
src = imread( argv[1], 1 );
if( !src.data )
{ cout<<"Usage: ./Histogram_Demo <path_to_image>"<<endl;
return -1;}
/// Convert to grayscale
cvtColor( src, src, CV_BGR2GRAY );
/// Apply Histogram Equalization
equalizeHist( src, dst );
/// Display results
namedWindow( source_window, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
namedWindow( equalized_window, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
imshow( source_window, src );
imshow( equalized_window, dst );
/// Wait until user exits the program
waitKey(0);
return 0;
}

Explanation
1. Declare the source and destination images as well as the windows names:
Mat src, dst;
char* source_window = "Source image";
char* equalized_window = "Equalized Image";

2. Load the source image:

src = imread( argv[1], 1 );
if( !src.data )
{ cout<<"Usage: ./Histogram_Demo <path_to_image>"<<endl;
return -1;}

3. Convert it to grayscale:
cvtColor( src, src, CV_BGR2GRAY );

4. Apply histogram equalization with the function equalizeHist :

equalizeHist( src, dst );

As it can be easily seen, the only arguments are the original image and the output (equalized) image.
5. Display both images (original and equalized) :

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namedWindow( source_window, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );

namedWindow( equalized_window, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
imshow( source_window, src );
imshow( equalized_window, dst );

6. Wait until user exists the program

waitKey(0);
return 0;

Results
1. To appreciate better the results of equalization, lets introduce an image with not much contrast, such as:

which, by the way, has this histogram:

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notice that the pixels are clustered around the center of the histogram.
2. After applying the equalization with our program, we get this result:

this image has certainly more contrast. Check out its new histogram like this:

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Notice how the number of pixels is more distributed through the intensity range.
Note: Are you wondering how did we draw the Histogram figures shown above? Check out the following tutorial!

3.16 Histogram Calculation

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Use the OpenCV function split to divide an image into its correspondent planes.
To calculate histograms of arrays of images by using the OpenCV function calcHist
To normalize an array by using the function normalize
Note: In the last tutorial (Histogram Equalization) we talked about a particular kind of histogram called Image
histogram. Now we will considerate it in its more general concept. Read on!

What are histograms?

Histograms are collected counts of data organized into a set of predefined bins
When we say data we are not restricting it to be intensity values (as we saw in the previous Tutorial). The data
collected can be whatever feature you find useful to describe your image.
Lets see an example. Imagine that a Matrix contains information of an image (i.e. intensity in the range 0255):

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What happens if we want to count this data in an organized way? Since we know that the range of information
value for this case is 256 values, we can segment our range in subparts (called bins) like:
[0, 255] = [0, 15] [16, 31] .... [240, 255]
range = bin1 bin2 .... binn=15

and we can keep count of the number of pixels that fall in the range of each bini . Applying this to the example
above we get the image below ( axis x represents the bins and axis y the number of pixels in each of them).

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This was just a simple example of how an histogram works and why it is useful. An histogram can keep count
not only of color intensities, but of whatever image features that we want to measure (i.e. gradients, directions,
etc).
Lets identify some parts of the histogram:
1. dims: The number of parameters you want to collect data of. In our example, dims = 1 because we are
only counting the intensity values of each pixel (in a greyscale image).
2. bins: It is the number of subdivisions in each dim. In our example, bins = 16
3. range: The limits for the values to be measured. In this case: range = [0,255]
What if you want to count two features? In this case your resulting histogram would be a 3D plot (in which x
and y would be binx and biny for each feature and z would be the number of counts for each combination of
(binx , biny ). The same would apply for more features (of course it gets trickier).
What OpenCV offers you
For simple purposes, OpenCV implements the function calcHist, which calculates the histogram of a set of arrays
(usually images or image planes). It can operate with up to 32 dimensions. We will see it in the code below!

Code
What does this program do?
Loads an image
Splits the image into its R, G and B planes using the function split
Calculate the Histogram of each 1-channel plane by calling the function calcHist
Plot the three histograms in a window
Downloadable code: Click here
Code at glance:
#include
#include
#include
#include

"opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp"
"opencv2/imgproc/imgproc.hpp"
<iostream>
<stdio.h>

using namespace std;

using namespace cv;

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/**
* @function main
*/
int main( int argc, char** argv )
{
Mat src, dst;
/// Load image
src = imread( argv[1], 1 );
if( !src.data )
{ return -1; }
/// Separate the image in 3 places ( B, G and R )
vector<Mat> bgr_planes;
split( src, bgr_planes );
/// Establish the number of bins
int histSize = 256;
/// Set the ranges ( for B,G,R) )
float range[] = { 0, 256 } ;
const float* histRange = { range };
bool uniform = true; bool accumulate = false;
Mat b_hist, g_hist, r_hist;
/// Compute the histograms:
calcHist( &bgr_planes[0], 1, 0, Mat(), b_hist, 1, &histSize, &histRange, uniform, accumulate );
calcHist( &bgr_planes[1], 1, 0, Mat(), g_hist, 1, &histSize, &histRange, uniform, accumulate );
calcHist( &bgr_planes[2], 1, 0, Mat(), r_hist, 1, &histSize, &histRange, uniform, accumulate );
// Draw the histograms for B, G and R
int hist_w = 512; int hist_h = 400;
int bin_w = cvRound( (double) hist_w/histSize );
Mat histImage( hist_h, hist_w, CV_8UC3, Scalar( 0,0,0) );
/// Normalize the
normalize(b_hist,
normalize(g_hist,
normalize(r_hist,

result to [ 0, histImage.rows ]
b_hist, 0, histImage.rows, NORM_MINMAX, -1, Mat() );
g_hist, 0, histImage.rows, NORM_MINMAX, -1, Mat() );
r_hist, 0, histImage.rows, NORM_MINMAX, -1, Mat() );

/// Draw for each channel

for( int i = 1; i < histSize; i++ )
{
line( histImage, Point( bin_w*(i-1), hist_h - cvRound(b_hist.at<float>(i-1)) ) ,
Point( bin_w*(i), hist_h - cvRound(b_hist.at<float>(i)) ),
Scalar( 255, 0, 0), 2, 8, 0 );
line( histImage, Point( bin_w*(i-1), hist_h - cvRound(g_hist.at<float>(i-1)) ) ,
Point( bin_w*(i), hist_h - cvRound(g_hist.at<float>(i)) ),
Scalar( 0, 255, 0), 2, 8, 0 );
line( histImage, Point( bin_w*(i-1), hist_h - cvRound(r_hist.at<float>(i-1)) ) ,
Point( bin_w*(i), hist_h - cvRound(r_hist.at<float>(i)) ),
Scalar( 0, 0, 255), 2, 8, 0 );
}

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/// Display
namedWindow("calcHist Demo", CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
imshow("calcHist Demo", histImage );
waitKey(0);
return 0;
}

Explanation
1. Create the necessary matrices:
Mat src, dst;

2. Load the source image

src = imread( argv[1], 1 );
if( !src.data )
{ return -1; }

3. Separate the source image in its three R,G and B planes. For this we use the OpenCV function split:
vector<Mat> bgr_planes;
split( src, bgr_planes );

our input is the image to be divided (this case with three channels) and the output is a vector of Mat )
4. Now we are ready to start configuring the histograms for each plane. Since we are working with the B, G and
R planes, we know that our values will range in the interval [0, 255]
(a) Establish number of bins (5, 10...):
int histSize = 256; //from 0 to 255

(b) Set the range of values (as we said, between 0 and 255 )
/// Set the ranges ( for B,G,R) )
float range[] = { 0, 256 } ; //the upper boundary is exclusive
const float* histRange = { range };

(c) We want our bins to have the same size (uniform) and to clear the histograms in the beginning, so:
bool uniform = true; bool accumulate = false;

(d) Finally, we create the Mat objects to save our histograms. Creating 3 (one for each plane):
Mat b_hist, g_hist, r_hist;

(e) We proceed to calculate the histograms by using the OpenCV function calcHist:
/// Compute the histograms:
calcHist( &bgr_planes[0], 1, 0, Mat(), b_hist, 1, &histSize, &histRange, uniform, accumulate );
calcHist( &bgr_planes[1], 1, 0, Mat(), g_hist, 1, &histSize, &histRange, uniform, accumulate );
calcHist( &bgr_planes[2], 1, 0, Mat(), r_hist, 1, &histSize, &histRange, uniform, accumulate );

where the arguments are:

&bgr_planes[0]: The source array(s)

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1: The number of source arrays (in this case we are using 1. We can enter here also a list of arrays )
0: The channel (dim) to be measured. In this case it is just the intensity (each array is single-channel)
so we just write 0.
Mat(): A mask to be used on the source array ( zeros indicating pixels to be ignored ). If not defined
it is not used
b_hist: The Mat object where the histogram will be stored
1: The histogram dimensionality.
histSize: The number of bins per each used dimension
histRange: The range of values to be measured per each dimension
uniform and accumulate: The bin sizes are the same and the histogram is cleared at the beginning.
5. Create an image to display the histograms:
// Draw the histograms for R, G and B
int hist_w = 512; int hist_h = 400;
int bin_w = cvRound( (double) hist_w/histSize );
Mat histImage( hist_h, hist_w, CV_8UC3, Scalar( 0,0,0) );

6. Notice that before drawing, we first normalize the histogram so its values fall in the range indicated by the
parameters entered:
/// Normalize the
normalize(b_hist,
normalize(g_hist,
normalize(r_hist,

result to [ 0, histImage.rows ]
b_hist, 0, histImage.rows, NORM_MINMAX, -1, Mat() );
g_hist, 0, histImage.rows, NORM_MINMAX, -1, Mat() );
r_hist, 0, histImage.rows, NORM_MINMAX, -1, Mat() );

this function receives these arguments:

b_hist: Input array
b_hist: Output normalized array (can be the same)
0 and**histImage.rows**: For this example, they are the lower and upper limits to normalize the values
of r_hist
NORM_MINMAX: Argument that indicates the type of normalization (as described above, it adjusts the
values between the two limits set before)
-1: Implies that the output normalized array will be the same type as the input
Mat(): Optional mask
7. Finally, observe that to access the bin (in this case in this 1D-Histogram):
/// Draw for each channel
for( int i = 1; i < histSize; i++ )
{
line( histImage, Point( bin_w*(i-1), hist_h - cvRound(b_hist.at<float>(i-1)) ) ,
Point( bin_w*(i), hist_h - cvRound(b_hist.at<float>(i)) ),
Scalar( 255, 0, 0), 2, 8, 0 );
line( histImage, Point( bin_w*(i-1), hist_h - cvRound(g_hist.at<float>(i-1)) ) ,
Point( bin_w*(i), hist_h - cvRound(g_hist.at<float>(i)) ),
Scalar( 0, 255, 0), 2, 8, 0 );
line( histImage, Point( bin_w*(i-1), hist_h - cvRound(r_hist.at<float>(i-1)) ) ,
Point( bin_w*(i), hist_h - cvRound(r_hist.at<float>(i)) ),

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Scalar( 0, 0, 255), 2, 8, 0

);

we use the expression:

b_hist.at<float>(i)

where i indicates the dimension. If it were a 2D-histogram we would use something like:
b_hist.at<float>( i, j )

8. Finally we display our histograms and wait for the user to exit:
namedWindow("calcHist Demo", CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
imshow("calcHist Demo", histImage );
waitKey(0);
return 0;

Result
1. Using as input argument an image like the shown below:

2. Produces the following histogram:

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3.17 Histogram Comparison

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Use the function compareHist to get a numerical parameter that express how well two histograms match with
each other.
Use different metrics to compare histograms

Theory
To compare two histograms ( H1 and H2 ), first we have to choose a metric (d(H1 , H2 )) to express how well
both histograms match.
OpenCV implements the function compareHist to perform a comparison. It also offers 4 different metrics to
compute the matching:
1. Correlation ( CV_COMP_CORREL )
P

H1 )(H2 (I) H2 )
P
2
2
I (H1 (I) H1 )
I (H2 (I) H2 )

d(H1 , H2 ) = qP

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where
1 X
Hk (J)
Hk =
N
J

and N is the total number of histogram bins.

2. Chi-Square ( CV_COMP_CHISQR )
d(H1 , H2 ) =

X (H1 (I) H2 (I))2

I

H1 (I)

3. Intersection ( method=CV_COMP_INTERSECT )
X
min(H1 (I), H2 (I))
d(H1 , H2 ) =
I

4. Bhattacharyya distance ( CV_COMP_BHATTACHARYYA )

s
Xp
1
d(H1 , H2 ) = 1 p
H1 (I) H2 (I)
H1 H2 N2 I

Code
What does this program do?
Loads a base image and 2 test images to be compared with it.
Generate 1 image that is the lower half of the base image
Convert the images to HSV format
Calculate the H-S histogram for all the images and normalize them in order to compare them.
Compare the histogram of the base image with respect to the 2 test histograms, the histogram of the lower
half base image and with the same base image histogram.
Display the numerical matching parameters obtained.
Downloadable code: Click here
Code at glance:
#include
#include
#include
#include

"opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp"
"opencv2/imgproc/imgproc.hpp"
<iostream>
<stdio.h>

using namespace std;

using namespace cv;
/** @function main */
int main( int argc, char** argv )
{
Mat src_base, hsv_base;
Mat src_test1, hsv_test1;
Mat src_test2, hsv_test2;
Mat hsv_half_down;

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/// Load three images with different environment settings

if( argc < 4 )
{ printf("** Error. Usage: ./compareHist_Demo <image_settings0> <image_setting1> <image_settings2>\n");
return -1;
}
src_base = imread( argv[1], 1 );
src_test1 = imread( argv[2], 1 );
src_test2 = imread( argv[3], 1 );
/// Convert to HSV
cvtColor( src_base, hsv_base, CV_BGR2HSV );
cvtColor( src_test1, hsv_test1, CV_BGR2HSV );
cvtColor( src_test2, hsv_test2, CV_BGR2HSV );
hsv_half_down = hsv_base( Range( hsv_base.rows/2, hsv_base.rows - 1 ), Range( 0, hsv_base.cols - 1 ) );
/// Using 30 bins for hue and 32 for saturation
int h_bins = 50; int s_bins = 60;
int histSize[] = { h_bins, s_bins };
// hue varies from 0 to 256, saturation from 0 to 180
float h_ranges[] = { 0, 256 };
float s_ranges[] = { 0, 180 };
const float* ranges[] = { h_ranges, s_ranges };
// Use the o-th and 1-st channels
int channels[] = { 0, 1 };
/// Histograms
MatND hist_base;
MatND hist_half_down;
MatND hist_test1;
MatND hist_test2;
/// Calculate the histograms for the HSV images
calcHist( &hsv_base, 1, channels, Mat(), hist_base, 2, histSize, ranges, true, false );
normalize( hist_base, hist_base, 0, 1, NORM_MINMAX, -1, Mat() );
calcHist( &hsv_half_down, 1, channels, Mat(), hist_half_down, 2, histSize, ranges, true, false );
normalize( hist_half_down, hist_half_down, 0, 1, NORM_MINMAX, -1, Mat() );
calcHist( &hsv_test1, 1, channels, Mat(), hist_test1, 2, histSize, ranges, true, false );
normalize( hist_test1, hist_test1, 0, 1, NORM_MINMAX, -1, Mat() );
calcHist( &hsv_test2, 1, channels, Mat(), hist_test2, 2, histSize, ranges, true, false );
normalize( hist_test2, hist_test2, 0, 1, NORM_MINMAX, -1, Mat() );
/// Apply the histogram comparison methods
for( int i = 0; i < 4; i++ )
{ int compare_method = i;
double base_base = compareHist( hist_base, hist_base, compare_method );
double base_half = compareHist( hist_base, hist_half_down, compare_method );
double base_test1 = compareHist( hist_base, hist_test1, compare_method );
double base_test2 = compareHist( hist_base, hist_test2, compare_method );

printf( " Method [%d] Perfect, Base-Half, Base-Test(1), Base-Test(2) : %f, %f, %f, %f \n", i, base_base, base_h

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}
printf( "Done \n" );
return 0;
}

Explanation
1. Declare variables such as the matrices to store the base image and the two other images to compare ( RGB and
HSV )
Mat
Mat
Mat
Mat

src_base, hsv_base;
src_test1, hsv_test1;
src_test2, hsv_test2;
hsv_half_down;

2. Load the base image (src_base) and the other two test images:
if( argc < 4 )
{ printf("** Error. Usage: ./compareHist_Demo <image_settings0> <image_setting1> <image_settings2>\n");
return -1;
}
src_base = imread( argv[1], 1 );
src_test1 = imread( argv[2], 1 );
src_test2 = imread( argv[3], 1 );

3. Convert them to HSV format:

cvtColor( src_base, hsv_base, CV_BGR2HSV );
cvtColor( src_test1, hsv_test1, CV_BGR2HSV );
cvtColor( src_test2, hsv_test2, CV_BGR2HSV );

4. Also, create an image of half the base image (in HSV format):
hsv_half_down = hsv_base( Range( hsv_base.rows/2, hsv_base.rows - 1 ), Range( 0, hsv_base.cols - 1 ) );

5. Initialize the arguments to calculate the histograms (bins, ranges and channels H and S ).
int h_bins = 50; int s_bins = 32;
int histSize[] = { h_bins, s_bins };
float h_ranges[] = { 0, 256 };
float s_ranges[] = { 0, 180 };
const float* ranges[] = { h_ranges, s_ranges };
int channels[] = { 0, 1 };

6. Create the MatND objects to store the histograms:

MatND
MatND
MatND
MatND

hist_base;
hist_half_down;
hist_test1;
hist_test2;

7. Calculate the Histograms for the base image, the 2 test images and the half-down base image:

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calcHist( &hsv_base, 1, channels, Mat(), hist_base, 2, histSize, ranges, true, false );

normalize( hist_base, hist_base, 0, 1, NORM_MINMAX, -1, Mat() );
calcHist( &hsv_half_down, 1, channels, Mat(), hist_half_down, 2, histSize, ranges, true, false );
normalize( hist_half_down, hist_half_down, 0, 1, NORM_MINMAX, -1, Mat() );
calcHist( &hsv_test1, 1, channels, Mat(), hist_test1, 2, histSize, ranges, true, false );
normalize( hist_test1, hist_test1, 0, 1, NORM_MINMAX, -1, Mat() );
calcHist( &hsv_test2, 1, channels, Mat(), hist_test2, 2, histSize, ranges, true, false );
normalize( hist_test2, hist_test2, 0, 1, NORM_MINMAX, -1, Mat() );

8. Apply sequentially the 4 comparison methods between the histogram of the base image (hist_base) and the other
histograms:
for( int i = 0; i < 4; i++ )
{ int compare_method = i;
double base_base = compareHist( hist_base, hist_base, compare_method );
double base_half = compareHist( hist_base, hist_half_down, compare_method );
double base_test1 = compareHist( hist_base, hist_test1, compare_method );
double base_test2 = compareHist( hist_base, hist_test2, compare_method );

printf( " Method [%d] Perfect, Base-Half, Base-Test(1), Base-Test(2) : %f, %f, %f, %f \n", i, base_base, base
}

Results
1. We use as input the following images:

where the first one is the base (to be compared to the others), the other 2 are the test images. We will also
compare the first image with respect to itself and with respect of half the base image.
2. We should expect a perfect match when we compare the base image histogram with itself. Also, compared with
the histogram of half the base image, it should present a high match since both are from the same source. For the
other two test images, we can observe that they have very different lighting conditions, so the matching should
not be very good:
3. Here the numeric results:
Method
Correlation
Chi-square
Intersection
Bhattacharyya

Base - Base
1.000000
0.000000
24.391548
0.000000

3.17. Histogram Comparison

Base - Half
0.930766
4.940466
14.959809
0.222609

Base - Test 1
0.182073
21.184536
3.889029
0.646576

Base - Test 2
0.120447
49.273437
5.775088
0.801869

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For the Correlation and Intersection methods, the higher the metric, the more accurate the match. As
we can see, the match base-base is the highest of all as expected. Also we can observe that the match
base-half is the second best match (as we predicted). For the other two metrics, the less the result, the
better the match. We can observe that the matches between the test 1 and test 2 with respect to the base
are worse, which again, was expected.

3.18 Back Projection

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn:
What is Back Projection and why it is useful
How to use the OpenCV function calcBackProject to calculate Back Projection
How to mix different channels of an image by using the OpenCV function mixChannels

Theory
What is Back Projection?
Back Projection is a way of recording how well the pixels of a given image fit the distribution of pixels in a
histogram model.
To make it simpler: For Back Projection, you calculate the histogram model of a feature and then use it to find
this feature in an image.
Application example: If you have a histogram of flesh color (say, a Hue-Saturation histogram ), then you can
use it to find flesh color areas in an image:
How does it work?
We explain this by using the skin example:
Lets say you have gotten a skin histogram (Hue-Saturation) based on the image below. The histogram besides
is going to be our model histogram (which we know represents a sample of skin tonality). You applied some
mask to capture only the histogram of the skin area:

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Now, lets imagine that you get another hand image (Test Image) like the one below: (with its respective histogram):

What we want to do is to use our model histogram (that we know represents a skin tonality) to detect skin areas
in our Test Image. Here are the steps
1. In each pixel of our Test Image (i.e. p(i, j) ), collect the data and find the correspondent bin location for
that pixel (i.e. (hi,j , si,j ) ).
2. Lookup the model histogram in the correspondent bin - (hi,j , si,j ) - and read the bin value.
3. Store this bin value in a new image (BackProjection). Also, you may consider to normalize the model
histogram first, so the output for the Test Image can be visible for you.
4. Applying the steps above, we get the following BackProjection image for our Test Image:

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5. In terms of statistics, the values stored in BackProjection represent the probability that a pixel in Test
Image belongs to a skin area, based on the model histogram that we use. For instance in our Test image,
the brighter areas are more probable to be skin area (as they actually are), whereas the darker areas have
less probability (notice that these dark areas belong to surfaces that have some shadow on it, which in
turns affects the detection).

Code
What does this program do?
Loads an image
Convert the original to HSV format and separate only Hue channel to be used for the Histogram (using the
OpenCV function mixChannels)
Let the user to enter the number of bins to be used in the calculation of the histogram.
Calculate the histogram (and update it if the bins change) and the backprojection of the same image.
Display the backprojection and the histogram in windows.
Downloadable code:
1. Click here for the basic version (explained in this tutorial).
2. For stuff slightly fancier (using H-S histograms and floodFill to define a mask for the skin area) you can
check the improved demo
3. ...or you can always check out the classical camshiftdemo in samples.
Code at glance:
#include "opencv2/imgproc/imgproc.hpp"
#include "opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp"
#include <iostream>
using namespace cv;
using namespace std;
/// Global Variables
Mat src; Mat hsv; Mat hue;
int bins = 25;

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/// Function Headers

void Hist_and_Backproj(int, void* );
/** @function main */
int main( int argc, char** argv )
{
/// Read the image
src = imread( argv[1], 1 );
/// Transform it to HSV
cvtColor( src, hsv, CV_BGR2HSV );
/// Use only the Hue value
hue.create( hsv.size(), hsv.depth() );
int ch[] = { 0, 0 };
mixChannels( &hsv, 1, &hue, 1, ch, 1 );
/// Create Trackbar to enter the number of bins
char* window_image = "Source image";
namedWindow( window_image, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
createTrackbar("* Hue bins: ", window_image, &bins, 180, Hist_and_Backproj );
Hist_and_Backproj(0, 0);
/// Show the image
imshow( window_image, src );
/// Wait until user exits the program
waitKey(0);
return 0;
}

/**
* @function Hist_and_Backproj
* @brief Callback to Trackbar
*/
void Hist_and_Backproj(int, void* )
{
MatND hist;
int histSize = MAX( bins, 2 );
float hue_range[] = { 0, 180 };
const float* ranges = { hue_range };
/// Get the Histogram and normalize it
calcHist( &hue, 1, 0, Mat(), hist, 1, &histSize, &ranges, true, false );
normalize( hist, hist, 0, 255, NORM_MINMAX, -1, Mat() );
/// Get Backprojection
MatND backproj;
calcBackProject( &hue, 1, 0, hist, backproj, &ranges, 1, true );
/// Draw the backproj
imshow( "BackProj", backproj );
///
int
int
Mat

Draw the histogram

w = 400; int h = 400;
bin_w = cvRound( (double) w / histSize );
histImg = Mat::zeros( w, h, CV_8UC3 );

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for( int i = 0; i < bins; i ++ )

{ rectangle( histImg, Point( i*bin_w, h ), Point( (i+1)*bin_w, h - cvRound( hist.at<float>(i)*h/255.0 ) ), Scalar
imshow( "Histogram", histImg );
}

Explanation
1. Declare the matrices to store our images and initialize the number of bins to be used by our histogram:
Mat src; Mat hsv; Mat hue;
int bins = 25;

2. Read the input image and transform it to HSV format:

src = imread( argv[1], 1 );
cvtColor( src, hsv, CV_BGR2HSV );

3. For this tutorial, we will use only the Hue value for our 1-D histogram (check out the fancier code in the links
above if you want to use the more standard H-S histogram, which yields better results):
hue.create( hsv.size(), hsv.depth() );
int ch[] = { 0, 0 };
mixChannels( &hsv, 1, &hue, 1, ch, 1 );

as you see, we use the function http://opencv.itseez.com/modules/core/doc/operations_on_arrays.html?highlight=mixchannels#mix

to get only the channel 0 (Hue) from the hsv image. It gets the following parameters:
&hsv: The source array from which the channels will be copied
1: The number of source arrays
&hue: The destination array of the copied channels
1: The number of destination arrays
ch[] = {0,0}: The array of index pairs indicating how the channels are copied. In this case, the Hue(0)
channel of &hsv is being copied to the 0 channel of &hue (1-channel)
1: Number of index pairs
4. Create a Trackbar for the user to enter the bin values. Any change on the Trackbar means a call to the
Hist_and_Backproj callback function.
char* window_image = "Source image";
namedWindow( window_image, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
createTrackbar("* Hue bins: ", window_image, &bins, 180, Hist_and_Backproj );
Hist_and_Backproj(0, 0);

5. Show the image and wait for the user to exit the program:
imshow( window_image, src );
waitKey(0);
return 0;

6. Hist_and_Backproj function: Initialize the arguments needed for calcHist. The number of bins comes from
the Trackbar:

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void Hist_and_Backproj(int, void* )

{
MatND hist;
int histSize = MAX( bins, 2 );
float hue_range[] = { 0, 180 };
const float* ranges = { hue_range };

7. Calculate the Histogram and normalize it to the range [0, 255]

calcHist( &hue, 1, 0, Mat(), hist, 1, &histSize, &ranges, true, false );
normalize( hist, hist, 0, 255, NORM_MINMAX, -1, Mat() );

8. Get the Backprojection of the same image by calling the function calcBackProject
MatND backproj;
calcBackProject( &hue, 1, 0, hist, backproj, &ranges, 1, true );

all the arguments are known (the same as used to calculate the histogram), only we add the backproj matrix,
which will store the backprojection of the source image (&hue)
9. Display backproj:
imshow( "BackProj", backproj );

10. Draw the 1-D Hue histogram of the image:

int w = 400; int h = 400;
int bin_w = cvRound( (double) w / histSize );
Mat histImg = Mat::zeros( w, h, CV_8UC3 );

for( int i = 0; i < bins; i ++ )

{ rectangle( histImg, Point( i*bin_w, h ), Point( (i+1)*bin_w, h - cvRound( hist.at<float>(i)*h/255.0 ) ), Sca
imshow( "Histogram", histImg );

Results
1. Here are the output by using a sample image ( guess what? Another hand ). You can play with the bin values
and you will observe how it affects the results:

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3.19 Template Matching

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Use the OpenCV function matchTemplate to search for matches between an image patch and an input image
Use the OpenCV function minMaxLoc to find the maximum and minimum values (as well as their positions) in
a given array.

Theory
What is template matching?
Template matching is a technique for finding areas of an image that match (are similar) to a template image (patch).
How does it work?
We need two primary components:
1. Source image (I): The image in which we expect to find a match to the template image
2. Template image (T): The patch image which will be compared to the template image
our goal is to detect the highest matching area:

To identify the matching area, we have to compare the template image against the source image by sliding it:

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By sliding, we mean moving the patch one pixel at a time (left to right, up to down). At each location, a metric
is calculated so it represents how good or bad the match at that location is (or how similar the patch is to
that particular area of the source image).
For each location of T over I, you store the metric in the result matrix (R). Each location (x, y) in R contains
the match metric:

the image above is the result R of sliding the patch with a metric TM_CCORR_NORMED. The brightest
locations indicate the highest matches. As you can see, the location marked by the red circle is probably the
one with the highest value, so that location (the rectangle formed by that point as a corner and width and height
equal to the patch image) is considered the match.

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In practice, we use the function minMaxLoc to locate the highest value (or lower, depending of the type of
matching method) in the R matrix.
Which are the matching methods available in OpenCV?
Good question. OpenCV implements Template matching in the function matchTemplate. The available methods are
6:
1. method=CV_TM_SQDIFF
X

R(x, y) =

(T (x 0 , y 0 ) I(x + x 0 , y + y 0 ))2

x 0 ,y 0

2. method=CV_TM_SQDIFF_NORMED
P

, y 0 ) I(x + x 0 , y + y 0 ))2
P
0
0 2
0
0 2
x 0 ,y 0 T (x , y )
x 0 ,y 0 I(x + x , y + y )

R(x, y) = qP

x 0 ,y 0 (T (x

3. method=CV_TM_CCORR
X

R(x, y) =

(T (x 0 , y 0 ) I(x + x 0 , y + y 0 ))

x 0 ,y 0

4. method=CV_TM_CCORR_NORMED
P

, y 0 ) I 0 (x + x 0 , y + y 0 ))
P
0
0 2
0
0 2
x 0 ,y 0 T (x , y )
x 0 ,y 0 I(x + x , y + y )
x 0 ,y 0 (T (x

R(x, y) = qP

5. method=CV_TM_CCOEFF
R(x, y) =

(T 0 (x 0 , y 0 ) I(x + x 0 , y + y 0 ))

x 0 ,y 0

where
P
T 0 (x 0 , y 0 ) = T (x 0 , y 0 ) 1/(w h) x 00 ,y 00 T (x 00 , y 00 )
P
I 0 (x + x 0 , y + y 0 ) = I(x + x 0 , y + y 0 ) 1/(w h) x 00 ,y 00 I(x + x 00 , y + y 00 )
6. method=CV_TM_CCOEFF_NORMED
P

(x 0 , y 0 ) I 0 (x + x 0 , y + y 0 ))
P
0
0
0 2
0
0
0 2
x 0 ,y 0 T (x , y )
x 0 ,y 0 I (x + x , y + y )

R(x, y) = qP

x 0 ,y 0 (T

Code
What does this program do?
Loads an input image and a image patch (template)
Perform a template matching procedure by using the OpenCV function matchTemplate with any of the
6 matching methods described before. The user can choose the method by entering its selection in the
Trackbar.
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Normalize the output of the matching procedure

Localize the location with higher matching probability
Draw a rectangle around the area corresponding to the highest match
Downloadable code: Click here
Code at glance:
#include
#include
#include
#include

"opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp"
"opencv2/imgproc/imgproc.hpp"
<iostream>
<stdio.h>

using namespace std;

using namespace cv;
/// Global Variables
Mat img; Mat templ; Mat result;
char* image_window = "Source Image";
char* result_window = "Result window";
int match_method;
int max_Trackbar = 5;
/// Function Headers
void MatchingMethod( int, void* );
/** @function main */
int main( int argc, char** argv )
{
/// Load image and template
img = imread( argv[1], 1 );
templ = imread( argv[2], 1 );
/// Create windows
namedWindow( image_window, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
namedWindow( result_window, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );

/// Create Trackbar

char* trackbar_label = "Method: \n 0: SQDIFF \n 1: SQDIFF NORMED \n 2: TM CCORR \n 3: TM CCORR NORMED \n 4: TM COEFF
createTrackbar( trackbar_label, image_window, &match_method, max_Trackbar, MatchingMethod );
MatchingMethod( 0, 0 );
waitKey(0);
return 0;
}
/**
* @function MatchingMethod
* @brief Trackbar callback
*/
void MatchingMethod( int, void* )
{
/// Source image to display
Mat img_display;
img.copyTo( img_display );

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/// Create the result matrix

int result_cols = img.cols - templ.cols + 1;
int result_rows = img.rows - templ.rows + 1;
result.create( result_cols, result_rows, CV_32FC1 );
/// Do the Matching and Normalize
matchTemplate( img, templ, result, match_method );
normalize( result, result, 0, 1, NORM_MINMAX, -1, Mat() );
/// Localizing the best match with minMaxLoc
double minVal; double maxVal; Point minLoc; Point maxLoc;
Point matchLoc;
minMaxLoc( result, &minVal, &maxVal, &minLoc, &maxLoc, Mat() );

/// For SQDIFF and SQDIFF_NORMED, the best matches are lower values. For all the other methods, the higher the bette
if( match_method == CV_TM_SQDIFF || match_method == CV_TM_SQDIFF_NORMED )
{ matchLoc = minLoc; }
else
{ matchLoc = maxLoc; }
/// Show me what you got
rectangle( img_display, matchLoc, Point( matchLoc.x + templ.cols , matchLoc.y + templ.rows ), Scalar::all(0), 2, 8,
rectangle( result, matchLoc, Point( matchLoc.x + templ.cols , matchLoc.y + templ.rows ), Scalar::all(0), 2, 8, 0 );
imshow( image_window, img_display );
imshow( result_window, result );
return;
}

Explanation
1. Declare some global variables, such as the image, template and result matrices, as well as the match method and
the window names:
Mat img; Mat templ; Mat result;
char* image_window = "Source Image";
char* result_window = "Result window";
int match_method;
int max_Trackbar = 5;

2. Load the source image and template:

img = imread( argv[1], 1 );
templ = imread( argv[2], 1 );

3. Create the windows to show the results:

namedWindow( image_window, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
namedWindow( result_window, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );

4. Create the Trackbar to enter the kind of matching method to be used. When a change is detected the callback
function MatchingMethod is called.

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char* trackbar_label = "Method: \n 0: SQDIFF \n 1: SQDIFF NORMED \n 2: TM CCORR \n 3: TM CCORR NORMED \n 4: TM CO

createTrackbar( trackbar_label, image_window, &match_method, max_Trackbar, MatchingMethod );

5. Wait until user exits the program.

waitKey(0);
return 0;

6. Lets check out the callback function. First, it makes a copy of the source image:
Mat img_display;
img.copyTo( img_display );

7. Next, it creates the result matrix that will store the matching results for each template location. Observe in detail
the size of the result matrix (which matches all possible locations for it)
int result_cols = img.cols - templ.cols + 1;
int result_rows = img.rows - templ.rows + 1;
result.create( result_cols, result_rows, CV_32FC1 );

8. Perform the template matching operation:

matchTemplate( img, templ, result, match_method );

the arguments are naturally the input image I, the template T, the result R and the match_method (given by the
Trackbar)
9. We normalize the results:
normalize( result, result, 0, 1, NORM_MINMAX, -1, Mat() );

10. We localize the minimum and maximum values in the result matrix R by using minMaxLoc.
double minVal; double maxVal; Point minLoc; Point maxLoc;
Point matchLoc;
minMaxLoc( result, &minVal, &maxVal, &minLoc, &maxLoc, Mat() );

the function calls as arguments:

result: The source array
&minVal and &maxVal: Variables to save the minimum and maximum values in result
&minLoc and &maxLoc: The Point locations of the minimum and maximum values in the array.
Mat(): Optional mask
11. For the first two methods ( CV_SQDIFF and CV_SQDIFF_NORMED ) the best match are the lowest values.
For all the others, higher values represent better matches. So, we save the corresponding value in the matchLoc
variable:
if( match_method == CV_TM_SQDIFF || match_method == CV_TM_SQDIFF_NORMED )
{ matchLoc = minLoc; }
else
{ matchLoc = maxLoc; }

12. Display the source image and the result matrix. Draw a rectangle around the highest possible matching area:

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rectangle( img_display, matchLoc, Point( matchLoc.x + templ.cols , matchLoc.y + templ.rows ), Scalar::all(0), 2,

rectangle( result, matchLoc, Point( matchLoc.x + templ.cols , matchLoc.y + templ.rows ), Scalar::all(0), 2, 8, 0
imshow( image_window, img_display );
imshow( result_window, result );

Results
1. Testing our program with an input image such as:

and a template image:

2. Generate the following result matrices (first row are the standard methods SQDIFF, CCORR and CCOEFF,
second row are the same methods in its normalized version). In the first column, the darkest is the better match,
for the other two columns, the brighter a location, the higher the match.

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3. The right match is shown below (black rectangle around the face of the guy at the right). Notice that CCORR
and CCDEFF gave erroneous best matches, however their normalized version did it right, this may be due to the
fact that we are only considering the highest match and not the other possible high matches.

3.19. Template Matching

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3.20 Finding contours in your image

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Use the OpenCV function findContours
Use the OpenCV function drawContours

Theory
Code
This tutorial codes is shown lines below. You can also download it from here
#include
#include
#include
#include
#include

"opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp"
"opencv2/imgproc/imgproc.hpp"
<iostream>
<stdio.h>
<stdlib.h>

using namespace cv;

using namespace std;
Mat
int
int
RNG

src; Mat src_gray;

thresh = 100;
max_thresh = 255;
rng(12345);

/// Function header

void thresh_callback(int, void* );
/** @function main */
int main( int argc, char** argv )
{
/// Load source image and convert it to gray
src = imread( argv[1], 1 );
/// Convert image to gray and blur it
cvtColor( src, src_gray, CV_BGR2GRAY );
blur( src_gray, src_gray, Size(3,3) );
/// Create Window
char* source_window = "Source";
namedWindow( source_window, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
imshow( source_window, src );
createTrackbar( " Canny thresh:", "Source", &thresh, max_thresh, thresh_callback );
thresh_callback( 0, 0 );
waitKey(0);
return(0);
}
/** @function thresh_callback */

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void thresh_callback(int, void* )

{
Mat canny_output;
vector<vector<Point> > contours;
vector<Vec4i> hierarchy;
/// Detect edges using canny
Canny( src_gray, canny_output, thresh, thresh*2, 3 );
/// Find contours
findContours( canny_output, contours, hierarchy, CV_RETR_TREE, CV_CHAIN_APPROX_SIMPLE, Point(0, 0) );
/// Draw contours
Mat drawing = Mat::zeros( canny_output.size(), CV_8UC3 );
for( int i = 0; i< contours.size(); i++ )
{
Scalar color = Scalar( rng.uniform(0, 255), rng.uniform(0,255), rng.uniform(0,255) );
drawContours( drawing, contours, i, color, 2, 8, hierarchy, 0, Point() );
}
/// Show in a window
namedWindow( "Contours", CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
imshow( "Contours", drawing );
}

Explanation
Result
1. Here it is:

3.21 Convex Hull

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
3.21. Convex Hull

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Use the OpenCV function convexHull

Theory
Code
This tutorial codes is shown lines below. You can also download it from here
#include
#include
#include
#include
#include

"opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp"
"opencv2/imgproc/imgproc.hpp"
<iostream>
<stdio.h>
<stdlib.h>

using namespace cv;

using namespace std;
Mat
int
int
RNG

src; Mat src_gray;

thresh = 100;
max_thresh = 255;
rng(12345);

/// Function header

void thresh_callback(int, void* );
/** @function main */
int main( int argc, char** argv )
{
/// Load source image and convert it to gray
src = imread( argv[1], 1 );
/// Convert image to gray and blur it
cvtColor( src, src_gray, CV_BGR2GRAY );
blur( src_gray, src_gray, Size(3,3) );
/// Create Window
char* source_window = "Source";
namedWindow( source_window, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
imshow( source_window, src );
createTrackbar( " Threshold:", "Source", &thresh, max_thresh, thresh_callback );
thresh_callback( 0, 0 );
waitKey(0);
return(0);
}
/** @function thresh_callback */
void thresh_callback(int, void* )
{
Mat src_copy = src.clone();
Mat threshold_output;
vector<vector<Point> > contours;
vector<Vec4i> hierarchy;
/// Detect edges using Threshold
threshold( src_gray, threshold_output, thresh, 255, THRESH_BINARY );

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/// Find contours

findContours( threshold_output, contours, hierarchy, CV_RETR_TREE, CV_CHAIN_APPROX_SIMPLE, Point(0, 0) );
/// Find the convex hull object for each contour
vector<vector<Point> >hull( contours.size() );
for( int i = 0; i < contours.size(); i++ )
{ convexHull( Mat(contours[i]), hull[i], false ); }
/// Draw contours + hull results
Mat drawing = Mat::zeros( threshold_output.size(), CV_8UC3 );
for( int i = 0; i< contours.size(); i++ )
{
Scalar color = Scalar( rng.uniform(0, 255), rng.uniform(0,255), rng.uniform(0,255) );
drawContours( drawing, contours, i, color, 1, 8, vector<Vec4i>(), 0, Point() );
drawContours( drawing, hull, i, color, 1, 8, vector<Vec4i>(), 0, Point() );
}
/// Show in a window
namedWindow( "Hull demo", CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
imshow( "Hull demo", drawing );
}

Explanation
Result
1. Here it is:

3.22 Creating Bounding boxes and circles for contours

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Use the OpenCV function boundingRect

3.22. Creating Bounding boxes and circles for contours

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Use the OpenCV function minEnclosingCircle

Theory
Code
This tutorial codes is shown lines below. You can also download it from here
#include
#include
#include
#include
#include

"opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp"
"opencv2/imgproc/imgproc.hpp"
<iostream>
<stdio.h>
<stdlib.h>

using namespace cv;

using namespace std;
Mat
int
int
RNG

src; Mat src_gray;

thresh = 100;
max_thresh = 255;
rng(12345);

/// Function header

void thresh_callback(int, void* );
/** @function main */
int main( int argc, char** argv )
{
/// Load source image and convert it to gray
src = imread( argv[1], 1 );
/// Convert image to gray and blur it
cvtColor( src, src_gray, CV_BGR2GRAY );
blur( src_gray, src_gray, Size(3,3) );
/// Create Window
char* source_window = "Source";
namedWindow( source_window, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
imshow( source_window, src );
createTrackbar( " Threshold:", "Source", &thresh, max_thresh, thresh_callback );
thresh_callback( 0, 0 );
waitKey(0);
return(0);
}
/** @function thresh_callback */
void thresh_callback(int, void* )
{
Mat threshold_output;
vector<vector<Point> > contours;
vector<Vec4i> hierarchy;
/// Detect edges using Threshold
threshold( src_gray, threshold_output, thresh, 255, THRESH_BINARY );
/// Find contours

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findContours( threshold_output, contours, hierarchy, CV_RETR_TREE, CV_CHAIN_APPROX_SIMPLE, Point(0, 0) );

/// Approximate contours to polygons + get bounding rects and circles
vector<vector<Point> > contours_poly( contours.size() );
vector<Rect> boundRect( contours.size() );
vector<Point2f>center( contours.size() );
vector<float>radius( contours.size() );
for( int i = 0; i < contours.size(); i++ )
{ approxPolyDP( Mat(contours[i]), contours_poly[i], 3, true );
boundRect[i] = boundingRect( Mat(contours_poly[i]) );
minEnclosingCircle( contours_poly[i], center[i], radius[i] );
}

/// Draw polygonal contour + bonding rects + circles

Mat drawing = Mat::zeros( threshold_output.size(), CV_8UC3 );
for( int i = 0; i< contours.size(); i++ )
{
Scalar color = Scalar( rng.uniform(0, 255), rng.uniform(0,255), rng.uniform(0,255) );
drawContours( drawing, contours_poly, i, color, 1, 8, vector<Vec4i>(), 0, Point() );
rectangle( drawing, boundRect[i].tl(), boundRect[i].br(), color, 2, 8, 0 );
circle( drawing, center[i], (int)radius[i], color, 2, 8, 0 );
}
/// Show in a window
namedWindow( "Contours", CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
imshow( "Contours", drawing );
}

Explanation
Result
1. Here it is:

3.22. Creating Bounding boxes and circles for contours

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3.23 Creating Bounding rotated boxes and ellipses for contours

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Use the OpenCV function minAreaRect
Use the OpenCV function fitEllipse

Theory
Code
This tutorial codes is shown lines below. You can also download it from here
#include
#include
#include
#include
#include

"opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp"
"opencv2/imgproc/imgproc.hpp"
<iostream>
<stdio.h>
<stdlib.h>

using namespace cv;

using namespace std;
Mat
int
int
RNG

src; Mat src_gray;

thresh = 100;
max_thresh = 255;
rng(12345);

/// Function header

void thresh_callback(int, void* );
/** @function main */
int main( int argc, char** argv )
{
/// Load source image and convert it to gray
src = imread( argv[1], 1 );
/// Convert image to gray and blur it
cvtColor( src, src_gray, CV_BGR2GRAY );
blur( src_gray, src_gray, Size(3,3) );
/// Create Window
char* source_window = "Source";
namedWindow( source_window, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
imshow( source_window, src );
createTrackbar( " Threshold:", "Source", &thresh, max_thresh, thresh_callback );
thresh_callback( 0, 0 );
waitKey(0);
return(0);
}
/** @function thresh_callback */

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void thresh_callback(int, void* )

{
Mat threshold_output;
vector<vector<Point> > contours;
vector<Vec4i> hierarchy;
/// Detect edges using Threshold
threshold( src_gray, threshold_output, thresh, 255, THRESH_BINARY );
/// Find contours
findContours( threshold_output, contours, hierarchy, CV_RETR_TREE, CV_CHAIN_APPROX_SIMPLE, Point(0, 0) );
/// Find the rotated rectangles and ellipses for each contour
vector<RotatedRect> minRect( contours.size() );
vector<RotatedRect> minEllipse( contours.size() );
for( int i = 0; i < contours.size(); i++ )
{ minRect[i] = minAreaRect( Mat(contours[i]) );
if( contours[i].size() > 5 )
{ minEllipse[i] = fitEllipse( Mat(contours[i]) ); }
}
/// Draw contours + rotated rects + ellipses
Mat drawing = Mat::zeros( threshold_output.size(), CV_8UC3 );
for( int i = 0; i< contours.size(); i++ )
{
Scalar color = Scalar( rng.uniform(0, 255), rng.uniform(0,255), rng.uniform(0,255) );
// contour
drawContours( drawing, contours, i, color, 1, 8, vector<Vec4i>(), 0, Point() );
// ellipse
ellipse( drawing, minEllipse[i], color, 2, 8 );
// rotated rectangle
Point2f rect_points[4]; minRect[i].points( rect_points );
for( int j = 0; j < 4; j++ )
line( drawing, rect_points[j], rect_points[(j+1)%4], color, 1, 8 );
}
/// Show in a window
namedWindow( "Contours", CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
imshow( "Contours", drawing );
}

Explanation
Result
1. Here it is:

3.23. Creating Bounding rotated boxes and ellipses for contours

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3.24 Image Moments

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Use the OpenCV function moments
Use the OpenCV function contourArea
Use the OpenCV function arcLength

Theory
Code
This tutorial codes is shown lines below. You can also download it from here
#include
#include
#include
#include
#include

"opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp"
"opencv2/imgproc/imgproc.hpp"
<iostream>
<stdio.h>
<stdlib.h>

using namespace cv;

using namespace std;
Mat
int
int
RNG

src; Mat src_gray;

thresh = 100;
max_thresh = 255;
rng(12345);

/// Function header

void thresh_callback(int, void* );
/** @function main */
int main( int argc, char** argv )
{

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/// Load source image and convert it to gray

src = imread( argv[1], 1 );
/// Convert image to gray and blur it
cvtColor( src, src_gray, CV_BGR2GRAY );
blur( src_gray, src_gray, Size(3,3) );
/// Create Window
char* source_window = "Source";
namedWindow( source_window, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
imshow( source_window, src );
createTrackbar( " Canny thresh:", "Source", &thresh, max_thresh, thresh_callback );
thresh_callback( 0, 0 );
waitKey(0);
return(0);
}
/** @function thresh_callback */
void thresh_callback(int, void* )
{
Mat canny_output;
vector<vector<Point> > contours;
vector<Vec4i> hierarchy;
/// Detect edges using canny
Canny( src_gray, canny_output, thresh, thresh*2, 3 );
/// Find contours
findContours( canny_output, contours, hierarchy, CV_RETR_TREE, CV_CHAIN_APPROX_SIMPLE, Point(0, 0) );
/// Get the moments
vector<Moments> mu(contours.size() );
for( int i = 0; i < contours.size(); i++ )
{ mu[i] = moments( contours[i], false ); }
/// Get the mass centers:
vector<Point2f> mc( contours.size() );
for( int i = 0; i < contours.size(); i++ )
{ mc[i] = Point2f( mu[i].m10/mu[i].m00 , mu[i].m01/mu[i].m00 ); }
/// Draw contours
Mat drawing = Mat::zeros( canny_output.size(), CV_8UC3 );
for( int i = 0; i< contours.size(); i++ )
{
Scalar color = Scalar( rng.uniform(0, 255), rng.uniform(0,255), rng.uniform(0,255) );
drawContours( drawing, contours, i, color, 2, 8, hierarchy, 0, Point() );
circle( drawing, mc[i], 4, color, -1, 8, 0 );
}
/// Show in a window
namedWindow( "Contours", CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
imshow( "Contours", drawing );
/// Calculate the area with the moments 00 and compare with the result of the OpenCV function
printf("\t Info: Area and Contour Length \n");
for( int i = 0; i< contours.size(); i++ )
{

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printf(" * Contour[%d] - Area (M_00) = %.2f - Area OpenCV: %.2f - Length: %.2f \n", i, mu[i].m00, contourArea(c
Scalar color = Scalar( rng.uniform(0, 255), rng.uniform(0,255), rng.uniform(0,255) );
drawContours( drawing, contours, i, color, 2, 8, hierarchy, 0, Point() );
circle( drawing, mc[i], 4, color, -1, 8, 0 );
}
}

Explanation
Result
1. Here it is:

3.25 Point Polygon Test

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Use the OpenCV function pointPolygonTest

Theory
Code
This tutorial codes is shown lines below. You can also download it from here
#include
#include
#include
#include
#include

"opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp"
"opencv2/imgproc/imgproc.hpp"
<iostream>
<stdio.h>
<stdlib.h>

using namespace cv;

using namespace std;
/** @function main */
int main( int argc, char** argv )
{
/// Create an image
const int r = 100;

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Mat src = Mat::zeros( Size( 4*r, 4*r ), CV_8UC1 );

/// Create a sequence of points to make a contour:
vector<Point2f> vert(6);
vert[0]
vert[1]
vert[2]
vert[3]
vert[4]
vert[5]

=
=
=
=
=
=

Point(
Point(
Point(
Point(
Point(
Point(

1.5*r, 1.34*r );
1*r, 2*r );
1.5*r, 2.866*r );
2.5*r, 2.866*r );
3*r, 2*r );
2.5*r, 1.34*r );

/// Draw it in src

for( int j = 0; j < 6; j++ )
{ line( src, vert[j], vert[(j+1)%6], Scalar( 255 ), 3, 8 ); }
/// Get the contours
vector<vector<Point> > contours; vector<Vec4i> hierarchy;
Mat src_copy = src.clone();
findContours( src_copy, contours, hierarchy, RETR_TREE, CHAIN_APPROX_SIMPLE);
/// Calculate the distances to the contour
Mat raw_dist( src.size(), CV_32FC1 );
for( int j = 0; j < src.rows; j++ )
{ for( int i = 0; i < src.cols; i++ )
{ raw_dist.at<float>(j,i) = pointPolygonTest( contours[0], Point2f(i,j), true ); }
}
double minVal; double maxVal;
minMaxLoc( raw_dist, &minVal, &maxVal, 0, 0, Mat() );
minVal = abs(minVal); maxVal = abs(maxVal);
/// Depicting the distances graphically
Mat drawing = Mat::zeros( src.size(), CV_8UC3 );
for( int j = 0; j < src.rows; j++ )
{ for( int i = 0; i < src.cols; i++ )
{
if( raw_dist.at<float>(j,i) < 0 )
{ drawing.at<Vec3b>(j,i)[0] = 255 - (int) abs(raw_dist.at<float>(j,i))*255/minVal; }
else if( raw_dist.at<float>(j,i) > 0 )
{ drawing.at<Vec3b>(j,i)[2] = 255 - (int) raw_dist.at<float>(j,i)*255/maxVal; }
else
{ drawing.at<Vec3b>(j,i)[0] = 255; drawing.at<Vec3b>(j,i)[1] = 255; drawing.at<Vec3b>(j,i)[2] = 255; }
}
}
/// Create Window and show your results
char* source_window = "Source";
namedWindow( source_window, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
imshow( source_window, src );
namedWindow( "Distance", CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
imshow( "Distance", drawing );
waitKey(0);
return(0);

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Explanation
Result
1. Here it is:

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CHAPTER

FOUR

HIGHGUI MODULE. HIGH LEVEL GUI

AND MEDIA
This section contains valuable tutorials about how to read/save your image/video files and how to use the built-in
graphical user interface of the library.

Title: Adding a Trackbar to our applications!

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
We will learn how to add a Trackbar to our applications

Title: Video Input with OpenCV and similarity measurement

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Bernt Gbor
You will learn how to read video streams, and how to calculate similarity
values such as PSNR or SSIM.

Title: Creating a video with OpenCV

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Bernt Gbor
Whenever you work with video feeds you may eventually want to save your
image processing result in a form of a new video file. Heres how to do it.

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4.1 Adding a Trackbar to our applications!

In the previous tutorials (about linear blending and the brightness and contrast adjustments) you might have
noted that we needed to give some input to our programs, such as and beta. We accomplished that by
entering this data using the Terminal
Well, it is time to use some fancy GUI tools. OpenCV provides some GUI utilities (highgui.h) for you. An
example of this is a Trackbar

In this tutorial we will just modify our two previous programs so that they get the input information from the
trackbar.

Goals
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Add a Trackbar in an OpenCV window by using createTrackbar

Code
Lets modify the program made in the tutorial Adding (blending) two images using OpenCV. We will let the user enter
the value by using the Trackbar.
#include <cv.h>
#include <highgui.h>
using namespace cv;
/// Global Variables
const int alpha_slider_max = 100;
int alpha_slider;
double alpha;
double beta;
///
Mat
Mat
Mat

Matrices to store images

src1;
src2;
dst;

/**
* @function on_trackbar
* @brief Callback for trackbar
*/
void on_trackbar( int, void* )
{
alpha = (double) alpha_slider/alpha_slider_max ;
beta = ( 1.0 - alpha );
addWeighted( src1, alpha, src2, beta, 0.0, dst);
imshow( "Linear Blend", dst );

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}
int main( int argc, char** argv )
{
/// Read image ( same size, same type )
src1 = imread("../../images/LinuxLogo.jpg");
src2 = imread("../../images/WindowsLogo.jpg");
if( !src1.data ) { printf("Error loading src1 \n"); return -1; }
if( !src2.data ) { printf("Error loading src2 \n"); return -1; }
/// Initialize values
alpha_slider = 0;
/// Create Windows
namedWindow("Linear Blend", 1);
/// Create Trackbars
char TrackbarName[50];
sprintf( TrackbarName, "Alpha x %d", alpha_slider_max );
createTrackbar( TrackbarName, "Linear Blend", &alpha_slider, alpha_slider_max, on_trackbar );
/// Show some stuff
on_trackbar( alpha_slider, 0 );
/// Wait until user press some key
waitKey(0);
return 0;
}

Explanation
We only analyze the code that is related to Trackbar:
1. First, we load 02 images, which are going to be blended.
src1 = imread("../../images/LinuxLogo.jpg");
src2 = imread("../../images/WindowsLogo.jpg");

2. To create a trackbar, first we have to create the window in which it is going to be located. So:
namedWindow("Linear Blend", 1);

3. Now we can create the Trackbar:

createTrackbar( TrackbarName, "Linear Blend", &alpha_slider, alpha_slider_max, on_trackbar );

Note the following:

Our Trackbar has a label TrackbarName
The Trackbar is located in the window named Linear Blend
The Trackbar values will be in the range from 0 to alpha_slider_max (the minimum limit is always zero).
The numerical value of Trackbar is stored in alpha_slider
Whenever the user moves the Trackbar, the callback function on_trackbar is called

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4. Finally, we have to define the callback function on_trackbar

void on_trackbar( int, void* )
{
alpha = (double) alpha_slider/alpha_slider_max ;
beta = ( 1.0 - alpha );
addWeighted( src1, alpha, src2, beta, 0.0, dst);
imshow( "Linear Blend", dst );
}

Note that:
We use the value of alpha_slider (integer) to get a double value for alpha.
alpha_slider is updated each time the trackbar is displaced by the user.
We define src1, src2, dist, alpha, alpha_slider and beta as global variables, so they can be used everywhere.

Result
Our program produces the following output:

As a manner of practice, you can also add 02 trackbars for the program made in Changing the contrast and
brightness of an image!. One trackbar to set and another for . The output might look like:

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4.2 Video Input with OpenCV and similarity measurement

Goal
Today it is common to have a digital video recording system at your disposal. Therefore, you will eventually come to
the situation that you no longer process a batch of images, but video streams. These may be of two kinds: real-time
image feed (in the case of a webcam) or prerecorded and hard disk drive stored files. Luckily OpenCV threats these
two in the same manner, with the same C++ class. So heres what youll learn in this tutorial:
How to open and read video streams
Two ways for checking image similarity: PSNR and SSIM

The source code

As a test case where to show off these using OpenCV Ive created a small program that reads in two video
files and performs a similarity check between them. This is something you could use to check just how well a
new video compressing algorithms works. Let there be a reference (original) video like this small Megamind
clip and a compressed version of it. You may also find the source code and these video file in the
samples/cpp/tutorial_code/highgui/video-input-psnr-ssim/ folder of the OpenCV source library.
1
2
3
4

#include
#include
#include
#include

<iostream>
<string>
<iomanip>
<sstream>

//
//
//
//

for standard I/O

for strings
for controlling float print precision
string to number conversion

5
6
7
8

#include <opencv2/imgproc/imgproc.hpp>
#include <opencv2/core/core.hpp>
#include <opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp>

// Gaussian Blur
// Basic OpenCV structures (cv::Mat, Scalar)
// OpenCV window I/O

9
10

using namespace std;

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11

using namespace cv;

12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22

double getPSNR ( const Mat& I1, const Mat& I2);

Scalar getMSSIM( const Mat& I1, const Mat& I2);
int main(int argc, char *argv[], char *window_name)
{
if (argc != 5)
{
cout << "Not enough parameters" << endl;
return -1;
}
stringstream conv;

23

const string sourceReference = argv[1],sourceCompareWith = argv[2];

int psnrTriggerValue, delay;
conv << argv[3] << endl << argv[4];
// put in the strings
conv >> psnrTriggerValue >> delay;// take out the numbers

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char c;
int frameNum = -1;

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// Frame counter

31

VideoCapture captRefrnc(sourceReference),
captUndTst(sourceCompareWith);

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if ( !captRefrnc.isOpened())
{
cout << "Could not open reference " << sourceReference << endl;
return -1;
}

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if( !captUndTst.isOpened())
{
cout << "Could not open case test " << sourceCompareWith << endl;
return -1;
}

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Size refS = Size((int) captRefrnc.get(CV_CAP_PROP_FRAME_WIDTH),

(int) captRefrnc.get(CV_CAP_PROP_FRAME_HEIGHT)),
uTSi = Size((int) captUndTst.get(CV_CAP_PROP_FRAME_WIDTH),
(int) captUndTst.get(CV_CAP_PROP_FRAME_HEIGHT));

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if (refS != uTSi)
{
cout << "Inputs have different size!!! Closing." << endl;
return -1;
}

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const char* WIN_UT = "Under Test";

const char* WIN_RF = "Reference";

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// Windows
namedWindow(WIN_RF, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
namedWindow(WIN_UT, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
cvMoveWindow(WIN_RF, 400
,
cvMoveWindow(WIN_UT, refS.width,

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0);
0);

//750, 2 (bernat =0)

//1500, 2

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cout << "Reference frame resolution: Width=" << refS.width << " Height=" << refS.height
<< " of nr#: " << captRefrnc.get(CV_CAP_PROP_FRAME_COUNT) << endl;

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cout << "PSNR trigger value " <<

setiosflags(ios::fixed) << setprecision(3) << psnrTriggerValue << endl;

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Mat frameReference, frameUnderTest;

double psnrV;
Scalar mssimV;

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while( true) //Show the image captured in the window and repeat
{
captRefrnc >> frameReference;
captUndTst >> frameUnderTest;

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if( frameReference.empty() || frameUnderTest.empty())

{
cout << " < < < Game over! > > > ";
break;
}

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++frameNum;
cout <<"Frame:" << frameNum <<"# ";

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///////////////////////////////// PSNR ////////////////////////////////////////////////////

psnrV = getPSNR(frameReference,frameUnderTest);
//get PSNR
cout << setiosflags(ios::fixed) << setprecision(3) << psnrV << "dB";

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//////////////////////////////////// MSSIM /////////////////////////////////////////////////

if (psnrV < psnrTriggerValue && psnrV)
{
mssimV = getMSSIM(frameReference,frameUnderTest);

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cout << " MSSIM: "

<< " R " << setiosflags(ios::fixed) << setprecision(2) << mssimV.val[2] * 100 << "%"
<< " G " << setiosflags(ios::fixed) << setprecision(2) << mssimV.val[1] * 100 << "%"
<< " B " << setiosflags(ios::fixed) << setprecision(2) << mssimV.val[0] * 100 << "%";

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cout << endl;

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////////////////////////////////// Show Image /////////////////////////////////////////////

imshow( WIN_RF, frameReference);
imshow( WIN_UT, frameUnderTest);

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c = cvWaitKey(delay);
if (c == 27) break;

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return 0;

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double getPSNR(const Mat& I1, const Mat& I2)

{
Mat s1;
absdiff(I1, I2, s1);
// |I1 - I2|
s1.convertTo(s1, CV_32F); // cannot make a square on 8 bits
s1 = s1.mul(s1);
// |I1 - I2|^2

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Scalar s = sum(s1);

// sum elements per channel

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double sse = s.val[0] + s.val[1] + s.val[2]; // sum channels

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if( sse <=

return
else
{
double
double
return
}

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1e-10) // for small values return zero

0;

mse =sse /(double)(I1.channels() * I1.total());

psnr = 10.0*log10((255*255)/mse);
psnr;

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Scalar getMSSIM( const Mat& i1, const Mat& i2)

{
const double C1 = 6.5025, C2 = 58.5225;
/***************************** INITS **********************************/
int d
= CV_32F;

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Mat I1, I2;

i1.convertTo(I1, d);
i2.convertTo(I2, d);

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// cannot calculate on one byte large values

149

Mat I2_2
Mat I1_2
Mat I1_I2

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= I2.mul(I2);
= I1.mul(I1);
= I1.mul(I2);

// I2^2
// I1^2
// I1 * I2

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/*************************** END INITS **********************************/

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Mat mu1, mu2;

// PRELIMINARY COMPUTING
GaussianBlur(I1, mu1, Size(11, 11), 1.5);
GaussianBlur(I2, mu2, Size(11, 11), 1.5);

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Mat mu1_2
=
Mat mu2_2
=
Mat mu1_mu2 =

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mu1.mul(mu1);
mu2.mul(mu2);
mu1.mul(mu2);

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Mat sigma1_2, sigma2_2, sigma12;

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GaussianBlur(I1_2, sigma1_2, Size(11, 11), 1.5);

sigma1_2 -= mu1_2;

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GaussianBlur(I2_2, sigma2_2, Size(11, 11), 1.5);

sigma2_2 -= mu2_2;

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GaussianBlur(I1_I2, sigma12, Size(11, 11), 1.5);

sigma12 -= mu1_mu2;

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///////////////////////////////// FORMULA ////////////////////////////////

Mat t1, t2, t3;

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t1 = 2 * mu1_mu2 + C1;
t2 = 2 * sigma12 + C2;
t3 = t1.mul(t2);

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// t3 = ((2*mu1_mu2 + C1).*(2*sigma12 + C2))

181

t1 = mu1_2 + mu2_2 + C1;

t2 = sigma1_2 + sigma2_2 + C2;
t1 = t1.mul(t2);
// t1 =((mu1_2 + mu2_2 + C1).*(sigma1_2 + sigma2_2 + C2))

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Mat ssim_map;
divide(t3, t1, ssim_map);

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// ssim_map =

t3./t1;

188

Scalar mssim = mean( ssim_map ); // mssim = average of ssim map

return mssim;

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How to read a video stream (online-camera or offline-file)?

Essentially, all the functionalities required for video manipulation is integrated in the VideoCapture C++ class. This
on itself builds on the FFmpeg open source library. This is a basic dependency of OpenCV so you shouldnt need
to worry about this. A video is composed of a succession of images, we refer to these in the literature as frames. In
case of a video file there is a frame rate specifying just how long is between two frames. While for the video cameras
usually there is a limit of just how many frames they can digitalize per second, this property is less important as at any
time the camera sees the current snapshot of the world.
The first task you need to do is to assign to a VideoCapture class its source. You can do this either via the constructor
or its open function. If this argument is an integer then you will bind the class to a camera, a device. The number
passed here is the ID of the device, assigned by the operating system. If you have a single camera attached to your
system its ID will probably be zero and further ones increasing from there. If the parameter passed to these is a string
it will refer to a video file, and the string points to the location and name of the file. For example, to the upper source
code a valid command line is:
video/Megamind.avi video/Megamind_bug.avi

35 10

We do a similarity check. This requires a reference and a test case video file. The first two arguments refer to this.
Here we use a relative address. This means that the application will look into its current working directory and open
the video folder and try to find inside this the Megamind.avi and the Megamind_bug.avi.
const string sourceReference = argv[1],sourceCompareWith = argv[2];
VideoCapture captRefrnc(sourceReference);
// or
VideoCapture captUndTst;
captUndTst.open(sourceCompareWith);

To check if the binding of the class to a video source was successful or not use the isOpened function:
if ( !captRefrnc.isOpened())
{
cout << "Could not open reference " << sourceReference << endl;
return -1;
}

Closing the video is automatic when the objects destructor is called. However, if you want to close it before this you
need to call its release function. The frames of the video are just simple images. Therefore, we just need to extract
them from the VideoCapture object and put them inside a Mat one. The video streams are sequential. You may get the
frames one after another by the read or the overloaded >> operator:
Mat frameReference, frameUnderTest;
captRefrnc >> frameReference;
captUndTst.open(frameUnderTest);

The upper read operations will leave empty the Mat objects if no frame could be acquired (either cause the video
stream was closed or you got to the end of the video file). We can check this with a simple if:

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if( frameReference.empty()
{
// exit the program
}

|| frameUnderTest.empty())

A read method is made of a frame grab and a decoding applied on that. You may call explicitly these two by using the
grab and then the retrieve functions.
Videos have many-many information attached to them besides the content of the frames. These are usually numbers,
however in some case it may be short character sequences (4 bytes or less). Due to this to acquire these information
there is a general function named get that returns double values containing these properties. Use bitwise operations to
decode the characters from a double type and conversions where valid values are only integers. Its single argument is
the ID of the queried property. For example, here we get the size of the frames in the reference and test case video file;
plus the number of frames inside the reference.
Size refS = Size((int) captRefrnc.get(CV_CAP_PROP_FRAME_WIDTH),
(int) captRefrnc.get(CV_CAP_PROP_FRAME_HEIGHT)),
cout << "Reference frame resolution: Width=" << refS.width << " Height=" << refS.height
<< " of nr#: " << captRefrnc.get(CV_CAP_PROP_FRAME_COUNT) << endl;

When you are working with videos you may often want to control these values yourself. To do this there is a set
function. Its first argument remains the name of the property you want to change and there is a second of double type
containing the value to be set. It will return true if it succeeds and false otherwise. Good examples for this is seeking
in a video file to a given time or frame:
captRefrnc.set(CV_CAP_PROP_POS_MSEC, 1.2); // go to the 1.2 second in the video
captRefrnc.set(CV_CAP_PROP_POS_FRAMES, 10); // go to the 10th frame of the video
// now a read operation would read the frame at the set position

For properties you can read and change look into the documentation of the get and set functions.

Image similarity - PSNR and SSIM

We want to check just how imperceptible our video converting operation went, therefore we need a system to check
frame by frame the similarity or differences. The most common algorithm used for this is the PSNR (aka Peak signalto-noise ratio). The simplest definition of this starts out from the mean squad error. Let there be two images: I1 and
I2; with a two dimensional size i and j, composed of c number of channels.
MSE =

X
1
(I1 I2 )2
cij

Then the PSNR is expressed as:


PSNR = 10 log10

MAX2I
MSE

Here the MAX2I is the maximum valid value for a pixel. In case of the simple single byte image per pixel per channel
this is 255. When two images are the same the MSE will give zero, resulting in an invalid divide by zero operation in
the PSNR formula. In this case the PSNR is undefined and as well need to handle this case separately. The transition
to a logarithmic scale is made because the pixel values have a very wide dynamic range. All this translated to OpenCV
and a C++ function looks like:
double getPSNR(const Mat& I1, const Mat& I2)
{
Mat s1;
absdiff(I1, I2, s1);
// |I1 - I2|

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s1.convertTo(s1, CV_32F);
s1 = s1.mul(s1);
Scalar s = sum(s1);

// cannot make a square on 8 bits

// |I1 - I2|^2
// sum elements per channel

double sse = s.val[0] + s.val[1] + s.val[2]; // sum channels

if( sse <=
return
else
{
double
double
return
}
}

1e-10) // for small values return zero

0;

mse =sse /(double)(I1.channels() * I1.total());

psnr = 10.0*log10((255*255)/mse);
psnr;

Typically result values are anywhere between 30 and 50 for video compression, where higher is better. If the images
significantly differ youll get much lower ones like 15 and so. This similarity check is easy and fast to calculate,
however in practice it may turn out somewhat inconsistent with human eye perception. The structural similarity
algorithm aims to correct this.
Describing the methods goes well beyond the purpose of this tutorial. For that I invite you to read the article introducing
it. Nevertheless, you can get a good image of it by looking at the OpenCV implementation below.
See Also:
SSIM is described more in-depth in the: Z. Wang, A. C. Bovik, H. R. Sheikh and E. P. Simoncelli, Image quality
assessment: From error visibility to structural similarity, IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, vol. 13, no. 4, pp.
600-612, Apr. 2004. article.
Scalar getMSSIM( const Mat& i1, const Mat& i2)
{
const double C1 = 6.5025, C2 = 58.5225;
/***************************** INITS **********************************/
int d
= CV_32F;
Mat I1, I2;
i1.convertTo(I1, d);
i2.convertTo(I2, d);
Mat I2_2
Mat I1_2
Mat I1_I2

= I2.mul(I2);
= I1.mul(I1);
= I1.mul(I2);

// cannot calculate on one byte large values

// I2^2
// I1^2
// I1 * I2

/***********************PRELIMINARY COMPUTING ******************************/

Mat mu1, mu2;
//
GaussianBlur(I1, mu1, Size(11, 11), 1.5);
GaussianBlur(I2, mu2, Size(11, 11), 1.5);
Mat mu1_2
=
Mat mu2_2
=
Mat mu1_mu2 =

mu1.mul(mu1);
mu2.mul(mu2);
mu1.mul(mu2);

Mat sigma1_2, sigma2_2, sigma12;

GaussianBlur(I1_2, sigma1_2, Size(11, 11), 1.5);
sigma1_2 -= mu1_2;

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GaussianBlur(I2_2, sigma2_2, Size(11, 11), 1.5);

sigma2_2 -= mu2_2;
GaussianBlur(I1_I2, sigma12, Size(11, 11), 1.5);
sigma12 -= mu1_mu2;
///////////////////////////////// FORMULA ////////////////////////////////
Mat t1, t2, t3;
t1 = 2 * mu1_mu2 + C1;
t2 = 2 * sigma12 + C2;
t3 = t1.mul(t2);

// t3 = ((2*mu1_mu2 + C1).*(2*sigma12 + C2))

t1 = mu1_2 + mu2_2 + C1;

t2 = sigma1_2 + sigma2_2 + C2;
t1 = t1.mul(t2);
// t1 =((mu1_2 + mu2_2 + C1).*(sigma1_2 + sigma2_2 + C2))
Mat ssim_map;
divide(t3, t1, ssim_map);

// ssim_map =

t3./t1;

Scalar mssim = mean( ssim_map ); // mssim = average of ssim map

return mssim;
}

This will return a similarity index for each channel of the image. This value is between zero and one, where one
corresponds to perfect fit. Unfortunately, the many Gaussian blurring is quite costly, so while the PSNR may work
in a real time like environment (24 frame per second) this will take significantly more than to accomplish similar
performance results.
Therefore, the source code presented at the start of the tutorial will perform the PSNR measurement for each frame,
and the SSIM only for the frames where the PSNR falls below an input value. For visualization purpose we show both
images in an OpenCV window and print the PSNR and MSSIM values to the console. Expect to see something like:

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You may observe a runtime instance of this on the YouTube here.

4.3 Creating a video with OpenCV

Goal
Whenever you work with video feeds you may eventually want to save your image processing result in a form of a
new video file. For simple video outputs you can use the OpenCV built-in VideoWriter class, designed for this.
How to create a video file with OpenCV
What type of video files you can create with OpenCV
How to extract a given color channel from a video
As a simple demonstration Ill just extract one of the RGB color channels of an input video file into a new video. You
can control the flow of the application from its console line arguments:
The first argument points to the video file to work on
The second argument may be one of the characters: R G B. This will specify which of the channels to extract.
The last argument is the character Y (Yes) or N (No). If this is no, the codec used for the input video file will be
the same as for the output. Otherwise, a window will pop up and allow you to select yourself the codec to use.
For example, a valid command line would look like:
video-write.exe video/Megamind.avi R Y

The source code

You may also find the source code and these video file in the samples/cpp/tutorial_code/highgui/video-write/
folder of the OpenCV source library or download it from here.
1
2

#include <iostream> // for standard I/O

#include <string>
// for strings

3
4
5

#include <opencv2/core/core.hpp>
#include <opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp>

// Basic OpenCV structures (cv::Mat)

// Video write

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using namespace std;

using namespace cv;
int main(int argc, char *argv[], char *window_name)
{
if (argc != 4)
{
cout << "Not enough parameters" << endl;
return -1;
}

16
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const string source

= argv[1];
const bool askOutputType = argv[3][0] ==Y;

// the source file name

// If false it will use the inputs codec type

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VideoCapture inputVideo(source);
// Open input
if ( !inputVideo.isOpened())
{
cout << "Could not open the input video." << source << endl;

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return -1;

24

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string::size_type pAt = source.find_last_of(.);

// Find extension point
const string NAME = source.substr(0, pAt) + argv[2][0] + ".avi";
// Form the new name with container
int ex = static_cast<int>(inputVideo.get(CV_CAP_PROP_FOURCC));
// Get Codec Type- Int form

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// Transform from int to char via Bitwise operators

char EXT[] = {ex & 0XFF , (ex & 0XFF00) >> 8,(ex & 0XFF0000) >> 16,(ex & 0XFF000000) >> 24, 0};

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Size S = Size((int) inputVideo.get(CV_CAP_PROP_FRAME_WIDTH),

(int) inputVideo.get(CV_CAP_PROP_FRAME_HEIGHT));

34
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//Acquire input size

36

VideoWriter outputVideo;
// Open the output
if (askOutputType)
outputVideo.open(NAME , ex=-1, inputVideo.get(CV_CAP_PROP_FPS),S, true);
else
outputVideo.open(NAME , ex, inputVideo.get(CV_CAP_PROP_FPS),S, true);

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if (!outputVideo.isOpened())
{
cout << "Could not open the output video for write: " << source << endl;
return -1;
}

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union { int v; char c[5];} uEx ;

uEx.v = ex;
uEx.c[4]=\0;

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// From Int to char via union

52

cout << "Input frame resolution: Width=" << S.width << " Height=" << S.height
<< " of nr#: " << inputVideo.get(CV_CAP_PROP_FRAME_COUNT) << endl;
cout << "Input codec type: " << EXT << endl;

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int channel = 2;
switch(argv[2][0])
{
case R : {channel
case G : {channel
case B : {channel
}
Mat src,res;
vector<Mat> spl;

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// Select the channel to save

= 2; break;}
= 1; break;}
= 0; break;}

66

while( true) //Show the image captured in the window and repeat
{
inputVideo >> src;
// read
if( src.empty()) break;
// check if at end

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split(src, spl);
// process - extract only the correct channel
for( int i =0; i < 3; ++i)
if (i != channel)
spl[i] = Mat::zeros(S, spl[0].type());
merge(spl, res);

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//outputVideo.write(res); //save or
outputVideo << res;

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cout << "Finished writing" << endl;

return 0;

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The structure of a video

For start, you should have an idea of just how a video file looks. Every video file in itself is a container. The type of
the container is expressed in the files extension (for example avi, mov or mkv). This contains multiple elements like:
video feeds, audio feeds or other tracks (like for example subtitles). How these feeds are stored is determined by the
codec used for each one of them. In case of the audio tracks commonly used codecs are mp3 or aac. For the video
files the list is somehow longer and includes names such as XVID, DIVX, H264 or LAGS (Lagarith Lossless Codec).
The full list of codecs you may use on a system depends on just what one you have installed.

As you can see things can get really complicated with videos. However, OpenCV is mainly a computer vision library,
not a video stream, codec and write one. Therefore, the developers tried to keep this part as simple as possible. Due
to this OpenCV for video containers supports only the avi extension, its first version. A direct limitation of this is that
you cannot save a video file larger than 2 GB. Furthermore you can only create and expand a single video track inside
the container. No audio or other track editing support here. Nevertheless, any video codec present on your system
might work. If you encounter some of these limitations you will need to look into more specialized video writing
libraries such as FFMpeg or codecs as HuffYUV, CorePNG and LCL. As an alternative, create the video track with
OpenCV and expand it with sound tracks or convert it to other formats by using video manipulation programs such as
VirtualDub or AviSynth.

The VideoWriter class

The content written here builds on the assumption you already read the Video Input with OpenCV and similarity
measurement tutorial and you know how to read video files.
To create a video file you just need to create an instance of the VideoWriter class. You can specify its properties either
via parameters in the constructor or later on via the open function. Either way, the parameters are the same:
1. The name of the output that contains the container type in its extension. At the moment only avi is supported.
We construct this from the input file, add to this the name of the channel to use, and finish it off with the container
extension.
const string source
= argv[1];
// the source file name
string::size_type pAt = source.find_last_of(.);
// Find extension point
const string NAME = source.substr(0, pAt) + argv[2][0] + ".avi";
// Form the new name with container

2. The codec to use for the video track. Now all the video codecs have a unique short name of maximum four
characters. Hence, the XVID, DIVX or H264 names. This is called a four character code. You may also ask this

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from an input video by using its get function. Because the get function is a general function it always returns
double values. A double value is stored on 64 bits. Four characters are four bytes, meaning 32 bits. These four
characters are coded in the lower 32 bits of the double. A simple way to throw away the upper 32 bits would be
to just convert this value to int:
VideoCapture inputVideo(source);
int ex = static_cast<int>(inputVideo.get(CV_CAP_PROP_FOURCC));

// Open input
// Get Codec Type- Int form

OpenCV internally works with this integer type and expect this as its second parameter. Now to convert from the
integer form to string we may use two methods: a bitwise operator and a union method. The first one extracting
from an int the characters looks like (an and operation, some shifting and adding a 0 at the end to close the
string):
char EXT[] = {ex & 0XFF , (ex & 0XFF00) >> 8,(ex & 0XFF0000) >> 16,(ex & 0XFF000000) >> 24, 0};

You can do the same thing with the union as:

union { int v; char c[5];} uEx ;
uEx.v = ex;
uEx.c[4]=\0;

// From Int to char via union

The advantage of this is that the conversion is done automatically after assigning, while for the bitwise operator
you need to do the operations whenever you change the codec type. In case you know the codecs four character
code beforehand, you can use the CV_FOURCC macro to build the integer:
If you pass for this argument minus one than a window will pop up at runtime that contains all the codec installed
on your system and ask you to select the one to use:

3. The frame per second for the output video. Again, here I keep the input videos frame per second by using the
get function.
4. The size of the frames for the output video. Here too I keep the input videos frame size per second by using the
get function.
5. The final argument is an optional one. By default is true and says that the output will be a colorful one (so for
write you will send three channel images). To create a gray scale video pass a false parameter here.
Here it is, how I use it in the sample:
VideoWriter outputVideo;
Size S = Size((int) inputVideo.get(CV_CAP_PROP_FRAME_WIDTH),
(int) inputVideo.get(CV_CAP_PROP_FRAME_HEIGHT));

//Acquire input size

outputVideo.open(NAME , ex, inputVideo.get(CV_CAP_PROP_FPS),S, true);

Afterwards, you use the isOpened() function to find out if the open operation succeeded or not. The video file automatically closes when the VideoWriter object is destroyed. After you open the object with success you can send
the frames of the video in a sequential order by using the write function of the class. Alternatively, you can use its
overloaded operator << :
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outputVideo.write(res);
outputVideo << res;

//or

Extracting a color channel from an RGB image means to set to zero the RGB values of the other channels. You can
either do this with image scanning operations or by using the split and merge operations. You first split the channels
up into different images, set the other channels to zero images of the same size and type and finally merge them back:
split(src, spl);
// process - extract only the correct channel
for( int i =0; i < 3; ++i)
if (i != channel)
spl[i] = Mat::zeros(S, spl[0].type());
merge(spl, res);

Put all this together and youll get the upper source code, whose runtime result will show something around the idea:

You may observe a runtime instance of this on the YouTube here.

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CHAPTER

FIVE

CALIB3D MODULE. CAMERA

CALIBRATION AND 3D
RECONSTRUCTION
Although we got most of our images in a 2D format they do come from a 3D world. Here you will learn how to find
out from the 2D images information about the 3D world.

Title: Camera calibration with square chessboard

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Victor Eruhimov
You will use some chessboard images to calibrate your camera.

Title: Camera calibration With OpenCV

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Bernt Gbor
Camera calibration by using either the chessboard, circle or the asymmetrical circle pattern. Get the images either from a camera attached, a video
file or from an image collection.

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5.1 Camera calibration with square chessboard

The goal of this tutorial is to learn how to calibrate a camera given a set of chessboard images.
Test data: use images in your data/chess folder.
1. Compile opencv with samples by setting BUILD_EXAMPLES to ON in cmake configuration.
2. Go to bin folder and use imagelist_creator to create an XML/YAML list of your images.
3. Then, run calibration sample to get camera parameters. Use square size equal to 3cm.

Pose estimation
Now, let us write a code that detects a chessboard in a new image and finds its distance from the camera. You can
apply the same method to any object with known 3D geometry that you can detect in an image.
Test data: use chess_test*.jpg images from your data folder.
1. Create an empty console project. Load a test image:
Mat img = imread(argv[1], CV_LOAD_IMAGE_GRAYSCALE);

2. Detect a chessboard in this image using findChessboard function.

bool found = findChessboardCorners( img, boardSize, ptvec, CV_CALIB_CB_ADAPTIVE_THRESH );

3. Now, write a function that generates a vector<Point3f> array of 3d coordinates of a chessboard in any coordinate system. For simplicity, let us choose a system such that one of the chessboard corners is in the origin and
the board is in the plane z = 0.
4. Read camera parameters from XML/YAML file:
FileStorage fs(filename, FileStorage::READ);
Mat intrinsics, distortion;
fs["camera_matrix"] >> intrinsics;
fs["distortion_coefficients"] >> distortion;

5. Now we are ready to find chessboard pose by running solvePnP:

vector<Point3f> boardPoints;
// fill the array
...
solvePnP(Mat(boardPoints), Mat(foundBoardCorners), cameraMatrix,
distCoeffs, rvec, tvec, false);

6. Calculate

reprojection
error
like
it
is
done
in
calibration
opencv/samples/cpp/calibration.cpp, function computeReprojectionErrors).

sample

(see

Question: how to calculate the distance from the camera origin to any of the corners?

5.2 Camera calibration With OpenCV

Cameras have been around for a long-long time. However, with the introduction of the cheap pinhole cameras in the
late 20th century, they became a common occurrence in our everyday life. Unfortunately, this cheapness comes with
its price: significant distortion. Luckily, these are constants and with a calibration and some remapping we can correct

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this. Furthermore, with calibration you may also determinate the relation between the cameras natural units (pixels)
and the real world units (for example millimeters).

Theory
For the distortion OpenCV takes into account the radial and tangential factors. For the radial one uses the following
formula:
xcorrected = x(1 + k1 r2 + k2 r4 + k3 r6
ycorrected = y(1 + k1 r2 + k2 r4 + k3 r6
So for an old pixel point at (x, y) coordinate in the input image, for a corrected output image its position will be
(xcorrected ycorrected ) . The presence of the radial distortion manifests in form of the barrel or fish-eye effect.
Tangential distortion occurs because the image taking lenses are not perfectly parallel to the imaging plane. Correcting
this is made via the formulas:
xcorrected = x + [2p1 y + p2 (r2 + 2x2 )]
ycorrected = y + [2p1 (r2 + 2y2 ) + 2p2 x]
So we have five distortion parameters, which in OpenCV are organized in a 5 column one row matrix:
Distortioncoefficients = (k1
Now for the unit conversion, we use the following formula:

fx 0
x
y = 0 fy
w
0 0

k2

p1

p2

k3 )

cx
X
cy Y
Z
1

Here the presence of the w is cause we use a homography coordinate system (and w = Z). The unknown parameters
are fx and fy (camera focal lengths) and (cx , cy ) what are the optical centers expressed in pixels coordinates. If for
both axes a common focal length is used with a given a aspect ratio (usually 1), then fy = fx a and in the upper
formula we will have a single f focal length. The matrix containing these four parameters is referred to as the camera
matrix. While the distortion coefficients are the same regardless of the camera resolutions used, these should be scaled
along with the current resolution from the calibrated resolution.
The process of determining these two matrices is the calibration. Calculating these parameters is done by some basic
geometrical equations. The equations used depend on the calibrating objects used. Currently OpenCV supports three
types of object for calibration:
Classical black-white chessboard
Symmetrical circle pattern
Asymmetrical circle pattern
Basically, you need to take snapshots of these patterns with your camera and let OpenCV find them. Each found
pattern equals in a new equation. To solve the equation you need at least a predetermined number of pattern snapshots
to form a well-posed equation system. This number is higher for the chessboard pattern and less for the circle ones.
For example, in theory the chessboard one requires at least two. However, in practice we have a good amount of noise
present in our input images, so for good results you will probably want at least 10 good snapshots of the input pattern
in different position.

Goal
The sample application will:
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Determinate the distortion matrix

Determinate the camera matrix
Input from Camera, Video and Image file list
Configuration from XML/YAML file
Save the results into XML/YAML file
Calculate re-projection error

Source code
You may also find the source code in the samples/cpp/tutorial_code/calib3d/camera_calibration/ folder
of the OpenCV source library or download it from here. The program has a single argument. The name of its
configuration file. If none given it will try to open the one named default.xml. Heres a sample configuration
file in XML format. In the configuration file you may choose to use as input a camera, a video file or an image list.
If you opt for the later one, you need to create a configuration file where you enumerate the images to use. Heres
an example of this. The important part to remember is that the images needs to be specified using the absolute
path or the relative one from your applications working directory. You may find all this in the beforehand mentioned
directory.
The application starts up with reading the settings from the configuration file. Although, this is an important part of it,
it has nothing to do with the subject of this tutorial: camera calibration. Therefore, Ive chosen to do not post here the
code part for that. The technical background on how to do this you can find in the File Input and Output using XML
and YAML files tutorial.

Explanation
1. Read the settings.
Settings s;
const string inputSettingsFile = argc > 1 ? argv[1] :
FileStorage fs(inputSettingsFile, FileStorage::READ);
if (!fs.isOpened())
{
cout << "Could not open the configuration file:
return -1;
}
fs["Settings"] >> s;
fs.release();

"default.xml";
// Read the settings

\"" << inputSettingsFile << "\"" << endl;

// close Settings file

if (!s.goodInput)
{
cout << "Invalid input detected. Application stopping. " << endl;
return -1;
}

For this Ive used simple OpenCV class input operation. After reading the file Ive an additional post-process
function that checks for the validity of the input. Only if all of them are good will be the goodInput variable
true.
2. Get next input, if it fails or we have enough of them calibrate. After this we have a big loop where we do the
following operations: get the next image from the image list, camera or video file. If this fails or we have enough
images we run the calibration process. In case of image we step out of the loop and otherwise the remaining
frames will be undistorted (if the option is set) via changing from DETECTION mode to CALIBRATED one.

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for(int i = 0;;++i)
{
Mat view;
bool blinkOutput = false;
view = s.nextImage();
//----- If no more image, or got enough, then stop calibration and show result ------------if( mode == CAPTURING && imagePoints.size() >= (unsigned)s.nrFrames )
{
if( runCalibrationAndSave(s, imageSize, cameraMatrix, distCoeffs, imagePoints))
mode = CALIBRATED;
else
mode = DETECTION;
}
if(view.empty())
// If no more images then run calibration, save and stop loop.
{
if( imagePoints.size() > 0 )
runCalibrationAndSave(s, imageSize, cameraMatrix, distCoeffs, imagePoints);
break;
imageSize = view.size(); // Format input image.
if( s.flipVertical )
flip( view, view, 0 );
}

For some cameras we may need to flip the input image. Here we do this too.
3. Find the pattern in the current input. The formation of the equations I mentioned above consists of finding
the major patterns in the input: in case of the chessboard this is their corners of the squares and for the circles,
well, the circles itself. The position of these will form the result and is collected into the pointBuf vector.
vector<Point2f> pointBuf;
bool found;
switch( s.calibrationPattern ) // Find feature points on the input format
{
case Settings::CHESSBOARD:
found = findChessboardCorners( view, s.boardSize, pointBuf,
CV_CALIB_CB_ADAPTIVE_THRESH | CV_CALIB_CB_FAST_CHECK | CV_CALIB_CB_NORMALIZE_IMAGE);
break;
case Settings::CIRCLES_GRID:
found = findCirclesGrid( view, s.boardSize, pointBuf );
break;
case Settings::ASYMMETRIC_CIRCLES_GRID:
found = findCirclesGrid( view, s.boardSize, pointBuf, CALIB_CB_ASYMMETRIC_GRID );
break;
}

Depending on the type of the input pattern you use either the findChessboardCorners or the findCirclesGrid
function. For both of them you pass on the current image, the size of the board and youll get back the positions
of the patterns. Furthermore, they return a boolean variable that states if in the input we could find or not the
pattern (we only need to take into account images where this is true!).
Then again in case of cameras we only take camera images after an input delay time passed. This is in order to allow for the user to move the chessboard around and as getting different images. Same images mean
same equations, and same equations at the calibration will form an ill-posed problem, so the calibration will
fail. For square images the position of the corners are only approximate. We may improve this by calling the
cornerSubPix function. This way will get a better calibration result. After this we add a valid inputs result to
the imagePoints vector to collect all of the equations into a single container. Finally, for visualization feedback

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purposes we will draw the found points on the input image with the findChessboardCorners function.
if ( found)
// If done with success,
{
// improve the found corners coordinate accuracy for chessboard
if( s.calibrationPattern == Settings::CHESSBOARD)
{
Mat viewGray;
cvtColor(view, viewGray, CV_BGR2GRAY);
cornerSubPix( viewGray, pointBuf, Size(11,11),
Size(-1,-1), TermCriteria( CV_TERMCRIT_EPS+CV_TERMCRIT_ITER, 30, 0.1 ));
}
if( mode == CAPTURING && // For camera only take new samples after delay time
(!s.inputCapture.isOpened() || clock() - prevTimestamp > s.delay*1e-3*CLOCKS_PER_SEC) )
{
imagePoints.push_back(pointBuf);
prevTimestamp = clock();
blinkOutput = s.inputCapture.isOpened();
}
// Draw the corners.
drawChessboardCorners( view, s.boardSize, Mat(pointBuf), found );
}

4. Show state and result for the user, plus command line control of the application. The showing part consists
of a text output on the live feed, and for video or camera input to show the capturing frame we simply bitwise
negate the input image.
//----------------------------- Output Text -----------------------------------------------string msg = (mode == CAPTURING) ? "100/100" :
mode == CALIBRATED ? "Calibrated" : "Press g to start";
int baseLine = 0;
Size textSize = getTextSize(msg, 1, 1, 1, &baseLine);
Point textOrigin(view.cols - 2*textSize.width - 10, view.rows - 2*baseLine - 10);
if( mode == CAPTURING )
{
if(s.showUndistorsed)
msg = format( "%d/%d Undist", (int)imagePoints.size(), s.nrFrames );
else
msg = format( "%d/%d", (int)imagePoints.size(), s.nrFrames );
}
putText( view, msg, textOrigin, 1, 1, mode == CALIBRATED ?

GREEN : RED);

if( blinkOutput )
bitwise_not(view, view);

If we only ran the calibration and got the camera matrix plus the distortion coefficients we may just as correct
the image with the undistort function:
//------------------------- Video capture output undistorted -----------------------------if( mode == CALIBRATED && s.showUndistorsed )
{
Mat temp = view.clone();
undistort(temp, view, cameraMatrix, distCoeffs);
}
//------------------------------ Show image and check for input commands -------------------

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imshow("Image View", view);

Then we wait for an input key and if this is u we toggle the distortion removal, if it is g we start all over the
detection process (or simply start it), and finally for the ESC key quit the application:
char key = waitKey(s.inputCapture.isOpened() ? 50 : s.delay);
if( key == ESC_KEY )
break;
if( key == u && mode == CALIBRATED )
s.showUndistorsed = !s.showUndistorsed;
if( s.inputCapture.isOpened() && key == g )
{
mode = CAPTURING;
imagePoints.clear();
}

5. Show the distortion removal for the images too. When you work with an image list it is not possible to
remove the distortion inside the loop. Therefore, you must append this after the loop. Taking advantage of this
now Ill expand the undistort function, which is in fact first a call of the initUndistortRectifyMap to find out the
transformation matrices and then doing the transformation with the remap function. Because, after a successful
calibration the map calculation needs to be done only once, by using this expanded form you may speed up your
application:
if( s.inputType == Settings::IMAGE_LIST && s.showUndistorsed )
{
Mat view, rview, map1, map2;
initUndistortRectifyMap(cameraMatrix, distCoeffs, Mat(),
getOptimalNewCameraMatrix(cameraMatrix, distCoeffs, imageSize, 1, imageSize, 0),
imageSize, CV_16SC2, map1, map2);
for(int i = 0; i < (int)s.imageList.size(); i++ )
{
view = imread(s.imageList[i], 1);
if(view.empty())
continue;
remap(view, rview, map1, map2, INTER_LINEAR);
imshow("Image View", rview);
char c = waitKey();
if( c == ESC_KEY || c == q || c == Q )
break;
}
}

The calibration and save

Because the calibration needs to be only once per camera it makes sense to save them after a successful calibration.
This way later on you can just load these values into your program. Due to this we first make the calibration, and if
it succeeds we save the result into an OpenCV style XML or YAML file, depending on the extension you give in the
configuration file.
Therefore in the first function we just split up these two processes. Because we want to save many of the calibration
variables well create these variables here and pass on both of them to the calibration and saving function. Again, Ill
not show the saving part as that has little in common with the calibration. Explore the source file in order to find out
how and what:

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bool runCalibrationAndSave(Settings& s, Size imageSize, Mat&

{
vector<Mat> rvecs, tvecs;
vector<float> reprojErrs;
double totalAvgErr = 0;

cameraMatrix, Mat& distCoeffs,vector<vector<Point2f> > i

bool ok = runCalibration(s,imageSize, cameraMatrix, distCoeffs, imagePoints, rvecs, tvecs,

reprojErrs, totalAvgErr);
cout << (ok ? "Calibration succeeded" : "Calibration failed")
<< ". avg re projection error = " << totalAvgErr ;
if( ok )
// save only if the calibration was done with success
saveCameraParams( s, imageSize, cameraMatrix, distCoeffs, rvecs ,tvecs, reprojErrs,
imagePoints, totalAvgErr);
return ok;
}

We do the calibration with the help of the calibrateCamera function. This has the following parameters:
The object points. This is a vector of Point3f vector that for each input image describes how should the pattern
look. If we have a planar pattern (like a chessboard) then we can simply set all Z coordinates to zero. This is
a collection of the points where these important points are present. Because, we use a single pattern for all the
input images we can calculate this just once and multiply it for all the other input views. We calculate the corner
points with the calcBoardCornerPositions function as:
void calcBoardCornerPositions(Size boardSize, float squareSize, vector<Point3f>& corners,
Settings::Pattern patternType /*= Settings::CHESSBOARD*/)
{
corners.clear();
switch(patternType)
{
case Settings::CHESSBOARD:
case Settings::CIRCLES_GRID:
for( int i = 0; i < boardSize.height; ++i )
for( int j = 0; j < boardSize.width; ++j )
corners.push_back(Point3f(float( j*squareSize ), float( i*squareSize ), 0));
break;
case Settings::ASYMMETRIC_CIRCLES_GRID:
for( int i = 0; i < boardSize.height; i++ )
for( int j = 0; j < boardSize.width; j++ )
corners.push_back(Point3f(float((2*j + i % 2)*squareSize), float(i*squareSize), 0));
break;
}
}

And then multiply it as:

vector<vector<Point3f> > objectPoints(1);
calcBoardCornerPositions(s.boardSize, s.squareSize, objectPoints[0], s.calibrationPattern);
objectPoints.resize(imagePoints.size(),objectPoints[0]);

The image points. This is a vector of Point2f vector that for each input image contains where the important
points (corners for chessboard, and center of circles for the circle patterns) were found. We already collected
this from what the findChessboardCorners or the findCirclesGrid function returned. We just need to pass it on.
The size of the image acquired from the camera, video file or the images.
The camera matrix. If we used the fix aspect ratio option we need to set the fx to zero:
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cameraMatrix = Mat::eye(3, 3, CV_64F);

if( s.flag & CV_CALIB_FIX_ASPECT_RATIO )
cameraMatrix.at<double>(0,0) = 1.0;

The distortion coefficient matrix. Initialize with zero.

distCoeffs = Mat::zeros(8, 1, CV_64F);

The function will calculate for all the views the rotation and translation vector that transform the object points
(given in the model coordinate space) to the image points (given in the world coordinate space). The 7th and
8th parameters are an output vector of matrices containing in the ith position the rotation and translation vector
for the ith object point to the ith image point.
The final argument is a flag. You need to specify here options like fix the aspect ratio for the focal length, assume
zero tangential distortion or to fix the principal point.
double rms = calibrateCamera(objectPoints, imagePoints, imageSize, cameraMatrix,
distCoeffs, rvecs, tvecs, s.flag|CV_CALIB_FIX_K4|CV_CALIB_FIX_K5);

The function returns the average re-projection error. This number gives a good estimation of just how exact is
the found parameters. This should be as close to zero as possible. Given the intrinsic, distortion, rotation and
translation matrices we may calculate the error for one view by using the projectPoints to first transform the
object point to image point. Then we calculate the absolute norm between what we got with our transformation
and the corner/circle finding algorithm. To find the average error we calculate the arithmetical mean of the errors
calculate for all the calibration images.
double computeReprojectionErrors( const vector<vector<Point3f> >& objectPoints,
const vector<vector<Point2f> >& imagePoints,
const vector<Mat>& rvecs, const vector<Mat>& tvecs,
const Mat& cameraMatrix , const Mat& distCoeffs,
vector<float>& perViewErrors)
{
vector<Point2f> imagePoints2;
int i, totalPoints = 0;
double totalErr = 0, err;
perViewErrors.resize(objectPoints.size());
for( i = 0; i < (int)objectPoints.size(); ++i )
{
projectPoints( Mat(objectPoints[i]), rvecs[i], tvecs[i], cameraMatrix,
distCoeffs, imagePoints2);
err = norm(Mat(imagePoints[i]), Mat(imagePoints2), CV_L2);
int n = (int)objectPoints[i].size();
perViewErrors[i] = (float) std::sqrt(err*err/n);
totalErr
+= err*err;
totalPoints
+= n;

// project
// difference

// save for this view

// sum it up

}
return std::sqrt(totalErr/totalPoints);
}

// calculate the arithmetical mean

Results
Let there be this input chessboard pattern that has a size of 9 X 6. Ive used an AXIS IP camera to create a couple of snapshots of the board and saved it into a VID5 directory. Ive put this inside the images/CameraCalibraation
folder of my working directory and created the following VID5.XML file that describes which images to use:

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<?xml version="1.0"?>
<opencv_storage>
<images>
images/CameraCalibraation/VID5/xx1.jpg
images/CameraCalibraation/VID5/xx2.jpg
images/CameraCalibraation/VID5/xx3.jpg
images/CameraCalibraation/VID5/xx4.jpg
images/CameraCalibraation/VID5/xx5.jpg
images/CameraCalibraation/VID5/xx6.jpg
images/CameraCalibraation/VID5/xx7.jpg
images/CameraCalibraation/VID5/xx8.jpg
</images>
</opencv_storage>

Then specified the images/CameraCalibraation/VID5/VID5.XML as input in the configuration file. Heres a chessboard pattern found during the runtime of the application:

After applying the distortion removal we get:

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The same works for this asymmetrical circle pattern by setting the input width to 4 and height to 11. This
time Ive used a live camera feed by specifying its ID (1) for the input. Heres, how a detected pattern should look:

In both cases in the specified output XML/YAML file youll find the camera and distortion coefficients matrices:
<Camera_Matrix type_id="opencv-matrix">
<rows>3</rows>
<cols>3</cols>
<dt>d</dt>

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<data>
6.5746697944293521e+002 0. 3.1950000000000000e+002 0.
6.5746697944293521e+002 2.3950000000000000e+002 0. 0. 1.</data></Camera_Matrix>
<Distortion_Coefficients type_id="opencv-matrix">
<rows>5</rows>
<cols>1</cols>
<dt>d</dt>
<data>
-4.1802327176423804e-001 5.0715244063187526e-001 0. 0.
-5.7843597214487474e-001</data></Distortion_Coefficients>

Add these values as constants to your program, call the initUndistortRectifyMap and the remap function to remove
distortion and enjoy distortion free inputs with cheap and low quality cameras.
You may observe a runtime instance of this on the YouTube here.

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CHAPTER

SIX

FEATURE2D MODULE. 2D FEATURES

FRAMEWORK
Learn about how to use the feature points detectors, descriptors and matching framework found inside OpenCV.

Title: Harris corner detector

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
Why is it a good idea to track corners? We learn to use the Harris method
to detect corners

Title: Shi-Tomasi corner detector

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
Where we use an improved method to detect corners more accuratelyI

Title: Creating yor own corner detector

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
Here you will learn how to use OpenCV functions to make your personalized corner detector!

Title: Detecting corners location in subpixeles

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
Is pixel resolution enough? Here we learn a simple method to improve our
accuracy.

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282

Title: Feature Detection

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
In this tutorial, you will use features2d to detect interest points.

Title: Feature Description

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
In this tutorial, you will use features2d to calculate feature vectors.

Title: Feature Matching with FLANN

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
In this tutorial, you will use the FLANN library to make a fast matching.

Title: Features2D + Homography to find a known object

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
In this tutorial, you will use features2d and calib3d to detect an object in a
scene.

Title: Detection of planar objects

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Victor Eruhimov
You will use features2d and calib3d modules for detecting known planar
objects in scenes.

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The OpenCV Tutorials, Release 2.4.2

6.1 Feature Description

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Use the DescriptorExtractor interface in order to find the feature vector correspondent to the keypoints. Specifically:
Use SurfDescriptorExtractor and its function compute to perform the required calculations.
Use a BruteForceMatcher to match the features vector
Use the function drawMatches to draw the detected matches.

Theory
Code
This tutorial codes is shown lines below. You can also download it from here
#include
#include
#include
#include
#include

<stdio.h>
<iostream>
"opencv2/core/core.hpp"
"opencv2/features2d/features2d.hpp"
"opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp"

using namespace cv;

void readme();
/** @function main */
int main( int argc, char** argv )
{
if( argc != 3 )
{ return -1; }
Mat img_1 = imread( argv[1], CV_LOAD_IMAGE_GRAYSCALE );
Mat img_2 = imread( argv[2], CV_LOAD_IMAGE_GRAYSCALE );
if( !img_1.data || !img_2.data )
{ return -1; }
//-- Step 1: Detect the keypoints using SURF Detector
int minHessian = 400;
SurfFeatureDetector detector( minHessian );
std::vector<KeyPoint> keypoints_1, keypoints_2;
detector.detect( img_1, keypoints_1 );
detector.detect( img_2, keypoints_2 );
//-- Step 2: Calculate descriptors (feature vectors)
SurfDescriptorExtractor extractor;
Mat descriptors_1, descriptors_2;

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extractor.compute( img_1, keypoints_1, descriptors_1 );

extractor.compute( img_2, keypoints_2, descriptors_2 );
//-- Step 3: Matching descriptor vectors with a brute force matcher
BruteForceMatcher< L2<float> > matcher;
std::vector< DMatch > matches;
matcher.match( descriptors_1, descriptors_2, matches );
//-- Draw matches
Mat img_matches;
drawMatches( img_1, keypoints_1, img_2, keypoints_2, matches, img_matches );
//-- Show detected matches
imshow("Matches", img_matches );
waitKey(0);
return 0;
}
/** @function readme */
void readme()
{ std::cout << " Usage: ./SURF_descriptor <img1> <img2>" << std::endl; }

Explanation
Result
1. Here is the result after applying the BruteForce matcher between the two original images:

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6.2 Harris corner detector

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn:
What features are and why they are important
Use the function cornerHarris to detect corners using the Harris-Stephens method.

Theory
What is a feature?
In computer vision, usually we need to find matching points between different frames of an environment. Why?
If we know how two images relate to each other, we can use both images to extract information of them.
When we say matching points we are referring, in a general sense, to characteristics in the scene that we can
recognize easily. We call these characteristics features.
So, what characteristics should a feature have?
It must be uniquely recognizable
Types of Image Features
To mention a few:
Edges
Corners (also known as interest points)
Blobs (also known as regions of interest )
In this tutorial we will study the corner features, specifically.
Why is a corner so special?
Because, since it is the intersection of two edges, it represents a point in which the directions of these two edges
change. Hence, the gradient of the image (in both directions) have a high variation, which can be used to detect
it.
How does it work?
Lets look for corners. Since corners represents a variation in the gradient in the image, we will look for this
variation.
Consider a grayscale image I. We are going to sweep a window w(x, y) (with displacements u in the x direction
and v in the right direction) I and will calculate the variation of intensity.
X
E(u, v) =
w(x, y)[I(x + u, y + v) I(x, y)]2
x,y

where:
w(x, y) is the window at position (x, y)
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I(x, y) is the intensity at (x, y)

I(x + u, y + v) is the intensity at the moved window (x + u, y + v)
Since we are looking for windows with corners, we are looking for windows with a large variation in intensity.
Hence, we have to maximize the equation above, specifically the term:
X
[I(x + u, y + v) I(x, y)]2
x,y

Using Taylor expansion:

E(u, v)

[I(x, y) + uIx + vIy I(x, y)]2

x,y

Expanding the equation and cancelling properly:

X
E(u, v)
u2 I2x + 2uvIx Iy + v2 I2y
x,y

Which can be expressed in a matrix form as:


E(u, v) u

 2
 X
Ix
v
w(x, y)
Ix Iy

Ix Iy
I2y

x,y

!  
u
v

Lets denote:
M=

I2x
Ix Iy


w(x, y)

x,y

Ix Iy
I2y

So, our equation now is:


E(u, v) u

 

u
v M
v

A score is calculated for each window, to determine if it can possibly contain a corner:
R = det(M) k(trace(M))2
where:
det(M) = 1 2
trace(M) = 1 + 2
a window with a score R greater than a certain value is considered a corner

Code
This tutorial codes is shown lines below. You can also download it from here
#include
#include
#include
#include
#include

286

"opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp"
"opencv2/imgproc/imgproc.hpp"
<iostream>
<stdio.h>
<stdlib.h>

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using namespace cv;

using namespace std;
///
Mat
int
int

Global variables
src, src_gray;
thresh = 200;
max_thresh = 255;

char* source_window = "Source image";

char* corners_window = "Corners detected";
/// Function header
void cornerHarris_demo( int, void* );
/** @function main */
int main( int argc, char** argv )
{
/// Load source image and convert it to gray
src = imread( argv[1], 1 );
cvtColor( src, src_gray, CV_BGR2GRAY );
/// Create a window and a trackbar
namedWindow( source_window, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
createTrackbar( "Threshold: ", source_window, &thresh, max_thresh, cornerHarris_demo );
imshow( source_window, src );
cornerHarris_demo( 0, 0 );
waitKey(0);
return(0);
}
/** @function cornerHarris_demo */
void cornerHarris_demo( int, void* )
{
Mat dst, dst_norm, dst_norm_scaled;
dst = Mat::zeros( src.size(), CV_32FC1 );
/// Detector parameters
int blockSize = 2;
int apertureSize = 3;
double k = 0.04;
/// Detecting corners
cornerHarris( src_gray, dst, blockSize, apertureSize, k, BORDER_DEFAULT );
/// Normalizing
normalize( dst, dst_norm, 0, 255, NORM_MINMAX, CV_32FC1, Mat() );
convertScaleAbs( dst_norm, dst_norm_scaled );
/// Drawing a circle around corners
for( int j = 0; j < dst_norm.rows ; j++ )
{ for( int i = 0; i < dst_norm.cols; i++ )
{
if( (int) dst_norm.at<float>(j,i) > thresh )
{
circle( dst_norm_scaled, Point( i, j ), 5,

6.2. Harris corner detector

Scalar(0), 2, 8, 0 );

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}
}
}
/// Showing the result
namedWindow( corners_window, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
imshow( corners_window, dst_norm_scaled );
}

Explanation
Result
The original image:

The detected corners are surrounded by a small black circle

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6.3 Feature Matching with FLANN

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Use the FlannBasedMatcher interface in order to perform a quick and efficient matching by using the FLANN (
Fast Approximate Nearest Neighbor Search Library )

Theory
Code
This tutorial codes is shown lines below. You can also download it from here
#include
#include
#include
#include
#include

<stdio.h>
<iostream>
"opencv2/core/core.hpp"
"opencv2/features2d/features2d.hpp"
"opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp"

using namespace cv;

void readme();
/** @function
int main( int
{
if( argc !=
{ readme();

main */
argc, char** argv )
3 )
return -1; }

Mat img_1 = imread( argv[1], CV_LOAD_IMAGE_GRAYSCALE );

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Mat img_2 = imread( argv[2], CV_LOAD_IMAGE_GRAYSCALE );

if( !img_1.data || !img_2.data )
{ std::cout<< " --(!) Error reading images " << std::endl; return -1; }
//-- Step 1: Detect the keypoints using SURF Detector
int minHessian = 400;
SurfFeatureDetector detector( minHessian );
std::vector<KeyPoint> keypoints_1, keypoints_2;
detector.detect( img_1, keypoints_1 );
detector.detect( img_2, keypoints_2 );
//-- Step 2: Calculate descriptors (feature vectors)
SurfDescriptorExtractor extractor;
Mat descriptors_1, descriptors_2;
extractor.compute( img_1, keypoints_1, descriptors_1 );
extractor.compute( img_2, keypoints_2, descriptors_2 );
//-- Step 3: Matching descriptor vectors using FLANN matcher
FlannBasedMatcher matcher;
std::vector< DMatch > matches;
matcher.match( descriptors_1, descriptors_2, matches );
double max_dist = 0; double min_dist = 100;
//-- Quick calculation of max and min distances between keypoints
for( int i = 0; i < descriptors_1.rows; i++ )
{ double dist = matches[i].distance;
if( dist < min_dist ) min_dist = dist;
if( dist > max_dist ) max_dist = dist;
}
printf("-- Max dist : %f \n", max_dist );
printf("-- Min dist : %f \n", min_dist );
//-- Draw only "good" matches (i.e. whose distance is less than 2*min_dist )
//-- PS.- radiusMatch can also be used here.
std::vector< DMatch > good_matches;
for( int i = 0; i < descriptors_1.rows; i++ )
{ if( matches[i].distance < 2*min_dist )
{ good_matches.push_back( matches[i]); }
}
//-- Draw only "good" matches
Mat img_matches;
drawMatches( img_1, keypoints_1, img_2, keypoints_2,
good_matches, img_matches, Scalar::all(-1), Scalar::all(-1),
vector<char>(), DrawMatchesFlags::NOT_DRAW_SINGLE_POINTS );
//-- Show detected matches
imshow( "Good Matches", img_matches );

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for( int i = 0; i < good_matches.size(); i++ )

{ printf( "-- Good Match [%d] Keypoint 1: %d -- Keypoint 2: %d

\n", i, good_matches[i].queryIdx, good_matches[i].t

waitKey(0);
return 0;
}
/** @function readme */
void readme()
{ std::cout << " Usage: ./SURF_FlannMatcher <img1> <img2>" << std::endl; }

Explanation
Result
1. Here is the result of the feature detection applied to the first image:

2. Additionally, we get as console output the keypoints filtered:

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6.4 Features2D + Homography to find a known object

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Use the function findHomography to find the transform between matched keypoints.
Use the function perspectiveTransform to map the points.

Theory
Code
This tutorial codes is shown lines below. You can also download it from here
#include
#include
#include
#include
#include
#include

<stdio.h>
<iostream>
"opencv2/core/core.hpp"
"opencv2/features2d/features2d.hpp"
"opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp"
"opencv2/calib3d/calib3d.hpp"

using namespace cv;

void readme();
/** @function main */
int main( int argc, char** argv )
{
if( argc != 3 )

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{ readme(); return -1; }

Mat img_object = imread( argv[1], CV_LOAD_IMAGE_GRAYSCALE );
Mat img_scene = imread( argv[2], CV_LOAD_IMAGE_GRAYSCALE );
if( !img_object.data || !img_scene.data )
{ std::cout<< " --(!) Error reading images " << std::endl; return -1; }
//-- Step 1: Detect the keypoints using SURF Detector
int minHessian = 400;
SurfFeatureDetector detector( minHessian );
std::vector<KeyPoint> keypoints_object, keypoints_scene;
detector.detect( img_object, keypoints_object );
detector.detect( img_scene, keypoints_scene );
//-- Step 2: Calculate descriptors (feature vectors)
SurfDescriptorExtractor extractor;
Mat descriptors_object, descriptors_scene;
extractor.compute( img_object, keypoints_object, descriptors_object );
extractor.compute( img_scene, keypoints_scene, descriptors_scene );
//-- Step 3: Matching descriptor vectors using FLANN matcher
FlannBasedMatcher matcher;
std::vector< DMatch > matches;
matcher.match( descriptors_object, descriptors_scene, matches );
double max_dist = 0; double min_dist = 100;
//-- Quick calculation of max and min distances between keypoints
for( int i = 0; i < descriptors_object.rows; i++ )
{ double dist = matches[i].distance;
if( dist < min_dist ) min_dist = dist;
if( dist > max_dist ) max_dist = dist;
}
printf("-- Max dist : %f \n", max_dist );
printf("-- Min dist : %f \n", min_dist );
//-- Draw only "good" matches (i.e. whose distance is less than 3*min_dist )
std::vector< DMatch > good_matches;
for( int i = 0; i < descriptors_object.rows; i++ )
{ if( matches[i].distance < 3*min_dist )
{ good_matches.push_back( matches[i]); }
}
Mat img_matches;
drawMatches( img_object, keypoints_object, img_scene, keypoints_scene,
good_matches, img_matches, Scalar::all(-1), Scalar::all(-1),
vector<char>(), DrawMatchesFlags::NOT_DRAW_SINGLE_POINTS );
//-- Localize the object
std::vector<Point2f> obj;

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std::vector<Point2f> scene;
for( int i = 0; i < good_matches.size(); i++ )
{
//-- Get the keypoints from the good matches
obj.push_back( keypoints_object[ good_matches[i].queryIdx ].pt );
scene.push_back( keypoints_scene[ good_matches[i].trainIdx ].pt );
}
Mat H = findHomography( obj, scene, CV_RANSAC );
//-- Get the corners from the image_1 ( the object to be "detected" )
std::vector<Point2f> obj_corners(4);
obj_corners[0] = cvPoint(0,0); obj_corners[1] = cvPoint( img_object.cols, 0 );
obj_corners[2] = cvPoint( img_object.cols, img_object.rows ); obj_corners[3] = cvPoint( 0, img_object.rows );
std::vector<Point2f> scene_corners(4);
perspectiveTransform( obj_corners, scene_corners, H);
//-- Draw lines between the corners
line( img_matches, scene_corners[0]
line( img_matches, scene_corners[1]
line( img_matches, scene_corners[2]
line( img_matches, scene_corners[3]

(the mapped object in the scene

+ Point2f( img_object.cols, 0),
+ Point2f( img_object.cols, 0),
+ Point2f( img_object.cols, 0),
+ Point2f( img_object.cols, 0),

- image_2 )
scene_corners[1]
scene_corners[2]
scene_corners[3]
scene_corners[0]

+
+
+
+

Point2f(
Point2f(
Point2f(
Point2f(

img_object.cols,
img_object.cols,
img_object.cols,
img_object.cols,

//-- Show detected matches

imshow( "Good Matches & Object detection", img_matches );
waitKey(0);
return 0;
}
/** @function readme */
void readme()
{ std::cout << " Usage: ./SURF_descriptor <img1> <img2>" << std::endl; }

Explanation
Result
1. And here is the result for the detected object (highlighted in green)

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0),
0),
0),
0),

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6.5 Shi-Tomasi corner detector

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Use the function goodFeaturesToTrack to detect corners using the Shi-Tomasi method.

Theory
Code
This tutorial codes is shown lines below. You can also download it from here
#include
#include
#include
#include
#include

"opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp"
"opencv2/imgproc/imgproc.hpp"
<iostream>
<stdio.h>
<stdlib.h>

using namespace cv;

using namespace std;
/// Global variables
Mat src, src_gray;
int maxCorners = 23;
int maxTrackbar = 100;
RNG rng(12345);
char* source_window = "Image";
/// Function header
void goodFeaturesToTrack_Demo( int, void* );
/**

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* @function main
*/
int main( int argc, char** argv )
{
/// Load source image and convert it to gray
src = imread( argv[1], 1 );
cvtColor( src, src_gray, CV_BGR2GRAY );
/// Create Window
namedWindow( source_window, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
/// Create Trackbar to set the number of corners
createTrackbar( "Max corners:", source_window, &maxCorners, maxTrackbar, goodFeaturesToTrack_Demo );
imshow( source_window, src );
goodFeaturesToTrack_Demo( 0, 0 );
waitKey(0);
return(0);
}
/**
* @function goodFeaturesToTrack_Demo.cpp
* @brief Apply Shi-Tomasi corner detector
*/
void goodFeaturesToTrack_Demo( int, void* )
{
if( maxCorners < 1 ) { maxCorners = 1; }
/// Parameters for Shi-Tomasi algorithm
vector<Point2f> corners;
double qualityLevel = 0.01;
double minDistance = 10;
int blockSize = 3;
bool useHarrisDetector = false;
double k = 0.04;
/// Copy the source image
Mat copy;
copy = src.clone();
/// Apply corner detection
goodFeaturesToTrack( src_gray,
corners,
maxCorners,
qualityLevel,
minDistance,
Mat(),
blockSize,
useHarrisDetector,
k );

/// Draw corners detected

cout<<"** Number of corners detected: "<<corners.size()<<endl;
int r = 4;
for( int i = 0; i < corners.size(); i++ )

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{ circle( copy, corners[i], r, Scalar(rng.uniform(0,255), rng.uniform(0,255),

rng.uniform(0,255)), -1, 8, 0 ); }
/// Show what you got
namedWindow( source_window, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
imshow( source_window, copy );
}

Explanation
Result

6.6 Creating yor own corner detector

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Use the OpenCV function cornerEigenValsAndVecs to find the eigenvalues and eigenvectors to determine if a
pixel is a corner.
Use the OpenCV function cornerMinEigenVal to find the minimum eigenvalues for corner detection.
To implement our own version of the Harris detector as well as the Shi-Tomasi detector, by using the two
functions above.

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Theory
Code
This tutorial codes is shown lines below. You can also download it from here
#include
#include
#include
#include
#include

"opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp"
"opencv2/imgproc/imgproc.hpp"
<iostream>
<stdio.h>
<stdlib.h>

using namespace cv;

using namespace std;
///
Mat
Mat
Mat

Global variables
src, src_gray;
myHarris_dst; Mat myHarris_copy; Mat Mc;
myShiTomasi_dst; Mat myShiTomasi_copy;

int myShiTomasi_qualityLevel = 50;

int myHarris_qualityLevel = 50;
int max_qualityLevel = 100;
double myHarris_minVal; double myHarris_maxVal;
double myShiTomasi_minVal; double myShiTomasi_maxVal;
RNG rng(12345);
char* myHarris_window = "My Harris corner detector";
char* myShiTomasi_window = "My Shi Tomasi corner detector";
/// Function headers
void myShiTomasi_function( int, void* );
void myHarris_function( int, void* );
/** @function main */
int main( int argc, char** argv )
{
/// Load source image and convert it to gray
src = imread( argv[1], 1 );
cvtColor( src, src_gray, CV_BGR2GRAY );
/// Set some parameters
int blockSize = 3; int apertureSize = 3;
/// My Harris matrix -- Using cornerEigenValsAndVecs
myHarris_dst = Mat::zeros( src_gray.size(), CV_32FC(6) );
Mc = Mat::zeros( src_gray.size(), CV_32FC1 );
cornerEigenValsAndVecs( src_gray, myHarris_dst, blockSize, apertureSize, BORDER_DEFAULT );
/* calculate Mc
for( int j = 0;
{ for( int i
{
float
float

298

*/
j < src_gray.rows; j++ )
= 0; i < src_gray.cols; i++ )
lambda_1 = myHarris_dst.at<float>( j, i, 0 );
lambda_2 = myHarris_dst.at<float>( j, i, 1 );

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Mc.at<float>(j,i) = lambda_1*lambda_2 - 0.04*pow( ( lambda_1 + lambda_2 ), 2 );

}
}
minMaxLoc( Mc, &myHarris_minVal, &myHarris_maxVal, 0, 0, Mat() );
/* Create Window and Trackbar */
namedWindow( myHarris_window, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
createTrackbar( " Quality Level:", myHarris_window, &myHarris_qualityLevel, max_qualityLevel,
myHarris_function );
myHarris_function( 0, 0 );
/// My Shi-Tomasi -- Using cornerMinEigenVal
myShiTomasi_dst = Mat::zeros( src_gray.size(), CV_32FC1 );
cornerMinEigenVal( src_gray, myShiTomasi_dst, blockSize, apertureSize, BORDER_DEFAULT );
minMaxLoc( myShiTomasi_dst, &myShiTomasi_minVal, &myShiTomasi_maxVal, 0, 0, Mat() );
/* Create Window and Trackbar */
namedWindow( myShiTomasi_window, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
createTrackbar( " Quality Level:", myShiTomasi_window, &myShiTomasi_qualityLevel, max_qualityLevel,
myShiTomasi_function );
myShiTomasi_function( 0, 0 );
waitKey(0);
return(0);
}
/** @function myShiTomasi_function */
void myShiTomasi_function( int, void* )
{
myShiTomasi_copy = src.clone();
if( myShiTomasi_qualityLevel < 1 ) { myShiTomasi_qualityLevel = 1; }
for( int j = 0; j < src_gray.rows; j++ )
{ for( int i = 0; i < src_gray.cols; i++ )
{
if( myShiTomasi_dst.at<float>(j,i) > myShiTomasi_minVal + ( myShiTomasi_maxVal myShiTomasi_minVal )*myShiTomasi_qualityLevel/max_qualityLevel )
{ circle( myShiTomasi_copy, Point(i,j), 4, Scalar( rng.uniform(0,255),
rng.uniform(0,255), rng.uniform(0,255) ), -1, 8, 0 ); }
}
}
imshow( myShiTomasi_window, myShiTomasi_copy );
}
/** @function myHarris_function */
void myHarris_function( int, void* )
{
myHarris_copy = src.clone();
if( myHarris_qualityLevel < 1 ) { myHarris_qualityLevel = 1; }
for( int j = 0; j < src_gray.rows; j++ )
{ for( int i = 0; i < src_gray.cols; i++ )
{
if( Mc.at<float>(j,i) > myHarris_minVal + ( myHarris_maxVal - myHarris_minVal )

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*myHarris_qualityLevel/max_qualityLevel )
_
{ circle( myHarris copy, Point(i,j), 4, Scalar( rng.uniform(0,255), rng.uniform(0,255),
rng.uniform(0,255) ), -1, 8, 0 ); }
}
}
imshow( myHarris_window, myHarris_copy );
}

Explanation
Result

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6.7 Detecting corners location in subpixeles

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Use the OpenCV function cornerSubPix to find more exact corner positions (more exact than integer pixels).

Theory
Code
This tutorial codes is shown lines below. You can also download it from here
#include
#include
#include
#include
#include

"opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp"
"opencv2/imgproc/imgproc.hpp"
<iostream>
<stdio.h>
<stdlib.h>

using namespace cv;

using namespace std;
/// Global variables
Mat src, src_gray;
int maxCorners = 10;
int maxTrackbar = 25;
RNG rng(12345);
char* source_window = "Image";

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/// Function header

void goodFeaturesToTrack_Demo( int, void* );
/** @function main */
int main( int argc, char** argv )
{
/// Load source image and convert it to gray
src = imread( argv[1], 1 );
cvtColor( src, src_gray, CV_BGR2GRAY );
/// Create Window
namedWindow( source_window, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
/// Create Trackbar to set the number of corners
createTrackbar( "Max corners:", source_window, &maxCorners, maxTrackbar, goodFeaturesToTrack_Demo);
imshow( source_window, src );
goodFeaturesToTrack_Demo( 0, 0 );
waitKey(0);
return(0);
}
/**
* @function goodFeaturesToTrack_Demo.cpp
* @brief Apply Shi-Tomasi corner detector
*/
void goodFeaturesToTrack_Demo( int, void* )
{
if( maxCorners < 1 ) { maxCorners = 1; }
/// Parameters for Shi-Tomasi algorithm
vector<Point2f> corners;
double qualityLevel = 0.01;
double minDistance = 10;
int blockSize = 3;
bool useHarrisDetector = false;
double k = 0.04;
/// Copy the source image
Mat copy;
copy = src.clone();
/// Apply corner detection
goodFeaturesToTrack( src_gray,
corners,
maxCorners,
qualityLevel,
minDistance,
Mat(),
blockSize,
useHarrisDetector,
k );

/// Draw corners detected

cout<<"** Number of corners detected: "<<corners.size()<<endl;

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int r = 4;
for( int i = 0; i < corners.size(); i++ )
{ circle( copy, corners[i], r, Scalar(rng.uniform(0,255), rng.uniform(0,255),
rng.uniform(0,255)), -1, 8, 0 ); }
/// Show what you got
namedWindow( source_window, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );
imshow( source_window, copy );
/// Set the neeed parameters to find the refined corners
Size winSize = Size( 5, 5 );
Size zeroZone = Size( -1, -1 );
TermCriteria criteria = TermCriteria( CV_TERMCRIT_EPS + CV_TERMCRIT_ITER, 40, 0.001 );
/// Calculate the refined corner locations
cornerSubPix( src_gray, corners, winSize, zeroZone, criteria );
/// Write them down
for( int i = 0; i < corners.size(); i++ )
{ cout<<" -- Refined Corner ["<<i<<"] ("<<corners[i].x<<","<<corners[i].y<<")"<<endl; }
}

Explanation
Result

Here is the result:

6.7. Detecting corners location in subpixeles

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6.8 Feature Detection

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Use the FeatureDetector interface in order to find interest points. Specifically:
Use the SurfFeatureDetector and its function detect to perform the detection process
Use the function drawKeypoints to draw the detected keypoints

Theory
Code
This tutorial codes is shown lines below. You can also download it from here
#include
#include
#include
#include
#include

<stdio.h>
<iostream>
"opencv2/core/core.hpp"
"opencv2/features2d/features2d.hpp"
"opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp"

using namespace cv;

void readme();
/** @function
int main( int
{
if( argc !=
{ readme();

main */
argc, char** argv )
3 )
return -1; }

Mat img_1 = imread( argv[1], CV_LOAD_IMAGE_GRAYSCALE );

Mat img_2 = imread( argv[2], CV_LOAD_IMAGE_GRAYSCALE );
if( !img_1.data || !img_2.data )
{ std::cout<< " --(!) Error reading images " << std::endl; return -1; }
//-- Step 1: Detect the keypoints using SURF Detector
int minHessian = 400;

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SurfFeatureDetector detector( minHessian );

std::vector<KeyPoint> keypoints_1, keypoints_2;
detector.detect( img_1, keypoints_1 );
detector.detect( img_2, keypoints_2 );
//-- Draw keypoints
Mat img_keypoints_1; Mat img_keypoints_2;
drawKeypoints( img_1, keypoints_1, img_keypoints_1, Scalar::all(-1), DrawMatchesFlags::DEFAULT );
drawKeypoints( img_2, keypoints_2, img_keypoints_2, Scalar::all(-1), DrawMatchesFlags::DEFAULT );
//-- Show detected (drawn) keypoints
imshow("Keypoints 1", img_keypoints_1 );
imshow("Keypoints 2", img_keypoints_2 );
waitKey(0);
return 0;
}
/** @function readme */
void readme()
{ std::cout << " Usage: ./SURF_detector <img1> <img2>" << std::endl; }

Explanation
Result
1. Here is the result of the feature detection applied to the first image:

2. And here is the result for the second image:

6.8. Feature Detection

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6.9 Feature Matching with FLANN

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Use the FlannBasedMatcher interface in order to perform a quick and efficient matching by using the FLANN (
Fast Approximate Nearest Neighbor Search Library )

Theory
Code
This tutorial codes is shown lines below. You can also download it from here
#include
#include
#include
#include
#include

<stdio.h>
<iostream>
"opencv2/core/core.hpp"
"opencv2/features2d/features2d.hpp"
"opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp"

using namespace cv;

void readme();
/** @function
int main( int
{
if( argc !=
{ readme();

main */
argc, char** argv )
3 )
return -1; }

Mat img_1 = imread( argv[1], CV_LOAD_IMAGE_GRAYSCALE );

Mat img_2 = imread( argv[2], CV_LOAD_IMAGE_GRAYSCALE );
if( !img_1.data || !img_2.data )

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{ std::cout<< " --(!) Error reading images " << std::endl; return -1; }
//-- Step 1: Detect the keypoints using SURF Detector
int minHessian = 400;
SurfFeatureDetector detector( minHessian );
std::vector<KeyPoint> keypoints_1, keypoints_2;
detector.detect( img_1, keypoints_1 );
detector.detect( img_2, keypoints_2 );
//-- Step 2: Calculate descriptors (feature vectors)
SurfDescriptorExtractor extractor;
Mat descriptors_1, descriptors_2;
extractor.compute( img_1, keypoints_1, descriptors_1 );
extractor.compute( img_2, keypoints_2, descriptors_2 );
//-- Step 3: Matching descriptor vectors using FLANN matcher
FlannBasedMatcher matcher;
std::vector< DMatch > matches;
matcher.match( descriptors_1, descriptors_2, matches );
double max_dist = 0; double min_dist = 100;
//-- Quick calculation of max and min distances between keypoints
for( int i = 0; i < descriptors_1.rows; i++ )
{ double dist = matches[i].distance;
if( dist < min_dist ) min_dist = dist;
if( dist > max_dist ) max_dist = dist;
}
printf("-- Max dist : %f \n", max_dist );
printf("-- Min dist : %f \n", min_dist );
//-- Draw only "good" matches (i.e. whose distance is less than 2*min_dist )
//-- PS.- radiusMatch can also be used here.
std::vector< DMatch > good_matches;
for( int i = 0; i < descriptors_1.rows; i++ )
{ if( matches[i].distance < 2*min_dist )
{ good_matches.push_back( matches[i]); }
}
//-- Draw only "good" matches
Mat img_matches;
drawMatches( img_1, keypoints_1, img_2, keypoints_2,
good_matches, img_matches, Scalar::all(-1), Scalar::all(-1),
vector<char>(), DrawMatchesFlags::NOT_DRAW_SINGLE_POINTS );
//-- Show detected matches
imshow( "Good Matches", img_matches );
for( int i = 0; i < good_matches.size(); i++ )
{ printf( "-- Good Match [%d] Keypoint 1: %d -- Keypoint 2: %d

6.9. Feature Matching with FLANN

\n", i, good_matches[i].queryIdx, good_matches[i].t

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waitKey(0);
return 0;
}
/** @function readme */
void readme()
{ std::cout << " Usage: ./SURF_FlannMatcher <img1> <img2>" << std::endl; }

Explanation
Result
1. Here is the result of the feature detection applied to the first image:

2. Additionally, we get as console output the keypoints filtered:

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6.10 Features2D + Homography to find a known object

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Use the function findHomography to find the transform between matched keypoints.
Use the function perspectiveTransform to map the points.

Theory
Code
This tutorial codes is shown lines below. You can also download it from here
#include
#include
#include
#include
#include
#include

<stdio.h>
<iostream>
"opencv2/core/core.hpp"
"opencv2/features2d/features2d.hpp"
"opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp"
"opencv2/calib3d/calib3d.hpp"

using namespace cv;

void readme();
/** @function main */
int main( int argc, char** argv )
{
if( argc != 3 )

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{ readme(); return -1; }

Mat img_object = imread( argv[1], CV_LOAD_IMAGE_GRAYSCALE );
Mat img_scene = imread( argv[2], CV_LOAD_IMAGE_GRAYSCALE );
if( !img_object.data || !img_scene.data )
{ std::cout<< " --(!) Error reading images " << std::endl; return -1; }
//-- Step 1: Detect the keypoints using SURF Detector
int minHessian = 400;
SurfFeatureDetector detector( minHessian );
std::vector<KeyPoint> keypoints_object, keypoints_scene;
detector.detect( img_object, keypoints_object );
detector.detect( img_scene, keypoints_scene );
//-- Step 2: Calculate descriptors (feature vectors)
SurfDescriptorExtractor extractor;
Mat descriptors_object, descriptors_scene;
extractor.compute( img_object, keypoints_object, descriptors_object );
extractor.compute( img_scene, keypoints_scene, descriptors_scene );
//-- Step 3: Matching descriptor vectors using FLANN matcher
FlannBasedMatcher matcher;
std::vector< DMatch > matches;
matcher.match( descriptors_object, descriptors_scene, matches );
double max_dist = 0; double min_dist = 100;
//-- Quick calculation of max and min distances between keypoints
for( int i = 0; i < descriptors_object.rows; i++ )
{ double dist = matches[i].distance;
if( dist < min_dist ) min_dist = dist;
if( dist > max_dist ) max_dist = dist;
}
printf("-- Max dist : %f \n", max_dist );
printf("-- Min dist : %f \n", min_dist );
//-- Draw only "good" matches (i.e. whose distance is less than 3*min_dist )
std::vector< DMatch > good_matches;
for( int i = 0; i < descriptors_object.rows; i++ )
{ if( matches[i].distance < 3*min_dist )
{ good_matches.push_back( matches[i]); }
}
Mat img_matches;
drawMatches( img_object, keypoints_object, img_scene, keypoints_scene,
good_matches, img_matches, Scalar::all(-1), Scalar::all(-1),
vector<char>(), DrawMatchesFlags::NOT_DRAW_SINGLE_POINTS );
//-- Localize the object
std::vector<Point2f> obj;

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std::vector<Point2f> scene;
for( int i = 0; i < good_matches.size(); i++ )
{
//-- Get the keypoints from the good matches
obj.push_back( keypoints_object[ good_matches[i].queryIdx ].pt );
scene.push_back( keypoints_scene[ good_matches[i].trainIdx ].pt );
}
Mat H = findHomography( obj, scene, CV_RANSAC );
//-- Get the corners from the image_1 ( the object to be "detected" )
std::vector<Point2f> obj_corners(4);
obj_corners[0] = cvPoint(0,0); obj_corners[1] = cvPoint( img_object.cols, 0 );
obj_corners[2] = cvPoint( img_object.cols, img_object.rows ); obj_corners[3] = cvPoint( 0, img_object.rows );
std::vector<Point2f> scene_corners(4);
perspectiveTransform( obj_corners, scene_corners, H);
//-- Draw lines between the corners
line( img_matches, scene_corners[0]
line( img_matches, scene_corners[1]
line( img_matches, scene_corners[2]
line( img_matches, scene_corners[3]

(the mapped object in the scene

+ Point2f( img_object.cols, 0),
+ Point2f( img_object.cols, 0),
+ Point2f( img_object.cols, 0),
+ Point2f( img_object.cols, 0),

- image_2 )
scene_corners[1]
scene_corners[2]
scene_corners[3]
scene_corners[0]

+
+
+
+

Point2f(
Point2f(
Point2f(
Point2f(

img_object.cols,
img_object.cols,
img_object.cols,
img_object.cols,

//-- Show detected matches

imshow( "Good Matches & Object detection", img_matches );
waitKey(0);
return 0;
}
/** @function readme */
void readme()
{ std::cout << " Usage: ./SURF_descriptor <img1> <img2>" << std::endl; }

Explanation
Result
1. And here is the result for the detected object (highlighted in green)

6.10. Features2D + Homography to find a known object

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0),
0),
0),

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6.11 Detection of planar objects

The goal of this tutorial is to learn how to use features2d and calib3d modules for detecting known planar objects in
scenes.
Test data: use images in your data folder, for instance, box.png and box_in_scene.png.
1. Create a new console project. Read two input images.
Mat img1 = imread(argv[1], CV_LOAD_IMAGE_GRAYSCALE);
Mat img2 = imread(argv[2], CV_LOAD_IMAGE_GRAYSCALE);

2. Detect keypoints in both images.

// detecting keypoints
FastFeatureDetector detector(15);
vector<KeyPoint> keypoints1;
detector.detect(img1, keypoints1);
... // do the same for the second image

3. Compute descriptors for each of the keypoints.

// computing descriptors
SurfDescriptorExtractor extractor;
Mat descriptors1;
extractor.compute(img1, keypoints1, descriptors1);
... // process keypoints from the second image as well

4. Now, find the closest matches between descriptors from the first image to the second:
// matching descriptors
BruteForceMatcher<L2<float> > matcher;
vector<DMatch> matches;
matcher.match(descriptors1, descriptors2, matches);

5. Visualize the results:

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// drawing the results

namedWindow("matches", 1);
Mat img_matches;
drawMatches(img1, keypoints1, img2, keypoints2, matches, img_matches);
imshow("matches", img_matches);
waitKey(0);

6. Find the homography transformation between two sets of points:

vector<Point2f> points1, points2;
// fill the arrays with the points
....
Mat H = findHomography(Mat(points1), Mat(points2), CV_RANSAC, ransacReprojThreshold);

7. Create a set of inlier matches and draw them. Use perspectiveTransform function to map points with homography:
Mat points1Projected; perspectiveTransform(Mat(points1), points1Projected, H);
8. Use drawMatches for drawing inliers.

6.11. Detection of planar objects

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CHAPTER

SEVEN

VIDEO MODULE. VIDEO ANALYSIS

Look here in order to find use on your video stream algoritms like: motion extraction, feature tracking and foreground
extractions.
Note: Unfortunetly we have no tutorials into this section. Nevertheless, our tutorial writting team is working on it. If
you have a tutorial suggestion or you have writen yourself a tutorial (or coded a sample code) that you would like to
see here please contact us via our user group.

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CHAPTER

EIGHT

OBJDETECT MODULE. OBJECT

DETECTION
Ever wondered how your digital camera detects peoples and faces? Look here to find out!

Title: Cascade Classifier

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Ana Huamn
Here we learn how to use objdetect to find objects in our images or videos

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8.1 Cascade Classifier

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Use the CascadeClassifier class to detect objects in a video stream. Particularly, we will use the functions:
load to load a .xml classifier file. It can be either a Haar or a LBP classifer
detectMultiScale to perform the detection.

Theory
Code
This tutorial codes is shown lines below. You can also download it from here . The second version (using LBP for
face detection) can be found here
#include "opencv2/objdetect/objdetect.hpp"
#include "opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp"
#include "opencv2/imgproc/imgproc.hpp"
#include <iostream>
#include <stdio.h>
using namespace std;
using namespace cv;
/** Function Headers */
void detectAndDisplay( Mat frame );
/** Global variables */
String face_cascade_name = "haarcascade_frontalface_alt.xml";
String eyes_cascade_name = "haarcascade_eye_tree_eyeglasses.xml";
CascadeClassifier face_cascade;
CascadeClassifier eyes_cascade;
string window_name = "Capture - Face detection";
RNG rng(12345);
/** @function main */
int main( int argc, const char** argv )
{
CvCapture* capture;
Mat frame;
//-- 1. Load the cascades
if( !face_cascade.load( face_cascade_name ) ){ printf("--(!)Error loading\n"); return -1; };
if( !eyes_cascade.load( eyes_cascade_name ) ){ printf("--(!)Error loading\n"); return -1; };
//-- 2. Read the video stream
capture = cvCaptureFromCAM( -1 );
if( capture )
{
while( true )
{
frame = cvQueryFrame( capture );

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//-- 3. Apply the classifier to the frame

if( !frame.empty() )
{ detectAndDisplay( frame ); }
else
{ printf(" --(!) No captured frame -- Break!"); break; }
int c = waitKey(10);
if( (char)c == c ) { break; }
}
}
return 0;
}
/** @function detectAndDisplay */
void detectAndDisplay( Mat frame )
{
std::vector<Rect> faces;
Mat frame_gray;
cvtColor( frame, frame_gray, CV_BGR2GRAY );
equalizeHist( frame_gray, frame_gray );
//-- Detect faces
face_cascade.detectMultiScale( frame_gray, faces, 1.1, 2, 0|CV_HAAR_SCALE_IMAGE, Size(30, 30) );
for( int i = 0; i < faces.size(); i++ )
{
Point center( faces[i].x + faces[i].width*0.5, faces[i].y + faces[i].height*0.5 );
ellipse( frame, center, Size( faces[i].width*0.5, faces[i].height*0.5), 0, 0, 360, Scalar( 255, 0, 255 ), 4, 8, 0
Mat faceROI = frame_gray( faces[i] );
std::vector<Rect> eyes;
//-- In each face, detect eyes
eyes_cascade.detectMultiScale( faceROI, eyes, 1.1, 2, 0 |CV_HAAR_SCALE_IMAGE, Size(30, 30) );
for( int j = 0; j < eyes.size(); j++ )
{
Point center( faces[i].x + eyes[j].x + eyes[j].width*0.5, faces[i].y + eyes[j].y + eyes[j].height*0.5 );
int radius = cvRound( (eyes[j].width + eyes[j].height)*0.25 );
circle( frame, center, radius, Scalar( 255, 0, 0 ), 4, 8, 0 );
}
}
//-- Show what you got
imshow( window_name, frame );
}

Explanation
Result
1. Here is the result of running the code above and using as input the video stream of a build-in webcam:

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Remember to copy the files haarcascade_frontalface_alt.xml and haarcascade_eye_tree_eyeglasses.xml in your

current directory. They are located in opencv/data/haarcascades
2. This is the result of using the file lbpcascade_frontalface.xml (LBP trained) for the face detection. For the eyes
we keep using the file used in the tutorial.

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CHAPTER

NINE

ML MODULE. MACHINE LEARNING

Use the powerfull machine learning classes for statistical classification, regression and clustering of data.

Title: Introduction to Support Vector Machines

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Fernando Iglesias Garca
Learn what a Suport Vector Machine is.

Title: Support Vector Machines for Non-Linearly Separable Data

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Fernando Iglesias Garca
Here you will learn how to define the optimization problem for SVMs when
it is not possible to separate linearly the training data.

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9.1 Introduction to Support Vector Machines

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Use the OpenCV functions CvSVM::train to build a classifier based on SVMs and CvSVM::predict to test its
performance.

What is a SVM?
A Support Vector Machine (SVM) is a discriminative classifier formally defined by a separating hyperplane. In
other words, given labeled training data (supervised learning), the algorithm outputs an optimal hyperplane which
categorizes new examples.
In which sense is the hyperplane obtained optimal? Lets consider the following simple problem:
For a linearly separable set of 2D-points which belong to one of two classes, find a separating straight
line.

Note: In this example we deal with lines and points in the Cartesian plane instead of hyperplanes and vectors in a
high dimensional space. This is a simplification of the problem.It is important to understand that this is done only
because our intuition is better built from examples that are easy to imagine. However, the same concepts apply to tasks
where the examples to classify lie in a space whose dimension is higher than two.
In the above picture you can see that there exists multiple lines that offer a solution to the problem. Is any of them
better than the others? We can intuitively define a criterion to estimate the worth of the lines:
A line is bad if it passes too close to the points because it will be noise sensitive and it will not generalize
correctly. Therefore, our goal should be to find the line passing as far as possible from all points.
Then, the operation of the SVM algorithm is based on finding the hyperplane that gives the largest minimum distance
to the training examples. Twice, this distance receives the important name of margin within SVMs theory. Therefore,
the optimal separating hyperplane maximizes the margin of the training data.

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How is the optimal hyperplane computed?

Lets introduce the notation used to define formally a hyperplane:
f(x) = 0 + T x,

where is known as the weight vector and 0 as the bias.

See Also:
A more in depth description of this and hyperplanes you can find in the section 4.5 (Seperating Hyperplanes) of the
book: Elements of Statistical Learning by T. Hastie, R. Tibshirani and J. H. Friedman.
The optimal hyperplane can be represented in an infinite number of different ways by scaling of and 0 . As a matter
of convention, among all the possible representations of the hyperplane, the one chosen is
|0 + T x| = 1

where x symbolizes the training examples closest to the hyperplane. In general, the training examples that are closest
to the hyperplane are called support vectors. This representation is known as the canonical hyperplane.
Now, we use the result of geometry that gives the distance between a point x and a hyperplane (, 0 ):
distance =

|0 + T x|
.
||||

In particular, for the canonical hyperplane, the numerator is equal to one and the distance to the support vectors is
distance support vectors =

1
|0 + T x|
=
.
||||
||||

Recall that the margin introduced in the previous section, here denoted as M, is twice the distance to the closest
examples:
M=

2
||||

Finally, the problem of maximizing M is equivalent to the problem of minimizing a function L() subject to some
constraints. The constraints model the requirement for the hyperplane to classify correctly all the training examples
xi . Formally,
min L() =

,0

1
||||2 subject to yi (T xi + 0 ) 1 i,
2

where yi represents each of the labels of the training examples.

This is a problem of Lagrangian optimization that can be solved using Lagrange multipliers to obtain the weight vector
and the bias 0 of the optimal hyperplane.

Source Code

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1
2
3

#include <opencv2/core/core.hpp>
#include <opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp>
#include <opencv2/ml/ml.hpp>

4
5

using namespace cv;

6
7
8
9
10
11

int main()
{
// Data for visual representation
int width = 512, height = 512;
Mat image = Mat::zeros(height, width, CV_8UC3);

12

// Set up training data

float labels[4] = {1.0, -1.0, -1.0, -1.0};
Mat labelsMat(3, 1, CV_32FC1, labels);

13
14
15
16

float trainingData[4][2] = { {501, 10}, {255, 10}, {501, 255}, {10, 501} };
Mat trainingDataMat(3, 2, CV_32FC1, trainingData);

17
18
19

// Set up SVMs parameters

CvSVMParams params;
params.svm_type
= CvSVM::C_SVC;
params.kernel_type = CvSVM::LINEAR;
params.term_crit
= cvTermCriteria(CV_TERMCRIT_ITER, 100, 1e-6);

20
21
22
23
24
25

// Train the SVM

CvSVM SVM;
SVM.train(trainingDataMat, labelsMat, Mat(), Mat(), params);

26
27
28
29

Vec3b green(0,255,0), blue (255,0,0);

// Show the decision regions given by the SVM
for (int i = 0; i < image.rows; ++i)
for (int j = 0; j < image.cols; ++j)
{
Mat sampleMat = (Mat_<float>(1,2) << i,j);
float response = SVM.predict(sampleMat);

30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37

if (response == 1)
image.at<Vec3b>(j, i) = green;
else if (response == -1)
image.at<Vec3b>(j, i) = blue;

38
39
40
41

42
43

// Show the training data

int thickness = -1;
int lineType = 8;
circle( image, Point(501, 10), 5,
circle( image, Point(255, 10), 5,
circle( image, Point(501, 255), 5,
circle( image, Point( 10, 501), 5,

44
45
46
47
48
49
50

Scalar( 0,
0,
0), thickness,
Scalar(255, 255, 255), thickness,
Scalar(255, 255, 255), thickness,
Scalar(255, 255, 255), thickness,

lineType);
lineType);
lineType);
lineType);

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// Show support vectors

thickness = 2;
lineType = 8;
int c
= SVM.get_support_vector_count();

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for (int i = 0; i < c; ++i)

{

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const float* v = SVM.get_support_vector(i);

circle( image, Point( (int) v[0], (int) v[1]),

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6,

Scalar(128, 128, 128), thickness, lineType);

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imwrite("result.png", image);

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// save the image

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imshow("SVM Simple Example", image); // show it to the user

waitKey(0);

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Explanation
1. Set up the training data
The training data of this exercise is formed by a set of labeled 2D-points that belong to one of two different
classes; one of the classes consists of one point and the other of three points.
float labels[4] = {1.0, -1.0, -1.0, -1.0};
float trainingData[4][2] = {{501, 10}, {255, 10}, {501, 255}, {10, 501}};

The function CvSVM::train that will be used afterwards requires the training data to be stored as Mat
objects of floats. Therefore, we create these objects from the arrays defined above:
Mat trainingDataMat(3, 2, CV_32FC1, trainingData);
Mat labelsMat
(3, 1, CV_32FC1, labels);

2. Set up SVMs parameters

In this tutorial we have introduced the theory of SVMs in the most simple case, when the training examples are
spread into two classes that are linearly separable. However, SVMs can be used in a wide variety of problems
(e.g. problems with non-linearly separable data, a SVM using a kernel function to raise the dimensionality of the
examples, etc). As a consequence of this, we have to define some parameters before training the SVM. These
parameters are stored in an object of the class CvSVMParams .
CvSVMParams params;
params.svm_type
= CvSVM::C_SVC;
params.kernel_type = CvSVM::LINEAR;
params.term_crit
= cvTermCriteria(CV_TERMCRIT_ITER, 100, 1e-6);

Type of SVM. We choose here the type CvSVM::C_SVC that can be used for n-class classification (n
2). This parameter is defined in the attribute CvSVMParams.svm_type.
Note: The important feature of the type of SVM CvSVM::C_SVC deals with imperfect separation of
classes (i.e. when the training data is non-linearly separable). This feature is not important here since the
data is linearly separable and we chose this SVM type only for being the most commonly used.
Type of SVM kernel. We have not talked about kernel functions since they are not interesting for the
training data we are dealing with. Nevertheless, lets explain briefly now the main idea behind a kernel
function. It is a mapping done to the training data to improve its resemblance to a linearly separable set
of data. This mapping consists of increasing the dimensionality of the data and is done efficiently using a
kernel function. We choose here the type CvSVM::LINEAR which means that no mapping is done. This
parameter is defined in the attribute CvSVMParams.kernel_type.
Termination criteria of the algorithm. The SVM training procedure is implemented solving a constrained
quadratic optimization problem in an iterative fashion. Here we specify a maximum number of iterations

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and a tolerance error so we allow the algorithm to finish in less number of steps even if the optimal
hyperplane has not been computed yet. This parameter is defined in a structure cvTermCriteria.
3. Train the SVM
We call the method CvSVM::train to build the SVM model.
CvSVM SVM;
SVM.train(trainingDataMat, labelsMat, Mat(), Mat(), params);

4. Regions classified by the SVM

The method CvSVM::predict is used to classify an input sample using a trained SVM. In this example we
have used this method in order to color the space depending on the prediction done by the SVM. In other
words, an image is traversed interpreting its pixels as points of the Cartesian plane. Each of the points is
colored depending on the class predicted by the SVM; in green if it is the class with label 1 and in blue if
it is the class with label -1.
Vec3b green(0,255,0), blue (255,0,0);
for (int i = 0; i < image.rows; ++i)
for (int j = 0; j < image.cols; ++j)
{
Mat sampleMat = (Mat_<float>(1,2) << i,j);
float response = SVM.predict(sampleMat);
if (response == 1)
image.at<Vec3b>(j, i)
else
if (response == -1)
image.at<Vec3b>(j, i)
}

= green;

= blue;

5. Support vectors
We use here a couple of methods to obtain information about the support vectors.
The method
CvSVM::get_support_vector_count outputs the total number of support vectors used in the problem and with
the method CvSVM::get_support_vector we obtain each of the support vectors using an index. We have used
this methods here to find the training examples that are support vectors and highlight them.
int c

= SVM.get_support_vector_count();

for (int i = 0; i < c; ++i)

{
const float* v = SVM.get_support_vector(i); // get and then highlight with grayscale
circle(
image, Point( (int) v[0], (int) v[1]),
6, Scalar(128, 128, 128), thickness, lineType);
}

Results
The code opens an image and shows the training examples of both classes. The points of one class are represented with white circles and black ones are used for the other class.
The SVM is trained and used to classify all the pixels of the image. This results in a division of the image in a
blue region and a green region. The boundary between both regions is the optimal separating hyperplane.
Finally the support vectors are shown using gray rings around the training examples.

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9.2 Support Vector Machines for Non-Linearly Separable Data

Goal
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Define the optimization problem for SVMs when it is not possible to separate linearly the training data.
How to configure the parameters in CvSVMParams to adapt your SVM for this class of problems.

Motivation
Why is it interesting to extend the SVM optimation problem in order to handle non-linearly separable training data?
Most of the applications in which SVMs are used in computer vision require a more powerful tool than a simple
linear classifier. This stems from the fact that in these tasks the training data can be rarely separated using an
hyperplane.
Consider one of these tasks, for example, face detection. The training data in this case is composed by a set of images
that are faces and another set of images that are non-faces (every other thing in the world except from faces). This
training data is too complex so as to find a representation of each sample (feature vector) that could make the whole
set of faces linearly separable from the whole set of non-faces.

Extension of the Optimization Problem

Remember that using SVMs we obtain a separating hyperplane. Therefore, since the training data is now non-linearly
separable, we must admit that the hyperplane found will misclassify some of the samples. This misclassification
is a new variable in the optimization that must be taken into account. The new model has to include both the old
requirement of finding the hyperplane that gives the biggest margin and the new one of generalizing the training data
correctly by not allowing too many classification errors.
We start here from the formulation of the optimization problem of finding the hyperplane which maximizes the margin
(this is explained in the previous tutorial):
min L() =

,0

1
||||2 subject to yi (T xi + 0 ) 1 i
2

There are multiple ways in which this model can be modified so it takes into account the misclassification errors. For
example, one could think of minimizing the same quantity plus a constant times the number of misclassification errors
in the training data, i.e.:
min ||||2 + C(# misclassication errors)

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However, this one is not a very good solution since, among some other reasons, we do not distinguish between samples
that are misclassified with a small distance to their appropriate decision region or samples that are not. Therefore, a
better solution will take into account the distance of the misclassified samples to their correct decision regions, i.e.:
min ||||2 + C(distance of misclassified samples to their correct regions)

For each sample of the training data a new parameter i is defined. Each one of these parameters contains the distance
from its corresponding training sample to their correct decision region. The following picture shows non-linearly
separable training data from two classes, a separating hyperplane and the distances to their correct regions of the
samples that are misclassified.

Note: Only the distances of the samples that are misclassified are shown in the picture. The distances of the rest of
the samples are zero since they lay already in their correct decision region.
The red and blue lines that appear on the picture are the margins to each one of the decision regions. It is very
important to realize that each of the i goes from a misclassified training sample to the margin of its appropriate
region.
Finally, the new formulation for the optimization problem is:
X
min L() = ||||2 + C
i subject to yi (T xi + 0 ) 1 i and i 0 i
,0

How should the parameter C be chosen? It is obvious that the answer to this question depends on how the training
data is distributed. Although there is no general answer, it is useful to take into account these rules:
Large values of C give solutions with less misclassification errors but a smaller margin. Consider that in this
case it is expensive to make misclassification errors. Since the aim of the optimization is to minimize the
argument, few misclassifications errors are allowed.
Small values of C give solutions with bigger margin and more classification errors. In this case the minimization
does not consider that much the term of the sum so it focuses more on finding a hyperplane with big margin.

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Source Code

You may also find the source code and these video file in the samples/cpp/tutorial_code/gpu/non_linear_svms/non_linear_svm
folder of the OpenCV source library or download it from here.
1
2
3
4

#include
#include
#include
#include

<iostream>
<opencv2/core/core.hpp>
<opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp>
<opencv2/ml/ml.hpp>

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#define NTRAINING_SAMPLES
#define FRAC_LINEAR_SEP

100
0.9f

// Number of training samples per class

// Fraction of samples which compose the linear separable part

8
9
10

using namespace cv;

using namespace std;

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int main()
{
// Data for visual representation
const int WIDTH = 512, HEIGHT = 512;
Mat I = Mat::zeros(HEIGHT, WIDTH, CV_8UC3);

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//--------------------- 1. Set up training data randomly --------------------------------------Mat trainData(2*NTRAINING_SAMPLES, 2, CV_32FC1);

Mat labels
(2*NTRAINING_SAMPLES, 1, CV_32FC1);

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RNG rng(100); // Random value generation class

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// Set up the linearly separable part of the training data

int nLinearSamples = (int) (FRAC_LINEAR_SEP * NTRAINING_SAMPLES);

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// Generate random points for the class 1

Mat trainClass = trainData.rowRange(0, nLinearSamples);
// The x coordinate of the points is in [0, 0.4)
Mat c = trainClass.colRange(0, 1);
rng.fill(c, RNG::UNIFORM, Scalar(1), Scalar(0.4 * WIDTH));
// The y coordinate of the points is in [0, 1)
c = trainClass.colRange(1,2);
rng.fill(c, RNG::UNIFORM, Scalar(1), Scalar(HEIGHT));

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// Generate random points for the class 2

trainClass = trainData.rowRange(2*NTRAINING_SAMPLES-nLinearSamples, 2*NTRAINING_SAMPLES);
// The x coordinate of the points is in [0.6, 1]
c = trainClass.colRange(0 , 1);
rng.fill(c, RNG::UNIFORM, Scalar(0.6*WIDTH), Scalar(WIDTH));
// The y coordinate of the points is in [0, 1)
c = trainClass.colRange(1,2);
rng.fill(c, RNG::UNIFORM, Scalar(1), Scalar(HEIGHT));

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//------------------ Set up the non-linearly separable part of the training data ---------------

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// Generate random points for the classes 1 and 2

trainClass = trainData.rowRange( nLinearSamples, 2*NTRAINING_SAMPLES-nLinearSamples);
// The x coordinate of the points is in [0.4, 0.6)
c = trainClass.colRange(0,1);
rng.fill(c, RNG::UNIFORM, Scalar(0.4*WIDTH), Scalar(0.6*WIDTH));
// The y coordinate of the points is in [0, 1)
c = trainClass.colRange(1,2);
rng.fill(c, RNG::UNIFORM, Scalar(1), Scalar(HEIGHT));

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//------------------------- Set up the labels for the classes --------------------------------labels.rowRange(

0,
NTRAINING_SAMPLES).setTo(1); // Class 1
labels.rowRange(NTRAINING_SAMPLES, 2*NTRAINING_SAMPLES).setTo(2); // Class 2

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//------------------------ 2. Set up the support vector machines parameters -------------------CvSVMParams params;

params.svm_type
= SVM::C_SVC;
params.C
= 0.1;
params.kernel_type = SVM::LINEAR;
params.term_crit
= TermCriteria(CV_TERMCRIT_ITER, (int)1e7, 1e-6);

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//------------------------ 3. Train
cout << "Starting training process"
CvSVM svm;
svm.train(trainData, labels, Mat(),
cout << "Finished training process"

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the svm ---------------------------------------------------<< endl;

Mat(), params);
<< endl;

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//------------------------ 4. Show the decision regions ---------------------------------------Vec3b green(0,100,0), blue (100,0,0);

for (int i = 0; i < I.rows; ++i)
for (int j = 0; j < I.cols; ++j)
{
Mat sampleMat = (Mat_<float>(1,2) << i, j);
float response = svm.predict(sampleMat);

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if
(response == 1)
else if (response == 2)

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I.at<Vec3b>(j, i)
I.at<Vec3b>(j, i)

= green;
= blue;

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//----------------------- 5. Show the training data -------------------------------------------int thick = -1;

int lineType = 8;
float px, py;
// Class 1
for (int i = 0; i < NTRAINING_SAMPLES; ++i)
{
px = trainData.at<float>(i,0);
py = trainData.at<float>(i,1);
circle(I, Point( (int) px, (int) py ), 3, Scalar(0, 255, 0), thick, lineType);
}
// Class 2
for (int i = NTRAINING_SAMPLES; i <2*NTRAINING_SAMPLES; ++i)
{
px = trainData.at<float>(i,0);
py = trainData.at<float>(i,1);
circle(I, Point( (int) px, (int) py ), 3, Scalar(255, 0, 0), thick, lineType);
}

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//------------------------- 6. Show support vectors -------------------------------------------thick = 2;

lineType = 8;
int x
= svm.get_support_vector_count();

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for (int i = 0; i < x; ++i)

{
const float* v = svm.get_support_vector(i);
circle( I, Point( (int) v[0], (int) v[1]), 6, Scalar(128, 128, 128), thick, lineType);

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imwrite("result.png", I);
// save the Image
imshow("SVM for Non-Linear Training Data", I); // show it to the user
waitKey(0);

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Explanation
1. Set up the training data
The training data of this exercise is formed by a set of labeled 2D-points that belong to one of two different
classes. To make the exercise more appealing, the training data is generated randomly using a uniform
probability density functions (PDFs).
We have divided the generation of the training data into two main parts.
In the first part we generate data for both classes that is linearly separable.
// Generate random points for the class 1
Mat trainClass = trainData.rowRange(0, nLinearSamples);
// The x coordinate of the points is in [0, 0.4)
Mat c = trainClass.colRange(0, 1);
rng.fill(c, RNG::UNIFORM, Scalar(1), Scalar(0.4 * WIDTH));
// The y coordinate of the points is in [0, 1)
c = trainClass.colRange(1,2);
rng.fill(c, RNG::UNIFORM, Scalar(1), Scalar(HEIGHT));
// Generate random points for the class 2
trainClass = trainData.rowRange(2*NTRAINING_SAMPLES-nLinearSamples, 2*NTRAINING_SAMPLES);
// The x coordinate of the points is in [0.6, 1]
c = trainClass.colRange(0 , 1);
rng.fill(c, RNG::UNIFORM, Scalar(0.6*WIDTH), Scalar(WIDTH));
// The y coordinate of the points is in [0, 1)
c = trainClass.colRange(1,2);
rng.fill(c, RNG::UNIFORM, Scalar(1), Scalar(HEIGHT));

In the second part we create data for both classes that is non-linearly separable, data that overlaps.
// Generate random points for the classes 1 and 2
trainClass = trainData.rowRange( nLinearSamples, 2*NTRAINING_SAMPLES-nLinearSamples);
// The x coordinate of the points is in [0.4, 0.6)
c = trainClass.colRange(0,1);
rng.fill(c, RNG::UNIFORM, Scalar(0.4*WIDTH), Scalar(0.6*WIDTH));
// The y coordinate of the points is in [0, 1)
c = trainClass.colRange(1,2);
rng.fill(c, RNG::UNIFORM, Scalar(1), Scalar(HEIGHT));

2. Set up SVMs parameters

See Also:
In the previous tutorial Introduction to Support Vector Machines there is an explanation of the atributes of
the class CvSVMParams that we configure here before training the SVM.
CvSVMParams params;
params.svm_type
= SVM::C_SVC;
params.C
= 0.1;

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params.kernel_type = SVM::LINEAR;
params.term_crit
= TermCriteria(CV_TERMCRIT_ITER, (int)1e7, 1e-6);

There are just two differences between the configuration we do here and the one that was done in the
previous tutorial that we use as reference.
CvSVM::C_SVC. We chose here a small value of this parameter in order not to punish too much the
misclassification errors in the optimization. The idea of doing this stems from the will of obtaining
a solution close to the one intuitively expected. However, we recommend to get a better insight of
the problem by making adjustments to this parameter.
Note: Here there are just very few points in the overlapping region between classes, giving
a smaller value to FRAC_LINEAR_SEP the density of points can be incremented and the
impact of the parameter CvSVM::C_SVC explored deeply.
Termination Criteria of the algorithm. The maximum number of iterations has to be increased
considerably in order to solve correctly a problem with non-linearly separable training data. In
particular, we have increased in five orders of magnitude this value.
3. Train the SVM
We call the method CvSVM::train to build the SVM model. Watch out that the training process may take
a quite long time. Have patiance when your run the program.
CvSVM svm;
svm.train(trainData, labels, Mat(), Mat(), params);

4. Show the Decision Regions

The method CvSVM::predict is used to classify an input sample using a trained SVM. In this example we
have used this method in order to color the space depending on the prediction done by the SVM. In other
words, an image is traversed interpreting its pixels as points of the Cartesian plane. Each of the points is
colored depending on the class predicted by the SVM; in dark green if it is the class with label 1 and in
dark blue if it is the class with label 2.
Vec3b green(0,100,0), blue (100,0,0);
for (int i = 0; i < I.rows; ++i)
for (int j = 0; j < I.cols; ++j)
{
Mat sampleMat = (Mat_<float>(1,2) << i, j);
float response = svm.predict(sampleMat);
if
(response == 1)
else if (response == 2)

I.at<Vec3b>(j, i)
I.at<Vec3b>(j, i)

= green;
= blue;

5. Show the training data

The method circle is used to show the samples that compose the training data. The samples of the class
labeled with 1 are shown in light green and in light blue the samples of the class labeled with 2.
int thick = -1;
int lineType = 8;
float px, py;
// Class 1
for (int i = 0; i < NTRAINING_SAMPLES; ++i)
{
px = trainData.at<float>(i,0);

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py = trainData.at<float>(i,1);
circle(I, Point( (int) px, (int) py ), 3, Scalar(0, 255, 0), thick, lineType);
}
// Class 2
for (int i = NTRAINING_SAMPLES; i <2*NTRAINING_SAMPLES; ++i)
{
px = trainData.at<float>(i,0);
py = trainData.at<float>(i,1);
circle(I, Point( (int) px, (int) py ), 3, Scalar(255, 0, 0), thick, lineType);
}

6. Support vectors
We use here a couple of methods to obtain information about the support vectors. The method
CvSVM::get_support_vector_count outputs the total number of support vectors used in the problem and
with the method CvSVM::get_support_vector we obtain each of the support vectors using an index. We
have used this methods here to find the training examples that are support vectors and highlight them.
thick = 2;
lineType = 8;
int x
= svm.get_support_vector_count();
for (int i = 0; i < x; ++i)
{
const float* v = svm.get_support_vector(i);
circle(
I, Point( (int) v[0], (int) v[1]), 6, Scalar(128, 128, 128), thick, lineType);
}

Results
The code opens an image and shows the training examples of both classes. The points of one class are represented with light green and light blue ones are used for the other class.
The SVM is trained and used to classify all the pixels of the image. This results in a division of the image in
a blue region and a green region. The boundary between both regions is the separating hyperplane. Since the
training data is non-linearly separable, it can be seen that some of the examples of both classes are misclassified;
some green points lay on the blue region and some blue points lay on the green one.
Finally the support vectors are shown using gray rings around the training examples.

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You may observe a runtime instance of this on the YouTube here.

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CHAPTER

TEN

GPU MODULE. GPU-ACCELERATED

COMPUTER VISION
Squeeze out every little computation power from your system by using the power of your video card to run the OpenCV
algorithms.

Title: Similarity check (PNSR and SSIM) on the GPU

Compatibility: > OpenCV 2.0
Author: Bernt Gbor
This will give a good grasp on how to approach coding on the GPU module,
once you already know how to handle the other modules. As a test case it
will port the similarity methods from the tutorial Video Input with OpenCV
and similarity measurement to the GPU.

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10.1 Similarity check (PNSR and SSIM) on the GPU

Goal
In the Video Input with OpenCV and similarity measurement tutorial I already presented the PSNR and SSIM methods
for checking the similarity between the two images. And as you could see there performing these takes quite some
time, especially in the case of the SSIM. However, if the performance numbers of an OpenCV implementation for the
CPU do not satisfy you and you happen to have an NVidia CUDA GPU device in your system all is not lost. You may
try to port or write your algorithm for the video card.
This tutorial will give a good grasp on how to approach coding by using the GPU module of OpenCV. As a prerequisite
you should already know how to handle the core, highgui and imgproc modules. So, our goals are:
Whats different compared to the CPU?
Create the GPU code for the PSNR and SSIM
Optimize the code for maximal performance

The source code

You may also find the source code and these video file in the samples/cpp/tutorial_code/gpu/gpu-basics-similarity/gpu-basi
folder of the OpenCV source library or download it from here. The full source code is quite long (due to the
controlling of the application via the command line arguments and performance measurement). Therefore, to avoid
cluttering up these sections with those youll find here only the functions itself.
The PSNR returns a float number, that if the two inputs are similar between 30 and 50 (higher is better).
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3
4
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double getPSNR(const Mat& I1, const Mat& I2)

{
Mat s1;
absdiff(I1, I2, s1);
// |I1 - I2|
s1.convertTo(s1, CV_32F); // cannot make a square on 8 bits
s1 = s1.mul(s1);
// |I1 - I2|^2

Scalar s = sum(s1);

// sum elements per channel

double sse = s.val[0] + s.val[1] + s.val[2]; // sum channels

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11

if( sse <=

return
else
{
double
double
return
}

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1e-10) // for small values return zero

0;

mse =sse /(double)(I1.channels() * I1.total());

psnr = 10.0*log10((255*255)/mse);
psnr;

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double getPSNR_GPU_optimized(const Mat& I1, const Mat& I2, BufferPSNR& b)

{
b.gI1.upload(I1);
b.gI2.upload(I2);

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b.gI1.convertTo(b.t1, CV_32F);

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b.gI2.convertTo(b.t2, CV_32F);

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gpu::absdiff(b.t1.reshape(1), b.t2.reshape(1), b.gs);

gpu::multiply(b.gs, b.gs, b.gs);

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double sse = gpu::sum(b.gs, b.buf)[0];

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if( sse <=

return
else
{
double
double
return
}

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1e-10) // for small values return zero

0;

mse = sse /(double)(I1.channels() * I1.total());

psnr = 10.0*log10((255*255)/mse);
psnr;

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struct BufferPSNR
// Optimized GPU versions
{
// Data allocations are very expensive on GPU. Use a buffer to solve: allocate once reuse later.
gpu::GpuMat gI1, gI2, gs, t1,t2;

50

gpu::GpuMat buf;

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52

};

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double getPSNR_GPU(const Mat& I1, const Mat& I2)

{
gpu::GpuMat gI1, gI2, gs, t1,t2;

57

gI1.upload(I1);
gI2.upload(I2);

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gI1.convertTo(t1, CV_32F);
gI2.convertTo(t2, CV_32F);

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gpu::absdiff(t1.reshape(1), t2.reshape(1), gs);

gpu::multiply(gs, gs, gs);

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Scalar s = gpu::sum(gs);
double sse = s.val[0] + s.val[1] + s.val[2];

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if( sse <=

return
else
{
double
double
return
}

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1e-10) // for small values return zero

0;

mse =sse /(double)(gI1.channels() * I1.total());

psnr = 10.0*log10((255*255)/mse);
psnr;

The SSIM returns the MSSIM of the images. This is too a float number between zero and one (higher is better),
however we have one for each channel. Therefore, we return a Scalar OpenCV data structure:
1

2
3
4
5

Scalar getMSSIM( const Mat& i1, const Mat& i2)

{
const double C1 = 6.5025, C2 = 58.5225;

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/***************************** INITS **********************************/

int d
= CV_32F;

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Mat I1, I2;

i1.convertTo(I1, d);
i2.convertTo(I2, d);

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11

// cannot calculate on one byte large values

12

Mat I2_2
Mat I1_2
Mat I1_I2

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= I2.mul(I2);
= I1.mul(I1);
= I1.mul(I2);

// I2^2
// I1^2
// I1 * I2

16

/*************************** END INITS **********************************/

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Mat mu1, mu2;

// PRELIMINARY COMPUTING
GaussianBlur(I1, mu1, Size(11, 11), 1.5);
GaussianBlur(I2, mu2, Size(11, 11), 1.5);

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Mat mu1_2
=
Mat mu2_2
=
Mat mu1_mu2 =

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mu1.mul(mu1);
mu2.mul(mu2);
mu1.mul(mu2);

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Mat sigma1_2, sigma2_2, sigma12;

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GaussianBlur(I1_2, sigma1_2, Size(11, 11), 1.5);

sigma1_2 -= mu1_2;

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GaussianBlur(I2_2, sigma2_2, Size(11, 11), 1.5);

sigma2_2 -= mu2_2;

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GaussianBlur(I1_I2, sigma12, Size(11, 11), 1.5);

sigma12 -= mu1_mu2;

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///////////////////////////////// FORMULA ////////////////////////////////

Mat t1, t2, t3;

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t1 = 2 * mu1_mu2 + C1;
t2 = 2 * sigma12 + C2;
t3 = t1.mul(t2);

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// t3 = ((2*mu1_mu2 + C1).*(2*sigma12 + C2))

44

t1 = mu1_2 + mu2_2 + C1;

t2 = sigma1_2 + sigma2_2 + C2;
t1 = t1.mul(t2);
// t1 =((mu1_2 + mu2_2 + C1).*(sigma1_2 + sigma2_2 + C2))

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Mat ssim_map;
divide(t3, t1, ssim_map);

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// ssim_map =

t3./t1;

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Scalar mssim = mean( ssim_map ); // mssim = average of ssim map

return mssim;

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Scalar getMSSIM_GPU( const Mat& i1, const Mat& i2)

{
const float C1 = 6.5025f, C2 = 58.5225f;
/***************************** INITS **********************************/
gpu::GpuMat gI1, gI2, gs1, t1,t2;

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gI1.upload(i1);
gI2.upload(i2);

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gI1.convertTo(t1, CV_MAKE_TYPE(CV_32F, gI1.channels()));

gI2.convertTo(t2, CV_MAKE_TYPE(CV_32F, gI2.channels()));

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vector<gpu::GpuMat> vI1, vI2;

gpu::split(t1, vI1);
gpu::split(t2, vI2);
Scalar mssim;

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for( int i = 0; i < gI1.channels(); ++i )

{
gpu::GpuMat I2_2, I1_2, I1_I2;

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gpu::multiply(vI2[i], vI2[i], I2_2);

gpu::multiply(vI1[i], vI1[i], I1_2);
gpu::multiply(vI1[i], vI2[i], I1_I2);

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// I2^2
// I1^2
// I1 * I2

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/*************************** END INITS **********************************/

gpu::GpuMat mu1, mu2;
// PRELIMINARY COMPUTING
gpu::GaussianBlur(vI1[i], mu1, Size(11, 11), 1.5);
gpu::GaussianBlur(vI2[i], mu2, Size(11, 11), 1.5);

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gpu::GpuMat mu1_2,
gpu::multiply(mu1,
gpu::multiply(mu2,
gpu::multiply(mu1,

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mu2_2, mu1_mu2;
mu1, mu1_2);
mu2, mu2_2);
mu2, mu1_mu2);

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gpu::GpuMat sigma1_2, sigma2_2, sigma12;

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gpu::GaussianBlur(I1_2, sigma1_2, Size(11, 11), 1.5);

sigma1_2 -= mu1_2;

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gpu::GaussianBlur(I2_2, sigma2_2, Size(11, 11), 1.5);

sigma2_2 -= mu2_2;

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gpu::GaussianBlur(I1_I2, sigma12, Size(11, 11), 1.5);

sigma12 -= mu1_mu2;

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///////////////////////////////// FORMULA ////////////////////////////////

gpu::GpuMat t1, t2, t3;

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t1 = 2 * mu1_mu2 + C1;
t2 = 2 * sigma12 + C2;
gpu::multiply(t1, t2, t3);

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// t3 = ((2*mu1_mu2 + C1).*(2*sigma12 + C2))

108

t1 = mu1_2 + mu2_2 + C1;

t2 = sigma1_2 + sigma2_2 + C2;
gpu::multiply(t1, t2, t1);
// t1 =((mu1_2 + mu2_2 + C1).*(sigma1_2 + sigma2_2 + C2))

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gpu::GpuMat ssim_map;
gpu::divide(t3, t1, ssim_map);

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// ssim_map =

t3./t1;

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Scalar s = gpu::sum(ssim_map);
mssim.val[i] = s.val[0] / (ssim_map.rows * ssim_map.cols);

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}
return mssim;

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struct BufferMSSIM
// Optimized GPU versions
{
// Data allocations are very expensive on GPU. Use a buffer to solve: allocate once reuse later.
gpu::GpuMat gI1, gI2, gs, t1,t2;

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gpu::GpuMat I1_2, I2_2, I1_I2;

vector<gpu::GpuMat> vI1, vI2;

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gpu::GpuMat mu1, mu2;

gpu::GpuMat mu1_2, mu2_2, mu1_mu2;

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gpu::GpuMat sigma1_2, sigma2_2, sigma12;

gpu::GpuMat t3;

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gpu::GpuMat ssim_map;

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gpu::GpuMat buf;
};
Scalar getMSSIM_GPU_optimized( const Mat& i1, const Mat& i2, BufferMSSIM& b)
{
int cn = i1.channels();

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const float C1 = 6.5025f, C2 = 58.5225f;

/***************************** INITS **********************************/

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b.gI1.upload(i1);
b.gI2.upload(i2);

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gpu::Stream stream;

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stream.enqueueConvert(b.gI1, b.t1, CV_32F);

stream.enqueueConvert(b.gI2, b.t2, CV_32F);

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gpu::split(b.t1, b.vI1, stream);

gpu::split(b.t2, b.vI2, stream);
Scalar mssim;

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for( int i = 0; i < b.gI1.channels();

{
gpu::multiply(b.vI2[i], b.vI2[i],
gpu::multiply(b.vI1[i], b.vI1[i],
gpu::multiply(b.vI1[i], b.vI2[i],

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++i )
b.I2_2, stream);
b.I1_2, stream);
b.I1_I2, stream);

// I2^2
// I1^2
// I1 * I2

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gpu::GaussianBlur(b.vI1[i], b.mu1, Size(11, 11), 1.5, 0, BORDER_DEFAULT, -1, stream);

gpu::GaussianBlur(b.vI2[i], b.mu2, Size(11, 11), 1.5, 0, BORDER_DEFAULT, -1, stream);

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gpu::multiply(b.mu1, b.mu1, b.mu1_2, stream);

gpu::multiply(b.mu2, b.mu2, b.mu2_2, stream);
gpu::multiply(b.mu1, b.mu2, b.mu1_mu2, stream);

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gpu::GaussianBlur(b.I1_2, b.sigma1_2, Size(11, 11), 1.5, 0, BORDER_DEFAULT, -1, stream);

gpu::subtract(b.sigma1_2, b.mu1_2, b.sigma1_2, stream);
//b.sigma1_2 -= b.mu1_2; - This would result in an extra data transfer operation

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gpu::GaussianBlur(b.I2_2, b.sigma2_2, Size(11, 11), 1.5, 0, BORDER_DEFAULT, -1, stream);

gpu::subtract(b.sigma2_2, b.mu2_2, b.sigma2_2, stream);
//b.sigma2_2 -= b.mu2_2;

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gpu::GaussianBlur(b.I1_I2, b.sigma12, Size(11, 11), 1.5, 0, BORDER_DEFAULT, -1, stream);

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gpu::subtract(b.sigma12, b.mu1_mu2, b.sigma12, stream);

//b.sigma12 -= b.mu1_mu2;

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//here too it would be an extra data transfer due to call of operator*(Scalar, Mat)
gpu::multiply(b.mu1_mu2, 2, b.t1, stream); //b.t1 = 2 * b.mu1_mu2 + C1;
gpu::add(b.t1, C1, b.t1, stream);
gpu::multiply(b.sigma12, 2, b.t2, stream); //b.t2 = 2 * b.sigma12 + C2;
gpu::add(b.t2, C2, b.t2, stream);

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gpu::multiply(b.t1, b.t2, b.t3, stream);

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// t3 = ((2*mu1_mu2 + C1).*(2*sigma12 + C2))

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gpu::add(b.mu1_2, b.mu2_2, b.t1, stream);

gpu::add(b.t1, C1, b.t1, stream);

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gpu::add(b.sigma1_2, b.sigma2_2, b.t2, stream);

gpu::add(b.t2, C2, b.t2, stream);

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gpu::multiply(b.t1, b.t2, b.t1, stream);

// t1 =((mu1_2 + mu2_2 + C1).*(sigma1_2 + sigma2_2 + C2))
gpu::divide(b.t3, b.t1, b.ssim_map, stream);
// ssim_map = t3./t1;

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stream.waitForCompletion();

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Scalar s = gpu::sum(b.ssim_map, b.buf);

mssim.val[i] = s.val[0] / (b.ssim_map.rows * b.ssim_map.cols);

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}
return mssim;

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How to do it? - The GPU

Now as you can see we have three types of functions for each operation. One for the CPU and two for the GPU.
The reason I made two for the GPU is too illustrate that often simple porting your CPU to GPU will actually make it
slower. If you want some performance gain you will need to remember a few rules, whose Im going to detail later on.
The development of the GPU module was made so that it resembles as much as possible its CPU counterpart. This
is to make porting easy. The first thing you need to do before writing any code is to link the GPU module to your
project, and include the header file for the module. All the functions and data structures of the GPU are in a gpu
sub namespace of the cv namespace. You may add this to the default one via the use namespace keyword, or mark it
everywhere explicitly via the cv:: to avoid confusion. Ill do the later.
#include <opencv2/gpu/gpu.hpp>

// GPU structures and methods

GPU stands for graphics processing unit. It was originally build to render graphical scenes. These scenes somehow
build on a lot of data. Nevertheless, these arent all dependent one from another in a sequential way and as it is
possible a parallel processing of them. Due to this a GPU will contain multiple smaller processing units. These arent
the state of the art processors and on a one on one test with a CPU it will fall behind. However, its strength lies in its
numbers. In the last years there has been an increasing trend to harvest these massive parallel powers of the GPU in
non-graphical scene rendering too. This gave birth to the general-purpose computation on graphics processing units
(GPGPU).
The GPU has its own memory. When you read data from the hard drive with OpenCV into a Mat object that takes
place in your systems memory. The CPU works somehow directly on this (via its cache), however the GPU cannot.
He has too transferred the information he will use for calculations from the system memory to its own. This is done
via an upload process and takes time. In the end the result will have to be downloaded back to your system memory

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for your CPU to see it and use it. Porting small functions to GPU is not recommended as the upload/download time
will be larger than the amount you gain by a parallel execution.
Mat objects are stored only in the system memory (or the CPU cache). For getting an OpenCV matrix to the GPU
youll need to use its GPU counterpart GpuMat. It works similar to the Mat with a 2D only limitation and no reference
returning for its functions (cannot mix GPU references with CPU ones). To upload a Mat object to the GPU you need
to call the upload function after creating an instance of the class. To download you may use simple assignment to a
Mat object or use the download function.
Mat I1;
// Main memory item - read image into with imread for example
gpu::GpuMat gI; // GPU matrix - for now empty
gI1.upload(I1); // Upload a data from the system memory to the GPU memory
I1 = gI1;

// Download, gI1.download(I1) will work too

Once you have your data up in the GPU memory you may call GPU enabled functions of OpenCV. Most of the
functions keep the same name just as on the CPU, with the difference that they only accept GpuMat inputs. A full list
of these you will find in the documentation: online here or the OpenCV reference manual that comes with the source
code.
Another thing to keep in mind is that not for all channel numbers you can make efficient algorithms on the GPU.
Generally, I found that the input images for the GPU images need to be either one or four channel ones and one of the
char or float type for the item sizes. No double support on the GPU, sorry. Passing other types of objects for some
functions will result in an exception thrown, and an error message on the error output. The documentation details in
most of the places the types accepted for the inputs. If you have three channel images as an input you can do two
things: either adds a new channel (and use char elements) or split up the image and call the function for each image.
The first one isnt really recommended as you waste memory.
For some functions, where the position of the elements (neighbor items) doesnt matter quick solution is to just reshape
it into a single channel image. This is the case for the PSNR implementation where for the absdiff method the value
of the neighbors is not important. However, for the GaussianBlur this isnt an option and such need to use the split
method for the SSIM. With this knowledge you can already make a GPU viable code (like mine GPU one) and run it.
Youll be surprised to see that it might turn out slower than your CPU implementation.

Optimization
The reason for this is that youre throwing out on the window the price for memory allocation and data transfer. And
on the GPU this is damn high. Another possibility for optimization is to introduce asynchronous OpenCV GPU calls
too with the help of the gpu::Stream.
1. Memory allocation on the GPU is considerable. Therefore, if its possible allocate new memory as few times as
possible. If you create a function what you intend to call multiple times it is a good idea to allocate any local
parameters for the function only once, during the first call. To do this you create a data structure containing all
the local variables you will use. For instance in case of the PSNR these are:
struct BufferPSNR
// Optimized GPU versions
{
// Data allocations are very expensive on GPU. Use a buffer to solve: allocate once reuse later.
gpu::GpuMat gI1, gI2, gs, t1,t2;
gpu::GpuMat buf;
};

Then create an instance of this in the main program:

BufferPSNR bufferPSNR;

And finally pass this to the function each time you call it:

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double getPSNR_GPU_optimized(const Mat& I1, const Mat& I2, BufferPSNR& b)

Now you access these local parameters as: b.gI1, b.buf and so on. The GpuMat will only reallocate itself on a
new call if the new matrix size is different from the previous one.
2. Avoid unnecessary function data transfers. Any small data transfer will be significant one once you go to the
GPU. Therefore, if possible make all calculations in-place (in other words do not create new memory objects for reasons explained at the previous point). For example, although expressing arithmetical operations may be
easier to express in one line formulas, it will be slower. In case of the SSIM at one point I need to calculate:
b.t1 = 2 * b.mu1_mu2 + C1;

Although the upper call will succeed observe that there is a hidden data transfer present. Before it makes
the addition it needs to store somewhere the multiplication. Therefore, it will create a local matrix in the
background, add to that the C1 value and finally assign that to t1. To avoid this we use the gpu functions, instead
of the arithmetic operators:
gpu::multiply(b.mu1_mu2, 2, b.t1); //b.t1 = 2 * b.mu1_mu2 + C1;
gpu::add(b.t1, C1, b.t1);

3. Use asynchronous calls (the gpu::Stream). By default whenever you call a gpu function it will wait for the call
to finish and return with the result afterwards. However, it is possible to make asynchronous calls, meaning it
will call for the operation execution, make the costly data allocations for the algorithm and return back right
away. Now you can call another function if you wish to do so. For the MSSIM this is a small optimization
point. In our default implementation we split up the image into channels and call then for each channel the gpu
functions. A small degree of parallelization is possible with the stream. By using a stream we can make the
data allocation, upload operations while the GPU is already executing a given method. For example we need
to upload two images. We queue these one after another and call already the function that processes it. The
functions will wait for the upload to finish, however while that happens makes the output buffer allocations for
the function to be executed next.
gpu::Stream stream;
stream.enqueueConvert(b.gI1, b.t1, CV_32F);

// Upload

gpu::split(b.t1, b.vI1, stream);

// Methods (pass the stream as final parameter).
gpu::multiply(b.vI1[i], b.vI1[i], b.I1_2, stream);
// I1^2

Result and conclusion

On an Intel P8700 laptop CPU paired with a low end NVidia GT220M here are the performance numbers:
Time of
Time of
Initial
Time of

PSNR
PSNR
call
PSNR

Time
Time
Time
Time

MSSIM
MSSIM
MSSIM
MSSIM

of
of
of
of

CPU
GPU
GPU
GPU

(averaged for 10 runs): 41.4122 milliseconds.

(averaged for 10 runs): 158.977 milliseconds.
optimized:
31.3418 milliseconds.
OPTIMIZED ( / 10 runs): 24.8171 milliseconds.

CPU
GPU
GPU
GPU

With
With
With
With

(averaged for 10 runs): 484.343 milliseconds.

(averaged for 10 runs): 745.105 milliseconds.
Initial Call
357.746 milliseconds.
OPTIMIZED ( / 10 runs): 203.091 milliseconds.

result
result
result
result

With
With
With
With

of:
of:
of:
of:

result
result
result
result

of
of
of
of

19.2506
19.2506
19.2506
19.2506
B0.890964 G0.903845 R0.936934
B0.89922 G0.909051 R0.968223
B0.890964 G0.903845 R0.936934
B0.890964 G0.903845 R0.936934

In both cases we managed a performance increase of almost 100% compared to the CPU implementation. It may be
just the improvement needed for your application to work. You may observe a runtime instance of this on the YouTube
here.

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CHAPTER

ELEVEN

GENERAL TUTORIALS
These tutorials are the bottom of the iceberg as they link together multiple of the modules presented above in order to
solve complex problems.
Note: Unfortunetly we have no tutorials into this section. Nevertheless, our tutorial writting team is working on it. If
you have a tutorial suggestion or you have writen yourself a tutorial (or coded a sample code) that you would like to
see here please contact us via our user group.

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