OpenCV: Getting black frame when trying to get camera output - c++

I am currently working on a camera capture project. The problem is, even though camera gets opened correctly, sometimes the cap.read(frame) returns a black frame. After some tests, I noticed a workaround: putting a Sleep of 1-2 seconds after cap.open() solves the problem. Without sleep, seems like that cap.read() is performed before that the camera is actually ready for capture. But instead of failing and returning false, it just grabs a black frame. Also, checking for frame.empty() does not work, since frame is not empty, it is just all black.
Any idea on how to solve this, of course without having to sleep for a while after camera open?
#include <opencv2/objdetect/objdetect.hpp>
#include <opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp>
#include <opencv2/imgproc/imgproc.hpp>
#include <Windows.h>
// .......... previous not relevant code
VideoCapture cap;
cap.open(0); // open the default camera
if (cap.isOpened()) // check if we succeeded
{
// Sleep(2000);
Mat frame;
while (!cap.read(frame))
{
MessageBoxA(0, "unable to read frame", "CamDll", 0);
}
// Process frame data...
}

I suggest to use cv::countNonZero(InputArray src) to check if the frame is black.
if (cv::countNonZero(frame) == 0)
{
//discard frame
} else
{
//proceed with frame
}

Related

problem on displaying live video in qt c++ application

I want to show a live stream of the camera connected to raspberry in qt application (OS Linux). After googling it, I found out I must display the video inside QLabel. When displaying an image there's no problem and everything works fine, but when I want to display the live stream inside QLabel, the live stream window opens separately (not inside QLabel). would you tell me how to solve this problem? here's my code :
void Dialog::on_Preview_clicked()
{
command = "raspistill";
args<<"-o"<<"/home/pi/Pictures/Preview/"+Date1.currentDateTime().toString()+".jpg"<<"-t"<<QString::number(20000);
Pic.start(command,args,QIODevice::ReadOnly);
QPixmap pix("//home//pi//Pictures//Preview//test.jpg");
ui->label_2->setPixmap(pix);
ui->label_2->setScaledContents(true);
}
This code opens video capturing screen and captures an image after 20 seconds. the only problem is that the capture screen (which could be used as a live stream). isn't being displayed inside the "Lable_2". Is there anyway to do this without using OpenCV library? If not, tell me how to do it using OpenCV.
Thanks
It is pretty simple in opencv
#include <opencv2/core/core.hpp>
#include <opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp>
#include <iostream>
using namespace cv;
using namespace std;
int main( int argc, char** argv )
{
VideoCapture cap(0); // open the default camera
if(!cap.isOpened()) // check if we succeeded
return -1;
Mat edges;
namedWindow("edges",1);
for(;;)
{
Mat frame;
cap >> frame; // get a new frame from camera
imshow("edges", frame);
if(waitKey(30) >= 0) break;
}
return 0;
}
Stream the camera using OpenCV, and show it in QLabel is possible.
When QCamera not working, and also use OpenCV in the project, could use VideoCapture to stream the video instead of QCamera.
The problem can be decomposed into several steps. Basically, We need:
Create a QThread for streaming(Don't let the GUI thread blocked).
In the sub-thread, using cv::VideoCapture to capture the frame into a cv::Mat.
Convert the cv::Mat to QImage(how to convert an opencv cv::Mat to qimage).
Pass QImage frame from sub-thread to the main GUI thread.
Paint the QImage on the QLabel.
I put the complete demo code in Github. it could paint the frame on the QLabel and QML VideoOutput.

OpenCV "stuck" frames with VideoCapture

I'm using OpenCV 3.1, I try to run a simple code as the following one (main function):
cv::VideoCapture cam;
cv::Mat matTestingNumbers;
cam.open(0);
if (!cam.isOpened()) { printf("--(!)Error opening video capture\n"); return -1; }
while (cam.read(matTestingNumbers))
{
cv::imshow("matTestingNumbers", matTestingNumbers);
cv::waitKey(5000);
}
When I move the camera it seems that the code does not capture and show the current frame but shows all the captured frames from the previous position and only then from the new one.
So when I capture the wall it shows the correct frames (the wall itself) in the correct delay, but, when I twist the camera to my computer, I first see about 3 frames of the wall and only then the computer, it seems that the frames are stuck.
I've tried to use videoCapture.set() functions and set the FPS to 1, and I tried to switch the method of capturing to cam >> matTestingNumbers (and the rest of the main function according to this change) but nothing helped, I still got "stuck" frames.
BTW, These are the solutions I found on web.
What can I do to fix this problem?
Thank you, Dan.
EDIT:
I tried to retrieve frames as the following:
#include "opencv2/opencv.hpp"
using namespace cv;
int main(int, char**)
{
VideoCapture cap(0); // open the default camera
if(!cap.isOpened()) // check if we succeeded
return -1;
Mat frame;
namedWindow("edges",1);
for(;;)
{
cap.grab();
if (waitKey(11) >= 0)
{
cap.retrieve(frame);
imshow("edges", frame);
}
}
return 0;
}
But, it gave the result (when I pointed the camera on one spot and pressed a key it showed one more of the previous frames that were captured of the other point).
It is just like you're trying to picture one person then another but when you picture the second you get the photo of the first person what doesn't make sense.
Then, I tried the following:
#include "opencv2/opencv.hpp"
using namespace cv;
int main(int, char**)
{
VideoCapture cap(0); // open the default camera
if(!cap.isOpened()) // check if we succeeded
return -1;
Mat frame;
namedWindow("edges",1);
for(;;)
{
cap >> frame;
if (waitKey(33) >= 0)
imshow("edges", frame);
}
return 0;
}
And it worked as expected.
One of the problems is that you are not calling cv::waitKey(X) to properly freeze the window for X amount of milliseconds. Get rid of usleep()!

OpenCV slowing down WebCam capture

I'm capturing frames from a Webcam using OpenCV in a C++ app both on my Windows machine as well as on a RaspberryPi (ARM, Debian Wheezy). The problem is the CPU usage. I only need to process frames like every 2 seconds - so no real time live view. But how to achieve that? Which one would you suggest?
Grab each frame, but process only some: This helps a bit. I get the most recent frames but this option has no significant impact on the CPU usage (less than 25%)
Grab/Process each frame but sleep: Good impact on CPU usage, but the frames that I get are old (5-10sec)
Create/Destroy VideoCapture in each cycle: After some cycles the application crashes - even though VideoCapture is cleaned up correctly.
Any other idea?
Thanks in advance
#include <opencv2/opencv.hpp>
#include <opencv2/core/core.hpp>
#include <opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp>
#include <opencv2/imgproc/imgproc.hpp>
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <stdio.h>
using namespace std;
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
cv::VideoCapture cap(0); //0=default, -1=any camera, 1..99=your camera
if(!cap.isOpened())
{
cout << "No camera detected" << endl;
return 0;
}
// set resolution & frame rate (FPS)
cap.set(CV_CAP_PROP_FRAME_WIDTH, 320);
cap.set(CV_CAP_PROP_FRAME_HEIGHT,240);
cap.set(CV_CAP_PROP_FPS, 5);
int i = 0;
cv::Mat frame;
for(;;)
{
if (!cap.grab())
continue;
// Version 1: dismiss frames
i++;
if (i % 50 != 0)
continue;
if( !cap.retrieve(frame) || frame.empty() )
continue;
// ToDo: manipulate your frame (image processing)
if(cv::waitKey(255) ==27)
break; // stop on ESC key
// Version 2: sleep
//sleep(1);
}
return 0;
}
Create/Destroy VideoCapture in each cycle: not yet tested
It may be a bit troublesome on Windows (and maybe on other operating systems too) - First frame grabbed after creating VideoCapture is usually black or gray. Second frame should be fine :)
Other ideas:
- modified idea nr 2 - after sleep grab 2 frames. First frame may be old, but second should be new. It's not tested and generally i'm not sure about that, but it's easy to check it.
- Eventually after sleep you may grab frames in while loop (without sleep) waiting till you grab the same frame twice (but it may be hard to achieve especially on RasberryPi).

C/C++ OpenCV video processing

Good day everyone! So currently I'm working on a project with video processing, so I decided to give a try to OpenCV. As I'm new to it, I decided to find few sample codes and test them out. First one, is C OpenCV and looks like this:
#include <opencv/cv.h>
#include <opencv/highgui.h>
#include <stdio.h>
int main( void ) {
CvCapture* capture = 0;
IplImage *frame = 0;
if (!(capture = cvCaptureFromCAM(0)))
printf("Cannot initialize camera\n");
cvNamedWindow("Capture", CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE);
while (1) {
frame = cvQueryFrame(capture);
if (!frame)
break;
IplImage *temp = cvCreateImage(cvSize(frame->width/2, frame->height/2), frame->depth, frame->nChannels); // A new Image half size
cvResize(frame, temp, CV_INTER_CUBIC); // Resize
cvSaveImage("test.jpg", temp, 0); // Save this image
cvShowImage("Capture", frame); // Display the frame
cvReleaseImage(&temp);
if (cvWaitKey(5000) == 27) // Escape key and wait, 5 sec per capture
break;
}
cvReleaseImage(&frame);
cvReleaseCapture(&capture);
return 0;
}
So, this one works perfectly well and stores image to hard drive nicely. But problems begin with next sample, which uses C++ OpenCV:
#include "opencv2/opencv.hpp"
#include <string>
using namespace cv;
int main(int, char**)
{
VideoCapture cap(0); // open the default camera
if(!cap.isOpened()) // check if we succeeded
return -1;
Mat edges;
//namedWindow("edges",1);
for(;;)
{
Mat frame;
cap >> frame; // get a new frame from camera
cvtColor(frame, edges, CV_RGB2XYZ);
imshow("edges", edges);
//imshow("edges2", frame);
//imwrite("test1.jpg", frame);
if(waitKey(1000) >= 0) break;
}
// the camera will be deinitialized automatically in VideoCapture destructor
return 0;
}
So, yeah, generally, in terms of showing video (image frames) there is practically no changes, but when it comes to using im** functions, some problems arise.
Using cvSaveImage() works out nicely, but the moment I try to use imwrite(), unhandled exception arises in regards of 'access violation reading location'. Same goes for imread(), when I'm trying to load image.
So, the thing I wanted to ask, is it possible to use most of the functionality with C OpenCV? Or is it necessary to use C++ OpenCV. If yes, is there any solution for the problem I described earlier.
Also as stated here, images initially are in BGR-format, so conversion needed. But doing BGR2XYZ conversion seems to invert colors, while RGB2XYZ preserve them. Examples:
images
Or is it necessary to use C++ OpenCV?
No, there is no necessity whatsoever. You can use any interface you like and you think you are good with it (OpenCV offers C, C++, Python interfaces).
For your problem about imwrite() and imread() :
For color images the order channel is normally Blue, Green, Red , this
is what imshow() , imread() and imwrite() expect
Quoted from there

OpenCV Video Editing?

I am using OpenCV and trying to apply a Gaussian Blur to an incoming video stream. I basically use cvQueryFrame to remove a frame, blur it and display the frame onto the screen. The thing is though, my video gets stuck on the first frame after I apply the blur....anyone know why? its basically showing one frame instead of a video. The second I remove the blur it starts outputting video again.
#include "cv.h"
#include "highgui.h"
#include "cvaux.h"
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
//declare initial data
IplImage *grabCapture= 0; //used for inital video frame capture
IplImage *process =0; //used for processing
IplImage *output=0; //displays final output
CvCapture* vidStream= cvCaptureFromCAM(0);
cvNamedWindow ("Output", CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE);
int createimage=1;
while (1)
{
grabCapture= cvQueryFrame (vidStream);
if (createimage==1)
{
process= cvCreateImage (cvGetSize(grabCapture), IPL_DEPTH_16U, 3);
createimage=0;
}
*process=*grabCapture;
cvSmooth (process,process,CV_GAUSSIAN,7,7); //line that makes it display frame instead of video
cvShowImage("Output",process);
}
//clean up data
cvReleaseImage (&grabCapture);
cvReleaseImage (&process);
cvReleaseImage (&output);
cvReleaseCapture (&vidStream);
return 0;
}
You are missing a call to cvWaitKey. This is the only way to tell OpenCV to process events and thus prevent the GUI from freezing.
Try adding this line:
cvWaitKey(10);
after cvShowImage("Output",process);.
Edit: here is the documentation for cvWaitKey