OpenCV with a Mac?

[pitythefool]

Righty, I'm *so* close to buying my iBook, but there's one thing holding me back.

For my dissertation (I'm doing Computer Science at uni) I'm going to be using Intel's OpenCV along with C++ to manipulate data coming from a webcam. Now, does anyone know if I can use OpenCV with OS X?

Looking at the OpenCV website, it suggests not...

I'd really like to get an iBook, I certainly need a laptop of some kind, but if I can't switch between the Mac (on the move) and my PC (at home), then it's going to be kinda sucky.

Thanks in advance, PLEASE someone convince me it's possible!

 

[disarray]

I wish I could say the answer is a definitive "yes", but it isn't that simple, unfortunately. I've been wrestling with OpenCV under OS X for several weeks now. The good news is:

- I was able to compile the last version (0.9.5) using these instructions:

tp://wwwbruegge.in.tum.de/view/Lehrstuhl/CompileOpenCV (outdated link removed)

- once compiled, all the unit tests worked

The bad news:

- as you'll note in the instructions, the one part that won't built at all is cvcam--for interfacing with cameras
- a new version of OpenCV was just released (0.9.6), but I haven't had any luck building it, even though it has fewer dependencies than the previous one

There's probably a straightforward way to fix the new version, too, but I haven't found it yet. cvcam is a more fundamental issue; someone will need to write OS X-specific code to make it work, and I haven't seen any interest on the OpenCV mailing list in a port.

If you have any other questions, ask away. Given my limited success with OpenCV, I can't guarantee an answer, but I'll try.

cheers,

--ian

 

[pitythefool]

Thanks very much, I'll take a look at that site when I get chance (the joys of having to work over the summer...)

I think I'll prolly just get the iBook anyway, for all the other benefits, and resign myself to the fact that I'd be better off just working on my disertation from home on my desktop...

I think even if I could get OpenCV to work on OS X, then swapping and compiling code under both Windows and Panther isn't going to be that pretty...

I'm bound to raise some questions when the iBook arrives though, so I'll bear you in mind I'm guessing it has all the unix built in stuff, and comes C++ ready etc?

Thanks again.

 

[jfl]

fyi, there's an opencv yahoo group that has build instructions (I think based on the same source but slightly clarified):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OpenCV/message/20908
there also seems to be some camera capture source at the site you mentioned which seems to build ok:
tp://wwwbruegge.in.tum.de/Lehrstuhl/OpenCVPlayground (outdated link removed)

 

[josgraha]

From a driver and raw image manipulation standpoint, it would seem that you would be better off long-term getting this library over to OSX. I don't know anything really about OpenCV other than it's neato-spiff for biometrics type projects. But from what I saw at the WWDC2k4 keynote (video) the new CoreVideo libraries can do some amazing stuff with raw real-time video. Seems like a good combo?

 

[pitythefool]

Unfortunately, in this case, I'm going to have to use Windows at some point because that's what my department runs (well, that and Linux).

But it is supposed to have some amazing stuff for real-time video - which is exactly what I need it for!

 

[Donar]

I'm honored

that my mess got that far that fast (I'm the one who posted the infos on the two pages jfl noted).
I'm not long into OpenCV, but as far as I can see, it has a different target-audience than Core-Video.

First it is kind of Plattform independent (Linux and Windows, maybe OS X in the future).

Appart from that, it is less about Graphics and Graphics manipulation than about the analysis of images.
I.e. if I hear Core-Video I think about Photoshop, iMovie, ... (I may very well be wrong).
With OpenCV I think about Pattern Recognition... There are e.g. Algorithms for extracting contours, ... (That will be the domain where we will use it in the end of September).

Appart from that, my iBook came back from repair, so I'll try 0.9.6 the next days. Unfortunately our team allready started hacking with 0.9.5 and I don't know what changed in the new version, yet. Anyway I will drop a note at tp://wwwbruegge.in.tum.de/Lehrstuhl/Fa2004ContextAwareness (outdated link removed) if we succeed in building OpenVC 0.9.6.

By the way, one of our chief-hackers put the build-info into a patch file : tp://wwwbruegge.in.tum.de/pub//Lehrstuhl/CentroidalProfileFa2004/OpenCV-0.9.5-iBook.patch (outdated link removed)

 

[jeneric]

me to

Hey alll


i am trying to get my reconstruction app to compile in Xcode but no luck at all infact I cant even get a hello world to compile that includes the opencv framework. Do I need to set up other linking as well? Do I need to do the open cv install or is the framework enough ( I was able to buikd that ) Basically doees anyone have a example that they would be willing to show me I have switched from working on lab pcs to devloping on my powerbook and its weird to swap. Any help is greatly appreciated!

cheers


Jennie