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"This library is useful for practitioners, and is an excellent tool for those entering the field: it is a set of computer vision algorithms that work as advertised."
-William T. Freeman, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Learning OpenCV puts you in the middle of the rapidly expanding field of computer vision. Written by the creators of the free open source OpenCV library, this book introduces you to computer vision and demonstrates how you can quickly build applications that enable computers to "see" and make decisions based on that data.Computer vision is everywhere-in security systems, manufacturing inspection systems, medical image analysis, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, and more. It stitches Google maps and Google Earth together, checks the pixels on LCD screens, and makes sure the stitches in your shirt are sewn properly. OpenCV provides an easy-to-use computer vision framework and a comprehensive library with more than 500 functions that can run vision code in real time.
Learning OpenCV will teach any developer or hobbyist to use the framework quickly with the help of hands-on exercises in each chapter. This book includes:
A thorough introduction to OpenCV
Getting input from cameras
Transforming images
Segmenting images and shape matching
Pattern recognition, including face detection
Tracking and motion in 2 and 3 dimensions
3D reconstruction from stereo vision
Machine learning algorithms
Getting machines to see is a challenging but entertaining goal. Whether you want to build simple or sophisticated vision applications, Learning OpenCV is the book you need to get started.
About the author
Gary Rost Bradski is VP of Technology at Rexee Inc. a new startup applying machine learning to rich media on the web. He is also a consulting professor in the CS department at Stanford University, AI Lab where he mentors robotics, machine learning and computer vision research. He has a BS degree in EECS from U.C. Berkeley and a PhD from Boston University. His current interest is in applying highly scalable statistical models in computer vision and in continuous machine "learning in clutter" in robotics in general. Some external tools he started for thisare the Open Source Computer Vision Library, the statistical machine Learning Library (MLL comes with OpenCV), and the Probabilistic Network Library (PNL). OpenCV is used around the world in research, government and commercially (for example in wide use within Google). All libraries are open, and free on Source Forge for commercial or research purposes. The vision libraries use and helped develop a notable part of the commercial Intel performance primitives library (IPP). Gary led the vision team for Stanley, the Stanfordrobot that won the DARPA Grand Challenge autonomous race across the desert for a $2M team prize. He lives in Palo Alto with his wife and 3 daughters and bikes road or mountains as much as he can.
Adrian Kaehler is a senior scientist at Applied Minds Corporation. His current research includes topics in machine learning, statistical modeling, and computer vision. Adrian received his Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from Columbia university in 1998. Adrian has since held positions at Intel Corporation and the Stanford University AI Lab, and was a member of the winning Stanley race team in the DARPA Grand Challenge. He has a variety of published papers and patents in physics, electrical engineering, computer science, and robotics.
