Real-time GUI Interactions with OpenCV in Python
We discussed the OpenCV library basics in one of our previous articles – Getting Started with OpenCV in Python. In continuation with that, we discuss the GUI interactions and explore the powerful real-time user control capabilities of the OpenCV library in this article. A GUI (Graphical User Interface) is a visual system that interacts with the user directly through inputs and outputs. OpenCV displays an image or a video through a rectangular window. It also receives inputs from the user through that window by creating trackbars and reading mouse movements and keyboard taps. Thus windows in OpenCV behave as individual and independent GUIs. Keyboard Interactions OpenCV can directly read keyboard inputs while executing its program and make decisions according to the input made. In the below example, we read an image and display it in a window. If the key ‘q’ is pressed on the keyboard, the window will be closed immediately. Else, if the key ‘s’ is pressed, the image will be saved to the disk, and the window will be closed. Rather, if the key ‘g’ is pressed, the image will be saved to the disk in grayscale, and the window will be closed. Else, if the key ‘t’ is pressed, the image will be saved to the disk with some predefined texts written on it, and the window will be closed. The choice of keys and the actions to be performed have no constraints and are up to the users’ creativity and requirements! import cv2 # read a colour image from the working directory img = cv2.imread('mimi.jpg') img = cv2.resize(img,(320,240)) # display the original image cv2.imshow('Original Image', img) key = cv2.waitKey(0) & 0xFF # KEYBOARD INTERACTIONS if key == ord('q'): cv2.destroyAllWindows() elif key == ord('s'): # save the image as such cv2.imwrite('mimi_colour.jpg', img) cv2.destroyAllWindows() elif key == ord('g'): # convert to grayscale and save it gray = cv2.cvtColor(img, cv2.COLOR_BGR2GRAY) cv2.imwrite('mimi_gray.jpg', gray) cv2.destroyAllWindows() elif key == ord('t'): # write some text and save it text_image = cv2.putText(img, 'Miracles of OpenCV', (10,30), cv2.FONT_HERSHEY_SIMPLEX, 1, (255,255,0),3) cv2.imwrite('mimi_text.jpg', text_image) cv2.destroyAllWindows() The above codes are run four times repeatedly to explore all four key input options. The saved images can be visualized in three separate windows using the following codes to realize how the keyboard interactions work. # display the saved colour image clr_img = cv2.imread('mimi_colour.jpg') cv2.imshow('Colour Image', clr_img) # display the saved grayscale image gray_img = cv2.imread('mimi_gray.jpg') cv2.imshow('Grayscale Image', gray_img) # display the image with Text on it text_img = cv2.imread('mimi_text.jpg') cv2.imshow('Image with Text', text_img) cv2.waitKey(0) cv2.destroyAllWindows() Creating and Reading a Trackbar A Trackbar is a control system that takes user input directly through the GUI window. The below example code creates a Trackbar to do a switch between two different images. It takes an integer input either 0 or 1 and displays the corresponding image. The slider in the Trackbar must be manually shifted between 0 and 1. # read two images img_1 = cv2.imread('karsten_1.jpg', 1) img_2 = cv2.imread('karsten_2.jpg', 1) # create a window cv2.namedWindow("My Pet") # define a null callback function def null(x): pass # create a trackbar # arguments: trackbar_name, window_name, default_value, max_value, callback_fn cv2.createTrackbar("Switch_Image", "My Pet", 0, 1, null) while True: # get Trackbar position pos = cv2.getTrackbarPos("Switch_Image", "My Pet") if pos == 0: cv2.imshow("My Pet", img_1) elif pos == 1: cv2.imshow("My Pet", img_2) key = cv2.waitKey(1) & 0xFF # press 'q' to quit the window if key == ord('q'): break cv2.destroyAllWindows() Image display corresponding to slider value 0 of the Trackbar Image display corresponding to slider value 1 of the Trackbar BGR Colour Control Using Trackbars Trackbars can be used to fine-tune the colour selection in real-time for creative applications. In the following example code, the three colour channels Blue, Green and Red are controlled by three Trackbars independently to arrive at the final BGR colour of users’ interest or requirement. The minimum value for each channel is 0 and the maximum value is 255. Trackbars read slider positions as integers only. Hence each Trackbar can be positioned at 256 slider positions. # BGR Control using Trackbars import numpy as np # create a black image img = np.zeros([200,350,3], np.uint8) cv2.namedWindow('BGR') # define a null callback function for Trackbar def null(x): pass # create three trackbars for B, G and R # arguments: trackbar_name, window_name, default_value, max_value, callback_fn cv2.createTrackbar("B", "BGR", 0, 255, null) cv2.createTrackbar("G", "BGR", 0, 255, null) cv2.createTrackbar("R", "BGR", 0, 255, null) while True: # read the Trackbar positions b = cv2.getTrackbarPos('B','BGR') g = cv2.getTrackbarPos('G','BGR') r = cv2.getTrackbarPos('R','BGR') # change the image colour to Trackbar positions img[:] = [b,g,r] # display trackbars and image cv2.imshow('BGR', img) key = cv2.waitKey(1) & 0xFF if key == ord('q'): break cv2.destroyAllWindows() Sample window displays for various Trackbar positions: HSV Colour Control Using Trackbars Colour control can be made in a human-understandable way using the HSV colour space. HSV is the abbreviation for Hue-Saturation-Value. A HSV colour space is represented cylindrical in shape. Hue is the variation in core colour that varies circumferentially in the cylinder having values ranging from 0 degree to 180 degrees in OpenCV. Saturation defines the richness of the colour, which is the radial variation within the colour having values ranging from 0 to 255. Value defines the brightness of the colour, which is the axial variation having values ranging from 0 to 255. # HSV Control using Trackbars # read a colourful image img = cv2.imread('claudio.jpg') img = cv2.resize(img, (320,280)) # convert BGR image to HSV hsv = cv2.cvtColor(img, cv2.COLOR_BGR2HSV) # define a null callback function for Trackbar def null(x): pass # create six trackbars for H, S and V - lower and higher masking limits cv2.namedWindow('HSV') # arguments: trackbar_name, window_name, default_value, max_value, callback_fn cv2.createTrackbar("HL", "HSV", 0, 180, null) cv2.createTrackbar("HH", "HSV", 180, 180, null) cv2.createTrackbar("SL", "HSV", 0, 255, null) cv2.createTrackbar("SH", "HSV", 255, 255, null) cv2.createTrackbar("VL", "HSV", 0, 255, null) cv2.createTrackbar("VH", "HSV", 255, 255, null) while True: # read the Trackbar positions hl = cv2.getTrackbarPos('HL','HSV') hh = cv2.getTrackbarPos('HH','HSV') sl = cv2.getTrackbarPos('SL','HSV') sh = cv2.getTrackbarPos('SH','HSV') vl = cv2.getTrackbarPos('VL','HSV') vh = cv2.getTrackbarPos('VH','HSV') # create a manually controlled mask # arguments: hsv_image, lower_trackbars, higher_trackbars mask = cv2.inRange(hsv, np.array([hl, sl, vl]), np.array([hh, sh, vh])) # derive masked image using bitwise_and method final = cv2.bitwise_and(img, img, mask=mask) # display image, mask and masked_image cv2.imshow('Original', img) cv2.imshow('Mask', mask) cv2.imshow('Masked Image', final) key = cv2.waitKey(1) & 0xFF if key == ord('q'): break cv2.destroyAllWindows() Unmasked image Masked to show blue family Masked to show green family Masked to show blue to red family With advanced image processing methods of OpenCV, the HSV analysis yields better image processing abilities. Learn more about HSV colour space here. Interactions with Mouse Movements Tracing mouse movements and mouse button clicks is a powerful tool available in the OpenCV library. OpenCV methods can trace left button down/up, right button down/up, left button double click, mouse movement, etc. This makes the library highly interactive with user controls through mouse. In the following example, the mouse left button’s down action is used to read the colour where it is clicked. With the observed colour, a colour-filled rectangular box is drawn on another image. # read a colourful image img_1 = cv2.imread('balls.jpg') img_1 = cv2.resize(img_1, (320,210)) # display the image cv2.imshow('Colour', img_1) # read another image to display clicked colour img_2 = cv2.imread('julian.jpg') img_2 = cv2.resize(img_2, (320,210)) def Mouse_Event(event, x, y, flags, param): if event == cv2.EVENT_LBUTTONDOWN: # read colours at left clicked point b = img[x,y,0] g = img[x,y,1] r = img[x,y,2] # change the colour of a portion of image coloured = img_2.copy() coloured[-50:-1, 0:320, :] = [b,g,r] coloured = cv2.putText(coloured, 'Colourful Holi!', (40,190), cv2.FONT_HERSHEY_PLAIN, 2, (0,255,255), 2) cv2.imshow('Clicked Colour', coloured) # set Mouse Callback method cv2.setMouseCallback('Colour', Mouse_Event) cv2.waitKey(0) cv2.destroyAllWindows() When a Blue ball is clicked on the left window When a Pink ball is clicked on the left window When a Green ball is clicked on the left window Wrapping up In this article, we discussed the GUI features of the OpenCV library and explored how they contribute to real-time interactions with the users. We discussed Keyboard interactions, Mouse interactions and Trackbars. We learnt how to use Trackbars in different use cases, including BGR colour analysis, HSV colour analysis and masking an image based on colours. Note: The images used in this hands-on tutorial are open source images that need no reuse license. Further reading: Official documentation of OpenCVGetting Started with OpenCV in PythonCredit Card Reader using OpenCVExtract Information from Table images using OpenCVFace Swapping Application using OpenCVFace Filter using OpenCV
OpenCV’s interactive GUI receives inputs from the user through windows by creating trackbars and reading mouse movements and keyboard taps.
OpenCV's real-time GUI interactions receive input from user through windows by creating trackbars, reading mouse movements and keyboard taps.
["GUI", "OpenCV", "Python"]
["NumPy", "TPU", "AI", "OpenCV", "Python", "Ray", "ViT", "Julia", "programming_languages:Python", "R", "GUI"]
["AI", "Ray", "OpenCV", "NumPy", "TPU", "Python", "R", "Julia", "ViT", "programming_languages:Python"]
A geek in Machine Learning with a Master's degree in Engineering and a passion for writing and exploring new things. Loves reading novels, cooking, practicing martial arts, and occasionally writing novels and poems.