OPENCV on Python on my WIndows 8.1 tablet

I have just installed OPENCV on Python on my WIndows 8.1 tablet and I have been playing with it like crazy. Opencv is a powerful tool to programmatically manipulate an image. It is like a low level version of Photoshop. And what happens when a programmer gets to programmaticaly manipulate an image? The possibilities are endless.

I had skipped the "hello world" part because I am not new to opencv and here is what I have tried to develop as part of my learning: finding the exact location of a small image taken from a larger image.

This ois the large image:

And obviously this is the small piece of image:



 And here is the result:

 

 

And here is the python code I used:

# import the necessary packages
import numpy as np
import cv2

# load the big_image  and small_image  images
big_image = cv2.imread('C:\\Users\\mybook\\Documents\\alpha.jpg')
small_image = cv2.imread('C:\\Users\\mybook\\Documents\\piece.jpg')
(small_imageHeight, small_imageWidth) = small_image.shape[:2]

# find the small_image in the big_image
result = cv2.matchTemplate(big_image, small_image, cv2.TM_CCOEFF)
(_, _, minLoc, maxLoc) = cv2.minMaxLoc(result)

# grab the bounding box of small_image  and extract it from
# the big image
topLeft = maxLoc
botRight = (topLeft[0] + small_imageWidth, topLeft[1] + small_imageHeight)
roi = big_image[topLeft[1]:botRight[1], topLeft[0]:botRight[0]]

# construct a darkened transparent 'layer' to darken everything
# in the big_image except for small_image
mask = np.zeros(big_image.shape, dtype = "uint8")
big_image = cv2.addWeighted(big_image, 0.25, mask, 0.75, 0)

# put the original small_image  back in the image so that it is
# 'brighter' than the rest of the image
big_image[topLeft[1]:botRight[1], topLeft[0]:botRight[0]] = roi

# display the images
cv2.imshow("Big_Image", big_image)
cv2.imshow("Small_Image", small_image)
cv2.waitKey(0)

This may a simple app but it can be useful for game development, or it even be further developed and improved to create an image search engine.

Using my Windows 8.1 Tablet Pc as Raspberry Pi 2 Model B Monitor

The raspberry pi is a tiny pc running on linux based operating system with gpio pins. It is like having an arduino and a personal computer. Unfortunately, the rpi does not have a builtin screen and having to connect it on a huge monitor does not make it a tiny pc anymore. But more recently, I discovered that I can use my Windows 8.1 tablet as my rpi's monitor and take note, the connection is over wifi.

With this configuration, I can access my rpi anywhere even when I will just leave it at home. To access the rpi from my tablet, I used xming and putty. Both software can be downloaded free of charge from the internet. It only took me a few minutes to figure out how to make it work, thanks to those numerous how-to guides on youtube. Without them my mini project would have never been possible.

Here is my setup:

 

So now, I can some python programming with image processing usin my raspberry pi and the wimdows 8.1 tablet pc during my spare time at work.