flowpy 0.6.0
Tools for working with optical flow
License: MIT

# flowpy 💾 - A python package for working with optical flows

Optical flow is the displacement map of pixels between two frames. It is a low-level analysis used in many computer vision programs.

Working with optical flow may be cumbersome:
- It is quite hard to represent it in a comprehensible manner.
- Multiple formats exist for storing it.

Flowpy provides tools to work with optical flow more easily in python.

## Installing

We recommend using pip:
```bash
pip install flowpy
```

## Features

The main features of flowpy are:
- Reading and writing optical flows in two formats:
    - **.flo** (as defined [here](http://vision.middlebury.edu/flow/))
    - **.png** (as defined [here](http://www.cvlibs.net/datasets/kitti/eval_scene_flow.php?benchmark=flow))
- Visualizing optical flows with matplotlib
- Backward and forward warp

## Examples

### A simple RGB plot

This is the simplest example of how to use flowpy, it:
- Reads a file using *flowpy.flow_read*.
- Transforms the flow as an rgb image with *flowpy.flow_to_rgb* and shows it with matplotlib

#### Code:
```python
import flowpy
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

flow = flowpy.flow_read("tests/data/kitti_occ_000010_10.flo")

fig, ax = plt.subplots()
ax.imshow(flowpy.flow_to_rgb(flow))
plt.show()
```

#### Result:
![simple_example]

*Sample image from the [KITTI](http://www.cvlibs.net/datasets/kitti/eval_scene_flow.php?benchmark=flow) dataset*

### Plotting arrows, showing flow values and a calibration pattern

Flowpy comes with more than just RGB plots, the main features here are:
    - Arrows to quickly visualize the flow
    - The flow values below cursor showing in the tooltips
    - A calibration pattern side by side as a legend for your graph

#### Code:
```python
flow = flowpy.flow_read("tests/data/Dimetrodon.flo")
height, width, _ = flow.shape

image_ratio = height / width
max_radius = flowpy.get_flow_max_radius(flow)

fig, (ax_1, ax_2) = plt.subplots(
    1, 2, gridspec_kw={"width_ratios": [1, image_ratio]}
)

ax_1.imshow(flowpy.flow_to_rgb(flow))
flowpy.attach_arrows(ax_1, flow)
flowpy.attach_coord(ax_1, flow)

flowpy.attach_calibration_pattern(ax_2, flow_max_radius=max_radius)

plt.show()
```

#### Result:
![complex_example]

*Sample image from the [Middlebury](http://vision.middlebury.edu/flow/data/) dataset*

### Warping images (backward):
If you know the flow (first_image -> second_image), you can backward warp the second_image back to first_image.

```python
flow = flowpy.flow_read("static/kitti_occ_000010_10.png")
first_image = np.asarray(Image.open("static/kitti_000010_10.png"))
second_image = np.asarray(Image.open("static/kitti_000010_11.png"))

flow[np.isnan(flow)] = 0
warped_first_image = flowpy.backward_warp(second_image, flow)

fig, axes = plt.subplots(3, 1)
for ax, image, title in zip(axes, (first_image, second_image, warped_first_image),
                            ("First Image", "Second Image", "Second image warped to first image")):
    ax.imshow(image)
    ax.set_title(title)
    ax.set_axis_off()

plt.show()
```

#### Result:
![backward_warp_example]

Note that the artifacts in the warp are normal, they are caused by unknown flows and occlusions.

### Warping images (forward):

Forward warp is often less used as it is quite more complex. It relies on a k-nearest neighbor search instead of direct bi-linear interpolation.

`forward_warp` is about 10x slower than `backward_warp` but you still may find it useful.

```python
flow = flowpy.flow_read("static/kitti_occ_000010_10.png")
first_image = np.asarray(Image.open("static/kitti_000010_10.png"))
second_image = np.asarray(Image.open("static/kitti_000010_11.png"))

flow[np.isnan(flow)] = 0
warped_second_image = flowpy.forward_warp(first_image, flow)

fig, ax = plt.subplots()

ax.imshow(warped_second_image)
ax.set_title( "First image warped to the second")
ax.set_axis_off()

plt.show()
```

#### Result:
![forward_warp_example]


### More

You can find the above examples in the `examples` folder. You can also look in `tests`.
If you encounter a bug or have an idea for a new feature, feel free to open an issue.

Most of the visualization and io handling has been translated from matlab and c code from the [Middlebury flow code](http://vision.middlebury.edu/flow/code/flow-code/).
Credits to thank Simon Baker, Daniel Scharste, J. P. Lewis, Stefan Roth, Michael J. Black and Richard Szeliski.

[simple_example]: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mickaelseznec/flowpy/master/static/example_rgb.png "Displaying an optical flow as an RGB image"
[complex_example]: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mickaelseznec/flowpy/master/static/example_arrows.png "Displaying an optical flow as an RGB image with arrows, tooltip and legend"
[backward_warp_example]: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mickaelseznec/flowpy/master/static/example_backward_warp.png "An example of backward warp"
[forward_warp_example]: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mickaelseznec/flowpy/master/static/example_forward_warp.png "An example of forward warp"