OpenCV  3.1.0-dev
Open Source Computer Vision
Build opencv_contrib with dnn module

Introduction

opencv_dnn module is placed in the secondary opencv_contrib repository, which isn't distributed in binary form, therefore you need to build it manually.

To do this you need to have installed: CMake, git, and build system (gcc with make for Linux or MS Visual Studio for Windows)

Steps

  1. Make any directory, for example opencv_root
  2. Clone opencv and opencv_contrib repos to the opencv_root. You can do it in terminal like here:
    1 cd opencv_root
    2 git clone https://github.com/opencv/opencv
    3 git clone https://github.com/opencv/opencv_contrib
  3. Run [CMake-gui] and set source and build directories:
    • Set source code directory to opencv_root/opencv;
    • Set binaries directory, for example, to opencv_root/build_opencv. This directory will contain built libraries.
      build_1.png
  4. Configure opencv:
    • press Configure;
    • choose the preferred project generator (Makefiles for Linux, MS Visual Studio for Windows);
    • also you can set many opencv build options, for more details see Installation in Linux.
      build_2.png
  5. In the appeared list of build parameters find parameter OPENCV_EXTRA_MODULES_PATH and set it to the opencv_root/opencv_contrib.
    build_3.png
  6. Configure the project again, and set build options of dnn module:
    • BUILD_opencv_dnn parameter must exist and be checked.
    • dnn module covers waste part of Caffe framework functionality. However, to load Caffe networks libprotobuf is required. You you can uncheck BUILD_LIBPROTOBUF_FROM_SOURCES flag to try use protobuf installed in your system. Elsewise libpotobuf will be built from opencv sources.
    • You can additionally check opencv_dnn_BUILD_TORCH_IMPORTER parameter to build Torch7 importer. It allows you to use networks, generated by Torch7.nn module.
      build_4.png
  7. Press Configure and Generate.
    build_5.png
  8. Build the generated project:
    • If Makefiles generator on Unix was used, run the following in terminal:
      1 cd opencv_root/build_opencv
      2 make all
    • If MS Visual Studio generator was used, then open OpenCV.sln from opencv_root/build_opencv folder in the Visual Studio, and build it by choosing Build -> Build Solution menu or using F7 short-cut.
  9. Now you can build own program by using libraries were built into opencv_root/build_opencv/lib. See the following tutorials to learn how to create a program using OpenCV: