Filter out only one contour in OpenCV C/C++

Question

I'm trying to make a program to detect an object in any shape using a video camera/webcam based on Canny filter and contour finding function. Here is my program:

int main( int argc, char** argv )
{
CvCapture *cam;
CvMoments moments;
CvMemStorage* storage = cvCreateMemStorage(0);
CvSeq* contours = NULL;
CvSeq* contours2 = NULL;
CvPoint2D32f center;
int i;

cam=cvCaptureFromCAM(0);
if(cam==NULL){
    fprintf(stderr,"Cannot find any camera. \n");
    return -1;
}
while(1){
    IplImage *img=cvQueryFrame(cam);
    if(img==NULL){return -1;}
    IplImage *src_gray= cvCreateImage( cvSize(img->width,img->height), 8, 1);
    cvCvtColor( img, src_gray, CV_BGR2GRAY );
    cvSmooth( src_gray,  src_gray, CV_GAUSSIAN, 5, 11);
    cvCanny(src_gray, src_gray, 70, 200, 3);

    cvFindContours( src_gray, storage, &contours, sizeof(CvContour), CV_RETR_EXTERNAL, CV_CHAIN_APPROX_NONE, cvPoint(0,0));
    if(contours==NULL){ contours=contours2;}
    contours2=contours;
    cvMoments(contours, &moments, 1);

    double m_00 = cvGetSpatialMoment( &moments, 0, 0 );
    double m_10 = cvGetSpatialMoment( &moments, 1, 0 );
    double m_01 = cvGetSpatialMoment( &moments, 0, 1 );
    float gravityX = (m_10 / m_00)-150;
    float gravityY = (m_01 / m_00)-150;
    if(gravityY>=0&&gravityX>=0){
        printf("center point=(%.f, %.f) \n",gravityX,gravityY); }

    for (; contours != 0; contours = contours->h_next){
        CvScalar color = CV_RGB(250,0,0);
        cvDrawContours(img,contours,color,color,-1,-1, 8, cvPoint(0,0));
    }

    cvShowImage( "Input", img );
    cvShowImage( "Contours", src_gray );
    cvClearMemStorage(storage);
    if(cvWaitKey(33)>=0) break;
}
cvDestroyWindow("Contours");
cvDestroyWindow("Source");
cvReleaseCapture(&cam);
}

This program will detect all contours captured by the camera and the average coordinate of the contours will be printed. My question is how to filter out only one object/contour so I can get more precise (x,y) position of the object? If possible, can anyone show me how to mark the center of the object by using (x,y) coordinates?

Thanks in advance. Cheers

p/s:Sorry I couldn't upload a screenshot yet but if anything helps, here's the link.

Edit: To make my question more clear:

• For example, if I only want to filter out only the square from my screenshot above, what should I do?
• The object I want to filter out has the biggest contour area and most importantly has a shape(any shape), not a straight or a curve line
• I'm still experimenting with the smooth and canny values so if anybody have the problem to detect the contours using my program please alter the values.

Answer 1

I think it can be solved fairly easy. I would suggest some morphological operations before contour detection. Also, I would suggest filtering "out" smaller elements, and getting the biggest element as the only one still in the image.

I suggest:

• for filtering out lines (straight or curved): you have to decide what do you yourself consider a border between a "line" and a "shape". Let's say you consider all the objects of a thickness 5 pixel or more to be objects, while the ones that are less than 5 pixels across to be lines. An morphological opening that uses a 5x5 square or a 3-pixel sized diamond shape as a structuring element would take care of this.

• for filtering out small objects in general: if objects are of arbitrary shapes, purely morphological opening won't do: you have to do an algebraic opening. A special type of algebraic openings is an area opening: an operation that removes all the connected components in the image that have (pixel) area smaller than a given threshold. If you have an upper bound on the size of uninteresting objects, or a lower bound on the size of interesting ones, that value should be used as a threshold. You can probably get a similar effect with a larger morphological opening, but it will not be so flexible.

• for filtering out all the objects except the largest: it sounds like removing connected components from the smallest one to the largest one should work. Try labeling the connected components. On a binary (black & white image), this image transformation works by creating a greyscale image, labeling the background as 0 (black), and each component with a different, increasing grey value. In the end, pixels of each object are marked by a different value. You can now simply look at the gray level histogram, and find the grey value with the most pixels. Set all the other grey levels to 0 (black), and the only object left in the image is the biggest one.

The suggestions are written from the simplest to the most complex ones. Still, I think OpenCV can be of help with any of these. Morphological erosion, dilation, opening and closing are implemented in OpenCV. I think you might need to construct an algebraic opening operator on your own (or play with combining OpenCV basic morphology), but I'm sure OpenCV can help you with both labeling the connected components and examining the histogram of the resulting greyscale image.

In the end, when only pixels from one object are left, you do the Canny contour detection.

Answer 2

This is a blob processing problem that can not be solved (easily) by OpenCV itself. Have a look at cvBlobsLib. This library is extends OpenCV with functions/classes for connected component labeling.

http://opencv.willowgarage.com/wiki/cvBlobsLib