MATLAB vs. OpenCV [closed]

Question

I've been using OpenCV for quite a while now and was wondering if switching to MATLAB would be a good idea. As far as I know they are both the same with MATLAB built over underlying OpenCV libraries. OpenCV is open source which is a definite advantage and supported on more platforms.

I'm trying algorithms specific for Pupil Detection so I need the results to be really precise.

Does anyone know any advantages by way of speed or processing or inbuilt functions that MATLAB uses?

Answer 1

If you already know OpenCV then stick with OpenCV. Currently OpenCV is the most comprehensive open source library for computer vision and it has large user community. OpenCV has more functions for computer vision than Matlab. Many of its functions are implemented on GPU. The library is being continuously updated (an updated version is released approximately every 3 to 4 months). In general C++ OpenCV code runs faster than Matlab code (if it's not fast enough, you can make it faster by optimizing the source code).

Matlab is useful for rapid prototyping and Matlab code is very easy to debug. It has good documentation and support. However, as others have mentioned, Matlab is not open source, its licence is pretty pricey, and its programs are not portable. Matlab is an interpreted language and it negatively affects its performance. Performance matters a lot in computer vision, especially if you are doing real time video processing. Its programs can be made fast too, however you will have to rely on high-level functions (i.e. built-in functions professionally written in C), mex functions (your own compiled C code), and you'll have to learn how to vectorize your code to achieve decent speed.

Answer 2

You haven't mentioned how you are using OpenCV so I am going to assume that you are using C++; in case you are using Python, please read this page..

If you are planning to use GPU for processing, then I would suggest you stick to C++.. Of course, there are loads of other optimizations you can do to your code..

For MATLAB, there are some fairly basic things that can be done as well..

At the end of the day, I would say that the closer you are to machine level language, the better your performance is going to be. But of course, using C can be a pain since there is a HIGH chance of writing unoptimized code and memory leaks. For this reason, C++ gives the best trade-off..

HTH