opencv/doc/tutorials/video/background_subtraction/background_subtraction.markdown

How to Use Background Subtraction Methods {#tutorial_background_subtraction}
=========================================

-   Background subtraction (BS) is a common and widely used technique for generating a foreground
    mask (namely, a binary image containing the pixels belonging to moving objects in the scene) by
    using static cameras.
-   As the name suggests, BS calculates the foreground mask performing a subtraction between the
    current frame and a background model, containing the static part of the scene or, more in
    general, everything that can be considered as background given the characteristics of the
    observed scene.

    ![](images/Background_Subtraction_Tutorial_Scheme.png)

-   Background modeling consists of two main steps:

    -#  Background Initialization;
    -#  Background Update.

    In the first step, an initial model of the background is computed, while in the second step that
    model is updated in order to adapt to possible changes in the scene.

-   In this tutorial we will learn how to perform BS by using OpenCV. As input, we will use data
    coming from the publicly available data set [Background Models Challenge
    (BMC)](http://bmc.univ-bpclermont.fr/) .

Goals
-----

In this tutorial you will learn how to:

-#  Read data from videos by using @ref cv::VideoCapture or image sequences by using @ref
    cv::imread ;
-#  Create and update the background model by using @ref cv::BackgroundSubtractor class;
-#  Get and show the foreground mask by using @ref cv::imshow ;
-#  Save the output by using @ref cv::imwrite to quantitatively evaluate the results.

Code
----

In the following you can find the source code. We will let the user chose to process either a video
file or a sequence of images.

Two different methods are used to generate two foreground masks:
-#  cv::bgsegm::BackgroundSubtractorMOG
-#  @ref cv::BackgroundSubtractorMOG2

The results as well as the input data are shown on the screen.
The source file can be downloaded [here ](https://github.com/opencv/opencv/tree/master/samples/cpp/tutorial_code/video/bg_sub.cpp).

@include samples/cpp/tutorial_code/video/bg_sub.cpp

Explanation
-----------

We discuss the main parts of the above code:

-#  First, three Mat objects are allocated to store the current frame and two foreground masks,
    obtained by using two different BS algorithms.
    @code{.cpp}
    Mat frame; //current frame
    Mat fgMaskMOG; //fg mask generated by MOG method
    Mat fgMaskMOG2; //fg mask fg mask generated by MOG2 method
    @endcode
-#  Two @ref cv::BackgroundSubtractor objects will be used to generate the foreground masks. In this
    example, default parameters are used, but it is also possible to declare specific parameters in
    the create function.
    @code{.cpp}
    Ptr<BackgroundSubtractor> pMOG; //MOG Background subtractor
    Ptr<BackgroundSubtractor> pMOG2; //MOG2 Background subtractor
    ...
    //create Background Subtractor objects
    pMOG = createBackgroundSubtractorMOG(); //MOG approach
    pMOG2 = createBackgroundSubtractorMOG2(); //MOG2 approach
    @endcode
-#  The command line arguments are analysed. The user can chose between two options:
    -   video files (by choosing the option -vid);
    -   image sequences (by choosing the option -img).
    @code{.cpp}
    if(strcmp(argv[1], "-vid") == 0) {
      //input data coming from a video
      processVideo(argv[2]);
    }
    else if(strcmp(argv[1], "-img") == 0) {
      //input data coming from a sequence of images
      processImages(argv[2]);
    }
    @endcode
-#  Suppose you want to process a video file. The video is read until the end is reached or the user
    presses the button 'q' or the button 'ESC'.
    @code{.cpp}
    while( (char)keyboard != 'q' && (char)keyboard != 27 ){
      //read the current frame
      if(!capture.read(frame)) {
        cerr << "Unable to read next frame." << endl;
        cerr << "Exiting..." << endl;
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
      }
    @endcode
-#  Every frame is used both for calculating the foreground mask and for updating the background. If
    you want to change the learning rate used for updating the background model, it is possible to
    set a specific learning rate by passing a third parameter to the 'apply' method.
    @code{.cpp}
    //update the background model
    pMOG->apply(frame, fgMaskMOG);
    pMOG2->apply(frame, fgMaskMOG2);
    @endcode
-#  The current frame number can be extracted from the @ref cv::VideoCapture object and stamped in
    the top left corner of the current frame. A white rectangle is used to highlight the black
    colored frame number.
    @code{.cpp}
    //get the frame number and write it on the current frame
    stringstream ss;
    rectangle(frame, cv::Point(10, 2), cv::Point(100,20),
              cv::Scalar(255,255,255), -1);
    ss << capture.get(CAP_PROP_POS_FRAMES);
    string frameNumberString = ss.str();
    putText(frame, frameNumberString.c_str(), cv::Point(15, 15),
            FONT_HERSHEY_SIMPLEX, 0.5 , cv::Scalar(0,0,0));
    @endcode
-#  We are ready to show the current input frame and the results.
    @code{.cpp}
    //show the current frame and the fg masks
    imshow("Frame", frame);
    imshow("FG Mask MOG", fgMaskMOG);
    imshow("FG Mask MOG 2", fgMaskMOG2);
    @endcode
-#  The same operations listed above can be performed using a sequence of images as input. The
    processImage function is called and, instead of using a @ref cv::VideoCapture object, the images
    are read by using @ref cv::imread , after individuating the correct path for the next frame to
    read.
    @code{.cpp}
    //read the first file of the sequence
    frame = imread(fistFrameFilename);
    if(!frame.data){
      //error in opening the first image
      cerr << "Unable to open first image frame: " << fistFrameFilename << endl;
      exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }
    ...
    //search for the next image in the sequence
    ostringstream oss;
    oss << (frameNumber + 1);
    string nextFrameNumberString = oss.str();
    string nextFrameFilename = prefix + nextFrameNumberString + suffix;
    //read the next frame
    frame = imread(nextFrameFilename);
    if(!frame.data){
      //error in opening the next image in the sequence
      cerr << "Unable to open image frame: " << nextFrameFilename << endl;
      exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }
    //update the path of the current frame
    fn.assign(nextFrameFilename);
    @endcode
    Note that this example works only on image sequences in which the filename format is \<n\>.png,
    where n is the frame number (e.g., 7.png).

Results
-------

-   Given the following input parameters:
    @code{.cpp}
    -vid Video_001.avi
    @endcode
    The output of the program will look as the following:

    ![](images/Background_Subtraction_Tutorial_Result_1.png)

-   The video file Video_001.avi is part of the [Background Models Challenge
    (BMC)](http://bmc.univ-bpclermont.fr/) data set and it can be downloaded from the following link
    [Video_001](http://bmc.univ-bpclermont.fr/sites/default/files/videos/evaluation/Video_001.zip)
    (about 32 MB).
-   If you want to process a sequence of images, then the '-img' option has to be chosen:
    @code{.cpp}
    -img 111_png/input/1.png
    @endcode
    The output of the program will look as the following:

    ![](images/Background_Subtraction_Tutorial_Result_2.png)

-   The sequence of images used in this example is part of the [Background Models Challenge
    (BMC)](http://bmc.univ-bpclermont.fr/) dataset and it can be downloaded from the following link
    [sequence 111](http://bmc.univ-bpclermont.fr/sites/default/files/videos/learning/111_png.zip)
    (about 708 MB). Please, note that this example works only on sequences in which the filename
    format is \<n\>.png, where n is the frame number (e.g., 7.png).

Evaluation
----------

To quantitatively evaluate the results obtained, we need to:

-   Save the output images;
-   Have the ground truth images for the chosen sequence.

In order to save the output images, we can use @ref cv::imwrite . Adding the following code allows
for saving the foreground masks.
@code{.cpp}
string imageToSave = "output_MOG_" + frameNumberString + ".png";
bool saved = imwrite(imageToSave, fgMaskMOG);
if(!saved) {
  cerr << "Unable to save " << imageToSave << endl;
}
@endcode
Once we have collected the result images, we can compare them with the ground truth data. There
exist several publicly available sequences for background subtraction that come with ground truth
data. If you decide to use the [Background Models Challenge (BMC)](http://bmc.univ-bpclermont.fr/),
then the result images can be used as input for the [BMC
Wizard](http://bmc.univ-bpclermont.fr/?q=node/7). The wizard can compute different measures about
the accuracy of the results.

References
----------

-   [Background Models Challenge (BMC) website](http://bmc.univ-bpclermont.fr/)
-   A Benchmark Dataset for Foreground/Background Extraction @cite vacavant2013benchmark