How do I install Python OpenCV through Conda?

Question

I'm trying to install OpenCV for Python through Anaconda, but I can't seem to figure this out.

I tried

conda install opencv
conda install cv2

I also tried searching

conda search cv

No cigar. I ran across this which lists opencv as an included package:

http://docs.continuum.io/anaconda/pkgs.html

After running conda info I noticed my version is 3.4.1, but I couldn't seem to find any information about this version online. I'm pretty confused about this.

Am I missing something pretty obvious here? If opencv was available for a previous version of Anaconda, then why wouldn't it be available for the newer version? And why does that link only show me documentation for version 1.9.2?

Answer 1

I had steps in repo that will help you properly install OpenCV.

If the links if broken, see this.

For requirements and prerequisites follow this instructions:

YOU NEED TO HAVE WINDOWS OS to begin this project.

windows 7 to 10

Follow the steps carefully

1. Install Anaconda2 32/64 python 2

   or

   Install Anaconda3 32/64 python 3

   It Depends on System Information

   Along the way you must check all the options ignore the red text

   Then wait till installation completed ...

   Open CMD admin when finish installed

   Make sure that the anaconda-python is configured in CMD admin

2. Type: python

   This will come out:

   C:\WINDOWS\system32>python Python 3.6.3 |Anaconda custom (64-bit)| (default, Oct 15 2017, 03:27:45)

   [MSC v.1900 64 bit (AMD64)] on win32 Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.

3. Next is to install packages:

   Numpy

   OpenCV

   PyMySQL or pymysql

   Install and Import OpenCV

   conda install -c conda-forge opencv = (version optional)

   (click yes if there's updates)

   Install and Import Numpy

   pip install numpy

   (click yes if there's updates)

   Install and Import PyMySQL/pymysql

   pip install PyMySQL or pymysql

4. When all the package is completely installed, then you must Reboot it.

   go to CMD admin again

   type "python"

   import cv2 (cv2 is OpenCV)

   import Numpy or numpy

   import pymysql

   import os

   from PIL from Image

   if all of then is ok.. your ready to run the code!!

   After you finish all the steps, you can now test the code in SPYDER python that I use

Answer 2

Windows 7, conda 4.4.10 python 2.7.6 Downloaded opencv package from Unofficial Windows Binaries for python extensions packages. (picked python 2.4 AMD 64) cd Download pip install opencv_python... python run_some.py (where import cv2 ...) seems to work. YMMV

Answer 3

I faced the same problem, but I have solved it now. This is what I did:

First enter conda install -c https://conda.binstar.org/menpo opencv in the command prompt and then find the path Anaconda\pkgs\opencv-2.4.9.1-np19py27_0\Lib\site-packages. Now copy all the files present here into Anaconda\Lib\site-packages. Now you will be able to use OpenCV with Python.

Answer 4

I have summarized my now fully working solution, OpenCV-Python - How to install OpenCV-Python package to Anaconda (Windows). Nevertheless I've copied and pasted the important bits to this post.

---

Currently, I am using Windows 8.1 and 64-bit machine, Anaconda as IDE for Python 2.x.

Note: if you are on Windows 10 (or above) and if the below instruction works, please could you kindly add a comment? This will help out the community a lot! :-)

TL;DR

To use OpenCV fully with Anaconda (and Spyder IDE), we need to:

1. Download the OpenCV package from the official OpenCV site
2. Copy and paste the cv2.pyd to the Anaconda site-packages directory.
3. Set user environmental variables so that Anaconda knows where to find the FFMPEG utility.
4. Do some testing to confirm OpenCV and FFMPEG are now working.

(Read on for the detail instructions...)

Prerequisite

Install Anaconda

Anaconda is essentially a nicely packaged Python IDE that is shipped with tons of useful packages, such as NumPy, Pandas, IPython Notebook, etc. It seems to be recommended everywhere in the scientific community. Check out Anaconda to get it installed.

Install OpenCV-Python to Anaconda

Cautious Note: I originally tried out installing the binstar.org OpenCV package, as suggested. That method however does not include the FFMPEG codec - i.e. you may be able to use OpenCV, but you won't be able to process videos.

The following instruction works for me is inspired by this OpenCV YouTube video. So far I have got it working on both my desktop and laptop, both 64-bit machines and Windows 8.1.

Download OpenCV Package

Firstly, go to the official OpenCV site to download the complete OpenCV package. Pick a version you like (2.x or 3.x). I am on Python 2.x and OpenCV 3.x - mainly because this is how the OpenCV-Python Tutorials are setup/based on.

In my case, I've extracted the package (essentially a folder) straight to my C drive (C:\opencv).

Copy and Paste the cv2.pyd file

The Anaconda Site-packages directory (e.g. C:\Users\Johnny\Anaconda\Lib\site-packages in my case) contains the Python packages that you may import. Our goal is to copy and paste the cv2.pyd file to this directory (so that we can use the import cv2 in our Python codes.).

To do this, copy the cv2.pyd file...

From this OpenCV directory (the beginning part might be slightly different on your machine):

# Python 2.7 and 32-bit machine:
C:\opencv\build\python\2.7\x84

# Python 2.7 and 64-bit machine:
C:\opencv\build\python\2.7\x64

To this Anaconda directory (the beginning part might be slightly different on your machine):

C:\Users\Johnny\Anaconda\Lib\site-packages

After performing this step we shall now be able to use import cv2 in Python code. BUT, we still need to do a little bit more work to get FFMPEG (video codec) to work (to enable us to do things like processing videos).

Set Environmental Variables

Right-click on "My Computer" (or "This PC" on Windows 8.1) → left-click Properties → left-click "Advanced" tab → left-click "Environment Variables..." button.

Add a new User Variable to point to the OpenCV (either x86 for 32-bit system or x64 for 64-bit system). I am currently on a 64-bit machine.

| 32-bit or 64 bit machine? | Variable     | Value                                |
|---------------------------|--------------|--------------------------------------|
| 32-bit                    | `OPENCV_DIR` | `C:\opencv\build\x86\vc12`           |
| 64-bit                    | `OPENCV_DIR` | `C:\opencv\build\x64\vc12`           |

Append %OPENCV_DIR%\bin to the User Variable PATH.

For example, my PATH user variable looks like this...

Before:

C:\Users\Johnny\Anaconda;C:\Users\Johnny\Anaconda\Scripts

After:

C:\Users\Johnny\Anaconda;C:\Users\Johnny\Anaconda\Scripts;%OPENCV_DIR%\bin

This is it we are done! FFMPEG is ready to be used!

Test to confirm

We need to test whether we can now do these in Anaconda (via Spyder IDE):

• Import OpenCV package
• Use the FFMPEG utility (to read/write/process videos)

Test 1: Can we import OpenCV?

To confirm that Anaconda is now able to import the OpenCV-Python package (namely, cv2), issue these in the IPython console:

import cv2
print cv2.__version__

If the package cv2 is imported OK with no errors, and the cv2 version is printed out, then we are all good! Here is a snapshot:

import-cv2-ok-in-anaconda-python-2.png http://mathalope.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/import-cv2-ok-in-anaconda-python-2.png

Test 2: Can we Use the FFMPEG codec?

Place a sample input_video.mp4 video file in a directory. We want to test whether we can:

• read this .mp4 video file, and
• write out a new video file (can be .avi or .mp4 etc.)

To do this we need to have a test Python code, call it test.py. Place it in the same directory as the sample input_video.mp4 file.

This is what test.py may look like (I've listed out both newer and older version codes here - do let us know which one works / not work for you!):

(Newer version...)

import cv2
cap = cv2.VideoCapture("input_video.mp4")
print cap.isOpened()   # True = read video successfully. False - fail to read video.

fourcc = cv2.VideoWriter_fourcc(*'XVID')
out = cv2.VideoWriter("output_video.avi", fourcc, 20.0, (640, 360))
print out.isOpened()  # True = write out video successfully. False - fail to write out video.

cap.release()
out.release()

(Or the older version...)

import cv2
cv2.VideoCapture("input_video.mp4")
print cv2.isOpened()   # True = read video successfully. False - fail to read video.

fourcc = cv2.cv.CV_FOURCC(*'XVID')
out = cv2.VideoWriter("output_video.avi",fourcc, 20.0, (640,360))
print out.isOpened()  # True = write out video successfully. False - fail to write out video.

cap.release()
out.release()

This test is VERY IMPORTANT. If you'd like to process video files, you'd need to ensure that Anaconda / Spyder IDE can use the FFMPEG (video codec). It took me days to have got it working. But I hope it would take you much less time! :)

Note: One more very important tip when using the Anaconda Spyder IDE. Make sure you check the current working directory (CWD)!!!

Conclusion

To use OpenCV fully with Anaconda (and Spyder IDE), we need to:

1. Download the OpenCV package from the official OpenCV site
2. Copy and paste the cv2.pyd to the Anaconda site-packages directory.
3. Set user environmental variables so that Anaconda knows where to find the FFMPEG utility.
4. Do some testing to confirm OpenCV and FFMPEG are now working.

Good luck!

Answer 5

It doesn't seem like the page you linked includes opencv any more. (Funny, I do recall it being included at a previous point as well.)

In any case, installation of OpenCV into Anaconda, although unavailable through conda, is pretty trivial. You just need to download one file.

1. Download OpenCV from http://opencv.org/downloads.html and extract
2. From the extracted folder, copy the file from the extracted directory: opencv/build/python/2.7/(either x86 or x64, depending on your Anaconda version)/cv2.pyd to your Anaconda site-packages directory, e.g., C:\Anaconda\Lib\site-packages
3. To get FFmpeg within opencv to work, you'll have to add the directory that FFmpeg is located in to the path (e.g., opencv/sources/3rdparty/ffmpeg). Then you'll have to find the DLL file in that folder (e.g., opencv_ffmpeg_64.dll) and copy or rename it to a filename that includes the opencv version you are installing, (e.g., opencv_ffmpeg249_64) for 2.4.9.

Now at the Python prompt you should be able to type "import cv2"...to verify that it works, type "print cv2.__version__", and it should print out the OpenCV version you downloaded.

Answer 6

I installed it like this:

$ conda install --channel https://conda.anaconda.org/conda-forge opencv

I tried conda install opencv directly, but it does not work for me since I am using Python 3.5 which is higher version that default OpenCV library in conda. Later, I tried 'anaconda/opencv', but it does not work either. I found finally that conda-forge/opencv works for Python 3.5.