Getting started with DepthAI SDK

In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to use DepthAI SDK for a couple of basic use cases, that can give you an overall idea how to use it and in which cases it might be useful.

What is DepthAI SDK?

DepthAI SDK was created on top of the regular DepthAI API. Originally, it was a part of the demo script, but over time it evolved to become a package containing many convenience methods and classes that aim to help in development process with OAK cameras.

Package is mainly made of managers, which handle different aspects of development:

`depthai_sdk.managers.PipelineManager`	Helps in setting up processing pipeline
`depthai_sdk.managers.NNetManager`	Helps in setting up neural networks
`depthai_sdk.managers.PreviewManager`	Helps in displaying preview from OAK cameras
`depthai_sdk.managers.EncodingManager`	Helps in creating videos from OAK cameras
`depthai_sdk.managers.BlobManager`	Helps in downloading neural networks as MyriadX blobs
`depthai_sdk.fps`	For FPS calculations
`depthai_sdk.previews`	For frame handling
`depthai_sdk.utils`	For various most-common tasks

In some places, code is also adjusted for modifications - e.g. you can set up a custom handler file for neural network or pass a callback argument to a function to perform additional modifications

Example usages

The original “user” of this SDK was the demo script, where you can see how the SDK is used. Below, you can find a list of other projects that also use the SDK and are available to use as a reference

Installation

To install this package, run the following command in your terminal window

python3 -m pip install depthai-sdk

Warning

If you’re using Raspberry Pi, providing a Pi Wheels extra package url can significantly speed up the installation process by providing prebuilt binaries for OpenCV

python3 -m pip install --extra-index-url https://www.piwheels.org/simple/ depthai-sdk

Learn more

To see more details and examples on how the manager classes works specifically, we created a few simple tutorials:

For more in-depth informations about the classes and methods, please visit DepthAI SDK API

Cookbook

Below you can find various basic usages of DepthAI SDK that can be used as a starting point.

Preview color camera

from depthai_sdk import Previews
from depthai_sdk.managers import PipelineManager, PreviewManager
import depthai as dai
import cv2

pm = PipelineManager()
pm.createColorCam(xout=True)

with dai.Device(pm.pipeline) as device:
    pv = PreviewManager(display=[Previews.color.name])
    pv.createQueues(device)

    while True:
        pv.prepareFrames()
        pv.showFrames()

        if cv2.waitKey(1) == ord('q'):
            break

Preview color and mono cameras

from depthai_sdk import Previews
from depthai_sdk.managers import PipelineManager, PreviewManager
import depthai as dai
import cv2

pm = PipelineManager()
pm.createColorCam(xout=True)
pm.createLeftCam(xout=True)
pm.createRightCam(xout=True)

with dai.Device(pm.pipeline) as device:
    pv = PreviewManager(display=[Previews.color.name, Previews.left.name, Previews.right.name])
    pv.createQueues(device)

    while True:
        pv.prepareFrames()
        pv.showFrames()

        if cv2.waitKey(1) == ord('q'):
            break

Run MobilenetSSD on color camera

from depthai_sdk import Previews
from depthai_sdk.managers import PipelineManager, PreviewManager, NNetManager, BlobManager
import depthai as dai
import cv2

pm = PipelineManager()
pm.createColorCam(xout=True)

bm = BlobManager(zooName="mobilenet-ssd")
nm = NNetManager(inputSize=(300, 300), nnFamily="mobilenet")
nn = nm.createNN(pipeline=pm.pipeline, nodes=pm.nodes, source=Previews.color.name,
                 blobPath=bm.getBlob(shaves=6, openvinoVersion=pm.pipeline.getOpenVINOVersion()))
pm.addNn(nn)

with dai.Device(pm.pipeline) as device:
    pv = PreviewManager(display=[Previews.color.name])
    pv.createQueues(device)
    nm.createQueues(device)
    nnData = []

    while True:
        pv.prepareFrames()
        inNn = nm.outputQueue.tryGet()

        if inNn is not None:
            nnData = nm.decode(inNn)

        nm.draw(pv, nnData)
        pv.showFrames()

        if cv2.waitKey(1) == ord('q'):
            break

Run face-detection-retail-0004 on left camera

from depthai_sdk import Previews
from depthai_sdk.managers import PipelineManager, PreviewManager, NNetManager, BlobManager
import depthai as dai
import cv2

pm = PipelineManager()
pm.createLeftCam(xout=True)

bm = BlobManager(zooName="face-detection-retail-0004")
nm = NNetManager(inputSize=(300, 300), nnFamily="mobilenet")
nn = nm.createNN(pipeline=pm.pipeline, nodes=pm.nodes, source=Previews.left.name,
                 blobPath=bm.getBlob(shaves=6, openvinoVersion=pm.pipeline.getOpenVINOVersion()))
pm.addNn(nn)

with dai.Device(pm.pipeline) as device:
    pv = PreviewManager(display=[Previews.left.name])
    pv.createQueues(device)
    nm.createQueues(device)
    nnData = []

    while True:
        pv.prepareFrames()
        inNn = nm.outputQueue.tryGet()

        if inNn is not None:
            nnData = nm.decode(inNn)

        nm.draw(pv, nnData)
        pv.showFrames()

        if cv2.waitKey(1) == ord('q'):
            break

Got questions?

We’re always happy to help with code or other questions you might have.