Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Is there really a need for yet another computer vision library?
Computer vision researchers generally have three choices available to them: (1) use Matlab, (2) write code from scratch, or (3) use an existing library. While Matlab is unsurpassed for rapid prototyping, it is not suitable for real-time projects or for algorithms whose inefficient implementations extend their running times into hours or days. Matlab also lacks facilities (e.g., multiple functions per file, encapsulation, etc.) for applying sound software engineering practices to better organize large projects. Writing code from scratch requires each researcher to reinvent the wheel by implementing tedious low-level operations. It also limits researchers to studying relatively isolated problems and prevents them from building on each other's work, because there is not enough time to combine or re-implement the different algorithms into a complex system. There exist several very good computer vision libraries to solve this problem. However, in an attempt to provide a library that is easy to use, efficient, and extensive, Blepo was written from the ground up using C++ principles, while also wrapping many functions in OpenCV.
Where does the name Blepo come from?
Blepo (βλεπω) is the Greek word meaning, "to see," which is an apt description of the goal of computer vision. It is pronounced with a short 'e' and a long 'o', rhyming with "step toe".
What is the license?
Blepo is released under the GNU General Public License (GPL), the same license used by GNU/Linux. Basically this means that you are free to use and modify the library all you want, but you may not distribute any work based on your changes without also sharing the source code for those changes. This, of course, is not meant to be taken as the official, legal definition, which can be found here.
In what language is Blepo written?
Blepo is primarily written in C/C++, with some of the low-level routines being written in assembly language to take advantage of the significant speedup available using SIMD processing (in particular, MMX/SSE/SSE2). In the future, we hope to provide an interface to the library from higher-level languages (scripting languages, Matlab, etc.) to facilitate rapid prototyping of algorithms.
On what platforms is Blepo supported?
Blepo currently compiles using Microsoft Visual Studio 2005/2008/2010 or Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0. The code is written with portability in mind, but the Figure class and the camera capture classes use Windows-specific calls. Although it would be possible to support other compilers and operating systems in the future, the near-term goal is to maintain a clean, stable, useful library on a single platform.
What is the current status of Blepo?
An alpha version of Blepo is available. The library contains basic image classes, along with routines for loading/storing image files, capturing images from cameras, and displaying images on the screen. Some basic image processing functions and linear algebra functions are also available. The functions described in the Reference Manual have generally been tested, are stable, and have interfaces that are unlikely to change significantly. Any functions inside the code that are not captured in the manual, as well as the code organization itself, are subject to major revisions.