Build OpenCV and OpenVINO for Windows 10 with VS 2022

In this guide, I will build the two powerful open-source libraries, i.e., OpenCV and OpenVINO for running my deeplearning model on windows 10.
Interestingly, both libraries are closely associated with Intel 🖥️.

OpenCV 😮

First of all, we must download the related code projects (opencv and opencv_contrib containing some plugins for opencv) into our computer from this links:

• https://github.com/opencv/opencv/releases
• https://github.com/opencv/opencv_contrib/tags

Make sure the selected versions of the two libararies are the same.
Here, I choice the latest version 4.7.0.
Because we will recompiling them by ourselves, we can just download the source code zip files.
Put the two unpacked libraries into the same parent folder opencv_dir as follows:

-opencv_dir
  -opencv-4.7.0
    -...
  -opencv_contrib-4.7.0
    -modules
    -...

NOTE: To avoid the network issue that may be encountered during using CMake, we need to add the url proxy prefix https://ghproxy.com/ before the urls of some setting of the relevant modules like https://ghproxy.com/https://raw.github***:

• .cmake in opencv-4.7.0/3rdparty/ippicv
• .cmake in opencv-4.7.0/3rdparty/ffmpeg
• CMakeLists.txt in opencv_contrib-4.7.0/modules/face
• Files in cmake of opencv_contrib-4.7.0/modules/xfeatures2d
• CMakeLists.txt in opencv_contrib-4.7.0/modules/wechat_qrcode
• CMakeLists.txt in opencv_contrib-4.7.0/modules/cudaoptflow

Next, start compiling OpenCV.

1. Create the build folder: cd opencv_dir && mkdir opencv-build-vs2022
2. Configure and generate the VS solution by CMake with some config items:

• General:
  • source folder: <opencv-4.7.0>
  • build folder: <opencv-build-vs2022>
  • BUILD_OPENCV_WORLD=ON
  • CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RELEASE
  • OPENCV_ENABLE_NONFREE=ON
  • BUILD_opencv_dnn=ON
  • OPENCV_EXTRA_MODULES_PATH=<opencv_contrib-4.7.0/modules>
• CUDA:
  • WITH_CUDA=ON
  • WITH_CUDNN=ON
  • WITH_CUBLAS=ON
  • WITH_CUFFT=ON
  • CUDA_FAST_MATH=ON
  • CUDA_ARCH_BIN=7.5 (We can fill the single value corresponding to the real GPU for accelerating the compilation process.)
  • OPENCV_DNN_CUDA=ON

3. Go to the build directory: cd <opencv-build-vs2022>
4. Start build by cmake and msvc compiler: cmake --build . --config Release --verbose -j8
5. Install the built opencv into the install folder in the current path: cmake --install . --prefix install
6. Add the bin directory into the user environment: <path>\install\x64\vc17\bin
7. In VS:
   • add the <path>\install\include directory into "解决方案资源管理器->右键点击属性->VC++目录->外部包含目录"
   • add the <path>\install\x64\vc17\lib directory into "解决方案资源管理器->右键点击属性->VC++目录->库目录"
   • add the opencv_world470.lib into "解决方案资源管理器->右键点击属性->链接器->输入->附加依赖项"

OpenVINO 🍰

The document of OpenVINO is intuitive and the readability is better than OpenCV.
The relevant content about building and installing the libirary is listed in these links:

• https://github.com/openvinotoolkit/openvino/blob/master/docs/dev/build_windows.md
• https://github.com/openvinotoolkit/openvino/blob/master/docs/dev/cmake_options_for_custom_comiplation.md
• https://github.com/openvinotoolkit/openvino/blob/master/docs/dev/installing.md

After building and install the OpenCV library, it's time to move on to OpenVINO.

1. We need clone the project and the sub modules.

   git clone https://github.com/openvinotoolkit/openvino.git
   cd openvino
   git submodule update --init --recursive
   

2. Create the build folder: mkdir build && cd build
3. Configure and generate the VS solution by CMake:
   • ENABLE_INTEL_GPU=OFF (We only use the Intel CPU.)
   • Disable some frontend items:
     • ENABLE_OV_PDPD_FRONTEND=OFF
     • ENABLE_OV_TF_FRONTEND=OFF
     • ENABLE_OV_TF_LITE_FRONTEND=OFF
     • ENABLE_OV_PYTORCH_FRONTEND=OFF
   • For Python:
     • ENABLE_PYTHON=ON It seems that openvino-dev needs to be installed first in the detected environment, otherwise a warning message will be thrown in the cmake-gui window.
     • PYTHON_EXECUTABLE=<python.exe>
     • PYTHON_INCLUDE_DIR=<incude directory>
     • PYTHON_LIBIRARY=<pythonxx.lib in libs directory>
   • For OpenCV:
     • ENABLE_OPENCV=ON
     • OpenCV_DIR=<opencv-build-vs2022/install>
4. Build the library: cmake --build . --config Release --verbose -j8
5. Install the library into the install directory: cmake --install . --prefix install
6. Add the bin directory into the environment:
   • <path>\install\runtime\bin\intel64\Release
   • <path>\install\runtime\3rdparty\tbb\bin
7. In VS:
   • add the <path>\install\runtime\include directory into "解决方案资源管理器->右键点击属性->VC++目录->外部包含目录"
   • add the <path>\install\runtime\lib\intel64\Release directory into "解决方案资源管理器->右键点击属性->VC++目录->库目录"
   • add the 🌟 openvino.lib, 🌟 openvino_onnx_frontend.lib, openvino_c.lib into "解决方案资源管理器->右键点击属性->链接器->输入->附加依赖项"

Set DLL path in IDE

• VS: "right click on solution -> Properties -> Debugging -> Environment -> PATH=<path>\install\x64\vc17\bin;%PATH%"
• Qt Creator: "Projects -> Build & Run -> Build/Run -> Environment -> Details -> Eidt %PATH% -> Add <path>\install\x64\vc17\bin"