15.1. OpenMV IDE

OpenMV IDE is the desktop application built around one workflow: edit a MicroPython script, run it on a connected camera, and watch the frame buffer and serial output stream back live while it executes. It is built on the Qt Creator editor core, with everything that is not that workflow stripped away – no project wizards, no build configurations, no compiler setup. A script and a camera are the whole model.

The main window has four working regions. The editor fills the left side and holds the open scripts, with the serial terminal below it carrying everything the script prints. The frame buffer viewer sits at the top right and shows what the camera last captured, and the histogram below it plots the pixel statistics of whatever the frame buffer shows. A column of toolbar buttons down the far left edge holds the file, edit, connect, and run controls, and a status bar along the bottom edge reports the connected camera’s vital signs. Every pane can be collapsed when the script needs the room.

Screenshot needed

figures/main-window.png – the full main window with a camera connected and a script running: editor with a script visible, frame buffer showing a live image, histogram populated, serial terminal showing FPS prints, status bar populated at bottom right. Default theme, default pane layout.

Keyboard shortcuts in this chapter are written for Windows and Linux; on macOS substitute Cmd for Ctrl.

The main window

Seeing what the camera sees

Terminals

Maintaining the camera

Machine vision tools

Power tools

Wrap up