

Qualcomm releases FastCV for Augmented Reality - tejask
https://developer.qualcomm.com/develop/mobile-technologies/computer-vision-fastcv

======
vilya
The subject is a bit misleading: this is a new computer vision library. There
is a separate augmented reality library which lives on the same website, but
the two don't appear to be connected.

FastCV has the potential to be interesting, but the website is pretty off-
putting at the moment. They need to clarify the license, as others have
mentioned. It also appears that the SDK might be Windows-only, judging by
their installation guide (I didn't want to register, just to find out that was
the case). Having to register just to see the release notes is pretty bad too.
Hopefully these are just teething problems and will be sorted out in due
course.

It's great to see new computer vision resources like this appearing. Although
I'm not willing to register for the download at the moment, I have been
browsing the API docs a bit and would be very interested to see a comparison
between this and OpenCV from someone who's used both.

~~~
apu
Skimming through the API docs, it seems to be a very small subset of OpenCV at
the moment.

However, a lot of vision is how you handle the details (both for speed and for
accuracy/performance). Without using it extensively, it's hard to say if this
is better.

OpenCV has at least a long history and being battle-tested going for it
(despite its warts).

------
nl
This is potentially quite interesting, but can anyone see the licence?

Also, I hate how this (and to some extend OpenCV) expect you to understand
computer vision to use the library.

~~~
apu
_I hate how this (and to some extend OpenCV) expect you to understand computer
vision to use the library._

I sympathize with your frustration, but being in Vision myself, I have an idea
why this is the case: _vision only barely works!_

What this means is that most things you would want to do are only barely
possible, if at all, and it is highly application- and input-dependent. To get
it to work the way you want, you have to understand some vision, so that you
can tweak things the right way.

I think once vision matures more and things become more "off-the-shelf",
you'll find more libraries aimed at non-experts.

------
kqhja
It doesn't say anywhere whether it's free and what the license is.

~~~
vilya
Qualcomm's augmented reality project, from the same site, has license
information available here: <https://ar.qualcomm.at/legal/license/> I'd guess
FastCV will have a similar license.

~~~
kranner
That license for Android seems to suggest it includes at least the GPL. That
means commercial apps built with this library must make the source available,
right?

~~~
vilya
Where do you get that from? The only reference to the GPL that I noticed was
in section 2.2, which expressly forbids you from doing anything which could
make the code become subject to the GPL.

~~~
kranner
You're quite right. I skimmed it and misinterpreted.

