Machine Vision Open Source

Here’s a list of open-source video analytics platforms and tools, organized by capabilities like object detection, face recognition, motion tracking, and license plate recognition. These can be used for surveillance, retail analytics, traffic monitoring, and more.





🔍 

1. OpenCV (Open Source Computer Vision Library)



  • Language: C++, Python
  • Use Case: General-purpose computer vision including real-time video analysis
  • Features:
  • Face/object detection and tracking
  • Background subtraction
  • Optical flow for motion tracking
  • Works with live video streams (webcam, RTSP)

  • Website: opencv.org






📦 

2. DeepStream by NVIDIA



  • Language: C++, Python
  • Use Case: High-performance AI-powered video analytics on edge or server
  • Features:
  • Multi-stream inference using GPU
  • Supports YOLO, SSD, Faster-RCNN
  • Smart city, retail, industrial safety use cases

  • Open-source: SDK is free, hardware-dependent
  • Website: developer.nvidia.com/deepstream-sdk






🎥 

3. OpenVINO Toolkit



  • By: Intel
  • Use Case: Optimize and deploy AI models for video inference on Intel hardware
  • Features:
  • Acceleration of video analytics models (YOLO, SSD)
  • Pre-trained models available for person detection, face recognition

  • Website: www.openvino.ai






🧠 

4. YOLO (You Only Look Once)



  • Language: Python
  • Use Case: Real-time object detection
  • Versions: YOLOv5, YOLOv7, YOLO-NAS (open-source or partially open)
  • Good For:
  • Pedestrian counting
  • Vehicle detection
  • Crowd monitoring

  • Website: github.com/ultralytics/yolov5






🚨 

5. ZoneMinder



  • Language: PHP, C++
  • Use Case: Security camera management + motion detection
  • Features:
  • IP camera support
  • Motion-based recording
  • Web UI for managing feeds

  • Website: zoneminder.com






📡 

6. Kerberos.io



  • Language: C++, PHP, Dockerized
  • Use Case: Lightweight video surveillance with analytics
  • Features:
  • Motion detection
  • Object counting
  • Cloud or local deployment

  • Website: kerberos.io






🚗 

7. OpenALPR (Now Plate Recognizer, formerly open-source)



  • Language: C++, Python
  • Use Case: License plate recognition
  • Notes:
  • Original open-source version is still available on GitHub
  • Commercial version offers more accurate models

  • GitHub: github.com/openalpr






🤖 

8. CVAT (Computer Vision Annotation Tool)



  • By: Intel
  • Use Case: Annotating videos/images for AI training (not analytics itself)
  • Use With: TensorFlow, PyTorch, OpenCV for downstream analytics
  • Website: cvat.org






📊 

9. VCA (Video Content Analytics) Platforms Built on OSS



You can build custom pipelines using:


  • FFmpeg (stream decoding)
  • GStreamer (real-time media processing)
  • Apache Kafka or Redis Streams (if using multiple cameras and analytics engines)






📦 Example DIY Stack



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