OpenCV Find a middle line of a contour [Python]
In my image processing project, I have already obtained a masked image (black-and-white image) and its contours using the cv.findContours function. My goal now is to create an algorithm that can draw a middle line for this contour. The masked image and its contour are shown in the following images.
Masked image:
Contour:
In my imagination, for that contour, I would like to create a middle line which is near horizontal. I have manually marked my ideal middle line in red. Please check the following image for the red middle line that I have mentioned.
Contour with the middle line:
It is noticeable that my ultimate goal is to find the tip point that I have marked in yellow. If you have other ideas that can directly find the yellow tip point, please also let me know. For finding the yellow tip point, I have tried two approaches cv.convexHull and cv.minAreaRect, but the issue is the robustness. I made these two approaches worked for some images but for some other images in my dataset, they are not working very well. Therefore, I think to find the middle line might be a good approach that I can try.
I believe you're trying to determine the contour's center of gravity and orientation. We can easily do this using Central Moments. More info on that here.
The code below generates this plot. Is this the result you wanted?
# Determine contour
img = cv2.imread(img_file, cv2.IMREAD_GRAYSCALE)
img_bin = (img>128).astype(np.uint8)
contours, _ = cv2.findContours(img_bin, mode=cv2.RETR_EXTERNAL, method=cv2.CHAIN_APPROX_NONE)
# Determine center of gravity and orientation using Moments
M = cv2.moments(contours[0])
center = (int(M["m10"] / M["m00"]), int(M["m01"] / M["m00"]))
theta = 0.5*np.arctan2(2*M["mu11"],M["mu20"]-M["mu02"])
endx = 600 * np.cos(theta) + center[0] # linelength 600
endy = 600 * np.sin(theta) + center[1]
# Display results
plt.imshow(img_bin, cmap='gray')
plt.scatter(center[0], center[1], marker="X")
plt.plot([center[0], endx], [center[1], endy])
plt.show()