Official Documentation of the Gaze Detection

Note The project is currently active, there may be some updates where the old API may be changed according to the requirement. Hence always look out for updates. Once the project gets finalized this NOTE will be removed.

To detect the direction of gaze or focus of a human eye using OpenCV, computer vision, and image processing techniques. This project expects to have a good IR (infrared) image of an eye.

• Install the latest version of Python, make sure to install the PIP pipeline
• Install Numpy library
• Install the latest version of openCV

• Clone the project from GITLINK

• The images or video feed (frames) should be taken such that the pupil becomes the darker region, one of the ways to achieve that is to use the light source and the camera at a different location
• Make sure the ROI (Region of Intrest) is the eye, hence place the camera such that only the eye is in the frame, and all the portions of the eye are well illuminated, avoid any other darker shades formation
• If some darker areas are unavoidable use the threshold_correction parameter during the calibration to get the pupil detected
• Use of a macro camera is advisable
• The above same procedure can be used using an IR camera and IR source

Warning Long-term exposure of IR waves may be dangerous to the eye, make proper research before procedding

Note Make sure the image resides in the same directory in which this code is, or else provide the absolute path of the image

# read the image
image = cv.imread("IR.jpg")

# create a PupilDetector object
PD = PupilDetector()

# get the x-y coordinate, the radius and the image of the detected pupil 
(x, y, r), pupil = PD.detect(image)
print("x:{}, y:{}, r:{}".format(x, y, r))

# display the frame
cv.imshow("final", pupil)
cv.waitKey(0)

Note

• Make sure the video files reside in the same directory in which this code is, or else provide the absolute path of the image

• The credit for the video used in the driver code goes to the video available on YouTube Link

   # open the video file 
   cap = cv.VideoCapture('1.mp4')
   
   # create the PupilDetector object
   PD = PupilDetector()
   
   # some properties
   status = True
   radius = None
   font = cv.FONT_HERSHEY_SIMPLEX
   org = (180, 220)
   fontScale = 1
   thickness = 2
   
   # runs until the video file is opened  
   while cap.isOpened():
   ret, frame = cap.read()
   # check whether there is any frame to read or not
   if ret:
       (x, y, r), pupil = PD.detect(frame)
   
       # serves the purpose of saving the size of a pupil
       if status:
           radius = r
           status = False
   
       # if the currently detected pupil radius is 10 more or less than the original
       # considered as not pupil
       if abs(r - radius) >= 10:
           cv.putText(pupil, 'No Pupil', org, font, fontScale, (255, 255, 255), thickness, cv.LINE_AA)
       else:
           cv.putText(pupil, 'Pupil', org, font, fontScale, (255, 255, 255), thickness, cv.LINE_AA)
       cv.imshow("Pupil detection", pupil)
   else:
       break
   
   # Breaks the while loop when the letter 'q' is pressed 
   if cv.waitKey(1) & 0xFF == ord('q'):
       break
   cap.release()
   cv.destroyAllWindows()
  

This is the constructor of the pupil detector class.

Note Make sure the image resides in the same directory in which this code is, or else provide the absolute path of the image

# Read the image
imageMatrix = cv.imread("IR.jpg")

# PupilDetector object
PD = PupilDetector()

It is a function inside the PupilDetector class to automate the process of pupil detection. It expects the imageMatrix (BGR color matrix of the image and not the image file name or path). There is also an optional parameter threshold_correction whose default value is set to 10. This parameter be changed only when the pupil is not detected during the calibration phase due to darker regions in the imageMatrix (originally in the frames).

This function needs to be called explicitly to initiate pupil detection. It returns the detected pupils (circular shape) x-y coordinate of the center, its radius, and the imageMatrix with the detected pupil

# Read the image
imageMatrix = cv.imread("IR.jpg")

# PupilDetector object
PD = PupilDetector()
(x, y, radius), pupil = PD.detect(image)

According to the camera placement relative to the eye, as described in the Important Instructions, the pupil is supposed to be the darkest region in the grayscale image.

Directly hardcoding the intensity value for pupil region works only in some idle environments, but different environment conditions will lead to different light exposure which will deviate the pupils' intensity value. Hence in every image/frame, the darkest pixel value is obtained.

That value is the minimum threshold value and again pupil will be a significantly larger darker region so there might be some variation in intensity therefore a threshold correction is added to the in minimum threshold value, which can be adjusted through detect() function.