What module should I use for streaming C++ QImage objects into QML?

wooseokyourself

Hi! I'm just start learning qt for developing desktop application. In particular, the front-end is implemented in QML and the back-end is implemented in C++.

My Qt6 app uses camera device. To control the camera device, I need to use the external C++ library provided by the camera vendor, so I can't use QCamera class of the QT Multimedia module.
So I made my own Camera class for handling streaming, which converts new raw frame to QImage and pushed it into a one-way queue. Whenever a new QImage is pushed in the queue, a signal emitted.
Now I want to create a slot that is connected to this signal and renders the QImage to QML.

I've searched many forums, but I still can't figure it out. Some Qt5 examples use QAbstractVideoSurface, which seems to be no longer valid in Qt6. Some examples use QQuickImageProvider, but that doesn't seem like a good way to keep updating images.

Any advice will be appreciated

SGaist

Hi and welcome to devnet,

Beside the controlling that you do with that external library, is the camera itself usable through QtMultimedia ?

wooseokyourself

@SGaist
I think no.
Just to add a little background, the camera communicates via GigE and the external library is ArenaSDK from Lucid Vision Labs, and the camera device can be controlled with the GenICam API. Also I need to handle multiple streaming cameras.

I think when I import a physical camera device as an object from the external library, this camera device will not be looked up with QMediaDevices::videoInputs() .
If I implement a custom camera class that inherits from QCameraDevice and conforms to the GenICam API, I might be able to use QtMultimedia. But it doesn't seem to provide QCameraDevice as an abstract class.

By the way, I found a Qt5 example provided by the external library; Create a QVideoFrame using QImage and take it as an argument of QAbstractVideoSurface::present() .

void pushImage(Arena::IImage* pImage)
{
	if (m_isStreaming)
	{
		QVideoFrame videoFrame(
			QImage(
				(uchar*)(pImage->GetData()),
				pImage->GetWidth(),
				pImage->GetHeight(),
				QImage::Format::Format_RGB32));
		m_pSurface->present(videoFrame);
	}
}

Widgets are used instead of QML in this example, but I've seen some Qt5 examples in which QAbstractVideoSurface is binded into QML's VideoOutput.

Only now did the question become a bit clearer.

Constructing QVideoFrame with QImage is deprecated in Qt6. Is there still a way to do it in Qt6?
If not, is there any other way to put QImage in VideoOutput?

SGaist

With Qt 5, you could have gone with a custom plugin or QMediaObject but I currently don't know for Qt 6.

Maybe something to bring to mailing list. Did you already check the bug tracker ?

eyllanesc

This post is deleted!

eyllanesc

@wooseokyourself If you have the QImage then copy the bits to QVideoFrame, something like:

QImage image(...);
QVideoFrameFormat video_frame_format(image.size(), QVideoFrameFormat::pixelFormatFromImageFormat(image.format()));
QVideoFrame video_frame(video_frame_format);
if(video_frame.map(QVideoFrame::ReadWrite))){
    std::memcpy(video_frame.bits(0), image.bits(), video_frame.mappedBytes(0));
    video_frame.unmap(); 
}

wooseokyourself

@eyllanesc Thanks. Your solution works for converting QImage to QVideoFrame.

wooseokyourself

@SGaist Thanks for reply. But I don't understand what you meant "mailing list" and "bug tracker".
Thanks for @eyllanesc 's answer, I could convert QImage to QVideoFrame, but the next bigger problem is how to send C++'s QVideoFrame to QML's VideoOutput. So I didn't use QVideoFrame, but subclassing QQuickPaintedItem for QML's image object and bind it with my custom C++ image provider which update new QImage by using signal-slot.
I'm not sure it's best optimized solution, but quite fast as much as I expected.

eyllanesc

@wooseokyourself See this example: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/69432427/how-to-use-qvideosink-in-qml-in-qt6/69432938#69432938. In your case it is not necessary to use QImage, just use:

QSize size(pImage->GetWidth(), pImage->GetHeight());
QVideoFrameFormat video_frame_format(size, QVideoFrameFormat::pixelFormatFromImageFormat(QImage::Format_RGB32));
QVideoFrame video_frame(video_frame_format);
if(video_frame.map(QVideoFrame::ReadWrite))){
    std::memcpy(video_frame.bits(0), pImage->GetData(), video_frame.mappedBytes(0));
    video_frame.unmap(); 
}

SGaist

@wooseokyourself said in What module should I use for streaming C++ QImage objects into QML?:

@SGaist Thanks for reply. But I don't understand what you meant "mailing list" and "bug tracker".

The interest mailing list where you can find Qt's developers/maintainers.

The bug tracker is well "the place where the bugs are tracked".

QtWS: Super Early Bird Tickets Available!

What module should I use for streaming C++ QImage objects into QML?