Convert Mat to Array/Vector in OpenCV

I am novice in OpenCV. Recently, I have troubles finding OpenCV functions to convert from Mat to Array. I researched with .ptr and .at methods available in OpenCV APIs, but I could not get proper data. I would like to have direct conversion from Mat to Array(if available, if not to Vector). I need OpenCV functions because the code has to be undergo high level synthesis in Vivado HLS. Please help.

If the memory of the Mat mat is continuous (all its data is continuous), you can directly get its data to a 1D array:

std::vector<uchar> array(mat.rows*mat.cols*mat.channels());
if (mat.isContinuous())
    array = mat.data;

Otherwise, you have to get its data row by row, e.g. to a 2D array:

uchar **array = new uchar*[mat.rows];
for (int i=0; i<mat.rows; ++i)
    array[i] = new uchar[mat.cols*mat.channels()];

for (int i=0; i<mat.rows; ++i)
    array[i] = mat.ptr<uchar>(i);

---

UPDATE: It will be easier if you're using std::vector, where you can do like this:

std::vector<uchar> array;
if (mat.isContinuous()) {
  // array.assign(mat.datastart, mat.dataend); // <- has problems for sub-matrix like mat = big_mat.row(i)
  array.assign(mat.data, mat.data + mat.total()*mat.channels());
} else {
  for (int i = 0; i < mat.rows; ++i) {
    array.insert(array.end(), mat.ptr<uchar>(i), mat.ptr<uchar>(i)+mat.cols*mat.channels());
  }
}

p.s.: For cv::Mats of other types, like CV_32F, you should do like this:

std::vector<float> array;
if (mat.isContinuous()) {
  // array.assign((float*)mat.datastart, (float*)mat.dataend); // <- has problems for sub-matrix like mat = big_mat.row(i)
  array.assign((float*)mat.data, (float*)mat.data + mat.total()*mat.channels());
} else {
  for (int i = 0; i < mat.rows; ++i) {
    array.insert(array.end(), mat.ptr<float>(i), mat.ptr<float>(i)+mat.cols*mat.channels());
  }
}

---

UPDATE2: For OpenCV Mat data continuity, it can be summarized as follows:

• Matrices created by imread(), clone(), or a constructor will always be continuous.
• The only time a matrix will not be continuous is when it borrows data (except the data borrowed is continuous in the big matrix, e.g. 1. single row; 2. multiple rows with full original width) from an existing matrix (i.e. created out of an ROI of a big mat).

Please check out this code snippet for demonstration.

Can be done in two lines :)

Mat to array

uchar * arr = image.isContinuous()? image.data: image.clone().data;
uint length = image.total()*image.channels();

Mat to vector

cv::Mat flat = image.reshape(1, image.total()*image.channels());
std::vector<uchar> vec = image.isContinuous()? flat : flat.clone();

Both work for any general cv::Mat.

Explanation with a working example

    cv::Mat image;
    image = cv::imread(argv[1], cv::IMREAD_UNCHANGED);   // Read the file
    cv::namedWindow("cvmat", cv::WINDOW_AUTOSIZE );// Create a window for display.
    cv::imshow("cvmat", image );                   // Show our image inside it.

    // flatten the mat.
    uint totalElements = image.total()*image.channels(); // Note: image.total() == rows*cols.
    cv::Mat flat = image.reshape(1, totalElements); // 1xN mat of 1 channel, O(1) operation
    if(!image.isContinuous()) {
        flat = flat.clone(); // O(N),
    }
    // flat.data is your array pointer
    auto * ptr = flat.data; // usually, its uchar*
    // You have your array, its length is flat.total() [rows=1, cols=totalElements]
    // Converting to vector
    std::vector<uchar> vec(flat.data, flat.data + flat.total());
    // Testing by reconstruction of cvMat
    cv::Mat restored = cv::Mat(image.rows, image.cols, image.type(), ptr); // OR vec.data() instead of ptr
    cv::namedWindow("reconstructed", cv::WINDOW_AUTOSIZE);
    cv::imshow("reconstructed", restored);
    
    cv::waitKey(0);     

Extended explanation:

Mat is stored as a contiguous block of memory, if created using one of its constructors or when copied to another Mat using clone() or similar methods. To convert to an array or vector we need the address of its first block and array/vector length.

Pointer to internal memory block

Mat::data is a public uchar pointer to its memory.
But this memory may not be contiguous. As explained in other answers, we can check if mat.data is pointing to contiguous memory or not using mat.isContinous(). Unless you need extreme efficiency, you can obtain a continuous version of the mat using mat.clone() in O(N) time. (N = number of elements from all channels). However, when dealing images read by cv::imread() we will rarely ever encounter a non-continous mat.

Length of array/vector

Q: Should be row*cols*channels right?
A: Not always. It can be rows*cols*x*y*channels.
Q: Should be equal to mat.total()?
A: True for single channel mat. But not for multi-channel mat
Length of the array/vector is slightly tricky because of poor documentation of OpenCV. We have Mat::size public member which stores only the dimensions of single Mat without channels. For RGB image, Mat.size = [rows, cols] and not [rows, cols, channels]. Mat.total() returns total elements in a single channel of the mat which is equal to product of values in mat.size. For RGB image, total() = rows*cols. Thus, for any general Mat, length of continuous memory block would be mat.total()*mat.channels().

Reconstructing Mat from array/vector

Apart from array/vector we also need the original Mat's mat.size [array like] and mat.type() [int]. Then using one of the constructors that take data's pointer, we can obtain original Mat. The optional step argument is not required because our data pointer points to continuous memory. I used this method to pass Mat as Uint8Array between nodejs and C++. This avoided writing C++ bindings for cv::Mat with node-addon-api.

References:

• Create memory continuous Mat
• OpenCV Mat data layout
• Mat from array

Here is another possible solution assuming matrix have one column( you can reshape original Mat to one column Mat via reshape):

Mat matrix= Mat::zeros(20, 1, CV_32FC1);
vector<float> vec;
matrix.col(0).copyTo(vec);

None of the provided examples here work for the generic case, which are N dimensional matrices. Anything using "rows" assumes theres columns and rows only, a 4 dimensional matrix might have more.

Here is some example code copying a non-continuous N-dimensional matrix into a continuous memory stream - then converts it back into a Cv::Mat

#include <iostream>
#include <cstdint>
#include <cstring>
#include <opencv2/opencv.hpp>

int main(int argc, char**argv)
{
    if ( argc != 2 )
    {
        std::cerr << "Usage: " << argv[0] << " <Image_Path>\n";
        return -1;
    }
    cv::Mat origSource = cv::imread(argv[1],1);

    if (!origSource.data) {
        std::cerr << "Can't read image";
        return -1;
    }
    
    // this will select a subsection of the original source image - WITHOUT copying the data
    // (the header will point to a region of interest, adjusting data pointers and row step sizes)
    cv::Mat sourceMat = origSource(cv::Range(origSource.size[0]/4,(3*origSource.size[0])/4),cv::Range(origSource.size[1]/4,(3*origSource.size[1])/4));

    // correctly copy the contents of an N dimensional cv::Mat
    // works just as fast as copying a 2D mat, but has much more difficult to read code :)
    // see http://stackoverflow.com/questions/18882242/how-do-i-get-the-size-of-a-multi-dimensional-cvmat-mat-or-matnd
    // copy this code in your own cvMat_To_Char_Array() function which really OpenCV should provide somehow...
    // keep in mind that even Mat::clone() aligns each row at a 4 byte boundary, so uneven sized images always have stepgaps
    size_t totalsize = sourceMat.step[sourceMat.dims-1];
    const size_t rowsize = sourceMat.step[sourceMat.dims-1] * sourceMat.size[sourceMat.dims-1];
    size_t coordinates[sourceMat.dims-1] = {0};
    std::cout << "Image dimensions: ";
    for (int t=0;t<sourceMat.dims;t++)
    {
        // calculate total size of multi dimensional matrix by multiplying dimensions
        totalsize*=sourceMat.size[t];
        std::cout << (t>0?" X ":"") << sourceMat.size[t];
    }
    // Allocate destination image buffer
    uint8_t * imagebuffer = new uint8_t[totalsize];
    size_t srcptr=0,dptr=0;
    std::cout << std::endl;
    std::cout << "One pixel in image has " << sourceMat.step[sourceMat.dims-1] << " bytes" <<std::endl;
    std::cout << "Copying data in blocks of " << rowsize << " bytes" << std::endl ;
    std::cout << "Total size is " << totalsize << " bytes" << std::endl;
    while (dptr<totalsize) {
        // we copy entire rows at once, so lowest iterator is always [dims-2]
        // this is legal since OpenCV does not use 1 dimensional matrices internally (a 1D matrix is a 2d matrix with only 1 row)
        std::memcpy(&imagebuffer[dptr],&(((uint8_t*)sourceMat.data)[srcptr]),rowsize);
        // destination matrix has no gaps so rows follow each other directly
        dptr += rowsize;
        // src matrix can have gaps so we need to calculate the address of the start of the next row the hard way
        // see *brief* text in opencv2/core/mat.hpp for address calculation
        coordinates[sourceMat.dims-2]++;
        srcptr = 0;
        for (int t=sourceMat.dims-2;t>=0;t--) {
            if (coordinates[t]>=sourceMat.size[t]) {
                if (t==0) break;
                coordinates[t]=0;
                coordinates[t-1]++;
            }
            srcptr += sourceMat.step[t]*coordinates[t];
        }
   }

   // this constructor assumes that imagebuffer is gap-less (if not, a complete array of step sizes must be given, too)
   cv::Mat destination=cv::Mat(sourceMat.dims, sourceMat.size, sourceMat.type(), (void*)imagebuffer);

   // and just to proof that sourceImage points to the same memory as origSource, we strike it through
   cv::line(sourceMat,cv::Point(0,0),cv::Point(sourceMat.size[1],sourceMat.size[0]),CV_RGB(255,0,0),3);

   cv::imshow("original image",origSource);
   cv::imshow("partial image",sourceMat);
   cv::imshow("copied image",destination);
   while (cv::waitKey(60)!='q');
}

Instead of getting image row by row, you can put it directly to an array. For CV_8U type image, you can use byte array, for other types check here.

Mat img; // Should be CV_8U for using byte[]
int size = (int)img.total() * img.channels();
byte[] data = new byte[size];
img.get(0, 0, data); // Gets all pixels

byte * matToBytes(Mat image)
{
   int size = image.total() * image.elemSize();
   byte * bytes = new byte[size];  //delete[] later
   std::memcpy(bytes,image.data,size * sizeof(byte));
}

You can use iterators:

Mat matrix = ...;

std::vector<float> vec(matrix.begin<float>(), matrix.end<float>());

cv::Mat m;
m.create(10, 10, CV_32FC3);

float *array = (float *)malloc( 3*sizeof(float)*10*10 );
cv::MatConstIterator_<cv::Vec3f> it = m.begin<cv::Vec3f>();
for (unsigned i = 0; it != m.end<cv::Vec3f>(); it++ ) {
    for ( unsigned j = 0; j < 3; j++ ) {
        *(array + i ) = (*it)[j];
        i++;
    }
}

Now you have a float array. In case of 8 bit, simply change float to uchar, Vec3f to Vec3b and CV_32FC3 to CV_8UC3.

If you know that your img is 3 channel, than you can try this code

 Vec3b* dados = new Vec3b[img.rows*img.cols];
	for (int i = 0; i < img.rows; i++)
		for(int j=0;j<img.cols; j++)
			dados[3*i*img.cols+j] =img.at<Vec3b>(i,j);

If you wanna check the (i,j) vec3b you can write

std::cout << (Vec3b)img.at<Vec3b>(i,j) << std::endl;
	std::cout << (Vec3b)dados[3*i*img.cols+j] << std::endl;