Python front end support for OpenVINO tool kit

[Sreedhar_V_Intel]

Hi,

Is there a plan to enable Python front end support for Open VINO tool kit?

[Mark_L_Intel1]

Hi Sreedhar,

Can you more specific what "Python front end" mean?

Mark

[Sreedhar_V_Intel]

Is it possible to use Python as front end to develop sample[eg:hello_classification/main.cpp] with inference engine?

[Severine_H_Intel · Accepted solution]

Dear Sreedhar,

We have a Python API for the IE and you can see it in use in our Python samples in the R2 and R3 release. The samples can be found in the samples folder at the following path: computer_vision_sdk_2018.3.343\deployment_tools\inference_engine\samples\python_samples.

Best, 

Severine

[Mark_L_Intel1]

Hi Sreedhar,

As a start point, you can run python API from the command line which gives you a convenient to do a quick try.

But you have to run the shell script to set up PYTHONPATH:

$ source <OpenVINO Install Dir>/bin/setupvars.sh
$ python3
Python 3.5.2 (default, Nov 23 2017, 16:37:01) 
[GCC 5.4.0 20160609] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> from openvino.inference_engine import *
>>> net = IENetwork.from_ir(model="<OpenVINO Install Dir>/deployment_tools/intel_models/face-detection-retail-0004/FP32/face-detection-retail-0004.xml",weights="<OpenVINO Install Dir>/deployment_tools/intel_models/face-detection-retail-0004/FP32/face-detection-retail-0004.bin")
>>> from openvino.inference_engine import *
>>> plugin = IEPlugin(device="HETERO:FPGA,CPU")
>>> plugin.set_config({"TARGET_FALLBACK": "HETERO:FPGA,CPU"})
>>> plugin.set_initial_affinity(net)
>>> for l in net.layers.values():
...     if l.type == "Convolution":
...             l.affinity = "CPU"
... 
>>> 
[2]+  Stopped                 python3

You can refer to the Python API introductions for further help.

Mark