Gesture Settings Changer

A python module to change the volume of a computer using gestures. The module uses opencv to get the live video stream, the mediapipe library to recognize the gestures and then the pulsectl library to change the volume/brightness of the computer.

Getting Started

Below is an example of how use can use the module. First we import the cv2 and gestureSettingsChanger modules

import cv2
import gestureSettingsChanger

Then we get the video live stream from the webcam. In my computer it was with -1, so I've specified as following:

cap = cv2.VideoCapture(-1)

Then we initialize the gestureSettingsChanger object from the gestureSettingsChanger module as follows:

# gesture settingse changer - always to be declared outside the while loop
gestSettingsControl = gestureSettingsChanger.gestureSettingsChanger("./gesture_recognizer.task", 60) 

Then we specify our main while loop which will first read the live video stream, secondly recognize the gesture and then change the volume/brightness according to it.

while True:
    success, img = cap.read()
    img = cv2.resize(img, (320, 240))
	# First recognize the gesture
	gestSettingsControl.gestureRecognize(img)
	# Second change the settings
	gestSettingsControl.changeSettings(img)
    cv2.imshow("Image", img)
    key = cv2.waitKey(1) & 0xFF
    # Press q to quit
    if key == ord('q'):
        break

cap.release()
cv2.destroyAllWindows()

This example has been provided in the app.py file.

To run the app.py file, you can use the following command

python app.py

or

python3 app.py

Gestures

Right hand should be used to control the volume and the left hand should be used to control the brightness. A close fist with fingers in the front is recognized as a stop gesture. If you do this with either hand, then, the volume/brightness will not change.

To change the volume/brightness bring together your index and thumb finger or move them apart.

Supported hardware

This program is tested on a Ubuntu 22.04. It may work on other linux distribution. Development for Windows and Mac will take time.

Further Development

There are still features which are to be added. Such as:-

1. Smoother volume and brightness changes
2. Addition of volume and brightness bar
3. Better FPS
4. Add windows and mac support