Question

I want to build a program that can recognize typical playing cards.
is there an algorithm that can process an image from webcam and to determine the card type?
if there is not- are there more simple algorithms that can be combined for this purpose?
thanks

Answer 1

Here’s some basic information to point you in the right direction. I suggest tackling the problem in two parts: a) webcam, and b) card recognition.

Part a) is not as hard as part b) and so I suggest that you ignore the webcam initially – get the algorithm working with several test images you’ve taken. Once card recognition works, you can then get your webcam working as your input.

Here’s a wikipedia article about object recognition. The names of the algorithms are listed, so you’ll be able to do some research into which algorithm(s) you might investigate.

Be warned: image processing and feature/object detection is not trivial. I suspect that this would make a very good masters or PhD project. I have very little experience in this area and your question is very general. I hope this helps you to get started.

postscript:

If you get this working well, the casinos will probably be interested. You could make some money, if you play your cards right.