Image Component Library

Table of Contents

• About ICL
• Installation
  • Building from source
  • Dependencies

About ICL

ICL is a C++ computer vision framework developed at the Neuroinformatics Group, University of Bielefeld. It provides a large set of classes and functions for image processing, computer vision, 3D geometry, GUI creation, and physics simulation — all designed to work together seamlessly.

Key Design Principles

• Optimal Performance — optional Intel IPP acceleration, SIMD, OpenMP, and OpenCL support. Images use planar channel storage with zero-copy shallow wrapping of existing data.
• Simple C++ Interface — readable, low-boilerplate code. A complete image acquisition and visualization application fits in ~15 lines of C++. PIMPL pattern hides complexity.
• Self-Contained Framework — write applications in ICL rather than gluing libraries together. Includes GUI creation, program argument parsing, multi-threaded application lifecycle, and build tools.
• No Compulsory Dependencies — all external dependencies are optional. Build a slim ICL for algorithm development, then link against a full build for deployment.

Installation

Building from Source

Required tools:

• CMake 3.16+
• C++17 compiler (GCC 7+, Clang 5+, MSVC 2017+)

Required libraries:

• libjpeg (or libjpeg-turbo)
• libpng

Minimal build

git clone https://github.com/iclcv/icl.git
mkdir icl/build && cd icl/build
cmake ..
make -j$(nproc)

Recommended build (with Qt6, OpenCV, and common features)

cmake .. \
  -DBUILD_WITH_QT=ON \
  -DBUILD_WITH_OPENCV=ON \
  -DBUILD_WITH_EIGEN3=ON \
  -DBUILD_WITH_IMAGEMAGICK=ON \
  -DBUILD_WITH_LIBAV=ON \
  -DBUILD_WITH_OPENCL=ON \
  -DBUILD_APPS=ON \
  -DBUILD_DEMOS=ON \
  -DBUILD_EXAMPLES=ON
make -j$(nproc)

Dependencies

All dependencies except libjpeg and libpng are optional. Enable them with -DBUILD_WITH_<NAME>=ON.

Core (recommended)

Feature	CMake Flag	Description	Install (apt)	Install (brew)
Qt6	BUILD_WITH_QT	GUI framework, visualization, image display	qt6-base-dev qt6-multimedia-dev libqt6opengl6-dev libglew-dev	qt glew
OpenCV	BUILD_WITH_OPENCV	Image type conversion, ORB features	libopencv-dev	opencv
Eigen3	BUILD_WITH_EIGEN3	Faster matrix operations	libeigen3-dev	eigen
OpenCL	BUILD_WITH_OPENCL	GPU-accelerated processing	ocl-icd-opencl-dev opencl-headers	(built-in on macOS)
ImageMagick	BUILD_WITH_IMAGEMAGICK	Extended image format I/O	libmagick++-dev	imagemagick
FFmpeg	BUILD_WITH_LIBAV	Video file I/O	libavcodec-dev libavformat-dev libswscale-dev	ffmpeg

Camera backends

Feature	CMake Flag	Description	Install (apt)	Install (brew)
V4L2	BUILD_WITH_V4L	USB cameras/webcams (Linux)	(usually in kernel headers)	n/a
libdc1394	BUILD_WITH_LIBDC	FireWire cameras	libdc1394-dev	libdc1394
libfreenect	BUILD_WITH_LIBFREENECT	Kinect v1	libfreenect-dev	libfreenect
libfreenect2	BUILD_WITH_LIBFREENECT2	Kinect v2	build from source	build from source
Pylon	BUILD_WITH_PYLON	Basler GigE cameras	Basler SDK	Basler SDK

Advanced

Feature	CMake Flag	Description	Install (apt)	Install (brew)
PCL	BUILD_WITH_PCL	Point Cloud Library compatibility	libpcl-dev	pcl
Bullet3	BUILD_WITH_BULLET	Physics simulation (ICLPhysics)	libbullet-dev	bullet
ZeroMQ	BUILD_WITH_ZMQ	Network image streaming	libzmq3-dev	zeromq
libusb	BUILD_WITH_LIBUSB	USB device support	libusb-dev	libusb
Intel IPP	BUILD_WITH_IPP	Intel Performance Primitives (Linux x86 only)	Intel oneAPI	n/a
Intel MKL	BUILD_WITH_MKL	Intel Math Kernel Library (Linux x86 only)	Intel oneAPI	n/a

Build options

Flag	Default	Description
BUILD_APPS	OFF	Build end-user applications (installed as icl-*)
BUILD_DEMOS	OFF	Build demo programs
BUILD_EXAMPLES	OFF	Build documentation examples
BUILD_TESTS	OFF	Build test suite (downloads Google Test)

Running Tests

cmake .. -DBUILD_TESTS=ON
make tests    # build test executables
ctest         # run all tests

# or run individually:
./ICLMath/tests_iclmath

Questions, Feedback, or Issues?

Please open an issue on GitHub.