In this chapter, we explored a way to label the potentially interesting objects in a visual scene, even if their shape and number are unknown. We explored natural image statistics using Fourier analysis and implemented a method for extracting the visually salient regions in the natural scenes. Furthermore, we combined the output of the salience detector with a tracking algorithm to track multiple objects of unknown shape and number in a video sequence of a soccer game.
We have introduced other, more complex tracking algorithms available in OpenCV, which you can use to replace mean-shift tracking in the application or even create your own application. Of course, it would also be possible to replace the mean-shift tracker with a previously studied technique such as feature matching or optic flow.
In the next chapter, we will move on to the fascinating field of machine learning...
