Stereolabs ZED - Python API

This package lets you use the ZED stereo camera in Python 3. The Python API is a wrapper around the ZED SDK which is written in C++ optimized code. We make the ZED SDK accessible from external Python code using Cython.

Getting started

• First, download the latest version of the ZED SDK on stereolabs.com
• For more information, read the ZED Documentation and API documentation or our Community page

Prerequisites

To start using the ZED SDK in Python, you will need to install the following dependencies on your system:

• ZED SDK 4.1 and its dependency CUDA

For the ZED SDK 3.8 compatible version, use the zedsdk_3.X branch or the 3.8 release tag

• Python 3.7+ x64 (Windows installer)
• Cython 0.28
• Numpy 1.13
• OpenCV Python (optional)
• PyOpenGL (optional)

Please check your python version with the following command. The result should be 3.7 or higher.

python --version

Cython and Numpy can be installed via pip.

python -m pip install cython numpy

The sample dependencies can also be installed via pip

python -m pip install opencv-python pyopengl

Note: On Linux, it is advised to use the python3 command instead of python which by default point to python 2.7. To do so, the following packages python3-dev and python3-pip need to be installed.

Installing the Python API

A Python script is available in the ZED SDK installation folder and can automatically detect your platform, CUDA and Python version and download the corresponding pre-compiled Python API package.

Running the install script

Windows

The Python install script is located in: C:\Program Files (x86)\ZED SDK\

⚠️ Make sure you have admin access to run it in the Program Files folder, otherwise, you will have a Permission denied error. You can still copy the file into another location to run it without permissions.

Linux

The Python install script is located in: /usr/local/zed/

Run the script:

$ cd "/usr/local/zed/"
$ python get_python_api.py
    # The script displays the detected platform versions
    Detected platform: 
        linux_x86_64
        Python 3.11
        ZED SDK 4.0
    # Downloads and install the whl package
    -> Checking if https://download.stereolabs.com/zedsdk/4.0/whl/linux_x86_64/pyzed-4.0-cp311-cp311-linux_x86_64.whl exists and is available
    -> Found ! Downloading python package into /home/user/pyzed-4.0-cp311-cp311-linux_x86_64.whl
    -> Installing necessary dependencies
    ...
    Successfully installed pyzed-4.0

To install it later or on a different environment run :

$ python -m pip install --ignore-installed /home/user/pyzed-4.0-cp311-cp311-linux_x86_64.wh

That's it ! The Python API is now installed.

Use the plugin

Code

Import the packages in your Python terminal or file like this:

import pyzed.sl as sl

Vectors operations like norm, sum, square, dot, cross, distance but also simple operations can be done with Numpy package.

Run the tutorials

The tutorials provide simple projects to show how to use each module of the ZED SDK.

Run the examples

Please refer to the examples README for more informations.

Troubleshooting

"Numpy binary incompatiblity"

Traceback (most recent call last):
    ...
    File "__init__.pxd", line 918, in init pyzed.sl
ValueError: numpy.ufunc size changed, may indicate binary incompatiblity. Expected 216 from C header, got 192 from PyObject

This error usually means numpy isn't installed. To install it, simply run these commands :

# On Jetson (aarch64) cython needs to be installed first since numpy needs to be compiled.
python3 -m pip install cython
python3 -m pip install numpy

Compiling the Python API from source (only for developers of the python wrapper)

To compile the ZED SDK Python wrapper go to src folder to get the cython sources and instructions.

Note : This step is not useful for users of the wrapper, it is only meant to be used to extend the wrapper for advanced uses.

Support

If you need assistance go to our Community site at https://community.stereolabs.com/