error: (-215) !empty() in function detectMultiScale

Solution 1:

I had the same issue.

I didn't need to download anything else to solve this. CV2 had everything I needed.

Instead of trying to figure out where the .xml files are and hard coding the values, I used a property given by cv2.

From OP

face_cascade = cv2.CascadeClassifier('haarcascade_frontalface_default.xml')
eye_cascade = cv2.CascadeClassifier('haarcascade_eye.xml')

Becomes

face_cascade = cv2.CascadeClassifier(cv2.data.haarcascades + 'haarcascade_frontalface_default.xml')
eye_cascade = cv2.CascadeClassifier(cv2.data.haarcascades + 'haarcascade_eye.xml')

Solution 2:

The XML or file is missing or the path to it is incorrect or the create_capture path is incorrect.

The paths in the opencv sample look like this:

cascade_fn = args.get('--cascade', "../../data/haarcascades/haarcascade_frontalface_alt.xml")
nested_fn  = args.get('--nested-cascade', "../../data/haarcascades/haarcascade_eye.xml")

cam = create_capture(video_src, fallback='synth:bg=../data/lena.jpg:noise=0.05')

Solution 3:

I ran the same code. There are two things to note here. 1. Give the entire path of the .xml files. 2. Give a key press event instruction at the end.

Add this block of code at the end and run your file, worked for me:

k = cv2.waitKey(0)
if k == 27:         # wait for ESC key to exit
    cv2.destroyAllWindows()
elif k == ord('s'): # wait for 's' key to save and exit
    cv2.imwrite('messigray.png',img)
    cv2.destroyAllWindows()

For example, my code looked like

import numpy as np
import cv2

face_cascade = cv2.CascadeClassifier('C:\\opencv\\build\\etc\\haarcascades\\haarcascade_frontalface_default.xml')
eye_cascade = cv2.CascadeClassifier('C:\\opencv\\build\\etc\\haarcascades\\haarcascade_eye.xml')

img = cv2.imread('lena.jpg')

gray = cv2.cvtColor(img, cv2.COLOR_BGR2GRAY)

faces = face_cascade.detectMultiScale(gray, 1.3, 5)
#faces = face_cascade.detectMultiScale(gray)

for (x,y,w,h) in faces:
    cv2.rectangle(img,(x,y),(x+w,y+h),(255,0,0),2)
    roi_gray = gray[y:y+h, x:x+w]
    roi_color = img[y:y+h, x:x+w]
    eyes = eye_cascade.detectMultiScale(roi_gray)
    for (ex,ey,ew,eh) in eyes:
        cv2.rectangle(roi_color,(ex,ey),(ex+ew,ey+eh),(0,255,0),2)

cv2.imshow('img',img)

k = cv2.waitKey(0)
if k == 27:         # wait for ESC key to exit
    cv2.destroyAllWindows()
elif k == ord('s'): # wait for 's' key to save and exit
    cv2.imwrite('messigray.png',img)
    cv2.destroyAllWindows()

My output looked like this: