Label images with a custom model on Android

Page Summary

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• ML Kit provides two ways to integrate custom image labeling models: bundled (in-app) and unbundled (downloaded).

• Custom models can be bundled within the app or hosted on Firebase Machine Learning for dynamic updates.

• The library offers various options for loading images, including from files, bitmaps, and camera streams.

• When using hosted models, ensure they are downloaded before processing images by using the isModelDownloaded() method.

• For optimal performance, consider input image format and rotation, and throttle calls to the image labeler in real-time applications.

There are two ways to integrate image labeling with custom models: by bundling the pipeline as part of your app, or by using an unbundled pipeline that depends on Google Play services. If you select the unbundled pipeline, your app will be smaller. See the following table for details.

There are two ways to integrate a custom model: bundle the model by putting it inside your app's asset folder, or dynamically download it from Firebase. The following table compares these two options.

Try it out

• See the vision quickstart app for an example usage of the bundled model and the automl quickstart app for an example usage of the hosted model.

Before you begin

1. In your project-level build.gradle.kts file, make sure to include Google's Maven repository in both your buildscript and allprojects sections.

2. Add the dependencies for the ML Kit Android libraries to your module's app-level gradle file, which is usually app/build.gradle.kts. Choose one of the following dependencies based on your needs:

   For bundling the pipeline with your app:

   dependencies {
     // ...
     // Use this dependency to bundle the pipeline with your app
     implementation("com.google.mlkit:image-labeling-custom:17.0.3")
   }
   

   For using the pipeline in Google Play services:

   dependencies {
     // ...
     // Use this dependency to use the dynamically downloaded pipeline in Google Play services
     implementation("com.google.android.gms:play-services-mlkit-image-labeling-custom:16.0.0-beta5")
   }
   

3. If you choose to use the pipeline in Google Play services, you can configure your app to automatically download the pipeline to the device after your app is installed from the Play Store. To do so, add the following declaration to your app's AndroidManifest.xml file:

   <application ...>
       ...
       <meta-data
           android:name="com.google.mlkit.vision.DEPENDENCIES"
           android:value="custom_ica" />
       <!-- To use multiple downloads: android:value="custom_ica,download2,download3" -->
   </application>
   

   You can also explicitly check the pipeline availability and request download through Google Play services ModuleInstallClient API.

   If you don't enable install-time pipeline downloads or request explicit download, the pipeline is downloaded the first time you run the labeler. Requests you make before the download has completed produce no results.

4. If you want to download a model using Cloud Storage for Firebase, make sure you add Firebase to your Android project, if you have not already done so. This is not required when you bundle the model.

1. Load the model

You can load the model from a locally-bundled source or a remotely-hosted source.

Configure a local model source

To bundle the model with your app:

1. Copy the model file (usually ending in .tflite or .lite) to your app's assets/ folder. (You might need to create the folder first by right-clicking the app/ folder, then clicking New > Folder > Assets Folder.)

2. Create LocalModel object, specifying the path to the model file:

   Kotlin

   val localModel = LocalModel.Builder()
           .setAssetFilePath("model.tflite")
           // or .setAbsoluteFilePath(absolute path to model file)
           // or .setUri(URI to model file)
           .build()

   Java

   LocalModel localModel =
       new LocalModel.Builder()
           .setAssetFilePath("model.tflite")
           // or .setAbsoluteFilePath(absolute path to model file)
           // or .setUri(URI to model file)
           .build();

Configure a remotely-hosted model source

To use the remotely-hosted model, you must download the model file to the device's local storage using your own app logic, and then load it as a local model. We recommend using Cloud Storage for Firebase to host a model. For implementation details, see the Firebase ML to Cloud Storage migration guide.

Configure the image labeler

After you configure your model sources, create an ImageLabeler object from one of them.

The following options are available:

If you only have a locally-bundled model, just create a labeler from your LocalModel object:

val customImageLabelerOptions = CustomImageLabelerOptions.Builder(localModel)
    .setConfidenceThreshold(0.5f)
    .setMaxResultCount(5)
    .build()
val labeler = ImageLabeling.getClient(customImageLabelerOptions)

CustomImageLabelerOptions customImageLabelerOptions =
        new CustomImageLabelerOptions.Builder(localModel)
            .setConfidenceThreshold(0.5f)
            .setMaxResultCount(5)
            .build();
ImageLabeler labeler = ImageLabeling.getClient(customImageLabelerOptions);

If you have a remotely-hosted model, you will have to check that it has been downloaded before you run it.

Although you only have to confirm this before running the labeler, if you have both a remotely-hosted model and a locally-bundled model, it might make sense to perform this check when instantiating the image labeler: create a labeler from the remote model if it's been downloaded, and from the local model otherwise.

val modelFile = File(context.cacheDir, "my_downloaded_model.tflite")
val model = if (modelFile.exists()) {
    // Use the downloaded model if available
    LocalModel.Builder().setAbsoluteFilePath(modelFile.absolutePath).build()
} else {
    // Fall back to the bundled model
    LocalModel.Builder().setAssetFilePath("model.tflite").build()
}
val options = CustomImageLabelerOptions.Builder(model)
    .setConfidenceThreshold(0.5f)
    .setMaxResultCount(5)
    .build()
val labeler = ImageLabeling.getClient(options)

File modelFile = new File(context.getCacheDir(), "my_downloaded_model.tflite");
LocalModel model;
if (modelFile.exists()) {
    // Use the downloaded model if available
    model = new LocalModel.Builder().setAbsoluteFilePath(modelFile.getAbsolutePath()).build();
} else {
    // Fall back to the bundled model
    model = new LocalModel.Builder().setAssetFilePath("model.tflite").build();
}
CustomImageLabelerOptions options = new CustomImageLabelerOptions.Builder(model)
    .setConfidenceThreshold(0.5f)
    .setMaxResultCount(5)
    .build();
ImageLabeler labeler = ImageLabeling.getClient(options);

If you only have a remotely-hosted model, you should disable model-related functionality—for example, grey-out or hide part of your UI—until you confirm the model has been downloaded.

val localFile = File(context.cacheDir, "my_remote_model.tflite")
if (localFile.exists()) {
    initializeLabeler(localFile)
} else {
    showLoadingUI()
    val storage = Firebase.storage
    val modelRef = storage.getReferenceFromUrl("gs://YOUR_BUCKET/path/to/model.tflite")
    modelRef.getFile(localFile)
        .addOnSuccessListener {
            hideLoadingUI()
            initializeLabeler(localFile)
        }
        .addOnFailureListener {
            showErrorUI()
        }
}

private fun initializeLabeler(modelFile: File) {
    val localModel = LocalModel.Builder().setAbsoluteFilePath(modelFile.absolutePath).build()
    val options = CustomImageLabelerOptions.Builder(localModel).build()
    val labeler = ImageLabeling.getClient(options)
    enableMLFeatures(labeler)
}

File localFile = new File(context.getCacheDir(), "my_remote_model.tflite");
if (localFile.exists()) {
    initializeLabeler(localFile);
} else {
    showLoadingUI();
    FirebaseStorage storage = FirebaseStorage.getInstance();
    StorageReference modelRef = storage.getReferenceFromUrl("gs://YOUR_BUCKET/path/to/model.tflite");
    modelRef.getFile(localFile)
        .addOnSuccessListener(new OnSuccessListener<FileDownloadTask.TaskSnapshot>() {
            @Override
            public void onSuccess(FileDownloadTask.TaskSnapshot taskSnapshot) {
                hideLoadingUI();
                initializeLabeler(localFile);
            }
        })
        .addOnFailureListener(new OnFailureListener() {
            @Override
            public void onFailure(@NonNull Exception exception) {
                showErrorUI();
            }
        });
}

private void initializeLabeler(File modelFile) {
    LocalModel localModel = new LocalModel.Builder().setAbsoluteFilePath(modelFile.getAbsolutePath()).build();
    CustomImageLabelerOptions options = new CustomImageLabelerOptions.Builder(localModel).build();
    ImageLabeler labeler = ImageLabeling.getClient(options);
    enableMLFeatures(labeler);
}

2. Prepare the input image

You can create an InputImage object from different sources, each is explained below.

Using a media.Image

To create an InputImage object from a media.Image object, such as when you capture an image from a device's camera, pass the media.Image object and the image's rotation to InputImage.fromMediaImage().

If you use the CameraX library, the OnImageCapturedListener and ImageAnalysis.Analyzer classes calculate the rotation value for you.

private class YourImageAnalyzer : ImageAnalysis.Analyzer {

    override fun analyze(imageProxy: ImageProxy) {
        val mediaImage = imageProxy.image
        if (mediaImage != null) {
            val image = InputImage.fromMediaImage(mediaImage, imageProxy.imageInfo.rotationDegrees)
            // Pass image to an ML Kit Vision API
            // ...
        }
    }
}

private class YourAnalyzer implements ImageAnalysis.Analyzer {

    @Override
    public void analyze(ImageProxy imageProxy) {
        Image mediaImage = imageProxy.getImage();
        if (mediaImage != null) {
          InputImage image =
                InputImage.fromMediaImage(mediaImage, imageProxy.getImageInfo().getRotationDegrees());
          // Pass image to an ML Kit Vision API
          // ...
        }
    }
}

If you don't use a camera library that gives you the image's rotation degree, you can calculate it from the device's rotation degree and the orientation of camera sensor in the device:

private val ORIENTATIONS = SparseIntArray()

init {
    ORIENTATIONS.append(Surface.ROTATION_0, 0)
    ORIENTATIONS.append(Surface.ROTATION_90, 90)
    ORIENTATIONS.append(Surface.ROTATION_180, 180)
    ORIENTATIONS.append(Surface.ROTATION_270, 270)
}

/**
 * Get the angle by which an image must be rotated given the device's current
 * orientation.
 */
@RequiresApi(api = Build.VERSION_CODES.LOLLIPOP)
@Throws(CameraAccessException::class)
private fun getRotationCompensation(cameraId: String, activity: Activity, isFrontFacing: Boolean): Int {
    // Get the device's current rotation relative to its "native" orientation.
    // Then, from the ORIENTATIONS table, look up the angle the image must be
    // rotated to compensate for the device's rotation.
    val deviceRotation = activity.windowManager.defaultDisplay.rotation
    var rotationCompensation = ORIENTATIONS.get(deviceRotation)

    // Get the device's sensor orientation.
    val cameraManager = activity.getSystemService(CAMERA_SERVICE) as CameraManager
    val sensorOrientation = cameraManager
            .getCameraCharacteristics(cameraId)
            .get(CameraCharacteristics.SENSOR_ORIENTATION)!!

    if (isFrontFacing) {
        rotationCompensation = (sensorOrientation + rotationCompensation) % 360
    } else { // back-facing
        rotationCompensation = (sensorOrientation - rotationCompensation + 360) % 360
    }
    return rotationCompensation
}
MLKitVisionImage.kt

private static final SparseIntArray ORIENTATIONS = new SparseIntArray();
static {
    ORIENTATIONS.append(Surface.ROTATION_0, 0);
    ORIENTATIONS.append(Surface.ROTATION_90, 90);
    ORIENTATIONS.append(Surface.ROTATION_180, 180);
    ORIENTATIONS.append(Surface.ROTATION_270, 270);
}

/**
 * Get the angle by which an image must be rotated given the device's current
 * orientation.
 */
@RequiresApi(api = Build.VERSION_CODES.LOLLIPOP)
private int getRotationCompensation(String cameraId, Activity activity, boolean isFrontFacing)
        throws CameraAccessException {
    // Get the device's current rotation relative to its "native" orientation.
    // Then, from the ORIENTATIONS table, look up the angle the image must be
    // rotated to compensate for the device's rotation.
    int deviceRotation = activity.getWindowManager().getDefaultDisplay().getRotation();
    int rotationCompensation = ORIENTATIONS.get(deviceRotation);

    // Get the device's sensor orientation.
    CameraManager cameraManager = (CameraManager) activity.getSystemService(CAMERA_SERVICE);
    int sensorOrientation = cameraManager
            .getCameraCharacteristics(cameraId)
            .get(CameraCharacteristics.SENSOR_ORIENTATION);

    if (isFrontFacing) {
        rotationCompensation = (sensorOrientation + rotationCompensation) % 360;
    } else { // back-facing
        rotationCompensation = (sensorOrientation - rotationCompensation + 360) % 360;
    }
    return rotationCompensation;
}

Then, pass the media.Image object and the rotation degree value to InputImage.fromMediaImage():

val image = InputImage.fromMediaImage(mediaImage, rotation)
MLKitVisionImage.kt

InputImage image = InputImage.fromMediaImage(mediaImage, rotation);

Using a file URI

To create an InputImage object from a file URI, pass the app context and file URI to InputImage.fromFilePath(). This is useful when you use an ACTION_GET_CONTENT intent to prompt the user to select an image from their gallery app.

val image: InputImage
try {
    image = InputImage.fromFilePath(context, uri)
} catch (e: IOException) {
    e.printStackTrace()
}
MLKitVisionImage.kt

InputImage image;
try {
    image = InputImage.fromFilePath(context, uri);
} catch (IOException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}

Using a ByteBuffer or ByteArray

To create an InputImage object from a ByteBuffer or a ByteArray, first calculate the image rotation degree as previously described for media.Image input. Then, create the InputImage object with the buffer or array, together with image's height, width, color encoding format, and rotation degree:

val image = InputImage.fromByteBuffer(
        byteBuffer,
        /* image width */ 480,
        /* image height */ 360,
        rotationDegrees,
        InputImage.IMAGE_FORMAT_NV21 // or IMAGE_FORMAT_YV12
)
MLKitVisionImage.kt
// Or:
val image = InputImage.fromByteArray(
        byteArray,
        /* image width */ 480,
        /* image height */ 360,
        rotationDegrees,
        InputImage.IMAGE_FORMAT_NV21 // or IMAGE_FORMAT_YV12
)
MLKitVisionImage.kt

InputImage image = InputImage.fromByteBuffer(byteBuffer,
        /* image width */ 480,
        /* image height */ 360,
        rotationDegrees,
        InputImage.IMAGE_FORMAT_NV21 // or IMAGE_FORMAT_YV12
);
MLKitVisionImage.java
// Or:
InputImage image = InputImage.fromByteArray(
        byteArray,
        /* image width */480,
        /* image height */360,
        rotation,
        InputImage.IMAGE_FORMAT_NV21 // or IMAGE_FORMAT_YV12
);
MLKitVisionImage.java

Using a Bitmap

To create an InputImage object from a Bitmap object, make the following declaration:

val image = InputImage.fromBitmap(bitmap, 0)
MLKitVisionImage.kt

InputImage image = InputImage.fromBitmap(bitmap, rotationDegree);
MLKitVisionImage.java

The image is represented by a Bitmap object together with rotation degrees.

3. Run the image labeler

To label objects in an image, pass the image object to the ImageLabeler's process() method.

labeler.process(image)
        .addOnSuccessListener { labels ->
            // Task completed successfully
            // ...
        }
        .addOnFailureListener { e ->
            // Task failed with an exception
            // ...
        }
ImageLabelingActivity.kt

labeler.process(image)
        .addOnSuccessListener(new OnSuccessListener<List<ImageLabel>>() {
            @Override
            public void onSuccess(List<ImageLabel> labels) {
                // Task completed successfully
                // ...
            }
        })
        .addOnFailureListener(new OnFailureListener() {
            @Override
            public void onFailure(@NonNull Exception e) {
                // Task failed with an exception
                // ...
            }
        });
ImageLabelingActivity.java

4. Get information about labeled entities

for (label in labels) {
    val text = label.text
    val confidence = label.confidence
    val index = label.index
}
ImageLabelingActivity.kt

for (ImageLabel label : labels) {
    String text = label.getText();
    float confidence = label.getConfidence();
    int index = label.getIndex();
}
ImageLabelingActivity.java

Tips to improve real-time performance

If you want to label images in a real-time application, follow these guidelines to achieve the best frame rates:

• If you use the Camera or camera2 API, throttle calls to the image labeler. If a new video frame becomes available while the image labeler is running, drop the frame. See the VisionProcessorBase class in the quickstart sample app for an example.
• If you use the CameraX API, be sure that backpressure strategy is set to its default value ImageAnalysis.STRATEGY_KEEP_ONLY_LATEST. This guarantees only one image will be delivered for analysis at a time. If more images are produced when the analyzer is busy, they will be dropped automatically and not queued for delivery. Once the image being analyzed is closed by calling ImageProxy.close(), the next latest image will be delivered.
• If you use the output of the image labeler to overlay graphics on the input image, first get the result from ML Kit, then render the image and overlay in a single step. This renders to the display surface only once for each input frame. See the CameraSourcePreview and GraphicOverlay classes in the quickstart sample app for an example.
• If you use the Camera2 API, capture images in ImageFormat.YUV_420_888 format. If you use the older Camera API, capture images in ImageFormat.NV21 format.