https://github.com/jcspeegs/loups
Extract video chapter timestamps and title screens using template matching adn OCR - perfect for sports, podcasts, and content creation
https://github.com/jcspeegs/loups
automation cli-tool computer-vision content-creation easyocr fastpitch ocr ocr-python opencv opencv-python python softball sport-analytics ssim template-matching video-analysis video-processing youtube-chapter-extractor youtube-chapters
Last synced: about 2 months ago
JSON representation
Extract video chapter timestamps and title screens using template matching adn OCR - perfect for sports, podcasts, and content creation
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/jcspeegs/loups
- Owner: jcspeegs
- Created: 2025-10-18T01:32:24.000Z (6 months ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2025-11-23T21:26:56.000Z (5 months ago)
- Last Synced: 2025-11-23T22:08:56.998Z (5 months ago)
- Topics: automation, cli-tool, computer-vision, content-creation, easyocr, fastpitch, ocr, ocr-python, opencv, opencv-python, python, softball, sport-analytics, ssim, template-matching, video-analysis, video-processing, youtube-chapter-extractor, youtube-chapters
- Language: Python
- Homepage:
- Size: 492 KB
- Stars: 0
- Watchers: 0
- Forks: 0
- Open Issues: 7
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
Awesome Lists containing this project
README
# ⚾ Loups
> **Automated video chapter generation using template matching and OCR**
Automatically scan any video with on-screen text overlays to extract information and generate timestamped YouTube chapters! 🎥✨
Originally designed for Lights Out HB fastpitch softball games, but works with any video content that has consistent identifying frames or text overlays.
[](https://pypi.org/project/loups/)
[](https://www.python.org/downloads/)
[](https://github.com/jcspeegs/loups/actions/workflows/test.yaml)
[](https://jcspeegs.github.io/loups/)
[](https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)
[](https://pypi.org/project/loups/)
**Links:** [Repository](https://github.com/jcspeegs/loups) • [Documentation](https://jcspeegs.github.io/loups/) • [Issues](https://github.com/jcspeegs/loups/issues) • [PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/loups/) • [Author](mailto:justin@speegs.com)
## ✨ What is Loups?
Loups uses template matching and OCR to automatically scan videos, detect specific frames with identifying information, and generate timestamped chapters.
**Use cases include:**
- 🥎 **Sports Games** - Track player at-bats, shifts, or appearances (originally designed for fastpitch softball)
- 🎓 **Educational Content** - Chapter markers for different topics or speakers
- 🎙️ **Podcasts/Interviews** - Detect guest name overlays or topic cards
- 🎮 **Gaming** - Mark level changes, character selections, or game modes
- 📺 **TV Shows/Series** - Detect episode titles or scene markers
- 🎬 **Any Video** - With consistent text overlays or identifying frames
## 📑 Table of Contents
- [Installation](#-installation)
- [Quick Start](#-quick-start)
- [Thumbnail Extraction](#️-thumbnail-extraction)
- [Common Workflows](#-common-workflows)
- [CLI Options](#️-cli-options)
- [Features](#-features)
- [How It Works](#-how-it-works)
- [Creating Custom Templates](#-creating-custom-templates)
- [Tips & Best Practices](#-tips--best-practices)
- [Contributing](#-contributing)
- [License](#-license)
## 📦 Installation
**Requirements:** Python 3.13 or higher
**Supported Platforms:** Linux • macOS • Windows (tested via CI/CD)
```bash
# Install from PyPI
pip install loups
# Verify installation
loups --help
```
**Note:** If you're using an older Python version, you may need to upgrade:
```bash
# Check your Python version
python --version
# Install with specific Python version if needed
python3.13 -m pip install loups
```
## 🚀 Quick Start
```bash
# 🎬 For Lights Out HB games (uses bundled template)
loups game_video.mp4
```
**Expected output:**
```
🥎 Scanning video for batter at-bats...
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 100% 0:05:23
Found 12 batters:
0:00:00 Game Start
0:01:15 Sarah Johnson #7
0:03:42 Emma Martinez #12
0:05:23 Lily Garcia #9
...
```
**More examples:**
```bash
# 🎨 For any other video (use your own template)
loups -t my_template.png video.mp4
# 💾 Save results to a file for YouTube chapters
loups -o chapters.txt video.mp4
# 🤫 Quiet mode for automation/batch processing
loups -q -o chapters.txt video.mp4
```
**Important:** Options must be specified *before* the video argument.
## 🖼️ Thumbnail Extraction
Loups can automatically extract thumbnails from your videos using SSIM (Structural Similarity Index) matching!
```bash
# Extract thumbnail using default template
loups video.mp4 thumbnail
# Use custom thumbnail template
loups video.mp4 thumbnail --thumbnail-template my_thumb_template.png
# Customize output location
loups video.mp4 thumbnail --thumbnail-output ./thumbnails/game_thumb.jpg
# Fine-tune the matching
loups video.mp4 thumbnail --thumbnail-threshold 0.85 --thumbnail-scan-duration 180
# Extract thumbnail during chapter scanning (options BEFORE video)
loups --extract-thumbnail --thumbnail-output thumb.jpg video.mp4
```
### How Thumbnail Extraction Works
1. **🎯 Template Matching** - Scans video frames from the beginning using SSIM scoring
2. **⚡ First-Match Strategy** - Stops as soon as a frame exceeds the similarity threshold
3. **💾 Automatic Saving** - Saves the matched frame as a JPEG thumbnail
4. **⏱️ Configurable Duration** - Only scans the first N seconds (default: 120s)
**Key Features:**
- 🎯 **SSIM-based matching** - More accurate than simple template matching
- ⚡ **Efficient scanning** - Stops at first match, doesn't scan entire video
- 🎨 **Default template support** - Include `thumbnail_template.png` in package data
- 🔧 **Highly configurable** - Control threshold, scan duration, and frame sampling
**Options:**
- `--thumbnail-template` - Path to template image (uses default if not specified)
- `--thumbnail-output` - Where to save thumbnail (default: `-thumbnail.jpg` in current directory)
- `--thumbnail-threshold` - Minimum SSIM score (0.0-1.0, default: 0.35)
- `--thumbnail-scan-duration` - Max seconds to scan from start (default: 120)
- `--thumbnail-frames-per-second` - Frame sampling rate (default: 3)
## 📋 Common Workflows
### 📹 Creating YouTube Chapters
```bash
# Scan video and save chapters for YouTube description
loups -o youtube_chapters.txt my_video.mp4
# Copy the contents of youtube_chapters.txt to your video description!
```
### 🎨 Using Custom Templates
```bash
# Step 1: Create a template from a clear frame
# (Screenshot the text/overlay you want to detect)
# Step 2: Use your template
loups -t my_custom_template.png -o chapters.txt video.mp4
```
### 🔧 Troubleshooting with Logs
```bash
# Enable logging to debug detection issues
loups --log video.mp4
# Use custom log location with debug level
loups --log /path/to/debug.log --debug video.mp4
```
### 🤖 Automation & Batch Processing
```bash
# Process multiple videos quietly
loups -q -o video1_chapters.txt video1.mp4
loups -q -o video2_chapters.txt video2.mp4
loups -q -o video3_chapters.txt video3.mp4
```
### 🖼️ Creating Thumbnails for YouTube
```bash
# Extract thumbnail with chapters in one command
loups -o chapters.txt --extract-thumbnail --thumbnail-output thumbnail.jpg game_video.mp4
# Or extract thumbnail separately
loups game_video.mp4 thumbnail --thumbnail-template title_screen.png
# Batch thumbnail extraction
loups video1.mp4 thumbnail --thumbnail-output vid1_thumb.jpg
loups video2.mp4 thumbnail --thumbnail-output vid2_thumb.jpg
loups video3.mp4 thumbnail --thumbnail-output vid3_thumb.jpg
```
## ⚙️ CLI Options
**Command Structure:**
- Default scanning: `loups [OPTIONS] VIDEO` - Options must come BEFORE the video path
- Thumbnail extraction: `loups VIDEO thumbnail [OPTIONS]` - Thumbnail options come AFTER the subcommand
### Main Command: `loups [OPTIONS] VIDEO`
Scan video for chapters (batter at-bats or any detected frames).
**Required Arguments:**
| Argument | Description |
|----------|-------------|
| `VIDEO` | 🎥 Path to the video file to scan (must come AFTER options) |
**Optional Flags:**
| Flag | Short | Description |
|------|-------|-------------|
| `--template PATH` | `-t` | 🎨 Path to template image for detection
• Defaults to bundled Lights Out HB template
• Provide your own for any video content |
| `--output PATH` | `-o` | 💾 Save results to file in YouTube chapter format |
| `--log [PATH]` | `-l` | 📝 Enable logging (defaults to `loups.log`, or specify custom path)
• Rotates at 10MB
• Keeps 3 backup files |
| `--quiet` | `-q` | 🤫 Suppress progress display (errors still shown) |
| `--debug` | `-d` | 🔍 Enable DEBUG level logging (requires `--log`) |
| `--extract-thumbnail` | | 🖼️ Extract thumbnail during chapter scan |
| `--thumbnail-template PATH` | | 🎨 Path to thumbnail template (optional) |
| `--thumbnail-output PATH` | | 💾 Thumbnail save location (default: `-thumbnail.jpg`) |
| `--thumbnail-threshold FLOAT` | | 🎯 SSIM threshold 0.0-1.0 (default: 0.35) |
| `--thumbnail-scan-duration INT` | | ⏱️ Max seconds to scan for thumbnail (default: 120) |
| `--thumbnail-frames-per-second INT` | | 📊 Frame sampling rate (default: 3) |
### Thumbnail Command: `loups VIDEO thumbnail [OPTIONS]`
Extract thumbnail from video using SSIM-based template matching.
**Required Arguments:**
| Argument | Description |
|----------|-------------|
| `VIDEO` | 🎥 Path to the video file (comes BEFORE the `thumbnail` subcommand) |
**Optional Flags:**
| Flag | Description |
|------|-------------|
| `--thumbnail-template PATH` | 🎨 Path to thumbnail template (defaults to bundled template) |
| `--thumbnail-output PATH` | 💾 Output path (default: `-thumbnail.jpg` in cwd) |
| `--thumbnail-threshold FLOAT` | 🎯 Minimum SSIM score 0.0-1.0 (default: 0.35) |
| `--thumbnail-scan-duration INT` | ⏱️ Max seconds to scan from start (default: 120) |
| `--thumbnail-frames-per-second INT` | 📊 Frame sampling rate (default: 3) |
| `--quiet` | 🤫 Suppress output |
## ⭐ Features
### 🎯 Core Features
- 🥎 **Animated Progress Display** - Real-time scanning with fun animations
- 🔍 **Template Matching** - Detects specific frames using image templates
- 📝 **OCR Text Extraction** - Reads text from matched frames to create chapter titles
- 📺 **YouTube-Ready Output** - Generates properly formatted chapter timestamps
- 🖼️ **Thumbnail Extraction** - SSIM-based automatic thumbnail extraction
- 🎨 **Universal Custom Templates** - Works with ANY video content
- 🏆 **Bundled Templates** - Ready to use with Lights Out HB fastpitch games
### 🛠️ Technical Features
- 📝 **Optional Logging** - File logging with automatic rotation (10MB, 3 backups)
- 🔧 **Debug Mode** - Detailed logs for troubleshooting
- 🤫 **Quiet Mode** - Perfect for automation and scripting
- ⚡ **Efficient Processing** - Optimized video frame analysis
- 🎯 **Smart OCR** - Confidence-based text extraction with filtering
- 🔄 **Smart Text Sorting** - Left-to-right ordering of OCR results
## 📚 How It Works
Loups processes your video in several steps to create YouTube chapters:
1. **🔍 Template Matching** - Scans video frames looking for your template image
- The template acts as a "trigger" that identifies frames of interest
- When a match is found, Loups knows this frame contains information to extract
2. **📝 OCR Text Extraction** - On each matched frame, OCR reads the visible text
- Extracts all text from the matched region (names, numbers, titles, etc.)
- Applies confidence filtering to ensure accuracy
- Sorts text elements left-to-right for proper ordering
3. **⏱️ Chapter Title & Timestamp** - Combines the extracted text with video timestamp
- Creates a chapter entry like: `0:05:23 John Smith #12`
- Each detection becomes a new YouTube chapter marker
4. **💾 YouTube Format Output** - Exports chapters in YouTube-ready format
- Copy and paste directly into your video description
- Format: `HH:MM:SS Chapter Title`
**Example:**
```
0:00:00 Game Start
0:05:23 Sarah Johnson #7
0:08:45 Emma Martinez #12
0:12:30 Lily Garcia #9
```
## 🎨 Creating Custom Templates
Loups works with any video - just provide a template!
1. **Find a clear frame** - Pause your video where the text/overlay is visible
2. **Take a screenshot** - Capture the region you want to detect
3. **Crop the template** - Include the area where text appears
4. **Use it** - `loups -t my_template.png video.mp4`
**Tips for good templates:**
- ✅ Clear, high-contrast text
- ✅ Consistent position throughout video
- ✅ No motion blur or partial occlusion
- ✅ Crop tightly around the target region
**Example use cases:**
- 🎮 Game mode indicators or level titles
- 🎓 Speaker name overlays in lectures
- 📺 Episode titles or scene markers
- 🏆 Scoreboard player names (original use case)
- 🎵 Song title overlays in music videos
- 📰 News segment titles or chyrons
## 💡 Tips & Best Practices
### 🎯 For Best Results
- ✅ Use high-quality video recordings (720p or higher recommended)
- ✅ Ensure your template region is consistently visible throughout the video
- ✅ Steady lighting/contrast improves OCR accuracy
- ✅ Test on a short clip before processing full videos
- ✅ The text in matched frames becomes your chapter titles - ensure it's readable!
### 🔧 Troubleshooting
#### Common Issues
**Python Version Errors**
- **Error:** `ModuleNotFoundError` or `SyntaxError` during installation
- **Solution:** Loups requires Python 3.13+. Check your version with `python --version` and upgrade if needed
**First Run is Slow**
- **Behavior:** First execution takes several minutes to start
- **Why:** EasyOCR automatically downloads OCR models (~100MB) on first run
- **Solution:** This is normal! Subsequent runs will be much faster. Be patient during the initial setup.
**Detection Issues**
- **Missed detections?** Enable `--log --debug` to see template matches and OCR results
- **Wrong text extracted?** Your template might be too large or including unwanted regions
- **False positives?** Consider cropping your template more tightly around the identifying region
- **Template not matching?** Ensure the template exactly matches the video frames (size, position, quality)
**OCR Issues**
- **Names in wrong order?** OCR results are automatically sorted left-to-right
- **Blank chapter titles?** OCR confidence might be too low - check logs with `--debug`
- **Garbled text?** Improve video quality or use a clearer template region
**Video Codec Issues**
- **Error:** `cv2.error` or video won't open
- **Solution:** Some video formats require additional codecs. Try converting to MP4 (H.264) format
## 🤝 Contributing
Contributions are welcome! Whether it's:
- 🐛 Bug reports
- 💡 Feature suggestions
- 📝 Documentation improvements
- 🔧 Code contributions
- 🎨 Sharing interesting use cases and templates
Please open an issue or pull request on GitHub.
## 📄 License
This project is licensed under the MIT License.
## 🙏 Acknowledgments
Originally created for Lights Out HB fastpitch softball coverage, now a flexible tool for any video content creator!
---
Made with ❤️ for content creators 🎬