Python tutorial¶

Apart from the CLI, NerfBaselines also provides a Python API that allows you to interact with the methods programmatically. This tutorial will guide you through the process of using the Python API to train a method, evaluate it, and visualize the results.

Open in Colab

Rendering images¶

In this section, we will demonstrate how to render custom images using the Python API. We assume you already have a checkpoint of your model obtained either by downloading the checkpoint from nerfbaselines.github.io, by running the nerfbaselines train command, or by training the method using the Python API shown at the end of this tutorial.

First of all, you need to start the backend and load the checkpoint. There is a utility function nerfbaselines.load_checkpoint() that simplifies this process.

# We use the ExitStack to manage the context managers such that
# we can persist the contexts between cells. This is rarely needed
# in practice, but it is useful for this tutorial.
from contextlib import ExitStack
stack = ExitStack().__enter__()

import pprint
from nerfbaselines import load_checkpoint

# We will load the official gaussian-splatting checkpoint 
# for mipnerf360/bicycle scene. Note, the checkpoint_path 
# can be a local path or a URL, and it can be a path within 
# a zip file. In that case, NerfBaselines will automatically 
# download/extract the file to a temporary directory to 
# load the checkpoint.
checkpoint_path = "https://huggingface.co/nerfbaselines/nerfbaselines/resolve/main/gaussian-splatting/mipnerf360/garden.zip/checkpoint"

# Start the conda backend and load the checkpoint
model, _ = stack.enter_context(load_checkpoint(checkpoint_path, backend="conda"))

# Print model information
pprint.pprint(model.get_info())

After loading the checkpoint, you can interact with the model to render custom images. Rendering is done by calling the render method of the model. The render method takes the following arguments:

camera: A single nerfbaselines.Cameras object which can be created by using nerfbaselines.new_cameras().
options: A dictionary with rendering options. Some of the commonly supported options are:
- embedding: Apperance embedding for the viewpoint (if supported).
- outputs: A tuple of outputs to render. Commonly supported outputs are rgb, depth, accumulation, normal, however, each method can support different outputs. You should call model.get_info()["supported_outputs"] to get the list of supported outputs. Note, that this arguments only gives a hint to the method to render the specified outputs, but the method can decide to render additional outputs or ignore unsupported outputs.
- output_type_dtypes: A dictionary with output types and dtypes. This is usually used to speed up the rendering process by specifying {'color': 'uint8'} which will convert image to uint8 before transmitting it through the communication channel.

The following code snippet demonstrates how to render an image using the loaded model:

from nerfbaselines import new_cameras, camera_model_to_int
import numpy as np
from PIL import Image

# Camera parameters 
# pose: a 3x4 matrix representing the camera pose as camera-to-world transformation
pose = np.array([
    [ 0.981, -0.026,  0.194, -0.463],
    [ 0.08,   0.958, -0.275,  2.936],
    [-0.179,  0.286,  0.941, -3.12 ]], dtype=np.float32)

# Camera intrinsics
fx, fy, cx, cy = 481, 481, 324, 210
# Image resolution
w, h =  648, 420

# Create camera object
camera = new_cameras(
    poses=pose,
    intrinsics=np.array([fx, fy, cx, cy], dtype=np.float32),
    image_sizes=np.array([w, h], dtype=np.int32),
    camera_models=np.array(camera_model_to_int("pinhole"), dtype=np.int32),
)

# Render the image
outputs = model.render(camera=camera, options={"output_type_dtypes": {"color": "uint8"}})

# Display the rendered image
display(Image.fromarray(outputs["color"]))

_images/c9c9eab1968cb8240bd91e78e14c266970e0591ec24b607f508e862d7026b483.png

Training a method¶

To train a method using the Python API, you can either write your own training loop, or use the provided nerfbaselines.training.Trainer class. First we show how training can be done with a custom training loop:

from tqdm import tqdm
from contextlib import ExitStack
from nerfbaselines import backends
from nerfbaselines.datasets import load_dataset
from nerfbaselines import (
    build_method_class,
    get_method_spec,
)
from nerfbaselines.training import (
    get_presets_and_config_overrides,
)

# We will use the "gaussian-splatting" method and "conda" backend
method_name = "gaussian-splatting"
backend = "conda"

# We will write the output to directory "output"
output_path = "output"

# We will use the data from the "mipnerf360/bicycle" scene
data = "external://mipnerf360/bicycle"

# We use the exit stack to simplify the context management
stack = ExitStack().__enter__()

# Prepare the output directory, and mount it if necessary (e.g., for docker backend)
stack.enter_context(backends.mount(output_path, output_path))

# Get the method specification for a registered method
method_spec = get_method_spec(method_name)

# Build the method class and start the backend
method_cls = stack.enter_context(build_method_class(method_spec, backend))

# Load train dataset
# We use the method info to load the required features and supported camera models
method_info = method_cls.get_method_info()
train_dataset = load_dataset(data, 
                             split="train", 
                             features=method_info.get("required_features"),
                             supported_camera_models=method_info.get("supported_camera_models"),
                             load_features=True)
# Load eval dataset
test_dataset = load_dataset(data, 
                            split="test", 
                            features=method_info.get("required_features"),
                            supported_camera_models=method_info.get("supported_camera_models"),
                            load_features=True)

# Each method can specify custom presets and config overrides
# Apply config overrides for the train dataset
presets, config_overrides = get_presets_and_config_overrides(
    method_spec, train_dataset["metadata"])

# Build the method
model = method_cls(
    train_dataset=train_dataset,
    config_overrides=config_overrides,
)

# Training loop
model_info = model.get_info()

# In this example we override the total number of iterations
# to make the training faster
model_info["num_iterations"] = 100

with tqdm(total=model_info["num_iterations"]) as pbar:
    for step in range(model_info["num_iterations"]):
        metrics = model.train_iteration(step)
        pbar.set_postfix({"psnr": f"{metrics['psnr']:.2f}"})
        pbar.update()

# Save the model
model.save("checkpoint")
# Create a minimal nb-info.json file such that the model can be loaded
with open("nb-info.json", "w") as f:
    f.write(f'{{"method": "{method_name}"}}')

# Close the stack. In real code, you should use the context manager
stack.close()

Using Trainer class¶

The Trainer class provides a high-level interface for training a method, and it takes care of loading the dataset, creating the model, and saving the checkpoints. The following code snippet extends the previous example and optimizes the model using the Trainer class.

from contextlib import ExitStack
from nerfbaselines import backends
from nerfbaselines import (
    build_method_class,
)
from nerfbaselines.training import (
    Trainer, 
    Indices, 
    build_logger,
)

# We use the exit stack to simplify the context management
stack = ExitStack().__enter__()

# Prepare the output directory, and mount it if necessary (e.g., for docker backend)
stack.enter_context(backends.mount(output_path, output_path))

# Build the method class and start the backend
method_cls = stack.enter_context(build_method_class(method_spec, backend))

# Build the method
model = method_cls(
    train_dataset=train_dataset,
    config_overrides=config_overrides,
)

# Build the trainer
trainer = Trainer(
    train_dataset=train_dataset,
    test_dataset=test_dataset,
    method=model,
    output=output_path,
    save_iters=Indices.every_iters(10_000, zero=True),  # Save the model every 10k iterations
    eval_few_iters=Indices.every_iters(2_000),  # Eval on few images every 2k iterations
    eval_all_iters=Indices([-1]),  # Eval on all images at the end
    logger=build_logger(("tensorboard",)),  # We will log to tensorboard
    generate_output_artifact=True,
    config_overrides=config_overrides,
    applied_presets=frozenset(presets),
)

# In this example we override the total number of iterations
# to make the training faster
trainer.num_iterations = 100

# Finally, we train the method
trainer.train()

# Close the stack. In real code, you should use the context manager
stack.close()

Show code cell output Hide code cell output

info: Connection accepted, protocol: shm-pickle5-buffers
Loading Training Cameras [22/09 22:15:11]
Loading Test Cameras [22/09 22:15:18]
Number of points at initialisation :  54275 [22/09 22:15:18]
training: 100%|██████████| 100/100 [00:11<00:00, 11.91it/s, train/psnr=14.4304]Rendering all images at step=100: 100%|██████████| 25/25 [00:19<00:00,  1.30it/s]
training: 100%|██████████| 100/100 [00:31<00:00, 11.91it/s, train/psnr=14.4304]{'applied_presets': [],
 'checkpoint_sha256': 'acf027e845ff29e9db9558bd0a1166c87d5a77ca07ddb46f609c68661cb228cc',
 'config_overrides': {},
 'dataset_metadata': {'color_space': 'srgb',
                      'downscale_factor': 4,
                      'evaluation_protocol': 'nerf',
                      'expected_scene_scale': 4.299345,
                      'id': 'mipnerf360',
                      'scene': 'bicycle',
                      'type': 'object-centric',
                      'viewer_initial_pose': array([[-0.948501,  0.055669,  0.311843, -0.329421],
       [-0.316162, -0.227448, -0.921037,  0.961329],
       [ 0.019655, -0.972198,  0.233335, -0.144017]], dtype=float32),
                      'viewer_transform': array([[-0.075102, -0.051249,  0.210046, -0.007215],
       [-0.216097,  0.024916, -0.071186,  0.102799],
       [-0.006926, -0.221673, -0.056562,  0.084124]], dtype=float32)},
 'datetime': '2024-09-22T20:15:59',
 'evaluation_protocol': 'nerf',
 'hparams': {'compute_cov3D_python': False,
             'convert_SHs_python': False,
             'debug': False,
             'densification_interval': 100,
             'densify_from_iter': 500,
             'densify_grad_threshold': 0.0002,
             'densify_until_iter': 15000,
             'feature_lr': 0.0025,
             'iterations': 30000,
             'lambda_dssim': 0.2,
             'opacity_lr': 0.05,
             'opacity_reset_interval': 3000,
             'percent_dense': 0.01,
             'position_lr_delay_mult': 0.01,
             'position_lr_final': 1.6e-06,
             'position_lr_init': 0.00016,
             'position_lr_max_steps': 30000,
             'random_background': False,
             'rotation_lr': 0.001,
             'scale_coords': None,
             'scaling_lr': 0.005,
             'sh_degree': 3,
             'white_background': False},
 'method': 'gaussian-splatting',
 'nb_version': '1.2.3.dev6+geacf155.d20240917',
 'num_iterations': 30000,
 'render_dataset_metadata': {'color_space': 'srgb',
                             'downscale_factor': 4,
                             'evaluation_protocol': 'nerf',
                             'id': 'mipnerf360',
                             'scene': 'bicycle',
                             'type': 'object-centric'},
 'render_datetime': '2024-09-22T20:15:59',
 'render_version': '1.2.3.dev6+geacf155.d20240917',
 'resources_utilization': {'gpu_memory': 3324,
                           'gpu_name': 'NVIDIA A100-SXM4-40GB',
                           'memory': 3774},
 'total_train_time': 8.83263}
evaluating all images at step=100: 100%|██████████| 25/25 [00:19<00:00,  1.26it/s, psnr=18.5846]
hashing predictions: 100%|██████████| 25/25 [00:00<00:00, 236.86it/s]
training: 100%|██████████| 100/100 [00:53<00:00,  1.87it/s, train/psnr=14.4304]
info: Backend worker finished