examples.rst

Examples

Basics

One screen shot per monitor

for filename in sct.save():
    print(filename)

Screen shot of the monitor 1

filename = sct.shot()
print(filename)

A screen shot to grab them all

filename = sct.shot(mon=-1, output='fullscreen.png')
print(filename)

Callback

Screen shot of the monitor 1 with a callback:

.. literalinclude:: examples/callback.py
    :lines: 8-

Part of the screen

You can capture only a part of the screen:

.. literalinclude:: examples/part_of_screen.py
    :lines: 8-

.. versionadded:: 3.0.0

Part of the screen of the 2nd monitor

This is an example of capturing some part of the screen of the monitor 2:

.. literalinclude:: examples/part_of_screen_monitor_2.py
    :lines: 8-

.. versionadded:: 3.0.0

Use PIL bbox style and percent values

You can use the same value as you would do with PIL.ImageGrab(bbox=tuple(...)). This is an example that uses it, but also using percentage values:

.. literalinclude:: examples/from_pil_tuple.py
    :lines: 8-

.. versionadded:: 3.1.0

PNG Compression

You can tweak the PNG compression level (see :py:func:`zlib.compress()` for details):

sct.compression_level = 2

.. versionadded:: 3.2.0

Advanced

You can handle data using a custom class:

.. literalinclude:: examples/custom_cls_image.py
    :lines: 8-

.. versionadded:: 3.1.0

PIL

You can use the Python Image Library (aka Pillow) to do whatever you want with raw pixels. This is an example using frombytes():

.. literalinclude:: examples/pil.py
    :lines: 8-

.. versionadded:: 3.0.0

Playing with pixels

This is an example using putdata():

.. literalinclude:: examples/pil_pixels.py
    :lines: 8-

.. versionadded:: 3.0.0

OpenCV/Numpy

See how fast you can record the screen. You can easily view a HD movie with VLC and see it too in the OpenCV window. And with __no__ lag please.

.. literalinclude:: examples/opencv_numpy.py
    :lines: 8-

.. versionadded:: 3.0.0

FPS

Benchmark

Simple naive benchmark to compare with Reading game frames in Python with OpenCV - Python Plays GTA V:

.. literalinclude:: examples/fps.py
    :lines: 9-

.. versionadded:: 3.0.0

Multiprocessing

Performances can be improved by delegating the PNG file creation to a specific worker. This is a simple example using the :py:mod:`multiprocessing` inspired by the TensorFlow Object Detection Introduction project:

.. literalinclude:: examples/fps_multiprocessing.py
    :lines: 9-

.. versionadded:: 5.0.0

BGRA to RGB

Different possibilities to convert raw BGRA values to RGB:

def mss_rgb(im):
    """ Better than Numpy versions, but slower than Pillow. """
    return im.rgb


def numpy_flip(im):
    """ Most efficient Numpy version as of now. """
    frame = numpy.array(im, dtype=numpy.uint8)
    return numpy.flip(frame[:, :, :3], 2).tobytes()


def numpy_slice(im):
    """ Slow Numpy version. """
    return numpy.array(im, dtype=numpy.uint8)[..., [2, 1, 0]].tobytes()


def pil_frombytes(im):
    """ Efficient Pillow version. """
    return Image.frombytes('RGB', im.size, im.bgra, 'raw', 'BGRX').tobytes()


with mss.mss() as sct:
    im = sct.grab(sct.monitors[1])
    rgb = pil_frombytes(im)
    ...

.. versionadded:: 3.2.0