How cv2.minAreaRect function in OpenCV computes the rotated bounding box (rbbox)?

The cv2.minAreaRect function in OpenCV computes the rotated bounding box (rbbox) of a given set of points, such as the non-zero pixels in a binary mask. This bounding box is the smallest rectangle (in terms of area) that can enclose all the provided points, and it can be rotated to any angle.

Here’s how cv2.minAreaRect computes the rotated bounding box:

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Step-by-Step Explanation

1. Input to cv2.minAreaRect:

   • cv2.minAreaRect accepts a set of points, which can be derived from a binary mask. For a binary mask:
     • Use np.argwhere(mask) or cv2.findNonZero(mask) to extract the coordinates of all non-zero pixels (foreground).
     • These points are passed to cv2.minAreaRect.

   Example:

   points = cv2.findNonZero(mask)  # A binary mask where non-zero pixels represent the object
   

   The input to cv2.minAreaRect is a 2D array of points, where each point is a coordinate (x, y).

2. Convex Hull and Rotating Calipers:

   • Internally, cv2.minAreaRect uses the rotating calipers algorithm to find the smallest enclosing rectangle.
   • The algorithm works as follows:
     1. Compute the convex hull of the