Azure provides several services that play distinct roles in providing AI vision solutions – for instance, the Azure Computer Vision, Custom Vision, and Face APIs are powerful services tailored for varying vision-related tasks.
In this article, we will explore these different services, contrasting their unique features and use cases, and provide guidelines on how to make the most optimal selection for a given vision solution.
Azure Computer Vision API
Azure Computer Vision provides pre-trained models that developers can use to analyze images and retrieve information. This API can analyze visual content in different ways based on inputs provided by developers. Some features it offers include:
- Analyzing an Image: Provides detailed information about visual content found in an image.
- Generating Thumbnails: Creates a high-quality thumbnail of the original image using smart cropping.
- Optical Character Recognition: Extracts text from an image, recognizing the text and its language.
Azure Computer Vision is ideally suited when dealing with generic image analysis needs, providing straightforward, ready-to-use machine learning models that don’t require training or extensive setup on your part.
Azure Custom Vision Service
Unlike the Computer Vision API that uses pre-trained models, the Azure Custom Vision Service allows developers to build, deploy, and improve custom image classifiers. Experts typically use it when they want to identify particular contents of an image according to specific needs.
Some features offered by Azure Custom Vision Service include:
- Image Classification: Categorizing images into predefined classes.
- Object Detection: Identifying objects in an image and marking their location with bounding boxes.
As the name suggests, the Custom Vision Service is very customizable and can be trained using your dataset to tailor it to specific tasks.
Azure Face API
The Azure Face API is a cognitive service that provides algorithms for detecting, recognizing, and analyzing human faces in images. It includes a few key capabilities:
- Face Detection: Detects faces in an image, also providing attributes like gender, age, and emotion.
- Face Recognition: Identifies previously tagged people in images.
- Face Verification: Compares two faces and verifies whether they belong to the same person.
The Face API is designed specifically to identify and analyze human faces – it’s the right choice if your vision solution involves working with human faces.
Making the Appropriate Selection
Now that we have covered the three services, it is crucial to understand how to choose the right one for your vision solution.
Here’s a quick comparison to guide your selection:
| Features/Capabilities | Computer Vision API | Custom Vision Service | Face API |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-trained models | Yes | No | Yes |
| Custom models | No | Yes | No |
| Image Analysis | Yes | Yes | No |
| Image Classification | No | Yes | No |
| Object Detection | Limited | Yes | Limited to faces |
| Face-related operations | Limited | No | Yes |
The crux of the decision lies in the focus of your solution:
- If you need to detect, recognize, or analyze human faces, the Face API is the most suitable service.
- For general image analysis without the need for customization, the Computer Vision API should serve you well.
- If your solution requires identifying specific image content per your needs, the Custom Vision Service will be the right fit as it lets you build custom classifiers.
In conclusion, the selection of an appropriate service for a vision solution largely depends on the specific requirements and end goals of your AI solution. Azure offers a range of powerful tools interested in creating a vision solution – your understanding of these tools and clarity about the project needs will help make the best selection.
Practice Test
True or False: Azure bot service can be used for face recognition solutions.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Azure bot service is primarily used to build intelligent, serverless bots which helps in connecting with customers and assists in solving their issues. For face recognition solutions, Azure’s Computer Vision service should be used.
Multiple Select: For vision solutions, which of the following services can be used?
- a) Azure bot service
- b) Azure computer vision service
- c) Azure cognitive services
- d) Azure function
Answer: b, c
Explanation: Azure Computer Vision service and Azure Cognitive Services can be used for vision solutions involving image processing and face recognition.
True or False: Custom Vision service is a part of Azure Cognitive Service.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: Custom Vision Service is a cloud-based service within Azure Cognitive Services that can be used to build and refine custom image classifiers, and enables vision solutions.
Single Select: Which service is used for visual content moderation?
- a) Azure Content Moderator
- b) Azure Custom Vision
- c) Azure Cognitive Search
- d) Azure Machine Learning
Answer: a
Explanation: Azure Content Moderator is a cloud service that allows to moderate and filter out potentially offensive or undesirable content from text, image, and video files.
True or False: Azure Cognitive Services provide APIs for computer vision.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: The Azure Cognitive Services provide an array of APIs, SDKs, and services to developers to make their applications more intelligent, engaging, and discoverable. This includes APIs for computer vision.
Single Select: Which service should be used for the optimal vision solution for detecting anomalies in images?
- a) Azure Bot Service
- b) Azure Machine Learning
- c) Custom Vision service
- d) Azure Content Moderator
Answer: c
Explanation: Custom Vision service is used to build custom image classifiers, making it ideal for detecting anomalies in images.
True or False: Azure Bot Service is used to create intelligent, serverless bots to connect with customers.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: Azure bot service is an integrated environment that is purpose-built for bot development, enabling you to build, connect, test, deploy, and manage intelligent bots using a comprehensive framework.
Single Select: The service used for implementing visual features like tagging images and detecting faces is known as?
- a) Azure Computer Vision
- b) Azure Custom Vision
- c) Azure Bot Service
- d) Azure Machine Learning
Answer: a
Explanation: Azure Computer Vision is a cloud-based service within Azure Cognitive Services that provides developers with access to advanced algorithms for processing images and returning visual features.
Multiple Select: Azure Form Recognizer is a part of which services?
- a) Azure Bot Services
- b) Azure Machine Learning
- c) Azure Cognitive Services
- d) Azure Logic Apps
Answer: c
Explanation: Azure Form Recognizer is a part of Azure’s Cognitive Services. It uses machine learning technology to identify and extract text, key/value pairs and tables from documents.
True or False: Azure Content Moderator should be used for filtering out potentially offensive or undesirable content.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: Azure Content Moderator is a cloud service that allows to moderate and filter out potentially offensive or undesirable content from text, image, and video files.
Single Select: Which of the following services is not a part of Azure’s cognitive services?
- a) Azure Speech to Text
- b) Azure Computer Vision Service
- c) Azure Text Analytics
- d) Azure Bot service
Answer: d
Explanation: Although Azure Bot Service can be combined with Cognitive Services to build intelligent bot, it’s not a part of Azure’s Cognitive Services.
Interview Questions
What service should be used in Microsoft Azure to extract visual features from images?
The service to be used in Microsoft Azure to extract visual features from images is the Computer Vision API.
Which service in Azure would you use for optical character recognition (OCR)?
The Read API in Azure’s Computer Vision service is used for optical character recognition.
If you want to implement a service that categorizes images into thousands of predefined categories, which Azure service can help?
The Image Classification feature of the Computer Vision API in Azure can categorize images into thousands of predefined categories.
Which Azure service is most appropriate for detecting and recognizing faces in images?
The Face API Service is the most appropriate for detecting and recognizing faces in images on Azure.
What vision solution in Azure is used to detect emotions in images?
The Face API in Azure is used to detect emotions in images.
What service provides you with the ability to extract printed and handwritten text from images and documents in Azure?
The Read API, which is part of Azure’s Computer Vision service, provides the ability to extract printed and handwritten text from images and documents.
Which Azure service is capable of identifying objects and actions in videos?
The Video Indexer in Azure’s Media Services is capable of identifying objects and actions in videos.
What does Azure Form Recognizer do?
Azure Form Recognizer applies machine learning technology to identify and extract key-value pairs and table data from form documents.
For embedding vision AI capabilities in applications and robots, which Azure service is recommended?
Azure Custom Vision is recommended for embedding vision AI capabilities in applications and robots.
If you want to develop a model capable of detecting products in a store shelf image, which Azure service can help you in this?
The Custom Vision service in Azure can aid in developing a model to detect products in store shelf images.
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