How do I convert from a CVPixelBufferRef to an openCV cv::Mat

I found the answer in some excellent GitHub source code. I adapted it here for simplicity. It also does the greyscale conversion for me.

CVPixelBufferRef pixelBuffer = CMSampleBufferGetImageBuffer(sampleBuffer);
OSType format = CVPixelBufferGetPixelFormatType(pixelBuffer);

// Set the following dict on AVCaptureVideoDataOutput's videoSettings to get YUV output
// @{ kCVPixelBufferPixelFormatTypeKey : kCVPixelFormatType_420YpCbCr8BiPlanarFullRange }

NSAssert(format == kCVPixelFormatType_420YpCbCr8BiPlanarFullRange, @"Only YUV is supported");

// The first plane / channel (at index 0) is the grayscale plane
// See more infomation about the YUV format
// http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YUV
CVPixelBufferLockBaseAddress(pixelBuffer, 0);
void *baseaddress = CVPixelBufferGetBaseAddressOfPlane(pixelBuffer, 0);

CGFloat width = CVPixelBufferGetWidth(pixelBuffer);
CGFloat height = CVPixelBufferGetHeight(pixelBuffer);

cv::Mat mat(height, width, CV_8UC1, baseaddress, 0);

// Use the mat here

CVPixelBufferUnlockBaseAddress(pixelBuffer, 0);

I am thinking that the best order will be:

1. Convert to grayscale (since it is done almost automatically)
2. Crop (this should be a fast operation and will reduce the number of pixels to work with)
3. Scale down
4. Equalize the histogram

I'm using this. My cv:Mat is configured BGR(8UC3) colorFormat.

CVImageBufferRef -> cv::Mat

- (cv::Mat) matFromImageBuffer: (CVImageBufferRef) buffer {

    cv::Mat mat ;

    CVPixelBufferLockBaseAddress(buffer, 0);

    void *address = CVPixelBufferGetBaseAddress(buffer);
    int width = (int) CVPixelBufferGetWidth(buffer);
    int height = (int) CVPixelBufferGetHeight(buffer);

    mat   = cv::Mat(height, width, CV_8UC4, address, 0);
    //cv::cvtColor(mat, _mat, CV_BGRA2BGR);

    CVPixelBufferUnlockBaseAddress(buffer, 0);

    return mat;
}

cv::Mat -> CVImageBufferRef (CVPixelBufferRef)

- (CVImageBufferRef) getImageBufferFromMat: (cv::Mat) mat {

    cv::cvtColor(mat, mat, CV_BGR2BGRA);

    int width = mat.cols;
    int height = mat.rows;

    NSDictionary *options = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys:
                             // [NSNumber numberWithBool:YES], kCVPixelBufferCGImageCompatibilityKey,
                             // [NSNumber numberWithBool:YES], kCVPixelBufferCGBitmapContextCompatibilityKey,
                             [NSNumber numberWithInt:width], kCVPixelBufferWidthKey,
                             [NSNumber numberWithInt:height], kCVPixelBufferHeightKey,
                             nil];

    CVPixelBufferRef imageBuffer;
    CVReturn status = CVPixelBufferCreate(kCFAllocatorMalloc, width, height, kCVPixelFormatType_32BGRA, (CFDictionaryRef) CFBridgingRetain(options), &imageBuffer) ;


    NSParameterAssert(status == kCVReturnSuccess && imageBuffer != NULL);

    CVPixelBufferLockBaseAddress(imageBuffer, 0);
    void *base = CVPixelBufferGetBaseAddress(imageBuffer) ;
    memcpy(base, mat.data, _mat.total()*4);
    CVPixelBufferUnlockBaseAddress(imageBuffer, 0);

    return imageBuffer;
}