title: Totally Lost on "Installing" OpenCV / ctypes-opencv for Python 3
body: <h1>edit: The <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/a/30686689/377366">real solution</a> to this is now that OpenCV supports python 3. I'm leaving the details below for anyone who happens to be stuck with an old setup.</h1>
  
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  <p>I'm trying to get <a href="http://opencv.willowgarage.com/wiki/Welcome" rel="nofollow noreferrer">OpenCV</a> working with Python 3. A friend showed me <a href="http://code.google.com/p/ctypes-opencv/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">ctypes-opencv</a> that appears to work with Python 3. The problem is I totally can not figure out how to "install" or get any code working. I've followed all instructions I could find from a few people mentioning installs on google and none of those seemed to work or I couldn't even get through the basics that they mentioned.</p>
  
  <p>I am just hacking around with the version of IDLE that came with Python 3. No IDE.</p>
  
  <p><strong>Start with OpenCV:</strong></p>
  
  <p>The only <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/opencvlibrary/files/opencv-win/2.1/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">windows installer for OpenCV 2.1</a> is a visual studio installer. I assume that means that it installs files that make it easier to use in Visual Studio. <strong><em>However, does it also mean that I can't use that installer with Python 3?</em></strong> I tried the vs installer together with ctypes-opencv as below, and I got errors that the dlls were not in my path (but my path variable did include the OpenCV bin folder with dlls). <em>Is this the wrong direction?</em></p>
  
  <p>The apparent alternative is to build OpenCV myself. I tried following the <a href="http://opencv.willowgarage.com/wiki/InstallGuide" rel="nofollow noreferrer">directions here</a> and all I get is "project files may be invalid" from the CMake gui application when pressing the "Configure" button. Same when following <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2179222/how-to-install-opencv-2-0-on-win32">these hints from Stack Overflow</a>. I'm suspicious that this is also the wrong direction since I am not currently using any of the tools that are listed in the CMake configure. <em>Is this also the wrong direction?</em></p>
  
  <p><strong>Next ctypes-opencv:</strong></p>
  
  <p>I installed this and the installer recognizes Python3.1 and puts itself into the site-packages folder. If I try to run demos, it tells me the dlls are not in the path although they are, as mentioned above.</p>
  
  <p><strong>Summary:</strong></p>
  
  <p>I think I generally understand each piece here (code, compile, dll, imports, ...) but I do not know how all the pieces fit together and where I am going wrong. Can someone please tell me what steps or understanding I am missing here?</p>
  
  <p>I get the feeling that I need to be reading a book or two to fill in the holes in my understanding of how all these pieces fit together. I wouldn't even know what area of books to get though so any suggestions there would be appreciated as well.</p>