About memory management in OpenCV

Question

I'm sorry if this may seem like a silly question... I've a doubt about cvLoadImage in OpenCV:

IplImage *frame;
for (unsigned int i = 0; i < LENGTH; i++)
{
    frame = cvLoadImage(filename.c_str());  
    // do something...
}

For each call of cvLoadImage is a new IplImage stored in memory? Is the old variable pointed by frame released from heap after the override?

Furthermore, when I try to release an image as follow...

IplImage *frame;
for (unsigned int i = 0; i < LENGTH; i++)
{
    if (frame != NULL)
        cvReleaseImage(&frame);

    frame = cvLoadImage(filename.c_str());  
    // do something...
}

Why doesn't this solution work (bad memory access)? Best regards, Vi.

Answer 1

Yes, memory allocated by cvLoadImage. Error appears because you not initialized frame in the beginning. It must be initialized by zero, or NULL.