Tensorflow Object Detection API on Windows - error "ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'utils'"

Question

I'm attempting to get the TensorFlow Object Detection API

https://github.com/tensorflow/models/tree/master/research/object_detection

working on Windows by following the install instructions

https://github.com/tensorflow/models/tree/master/research/object_detection

Which seem to be for Linux/Mac. I can only get this to work if I put a script in the directory I cloned the above repo to. If I put the script in any other directory I get this error:

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'utils'

I suspect that the cause is not properly doing the Windows equivalent of this command listed on the install instructions above:

# From tensorflow/models/research/
export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:`pwd`:`pwd`/slim

I'm using Windows 10, Python 3.6, and TensorFlow 1.4.0 if that matters. Of course, I've Googled on this concern and found various links, for example, this:

https://github.com/tensorflow/models/issues/1747

But this has not resolved the concern. Any suggestions on how to resolve this?

Here are the steps I've done so far specifically:

---

EDIT: these steps work now after updating to incorporate RecencyEffect's answer

1) Install TensorFlow and related tools via pip3

2) From an administrative command prompt, run the following:

pip3 install pillow
pip3 install lxml
pip3 install jupyter
pip3 install matplotlib

3) Clone the TensorFlow "models" repository to the Documents folder, in my case

C:\Users\cdahms\Documents\models

4) Downloaded Google Protobuf https://github.com/google/protobuf Windows v3.4.0 release "protoc-3.4.0-win32.zip" (I tried the most current 3.5.1 and got errors on the subsequent steps, so I tried 3.4.0 per this vid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COlbP62-B-U&list=PLQVvvaa0QuDcNK5GeCQnxYnSSaar2tpku&index=1 and the protobuf compile worked)

5) Extract the Protobuf download to Program Files, specifically

"C:\Program Files\protoc-3.4.0-win32"

6) CD into the models\research directory, specifically

cd C:\Users\cdahms\Documents\models\research

7) Executed the protobuf compile, specifically

“C:\Program Files\protoc-3.4.0-win32\bin\protoc.exe” object_detection/protos/*.proto --python_out=.

Navigate to:

C:\Users\cdahms\Documents\models\research\object_detection\protos

and verify the .py files were created successfully as a result of the compile (only the .proto files were there to begin with)

8) cd to the object_detection directory, ex:

cd C:\Users\cdahms\Documents\models\research\object_detection

then enter the following at a command prompt to start the object_detection_tutorial.ipynb Jupyter Notebook

jupyter notebook

9) In the Jupyter Notebook, choose "object_detection_tutorial.ipynb" -> Cell -> Run all, the example should run within the notebook

10) In the Jupyter Notebook, choose “File” -> “Download As” -> “Python”, and save the .py version of the notebook to the same directory, i.e.

C:\Users\cdahms\Documents\models\research\object_detection\object_detection_tutorial.py

You can now open the script in your chosen Python editor (ex. PyCharm) and run it.

---

EDIT per RecencyEffect's answer below, if you follow these additional steps you will be able to run the object_detection_tutorial.py script from any directory

11) Move the script to any other directory, then attempt to run it and you will find you will get the error:

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'utils'

because we have not yet informed Python how to find the utils directory that these lines use:

from utils import label_map_util
from utils import visualization_utils as vis_util

To resolve this . . .

12) Go to System -> Advanced system settings -> Environment Variables . . . -> New, and add a variable with the name PYTHONPATH and these values:

13) Also under Environment Variables, edit PATH and add %PYTHONPATH% like so:

14) Reboot to make sure these path changes take effect

15) Pull up a command prompt and run the command "set", verify PYTHONPATH is there and PYTHONPATH and PATH contained the values from the previous steps.

16) Now you can copy the "object_detection_tutorial.py" to any other directory and it will run

Solution

As mentioned in the comment, utils is a submodule so you actually need to add object_detection to PYTHONPATH, not object_detection/utils.

I'm glad it worked for you.