AngleForge: consistent image angles with Qwen Image Edit

AngleForge re-renders your images from new camera angles using the Qwen Image Edit multi-angle model, so you can turn inconsistent real-world captures into a visually consistent dataset (for example, a cubes dataset normalized to a camera-aligned 45° viewpoint). It ships two ways:

A public Hugging Face Space you can use interactively or call as an API (great for robotic-arm capture rigs).
An Edge Impulse custom synthetic data block that normalises the images already in your project to a single, consistent angle — the source is public at github.com/edgeimpulse/AngleForge.

This integration is part of the broader Edge Impulse on Hugging Face landing page, which collects impulses running in WebAssembly (WASM) alongside dataset generators like this one.

Why normalise camera angles?

When you collect training images by hand — phones, webcams, a robotic-arm camera, different operators — the same object shows up at wildly different viewpoints. That variation is often noise, not signal: for a fixed inspection station you really want every sample from the same canonical angle so the model learns the object (for example, cube faces), not the camera pose. AngleForge uses Qwen Image Edit to re-photograph each object from a chosen viewpoint. You can:

Normalise an existing dataset to one consistent angle (the Edge Impulse block).
Expand one capture into many viewpoints to bootstrap perception before you have real data (the Space’s grab_viewpoints API).

This pattern is not just for one demo. It is a practical data-engineering step you can apply before training: normalize viewpoint, reduce capture bias, and align your dataset to the real camera geometry used in production.

AngleForge runs the real Qwen Image Edit model on Hugging Face ZeroGPU, so neither the Space nor the Edge Impulse block needs a local GPU. The model stack is Qwen/Qwen-Image-Edit-2509 with the linoyts/Qwen-Image-Edit-Rapid-AIO transformer and the dx8152/Qwen-Edit-2509-Multiple-angles LoRA.

How the Edge Impulse block works

The AngleForge block is a custom synthetic data block running in standalone mode. For every image already in your project it lists the sample, downloads it, sends it to the AngleForge Space for the target angle, and uploads the re-rendered copy back through the Ingestion API so it previews on the Synthetic data tab. Your original samples are never modified. Normalised copies are added with a generated_by=angleforge metadata tag and a label.angle_<angle>.<id>.png filename so they are easy to find or remove later.

Prerequisites

An Edge Impulse account. Custom synthetic data blocks are an Enterprise feature — start a free trial if needed.
A project with some images already uploaded (the block normalises what is there — see Object detection or Image classification to get started).
The Edge Impulse CLI installed (edge-impulse-blocks).
Docker installed if you want to test the block locally.
Optional: a Hugging Face account and token — only needed if you duplicate the Space and make your copy private.

Part 1 — Try AngleForge in the Space

Before wiring it into Edge Impulse, get a feel for the model in the Space.

Quick cubes example

If you are following the same setup as the blog post, use a conveyor-belt cubes workflow:

Capture a handful of cube photos from mixed viewpoints.
In AngleForge, choose a 45° target (for example rotate_left_45) to match your robotic-arm camera.
Generate normalized views and confirm the cube orientation is consistent.
Upload to Edge Impulse and train with the cleaner 45°-normalized set.

This gives you a direct before/after comparison of “mixed camera angles” vs “normalized 45° cubes”.

Grab viewpoints (UI)
Build a dataset (UI)
Robotic-arm API

Open the 🤖 Grab viewpoints tab.
Upload one source image.
Pick one or more angles (top-down, bird’s-eye, rotations, close-up, …).
Click Grab viewpoints and review the gallery.

Screenshot placeholder: add a capture of the Grab viewpoints tab once assets are finalized.

Open the 🗂️ Build dataset tab.
Add one or more classes (a label plus its source images).
Choose the angles and augmentations, then click Build dataset.
Optionally push the result to a Hugging Face dataset repo and/or upload it straight to your Edge Impulse project, then download the zip.

Screenshot placeholder: add a capture of the Build dataset tab using your cube sample set.

A capture rig (or any script) can pull a series of viewpoints per object using the gradio_client:

from gradio_client import Client, handle_file

client = Client("eoinedge/angleforge")  # add hf_token=... for a private Space
views = client.predict(
  handle_file("cube.jpg"),
    ["rotate_left_45", "top_down", "birds_eye", "close_up"],
    1234,   # seed
    512,    # image size (longest side)
    "",     # HF token for the Space's serverless backend (unused on ZeroGPU)
    api_name="/grab_viewpoints",
)
# `views` is a list of generated viewpoint images the arm can save into a dataset.

Part 2 — Add the synthetic data block to Edge Impulse

1. Get the block source

git clone https://github.com/edgeimpulse/AngleForge.git
cd AngleForge

The repository contains everything the block needs:

File	Purpose
`transform.py`	Lists, downloads, re-renders, and re-uploads your images.
`parameters.json`	Declares the block type (`synthetic-data`) and its UI parameters.
`Dockerfile`	`python:3.11-slim` image with Pillow’s runtime libs.
`requirements.txt`	`gradio_client`, `requests`, `pillow`.

2. Review the parameters

The block exposes these options on the Synthetic data tab (from parameters.json):

Parameter	Description
Angle preset	Target angle every source image is re-rendered to: `top_down`, `birds_eye`, `worms_eye`, `rotate_left_45/90`, `rotate_right_45/90`, `close_up`, `wide_angle`, `move_left/right/forward/down`.
AngleForge Space	Hugging Face Space id running the model (default `eoinedge/angleforge`).
Hugging Face token	Secret. Only needed if you point the block at a private Space copy.
Output image size	Longest side of the normalised image, in pixels (default `512`).
Source category	Which existing images to normalise: `training`, `testing`, or `all`.
Upload to category	Where results go: `same` as source, `split` 80/20, `training`, or `testing`.
Only these labels	Optional comma-separated label filter (blank = all).
Max images	Cap the number of images processed (`0` = no limit).
Seed	Generation seed for reproducible renders.

Edge Impulse automatically passes --synthetic-data-job-id to the block. transform.py forwards it as the x-synthetic-data-job-id header on every upload, which is what makes the generated samples preview live on the Synthetic data tab.

3. (Optional) Test the block locally

Synthetic data blocks are not supported by edge-impulse-blocks runner, so build and run the container directly. Use a project that already has a few images and pass the values Edge Impulse would normally inject:

Set the environment variables in your shell instead of pasting keys into commands or source control. Find your keys in Dashboard → Keys in Edge Impulse Studio.

docker build -t angleforge-synthetic .

docker run --rm \
  -e EI_PROJECT_ID="$EI_PROJECT_ID" \
  -e EI_PROJECT_API_KEY="$EI_PROJECT_API_KEY" \
  -e EI_API_ENDPOINT="https://studio.edgeimpulse.com/v1" \
  -e EI_INGESTION_HOST="edgeimpulse.com" \
  angleforge-synthetic \
  --synthetic-data-job-id 0 \
  --angle rotate_left_45 --source-category training --upload-category training \
  --max-samples 3

You should see three of your training images (for example, cube samples) re-rendered at 45° and uploaded back to the project.

4. Push the block to Edge Impulse

From the repository folder, initialize and push:

edge-impulse-blocks init      # when prompted, choose: Synthetic data block
edge-impulse-blocks push

The Hugging Face token is exposed as a secret parameter and can be left blank for the public Space.

5. Run it from the Synthetic data tab

Open your project and go to Data acquisition → Synthetic data.
Select the AngleForge block.
Choose your Angle preset (for example, rotate_left_45 to match a downward-angled robotic arm), the Source and Upload categories, and optionally a label filter or Max images while you test.
Click Generate data and watch the previews appear.

Screenshot placeholder: add a capture of an active Synthetic data run (with live previews).

6. Verify the normalised data

Go to Data acquisition and filter for the new samples (their filenames start with label.angle_<angle>.). Confirm the angle is consistent and the labels carried over, then retrain your impulse on the cleaner, consistent dataset.

Screenshot placeholder: add a capture of the normalized samples in Data acquisition.

Tips and best practices

Start small. Use Max images and a label filter to validate the look on a handful of samples before running the whole dataset.
Keep originals as a fallback. The block never edits your source samples, so you can compare models trained on raw vs. normalised data.
Pick one canonical angle per project. Match the production camera geometry first. If your arm camera sits at ~45° over a conveyor belt, normalize to rotate_left_45/rotate_right_45; use top_down when the real camera is truly overhead.
Validate against reality. Synthetic viewpoints are a great bootstrap, but confirm with real captures from your device’s own camera before deploying.
Mind the licenses. AngleForge is CC BY 4.0; verify your use of the underlying Qwen models complies with their licenses.

Troubleshooting

“This endpoint requires a project API Key” The Studio read endpoints reject organization keys. The block uses EI_PROJECT_API_KEY for both reading and ingestion — make sure a project key is set. No images processed Check that the Source category actually contains images, and that your label filter matches existing labels. The block only sees image data. Space is slow or busy ZeroGPU is shared. Re-run, lower the Output image size, or duplicate the Space onto your own hardware and point the AngleForge Space parameter at your copy. Private Space copy If you duplicated the Space and made it private, paste a Hugging Face token into the block’s Hugging Face token secret so it can authenticate.

Next steps

With a consistent dataset, build and deploy a model:

Image classification
Detect objects with bounding boxes
Detect objects with centroids (FOMO)
Custom synthetic data blocks — build your own generator

OVERVIEW

END-TO-END

TOPICS

TOOLS

INTEGRATIONS

AngleForge: consistent image angles with Qwen Image Edit

Why normalise camera angles?

How the Edge Impulse block works

Prerequisites

Part 1 — Try AngleForge in the Space

Quick cubes example

Part 2 — Add the synthetic data block to Edge Impulse

1. Get the block source

2. Review the parameters

3. (Optional) Test the block locally

4. Push the block to Edge Impulse

5. Run it from the Synthetic data tab

6. Verify the normalised data

Tips and best practices

Troubleshooting

Next steps

Additional resources

​Why normalise camera angles?

​How the Edge Impulse block works

​Prerequisites

​Part 1 — Try AngleForge in the Space

​Quick cubes example

​Part 2 — Add the synthetic data block to Edge Impulse

​1. Get the block source

​2. Review the parameters

​3. (Optional) Test the block locally

​4. Push the block to Edge Impulse

​5. Run it from the Synthetic data tab

​6. Verify the normalised data

​Tips and best practices

​Troubleshooting

​Next steps

​Additional resources

Why normalise camera angles?

How the Edge Impulse block works

Prerequisites

Part 1 — Try AngleForge in the Space

Quick cubes example

Part 2 — Add the synthetic data block to Edge Impulse

1. Get the block source

2. Review the parameters

3. (Optional) Test the block locally

4. Push the block to Edge Impulse

5. Run it from the Synthetic data tab

6. Verify the normalised data

Tips and best practices

Troubleshooting

Next steps

Additional resources