🌟 Summary

The update to version 8.3.34 focuses on improving prediction reliability in the FastSAM model and enhances various internal systems to optimize workflows and accuracy. 🚀

📊 Key Changes

• 🛠️ Enhanced FastSAM model's prompt method to handle cases with empty predictions effectively.
• 🔧 Updated GitHub Actions to use uv for dependency installation, reducing potential Python packaging issues.
• 📋 Improved project name handling in training setups to fix issues with special characters, ensuring compatibility with systems like W&B.
• 🔄 Revised v8_transforms function with better hyperparameter handling using Namespace.
• 🚀 Enhanced dataset configuration for RT-DETR with new parameters like fraction, single_cls, and classes to better align with YOLO dataset management.
• 📈 Refined object counting method in heatmaps to use centroids instead of bounding boxes for improved accuracy.

🎯 Purpose & Impact

• ✅ Reliable Predictions: The FastSAM model update helps avoid errors during inference when some results are empty, making the prediction process more robust.
• 💡 Streamlined Workflows: Switching to uv in GitHub Actions enhances dependency management and ensures smoother continuous integration.
• 🗄️ Project Naming Flexibility: By reformatting project names, users will face fewer naming issues, particularly when integrating with various external systems.
• 📊 Improved Handling of Hyperparameters: Developers benefit from more manageable code and potentially fewer bugs with the new Namespace implementation.
• 🎯 Enhanced Customization: The dataset improvements allow users more control over the training process, focusing on specific classes and data subsets for faster experiments.
• 👁️‍🗨️ Better Object Tracking: The refined object counting mechanism boosts the precision of tracking, enhancing analytics accuracy which can significantly improve object detection applications.

What's Changed

• Update Actions with uv installs by @glenn-jocher in https://github.com/ultralytics/ultralytics/pull/17620
• Fix v8_transforms docstring example by @Y-T-G in https://github.com/ultralytics/ultralytics/pull/17630
• Fix W&B project name separator compatibility by @ArcPen in https://github.com/ultralytics/ultralytics/pull/17627
• Update Slack usage to v2 by @glenn-jocher in https://github.com/ultralytics/ultralytics/pull/17631
• Add fraction, single_cls and classes to RTDETRDataset by @Y-T-G in https://github.com/ultralytics/ultralytics/pull/17633
• Heatmaps bug fix by @RizwanMunawar in https://github.com/ultralytics/ultralytics/pull/17634
• ultralytics 8.3.34 FastSAM non-detection fix by @petercham in https://github.com/ultralytics/ultralytics/pull/17628

New Contributors

• @ArcPen made their first contribution in https://github.com/ultralytics/ultralytics/pull/17627
• @petercham made their first contribution in https://github.com/ultralytics/ultralytics/pull/17628

Full Changelog: https://github.com/ultralytics/ultralytics/compare/v8.3.33...v8.3.34