These instructions explain how to use VLFeat from MATLAB.

Download and unpack the latest VLFeat binary distribution in a directory of your choice (e.g. ~/src/vlfeat). Let VLFEATROOT denote this directory.

VLFeat must be added to MATLAB search path by running the vl_setup command found in the VLFEATROOT/toolbox directory. From MATLAB prompt enter

> cd VLFEATROOT
> cd toolbox
> vl_setup

To avoid name conflicts with other MATLAB commands, all VLFeat commands start with the vl_ prefix (for instance the SIFT feature extractor command is called vl_sift). The prefix can be omitted by calling vl_setup('noprefix') instead.

vl_setup alters the search path for the current MATLAB session only (it does not save the changes). To make the change permanent, add the following fragment to your startup.m file:

p=pwd ;
cd VLFEATROOT ;
cd toolbox ;
vl_setup ;
cd(p) ;
clear p

Alternatively, you can use the savepath command to save the updated search paths.

All commands embed interface documentation that can be viewed with the builtin help command (e.g. help vl_sift).