Chapter6Thinning

AlgorithmsforImageProcessingandComputerVision,SecondEdition
byJ.R.Parker
JohnWiley&Sons2011Citation

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6.2TheMedialAxisTransform
Notes

Possiblythefirstdefinitionofaskeletonisthatof[Blum,1967]indefiningthemedialaxisfunction(MAF).The
MAFtreatsallboundarypixelsaspointsourcesofawavefront.Eachofthesepixelsexcitesitsneighborswith
adelaytimeproportionaltodistance,sothatthey,too,becomepartofthewavefront.Thewavepassesthrough
eachpointonlyonce,andwhentwowavesmeettheycanceleachother,producingacorner.Themedialaxisis
thelocusofthecorners,andformstheskeleton(Blumsayslineofsymmetry)oftheobject.TheMAFusesboth
timeandspaceinformation,andcanbeinvertedtogivebacktheoriginalpicture.Itispossibletoimplementthis
directly,butitisdifficult:Whatisneededistoconvertthecontinuoustransformtoadiscreteone.Thisinvolves
variousapproximationsinvolvingthedistancefunctiononadiscretegrid.ThisallowstheMAFtobeappliedtoa
rasterimage,forwhichthemedialaxisisnotdefined.
Onewaytofindthemedialaxisistousetheboundaryoftheobject.ForanypointPintheobject,locatethe
closestpointontheboundary.Ifthereismorethanoneboundarypointattheminimumdistance,thenPison
themedialaxis.Thesetofallsuchpointsisthemedialaxisoftheobject.Unfortunately,thismustbedoneata
veryhighresolution,orEuclideandistanceswillnotbeequalwhentheyshouldbe,andskeletalpixelswillbe
missed.
Anapproximationtothemedialaxisonasampledgridismoreeasilyobtainedintwosteps.First,computethe
distancefromeachobjectpixeltothenearestboundarypixel.Thisinvolvescomputingthedistancetoall
boundarypixels.Next,theLaplacianofthedistanceimageiscalculated,andpixelshavinglargevaluesare
thoughttobelongtothemedialaxis.
Thewaythatdistanceismeasuredhasanimpactontheresult,asshowninFigure6.1.Themedialaxiswas
foundforaTshapedobjectusingEuclideandistance,4distance,and8distance.4distancebetweenpixelsA
andBisdefinedtobetheminimumnumberofhorizontalandverticalmovesneededtogetfromAtoB.8
distanceistheminimumnumberofpixelmoves,inanyofthestandardeightdirections,neededtogetfromAto
B.Therearecleardifferencesinthemedialaxisdependingonwhichwaydistanceiscalculated,butanyofthem
couldbeusedasaskeleton.

Figure6.1:Theeffectofthedistancefunctiononthemedialaxis.(a)Medialaxis(above)andskeleton
(below)oftheTshapedobject,using4distance.(b)Medialaxisandskeletoncomputedusing8distance.
(c)ComputedusingEuclideandistance

TheskeletonoftheTproducedbythemedialaxisdoesnothavethesameshapeastheT,nordoesitneedit.
Themainconcerniswhethertheskeletoncharacterizesthebasicshapeoftheobjectsomehow.Ontheother
hand,asimpleexampleexposesafundamentalproblemwiththemedialaxisasaskeleton.Mostpeoplewould
agreethattheskeletonsoftwoobjectsthataresimilartoeachothershould,inturn,besimilar.Figure6.2shows
anobjectthatdiffersfromFigure6.1ainonlyasinglepixelthemedialaxesoftheseobjects,ontheotherhand,
differsubstantially.

Figure6.2:Asinglepixeldifferencebetweentwoobjectscancreatealargedifferenceintheirskeletons.(a)
TheTshapedobject,butwithonelessblackpixel.(b)Theskeletonofthenewobject,quitedifferentfrom
thoseinFigure6.1
MostvisionresearcherswouldagreethatthewaytheMAFisappliedtodiscrete,rasterimagesoftendoesnot
yieldanidealskeleton,andtakestoolongtocompute.Itdoes,however,formthebasisofagreatmanythinning
methods,andinthatregardisaveryimportantconcept.

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