Image Processing

Point Processing
Filters
Dithering
Image Compositing
Image Compression

Images
Image stored in memory as 2D pixel array
Value of each pixel controls color
Depth of image is information per pixel
1 bit: black and white display
8 bit: 256 colors at any given time via colormap
16 bit: 5, 6, 5 bits (R,G,B), 2
16
= 65,536 colors
24 bit: 8, 8, 8 bits (R,G,B), 2
24
= 16,777,216 colors
Fewer Bits: Colormaps
Colormaps typical for 8 bit framebuffer depth
With screen 1024 * 768 = 786432 = 0.75 MB
Each pixel value is index into colormap
Colormap is array of RGB values, 8 bits each
Only 2
8
= 256 at a time
Poor approximation of full color
i
R G B
0
1
2
255
R G B
R G B
255 0 0
Image Processing
2D generalization of signal processing
Image as a two-dimensional signal
Point processing: modify pixels independently
Filtering: modify based on neighborhood
Compositing: combine several images
Image compression: space-efficient formats
Related topics (not in this lecture or this course)
Image enhancement and restoration
Computer vision
Outline
Point Processing
Filters
Dithering
Image Compositing
Image Compression
Point Processing
Input: a[x,y], Output b[x,y] = f(a[x,y])
f transforms each pixel value separately
Useful for contrast adjustment

Suppose our picture is grayscale (a.k.a. monochrome).
Let v denote pixel value, suppose its in the range [0,1].

f(v) = v identity; no change

f(v) = 1-v negate an image
(black to white, white to black)

f(v) = v
p
, p<1 brighten

f(v) = v
p
, p>1 darken
v
f(v)
Point Processing

f(v) = v identity; no change



f(v) = 1-v negate an image
(black to white, white to black)



f(v) = v
p
, p<1 brighten


f(v) = v
p
, p>1 darken
v
f(v)
Gamma correction compensates for
different monitors
I = 1.0; f(v) = v
I = 2.5; f(v) = v
1/2.5
= v
0.4
Monitors have a intensity to voltage response curve which is roughly a 2.5 power function
Send v actually display a pixel which has intensity equal to v
2.5
Outline
Point Processing
Filters
Dithering
Image Compositing
Image Compression
Signals and Filtering
Audio recording is 1D signal: amplitude(t)
Image is a 2D signal: color(x,y)
Signals can be continuous or discrete
Raster images are discrete
In space: sampled in x, y
In color: quantized in value
Filtering: a mapping from signal to signal
Convolution
Used for filtering, sampling and reconstruction
Convolution in 1D



Chalkboard


Convolve box and step
Convolution filters
box
tent
gaussian

Convolution in 1D
a(t) is input signal
b(s) is output signal
h(u) is filter

Convolution in 2D
Convolution filters
Filters with Finite Support
Filter h(u,v) is 0 except in given region
Represent h in form of a matrix
Example: 3 x 3 blurring filter


As function

In matrix form

Blurring Filters
A simple blurring effect can be achieved with a 3x3
filter centered around a pixel,
More blurring is achieved with a wider nn filter:
Original Image
Blur 3x3 mask Blur 7x7 mask
Image Filtering: Blurring
original, 64x64 pixels 3x3 blur 5x5 blur
Blurring Filters
Average values of surrounding pixels
Can be used for anti-aliasing
What do we do at the edges and corners?

For noise reduction, use median, not average
Eliminates intensity spikes
Non-linear filter
Example: Noise Reduction
Image with noise Median filter (5x5)
Example: Noise Reduction
Original image
Image with noise Median filter (5x5)
Edge Filters
Discover edges in image
Characterized by large gradient
Approximate square root



Approximate partial derivatives, e.g.
Filter =
(
(
(

0 0 0
1 0 1
0 0 0
Sobel Filter
Edge detection filter, with some smoothing
Approximate




Sobel filter is non-linear
Square and square root (more exact computation)
Absolute value (faster computation)
Sample Filter Computation
Part of Sobel filter, detects vertical edges
-1
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-2
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h
Example of Edge Filter
Original image Edge filter, then brightened
Image Filtering: Edge Detection
Outline
Display Color Models
Filters
Dithering
Image Compositing
Image Compression
Dithering
Compensates for lack of color resolution
Eye does spatial averaging
Black/white dithering to achieve gray scale
Each pixel is black or white
From far away, color determined by fraction of white
For 3x3 block, 10 levels of gray scale
Dithering
Dithering takes advantage of the human eye's tendency to "mix"
two colors in close proximity to one another.
Dithering
Dithering takes advantage of the human eye's tendency to "mix"
two colors in close proximity to one another.
original no dithering
with dithering
Colors = 2
24
Colors = 2
8
Colors = 2
8
Ordered Dithering
How do we select a good set of patterns?
Regular patterns create some artifacts
Example of good 3x3 dithering matrix
6 8 4
1 0 3
5 2 7





(

(
(
(
Floyd-Steinberg Error Diffusion
Diffuse the quantization error of a pixel to its neighboring pixels
Scan in raster order
At each pixel, draw least error output value
Add the error fractions into adjacent, unwritten pixels

If a number of pixels have been rounded downwards, it becomes
more likely that the next pixel is rounded upwards
7/16
3/16 5/16 1/16
Floyd-Steinberg Error Diffusion
Floyd-Steinberg Error Diffusion
From http://www.cs.rit.edu/~pga/pics2000/node1.html
Enhances edges
Retains high frequency
Some checkerboarding
Color Dithering
Example: 8 bit framebuffer
Set color map by dividing 8 bits into 3,3,2 for RGB
Blue is deemphasized because we see it less well

Dither RGB separately
Works well with Floyd-Steinberg

Generally looks good
Outline
Display Color Models
Filters
Dithering
Image Compositing
Image Compression
Image Compositing
Represent an image as layers that are composited
(matted) together
Image Compositing

To support this, give image an extra alpha channel in
addition to R, G, B

Alpha is opacity: 0 if totally transparent, 1 if totally
opaque

Alpha is often stored as an 8 bit quantity; usually not
displayed.

Mathematically, to composite a
2
over a
1
according to
matte o
b(x,y) = (1-o(x,y))a
1
(x,y)+ o(x,y)a
2
(x,y)
o = 0 or 1 -- a hard matte, o = between 0 and 1 -- a soft matte

Compositing is useful for photo retouching and special
effects.
Special Effects: Compositing
Lighting match
Proper layering
Contact with the real world
Realism (perhaps)
Applications
Cel animation
Blue-screen matting
Roger Rabbit
http://members.tripod.com/~Willy_Wonka/Theatr.jpg
Special Effects: Green Screen
Green screen
Second green screen shot
Compositing of everything
Digital Domain (from http://www.vfxhq.com/1997/titanic-picssink.html )
Special Effects: Green Screen
Green screen
Compositing of people with
ship model, sky and digital water

Digital Domain (from http://www.vfxhq.com/1997/titanic-picssink.html )
Outline
Display Color Models
Filters
Dithering
Image Compositing
Image Compression
Image Compression
Exploit redundancy
Coding: some pixel values more common
Interpixel: adjacent pixels often similar
Psychovisual: some color differences imperceptible

Distinguish lossy and lossless methods
Image Sizes
1024*1024 at 24 bits uses 3 MB

Encyclopedia Britannica at 300 pixels/inch and 1
bit/pixes requires 25 gigabytes (25K pages)

90 minute movie at 640x480, 24 bits per pixels,
24 frames per second requires 120 gigabytes

Applications: HDTV, DVD, satellite image
transmission, medial image processing, fax, ...
Exploiting Coding Redundancy
Not limited to images (text, other digital info)
Exploit nonuniform probabilities of symbols
Entropy as measure of information content

H = -S
i
Prob(s
i
) log
2
(Prob(s
i
))


Low entropy non uniform probability
High entropy uniform probability

If source is independent random variable need H bits

Exploiting Coding Redundancy
Idea:
More frequent symbols get shorter code strings
Best with high redundancy (= low entropy)

Common algorithms
Huffman coding
LZW coding (gzip)
Huffman Coding
Codebook is precomputed and static
Use probability of each symbol to assign code
Map symbol to code
Store codebook and code sequence
Precomputation is expensive



What is symbol for image compression?
lossless
Exploiting Interpixel Redundancy
Neighboring pixels are correlated
Spatial methods for low-noise image
Run-length coding:
Alternate values and run-length
Good if horizontal neighbors are same
Can be 1D or 2D (e.g. used in fax standard)
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWW
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
12W 1B 12W 3B 24W 1B 14W
Quadtrees:
Recursively subdivide until cells are constant color
Region encoding:
Represent boundary curves of color-constant regions
lossless
Improving Noise Tolerance
Predictive coding:
Predict next pixel based on prior ones
Output difference to actual

Transform coding
Exploit frequency domain
Example: discrete cosine transform (DCT)
Used in JPEG

lossy compression
Discrete Cosine Transform
Used for lossy compression (as in JPEG)




Subdivide image into n x n blocks (n = 8)
Apply discrete cosine transform for each block
Each tile is converted to frequency space
Discrete Cosine Transform
Quantize
Human eye good at seeing variations over large area
Not good at seeing the exact strength of a high frequency
Greatly reducing the amount of information in the high frequency components










Use variable length coding (e.g. Huffman)