Image Processing

Introduction Image Processing Lab is a simple tool for image processing, which includes different filters and tools to analyze images available in AForge.NET framework. It's easy to develop your own filters and to integrate them with the code or to use the tools in your own application. The following filters are implemented in the AForge.NET framework and demonstrated in the application:

Color filters (grayscale, sepia, invert, rotate, channel extraction, channel replacing, channel filtering, color filtering, Euclidean color filtering);

HSL filters (linear correction, brightness, contrast, saturation, hue modifier, HSL filtering);

YCbCr

filters

(linear

correction,

YCbCr

filtering,

channel

extraction/replacement);

Binarization filters (threshold, threshold with carry, ordered dithering, Bayer dithering, Floyd-Steinberg, Burkes, Jarvis-Judice-Ninke, Sierra, StevensonArce, Stucki dithering methods);

Automatic binarization (simple image statistics); Mathematical morphology filters (erosion, dilatation, opening, closing, hit & miss, thinning, thickening);

Convolution filters (mean, blur, sharpen, edges, Gaussian); 2 Source filters (merge, intersect, add, subtract, difference, move towards, morph);

Edge detectors (homogeneity, difference, sobel, canny); Blob counter, Connected components labeling; Pixellate, Simple skeletonization, Jitter, Shrink, Oil painting; Levels linear filter, gamma correction; Median filter, Adaptive smoothing, Conservative smoothing; Resize and Rotate; Texture generators based on Perlin noise; Texture filters (texturer, textured filtering, textured merging); Fourier transformation (lowpass and hipass filters).

You can create (save and load) your own convolution filters or filters based on standard mathematical morphology operators. Colorized grid makes it very convenient to work with custom convolution filters. A preview window allows you to view results of changing filter parameters on the fly. You can scroll an image using mouse in preview area. All filters are applied only to the portion of image currently viewed to speed up preview. A PhotoShop like histogram allows you to get information about mean, standard deviation, median, minimum and maximum values. The program allows to copy to or paste from clipboard, save and print images. Using the code Most filters are designed to work with 24bpp RGB images or with grayscale images. In the case of grayscale image, we use PixelFormat.Format8bppIndexed with color palette of 256 entries. To guarantee that your image is in one of the formats, you can use the following code: // load an image System.Drawing.Bitmap image = (Bitmap) Bitmap.FromFile( fileName ); // format image AForge.Imaging.Image.FormatImage( ref image ); It is easy to apply any filter to your image: // load an image

System.Drawing.Bitmap image = (Bitmap) Bitmap.FromFile( fileName ); // create filter AForge.Imaging.Filters.Median filter = new AForge.Imaging.Filters.Median( ); // apply filter System.Drawing.Bitmap newImage = filter.Apply( image ); Suppose, you want to apply a series of filters to an image. The straight way to do it is to apply filters one after another, but it's not very likely in the case of 3 or more filters. All filters implement the IFilter interface, so it allows us to create a collection of filters and apply it at once to an image (besides, the collection will also save us from disposing routines on intermediate images): // create filters sequence AForge.Imaging.Filters.FiltersSequence filter = new AForge.Imaging.Filters.FiltersSequence( ); // add filters to the sequence filter.Add( new AForge.Imaging.Filters.Sepia( ) ); filter.Add( new AForge.Imaging.Filters.RotateBilinear( 45) ); filter.Add( new AForge.Imaging.Filters.ResizeBilinear( 320, 240 ) ); filter.Add( new AForge.Imaging.Filters.Pixellate( 8 ) ); filter.Add( new AForge.Imaging.Filters.Jitter( 2 ) ); filter.Add( new AForge.Imaging.Filters.Blur( ) ); // apply the sequence to an image System.Drawing.Bitmap newImage = filter.Apply( image );

It's easy to get such image statistics as mean, standard deviation, median, minimum and maximum values. It can be useful for image brightness/contrast regulation. // get image statistics AForge.Imaging.ImageStatistics statistics = new AForge.Imaging.ImageStatistics( image ); // get the red histogram AForge.Math.Histogram histogram = statistics.Red; // get the values double mean = histogram.Mean; // mean red value

double stddev = histogram.StdDev; // standard deviation of red values int median = histogram.Median; // median red value int min = histogram.Min; int max = histogram.Max; // min red value // max value

// get 90% range around the median AForge.IntRange range = histogram.GetRange( 0.9 ); Image statistics can be easily combined with filters. Suppose, the minimum value of red is 50 on the image and the maximum value is 200. So, we can normalize the contrast of the red channel: // create levels filter AForge.Imaging.Filters.LevelsLinear filter = new AForge.Imaging.Filters.LevelsLinear( ); filter.InRed = new IntRange( histogram.Min, histogram.Max );

// apply the filter System.Drawing.Bitmap newImage = filter.Apply( image ); Or we can normalize the contrast of each channel, getting only the 90% ranges from each channel: // create levels filter AForge.Imaging.Filters.LevelsLinear filter = new AForge.Imaging.Filters.LevelsLinear( ); filter.InRed = statistics.Red.GetRange( 0.9 ); filter.InGreen = statistics.Green.GetRange( 0.9 ); filter.InBlue = statistics.Blue.GetRange( 0.9 ); // apply the filter System.Drawing.Bitmap newImage = filter.Apply( image ); HSL Filters Using HSL color space is more obvious for some sort of filters. For example, it's not very clean, how to adjust saturation level of an image using RGB color space. But it can be done easily, using HSL color space: // create filter AForge.Imaging.Filters.SaturationCorrection filter = new AForge.Imaging.Filters.SaturationCorrection( 0.1 ); // apply the filter System.Drawing.Bitmap newImage = filter.Apply( image );

Initial image

Saturation adjusted

Using HSL color space we can modify the hue value of pixels. Setting all hue values to the same value will lead to an image in gradations of one color: // create filter AForge.Imaging.Filters.HueModifier filter = new AForge.Imaging.Filters.HueModifier( 142 ); // apply the filter System.Drawing.Bitmap newImage = filter.Apply( image ); It's possible to get much more interesting results using HSL filtering. For example, we can preserve only the specified range of hue values and desaturate all others out of the range. So, it will lead to a black and white image with only some regions colored. // create filter AForge.Imaging.Filters.HSLFiltering filter = new AForge.Imaging.Filters.HSLFiltering( ); filter.Hue = new IntRange( 340, 20 ); filter.UpdateHue = false; filter.UpdateLuminance = false; // apply the filter System.Drawing.Bitmap newImage = filter.Apply( image );

Hue modified Mathematical Morphology filters

HSL filtering

There are many tasks, which can be solved using mathematical morphology filters. For example, we can reduce noise on binary images using erosion, or we can separate some objects with the filter. Using dilatation we can grow some parts of our interests on the image. One of the most interesting morphological operators is known as Hit & Miss. All other morphological operators can be expressed from the Hit & Miss operator. For example, we can use it to search for particular structures on the image: // searching for vertical lines short[,] vse = new short[3, 3] { { 0, 1, 0 }, { 0, 1, 0 }, { 0, 1, 0 } }; AForge.Imaging.Filters.HitAndMiss vFilter = new AForge.Imaging.Filters.HitAndMiss( vse );

System.Drawing.Bitmap vImage = vFilter.Apply( image ); // searching for horizontal lines short[,] hse = new short[3, 3] { { 0, 0, 0 }, { 1, 1, 1 }, { 0, 0, 0 } }; AForge.Imaging.Filters.HitAndMiss hFilter = new AForge.Imaging.Filters.HitAndMiss( hse ); System.Drawing.Bitmap hImage = hFilter.Apply( image );

Original image

Searching for vertical lines

Searching for horizontal lines

Using thickening operator, we can grow some parts of the image in the places we need. For example, the next sample will lead to thickening horizontal lines in the bottom direction: // create filter AForge.Imaging.Filters.FilterIterator filter = new AForge.Imaging.Filters.FilterIterator( new AForge.Imaging.Filters.HitAndMiss( new short [,] { { 1, 1, 1 }, { -1, 0, -1 }, { -1, -1, -1 } },

HitAndMiss.Modes.Thinning ), 5 ); // apply the filter System.Drawing.Bitmap newImage = filter.Apply( image );

Original image

Thickened image

Using thinning operator you can remove some unnecessary parts of the image. For example, you can develop skeletonization filter with appropriate structuring elements: Collapse // create filter sequence AForge.Imaging.Filters.FiltersSequence filterSequence = new AForge.Imaging.Filters.FiltersSequence( ); // add 8 thinning filters with different structuring elements filterSequence.Add( new AForge.Imaging.Filters.HitAndMiss( new short [,] { { 0, 0, 0 }, { -1, 1, -1 }, { 1, 1, 1 } }, HitAndMiss.Modes.Thinning ) ); filterSequence.Add( new AForge.Imaging.Filters.HitAndMiss( new short [,] { { -1, 0, 0 }, { 1, 1, 0 }, { -1, 1, -1 } }, HitAndMiss.Modes.Thinning ) ); filterSequence.Add( new AForge.Imaging.Filters.HitAndMiss( new short [,] { { 1, -1, 0 }, { 1, 1, 0 }, { 1, -1, 0 } },

HitAndMiss.Modes.Thinning ) ); filterSequence.Add( new AForge.Imaging.Filters.HitAndMiss( new short [,] { { -1, 1, -1 }, { 1, 1, 0 }, { -1, 0, 0 } }, HitAndMiss.Modes.Thinning ) ); filterSequence.Add( new AForge.Imaging.Filters.HitAndMiss( new short [,] { { 1, 1, 1 }, { -1, 1, -1 }, { 0, 0, 0 } }, HitAndMiss.Modes.Thinning ) ); filterSequence.Add( new AForge.Imaging.Filters.HitAndMiss( new short [,] { { -1, 1, -1 }, { 0, 1, 1 }, { 0, 0, -1 } }, HitAndMiss.Modes.Thinning ) ); filterSequence.Add(new AForge.Imaging.Filters.HitAndMiss( new short [,] { { 0, -1, 1 }, { 0, 1, 1 }, { 0, -1, 1 } }, HitAndMiss.Modes.Thinning ) ); filterSequence.Add( new AForge.Imaging.Filters.HitAndMiss( new short [,] { { 0, 0, -1 }, { 0, 1, 1 }, { -1, 1, -1 } }, HitAndMiss.Modes.Thinning ) ); // create filter iterator for 10 iterations AForge.Imaging.Filters.FilterIterator filter = new AForge.Imaging.Filters.FilterIterator( filterSequence, 10 ); // apply the filter System.Drawing.Bitmap newImage = filter.Apply( image );

Original image Fourier transformation

Thinned image

It is easy to perform Fourier transformation, which is useful for image analysis and filtering with the library: // create complex image from bitmap AForge.Imaging.ComplexImage cimage = AForge.Imaging.ComplexImage.FromBitmap( bitmap ); // perform forward Fourier transformation cimage.ForwardFourierTransform( ); // get frequency view System.Drawing.Bitmap img = cimage.ToBitmap( );

Lowpass and hipass filtering can be performed using the FrequencyFilter method of the ComplexImage class: // lowpass filtering cimage.FrequencyFilter( new Range( 0, 100 ) ); // perform backward Fourier transformation cimage.BackwardFourierTransform( ); // get filtered image System.Drawing.Bitmap img = cimage.ToBitmap( ); Blob counter Blob counter is a very useful feature and can be applied in many different applications. What does it do? It can count objects on a binary image and extract them. The idea comes from 'Connected components labeling', a filter, which colors each separate object with a different color. Let's look into a small sample: // create filter AForge.Imaging.Filters.ConnectedComponentsLabeling filter = new AForge.Imaging.Filters.ConnectedComponentsLabeling( ); // apply filter System.Drawing.Bitmap newImage = filter.Apply( image ); // objects count System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine( "Objects count: " + filter.ObjectCount );

Here are two images: initial image and colored image. So, it looks like the filter is really able to count objects.

Here is another example of objects counting and retrieving their position and size: // process an image AForge.Imaging.BlobCounter blobCounter = new BlobCounter( image ); Rectangle[] rects = blobCounter.GetObjectRectangles( ); // objects count System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine( "Objects count: " + rects.Length ); // objects dimension foreach ( Rectangle rc in rects ) { System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine( string.Format("Position: ({0}, {1}), Size: {2} x {3}", rc.Left, rc.Top, rc.Width, rc.Height ) ); } It's possible to extract each object with the GetObjects method of BlobCounter: // process an image AForge.Imaging.BlobCounter blobCounter = new BlobCounter( image );

Blob[] blobs = blobCounter.GetObjects( image ); // process blobs foreach ( Blob blob in blobs ) { // ... // blob.Location - location of the blob // blob.Image - blob`s image } YCbCr filtering YCbCr filters provides with similar functionality as RGB and HSL filters. The YCbCr linear correction filter perform as its analogues from other color spaces, but operates with the Y, Cb and Cr component respectively providing with additional convenient ways of color correction. The next small sample demonstrates the use of YCbCr linear filter and the use of in-place filtering - the feature, which allows you to filter source image instead of creating new result image: // create filter YCbCrLinear filter = new YCbCrLinear( ); filter.InCb = new DoubleRange( -0.276, 0.163 ); filter.InCr = new DoubleRange( -0.202, 0.500 ); // apply filter filter.ApplyInPlace( image );

Perlin noise filters Perlin noise has many applications and one of the most interesting of them is the creation of different effects, like marble, wood, clouds, etc. Application of such effects to images can be done within two steps. First step is to generate effect texture and the second step is to apply the texture to particular image. Texture generators are placed into Textures namespace of the library, which contains generators for such effects like clouds, wood, marble, labyrinth and textile. All these texture generators implements ITextureGenerator interface. For applying textures to images there are three filters. Fist one, Texturer, is for texturing image. The second, TexturedFilter, allows applying any other filter to an images using texture as a mask. The third, TexturedMerge, allows merging two images using texture as a mask. Collapse // 1 - Marble effect // create texture ITextureGenerator generator = new MarbleTexture( ); float[,] texture = generator.Generate( image.Width, image.Height ); // create filter IFilter filter1 = new Texturer( texture );

// apply filter Bitmap newImage1 = filter1.Apply( image ); // 2 - Wood effect // create filter IFilter filter2 = new Texturer( new WoodTexture( ) ); // apply filter Bitmap newImage2 = filter2.Apply( image ); // 3 - Textile effect // create filter IFilter filter3 = new Texturer( new TextileTexture( ) ); // apply filter Bitmap newImage3 = filter3.Apply( image ); // 4 - Rusty effect IFilter filter4 = new TexturedFilter( new CloudsTexture( ), new Sepia( ) , new GrayscaleBT709( ) ); // apply filter Bitmap newImage4 = filter4.Apply( image );

AForge.NET framework The Image Processing Lab application is based on the AForge.NET framework, which provides all the filters and image processing routines available in the application. To get more information about the framework, you may read dedicated article on Code Project or visit project's home page, where you can get all the latest information about it, participate in a discussion group or submit issues or requests for enhancements. Conclusion I suppose the code may be interesting for someone who would like to start studying image processing, for filters/effects developers. As for me, I'll use the tool for my further research in computer vision. Besides, the library helped me very much in successfully finishing my bachelor work. SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION 5.1 REQUIREMENT ANALYSIS The completion of this thesis requires the following Software & Hardware Software Requirements Hardware Requirements

PROCESSOR RAM SECONDARY STORAGE MOUSE

Pentium IV 1 MB Logitech 32 MB

5.2SOFTWARE DESCRIPTION Microsoft.NET Framework Microsoft made the specifications for .net development platform freely available for the compiler vendors in the form of common language specification (CLS). The common language specifications provide the specifications for a language to compile into a common platform. The compiler vendors must design the compiler in such a way that the compiled code conforms these specifications. These compilers compile the programs written in the high level language into a format called intermediate language format.

High Level Language

Compiler

Intermediate Language format

This IL code format is not the machine language code. So, in order to execute the program we need to compile it again into machine language.This is done by the Common Language Functions(CLR). The Just-in-time compiler(JIT compiler) of th CLR takes the IL code as input and Compiles it and executes it.

Source Code

Compiler

IL Format

CLR

A Sample view of .NET Framework

Source Code in C#

DLL in

.NET C# Compiler

IL Format (C.DLL)

CLR

C#.NET framework Microsoft .NET The Microsoft .NET software developers list can br downloaded from Microsoft official website. It contains the following: Compiler for C# Common Language Runtime CLR Debugger .Net base classes Some utilities

C# Base Classes : A significant part of the power of the .Net framework comes from the base classes supplied by microsoft as part of the .NET framework. These classes are all callable from C# and provide the bind of basic functionality that is needed by many applications to perform, amongst other things, basic system, windows, and The types of purposes you can use the base classes to do include String handling .

Arrays, lists,maps etc., Accessing files and the file system Accessing the registry Security Windowing Windows messages Database access [14] Visual C# .NET 2003 is the modern, innovative programming language and tool

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C# developers can join the newest, fastest-growing developer community, in which they can exchange code and resources, leverage skills across multiple computing environments, and contribute to the standardization process that ensures vibrant and active community participation. With a superior IDE, Visual C# .NET provides users with the ultimate developer environment, bringing together the development community and valuable online resources. The Start Page offers developers a one-click portal to updates, preferences, information on recently used projects, and the MSDN Online community. Improved IntelliSense, the Toolbox, and the Task List provide significant productivity enhancements, while AutoHide windows and multiple-monitor support help programmers maximize screen real estate and customize their development environment. New custom build rules make developing robust and powerful software easier than ever. Using the Web Forms Designer and XML Designer, developers can use IntelliSense features and tag completion or the WYSIWYG editor for drag-and-drop authoring to build interactive Web applications. With a few simple steps, programmers can design, develop, debug, and deploy powerful XML Web services that reduce development time by encapsulating business processes accessible from any platform. With Visual C# .NET 2003, developers can take advantage of Microsoft .NET and incorporate next-generation technology for resource management, unified types, and remoting. With Microsoft .NET, developers gain superior memory management technology for seamless garbage collection and reduced program complexity. Developers can use the Microsoft .NET Framework Common Type System to leverage

code written in any of more than 20 languages that support .NET, while making efficient remote procedure calls. Developers can also use the tested and proven .NET Framework class library to gain powerful built-in functionality, including a rich set of collection classes, networking support, multithreading support, string and regular expression classes, and broad support for XML, XML schemas, XML namespaces, XSLT, XPath, and SOAP. And, with the Java Language Conversion Assistant (JLCA), programmers can begin migrating their Java-based projects to the Microsoft .NET environment. Using Visual C# .NET 2003, developers can construct powerful Web services that encapsulate business processes and make them available to applications running on any platform. Developers can easily incorporate any number of Web services that are catalogued and available in many independent Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) directories, providing a strong foundation of services and business logic for their applications. Visual C# .NET 2003 also enables developers to build the next generation of Windows-based applications. With visual inheritance, developers can greatly simplify the creation of Windows-based applications by centralizing in parent forms the common logic and user interface for their entire solution. Using control anchoring and docking, programmers can build resizable forms automatically, while the in-place menu editor enables developers to visually author menus directly from within the Forms Designer. Visual C# .NET 2003 is a modern, innovative programming language and tool for building .NET-connected software for Microsoft Windows, the Web, and a wide

range of devices. With familiar C++-like syntax, a flexible integrated development environment (IDE), and the capability to build solutions across a variety of platforms and devices, Visual C# .NET 2003 significantly eases the development of .NETconnected software. Visual C# .NET provides users with a superior developer environment, bringing together the development community and valuable online resources. The Start Page offers developers a one-click portal to updates, preferences, information on recently used projects, and the MSDN Online community. Improved IntelliSense, the Toolbox, and the Task List provide significant productivity enhancements, while AutoHide windows and multiple-monitor support help programmers maximize screen real estate and customize their development environment. With Visual C# .NET 2003, developers can take advantage of Microsoft .NET and incorporate next-generation technology for resource management, unified types, and remoting. With Microsoft .NET, developers gain superior memory management technology for seamless garbage collection and reduced program complexity. Developers can use the Microsoft .NET Framework Common Type System to leverage code written in any of more than 20 languages that support .NET, while making efficient remote procedure calls.