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M o R P H o L o G I C A L I M A G e P R o C e S S I N G

The document discusses various topics in mathematical morphology and image processing including basic set operations, dilation, erosion, opening and closing, hit-or-miss transformation, boundary extraction, region filling, extraction of connected components, convex hull, thinning, thickening, and skeletonization. Mathematical morphology uses set operations and structuring elements to analyze shapes and extract image components in binary images. Operations like dilation and erosion can be used to thicken or shrink objects, while opening and closing can smooth contours. Hit-or-miss transforms identify specific pixel patterns. Skeletonization reduces objects to 1 pixel wide representations of their central lines.

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59 views23 pages

M o R P H o L o G I C A L I M A G e P R o C e S S I N G

The document discusses various topics in mathematical morphology and image processing including basic set operations, dilation, erosion, opening and closing, hit-or-miss transformation, boundary extraction, region filling, extraction of connected components, convex hull, thinning, thickening, and skeletonization. Mathematical morphology uses set operations and structuring elements to analyze shapes and extract image components in binary images. Operations like dilation and erosion can be used to thicken or shrink objects, while opening and closing can smooth contours. Hit-or-miss transforms identify specific pixel patterns. Skeletonization reduces objects to 1 pixel wide representations of their central lines.

Uploaded by

sandy
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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(9) Morphological Image Processing

- Morphology
A branch of biology that deals with the form and structure of
animals and plants
- Mathematical morphology
A tool to extract image components for representing and describing
region shapes
y E.g.: boundary, skeleton, convex hull

(a) Basic set operations


- Definitions
y If w is an element of set A: w A
y If w is not an element of A: w A
y If set B of pixel coordinates satisfies a condition: B = {w | condition}
y Complement of A: Ac = {w | w A}
9-1

y Union of A and B: A B
y Intersection of A and B: A B
y Difference of A and B: A B = {w | w A, w B} = A Bc
y Reflection of B: B = {w | w = b, for b B}
y Translation of A by point z = (z1, z2): (A)z = {c | c = a + z, for a A}
- MATLAB set operations on binary images
Set Operation
A B
A B
c
A
A B

MATLAB Expression
A&B
A|B
~A
A & ~B

Name
AND
OR
NOT
DIFFERENCE

(b) Dilation
- Dilation: grow or thicken an object in a binary image
y Extent of thickening controlled by a structuring element
9-2

y Dilation of image A and structuring element B: A B


A B = {z | ( B ) z A }
with A is
The set of all points z such that the intersection of ( B)
z
nonempty

y E.g., a five-pixel-long diagonal line with the origin at the center


0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
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0

0
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0
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0
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1
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0
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0
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0

0
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0

0
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0

0
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0

0
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0

0
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0

0
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0
0

When the structuring element overlaps 1-valued pixels, the pixel at the
origin is marked 1

y Commutative: A B = B A
9-3

y Associative: A (B C) = (A B) C
* If B = (B1 B2), then A B = A (B1 B2) = (A B1) B2
Dilate A by B1, and then dilate the result by B2 (decomposition)
* E.g., decomposing a structuring element saves computational cost
MATLAB decomposes structuring element automatically
1
1
1
1
1

1
1
1
1
1

1
1
1
1
1

1
1
1
1
1

1
1
1
1
1

1
1
1 1 1 1 1 1
1
1

y MATLAB: use dilation to bridge gaps


A = imread('text.tif'); B = [0 1 0; 1 1 1; 0 1 0]; A2 = imdilate(A, B); imshow(A2);

9-4

y strel function: create morphological structuring elements


SE = strel(shape, parameters)
* shape: 'arbitrary', 'diamond', 'disk', 'line', 'square', 'rectangle'

(c) Erosion
- Erosion: shrink or thin an object in a binary image
y Extent of shrinking controlled by a structuring element
y Erosion of image A and structuring element B: A \ B
c

A \ B = {z | (B)z A }
c

The set of all points z such that the intersection of (B)z with A is
nonempty

y E.g., a three-pixel-long vertical line with the origin at the center


0
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0
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0
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0
9-5

When the structuring element overlaps only 1-valued pixels, the pixel at
the origin is marked 1 (i.e., does not overlap background)

y MATLAB: use erosion to eliminate irrelevant details


A = imread('dots.tif'); B = ones(7);
A1 = imerode(A, B); A2 = imdilate(A1, B);

A1

A2

(d) Opening and closing


- Opening: smooths the contour, breaks narrow isthmuses, and eliminates thin
protrusions
(A B) = (A \ B) B = {(B)z | (B)z A}
Erosion followed by dilation (: union of all the sets inside the braces),
9-6

MATLAB: imopen( )
- Closing: smooths the contour, fuses narrow breaks and long thin gulfs, and
eliminates small holes
(A B) = (A B) \B = {z | (B)z A }
Dilation followed by erosion, MATLAB: imclose( )

9-7

(e) Hit-or-miss transformation


- Hit-or-miss transformation: identify special configuration of pixels
A B = (A \ B1) (Ac \ B2)

y E.g., identify

0 1 0
1 1 1
0 1 0

1
1 1 1
1

B2 1

A \ B1:

A:
0
0
0
0
0
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0

0
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0
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0
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0
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0
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Ac:
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

B1

1
1
1
0
1
1
1

0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
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0
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1
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1
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Ac \ B2:
1
0
0
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1

1
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1
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1
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1
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1
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1
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1
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1
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1

0
0
0
0
0
0
1

1
1
0
1
0
1
1

0
0
0
0
0
0
1

A B1:
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
1
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
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0

0
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0
0
0
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0

0
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1
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0

0
0
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0

0
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0
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0
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0
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0
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0

0
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0
0
0
9-8

y MATLAB: C = bwhitmiss(A, B1, B2);

(f) Basic morphological operations


- Boundary extraction: extract the boundary of an object
(A) = A (A \ B)
y MATLAB
A = imread('A.tif'); B = ones(3); A1 = A - imerode(A, B);

- Region filling
Xk = (Xk1 B) Ac

k = 1, 2, 3

y X0: a background point inside the object; converged when Xk = Xk1


9-9

y MATLAB
A = im2bw(imread('eye.tif')); B = [0 1 0; 1 1 1; 0 1 0];
Xk = zeros(size(A)); Xk1 = Xk; Xk(85, 70) = 1;
while any(Xk(:) ~= Xk1(:))
Xk1 = Xk;
Xk = imdilate(Xk1, B) & ~A;
end
A1 = Xk | A;

eye.tif
Region filled
* Problem: need to find the initial point
Solution?

- Extraction of connected components


9-10

Xk = (Xk1 B) A

k = 1, 2, 3

y X0: a point of the object; converged when Xk = Xk1


y MATLAB
A = im2bw(imread('a.tif')); B = ones(3);
Xk = zeros(size(A)); Xk1 = Xk; Xk(30, 40) = 1;
while any(Xk(:) ~= Xk1(:))
Xk1 = Xk;
Xk = imdilate(Xk1, B) & A;
end
A1 = Xk;

a.tif

One component found

y MATLAB bwlabel: find all connected components


9-11

[label number] = bwlabel(im, 4); or [label number] = bwlabel(im, 8);


* label: output image with labeled objects (4- or 8-connectivity)
* number: the number of labeled objects

- Convex hull
y A set A is convex if the straight line segment joining any two points
in A lies entirely within A
y Convex hull H of set S is the smallest convex set containing S
y H S: convex deficiency of S

y Four structuring elements: Bi, i = 1, 2, 3, 4, (: dont care)


9-12

1
B

2
B

B3

B4

y Convex hull of A: C(A)


X ki = ( X ki 1 B i ) A, i = 1, 2, 3, 4
4

D =X
i

i
conv

C ( A) = U D i

i =1

- Thinning
A ~ B = A (A B) = A (A B)c

where {B} = {B1, B2, , Bn}


y Eight structuring elements: Bi, i = 1, 2, , 8

2
B

B1

B3

B4

B5

6
B

B7

B8
9-13

y Problem: connectivity not guaranteed


- Thickening
A } B = A (A B)

where {B} = {B1, B2, , Bn}


y Eight structuring elements are the same as those of thinning
- Skeletonization
y Repeatedly delete the contour points provided the following
conditions are satisfied
* End points are not deleted
* Connectivity are not broken
* Do not cause excessive erosion of the region

y Algorithm: repeat following steps until no contour points


(1) Delete all contour points according to Definition 1
(2) Delete all contour points according to Definition 2

y Definition 1: right, bottom, and upper left corner contour points


9-14

(a) 2 N(p1) 6
(b) T(p1) = 1
(c) p2 p4 p6 = 0
(d) p4 p6 p8 = 0

p9

p2

p3

p8

p1

p4

p7

p6

p5

* N(p1): number of 1s in the neighborhood of p1

N ( p1 ) = i = 2 pi
9

* T(p1): number of 0-1 transitions in the ordered sequence p2, p3, ,

p8, p9, p2 (clockwise)


# E.g.:
0 0 1
N(p1) = 4, T(p1) = 3
1 p1 0
p2 p4 p6 = 0
p4 p6 p8 = 0
1 0 1
y Definition 2: left, top, and lower right corner contour points
(a) and (b) are the same as those in definition 1
(c') p2 p4 p8 = 0;
9-15

(d') p2 p6 p8 = 0;

y Description:

* (a): if there is only one 1 in the neighborhood, p1 is an end point and


should not be deleted; if there are seven 1s, deleting p1 would cause
erosion; if there are eight 1s, p1 is not a contour point
* (b): T(p1) 1: p1 is an arc point and deleting p1 would break the
connectivity
If the mask consists of only two connected regions, T(p1) = 1
p1

p1

p1

* (c) and (d): p4 = 0 or p6 = 0 or p2 = p8 = 0


Right, bottom, and upper left corner contour points

9-16

p2
p4

p8
p6

* (c') and (d'): p2 = 0 or p8 = 0 or p4 = p6 = 0


Top, left, and lower right corner contour points
p2
p8

p4
p6

y Examples of contour definitions 1 and 2:

(Def. 1)

(Def. 2)
9-17

y E.g.:
Image

Thinning

bwmorph(, 'thin', Inf) bwmorph(, 'skel', Inf)

9-18

- MATLAB morphing function


bwmorph(bw, operation)

or bwmorph(bw, operation, n)

y bw: binary image, n: number of repeations of the operation


y operation:
'bothat' Bottom hat operation using a 33 structuring element; use imbothat for other
structuring elements
'erode' Erosion using a 33 structuring element; use imerode for other structuring
elements
'shrink' Shrink objects with no holes to points; shrink objects with holes to rings
'bridge' Connect pixels separated by single-pixel gaps
Fill in single-pixel holes; use imfill for larger holes
'fill'
Skeletonize an image
'skel'
'clean' Remove isolated foreground pixels
'hbreak' Remove H-connected foreground pixels
Remove spur pixels
'spur'
'close' Closing using a 33 structuring element; use imclose for other structuring
elements
'majority' Makes pixel p a foreground pixel if N8(p) 5; otherwise make p a background
pixel
9-19

'thicken' Thicken objects without joining disconnected 1s


Fill in around diagonally connected foreground pixels
'diag'
'open' Opening using a 33 structuring element; use imopen for other structuring
elements
Thin objects without holes to minimally connected strokes; thin objects with
'thin'
holes to rings
'dilate' Dilation using a 33 structuring element; use imdilate for other structuring
elements
'remove' Remove interior pixels
'tophat' Top hat operation using a 33 structuring element; use imtophat for other
structuring elements

(g) Gray-scale morphology


- Morphology
y Binary image: change the shape of the foreground objects
y Gray-scale image: change the shape of the image surface (3D)
- Gray-scale dialtion and erosion
y Dialtion: f b(x, y) = max{f(xx', yy') + b(x', y') | (x', y') Db}
9-20

where Db is the domain of b, and f(x, y) is assumed to equal


outside the domain of f
y Erosion: f \ b(x, y) = min{f(x+x', y+y') b(x', y') | (x', y') Db}
where Db is the domain of b, and f(x, y) is assumed to equal +
outside the domain of f
- Opening and closing
Original

Opening

Closing
9-21

- Example: using opening to compensate for nonuniform background


illumination
y Fig. 1: rice grains on nonuniform background (darker towards
bottom), f = imread('rice.tif')
y Fig. 2: simple thresholding: fbw = im2bw(f, graythresh(f)) causes grains
improperly separated at the bottom portion
y Fig. 3: opening with se = strel('disk', 10); fo = imopen(f, se): since the size
of se is set to be larger than the grains, only background remains
y Fig. 4: subtracting from the original f2 = imsubtract(f, fo): results in a
more uniform background
y Fig. 5: thresholding with fbw = im2bw(f2, graythresh(f2)) obtains a better
result
y Subtracting an opened image from the original is called the top-hat
transformation, a single step in Matlab: f2 = imtophat(f, se)

9-22

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 4

Fig. 5

Fig. 3

9-23

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