Image Analyzer examples

Help index

Restoration by deconvolution

This feature allows advanced reconstruction of blurred images. Both motion blur, out-of-focus blur and other errors are handled. In the example below the camera was moved what correspond to about 17 pixels while the picture was taken. This distance can be estimated by looking at the details in the background: A tree is approximately 17 pixels wide. To make the program estimate the moved distance, click the Guess button. For this particular image the estimate made is 16.4. Note that the bird is moving, and therefore cannot be reconstructed using the same model as the background.
For some pictures the movement estimate will be best with Quad-mirror turned on, and for some it will be best with this option turned off. The purpose of Quad-mirror is to compensate for the periodicity assumption made in the Fourier transform.
If the motion is neither horizontal nor vertical, the picture must be rotated before deconvolution / deblurring. This might, however, reduce the quality of the reconstruction somewhat.





Clip from original photograph by Ching-Kuang Shene.


Restoration after 8 CGLS iterations.

For out-of-focus blur, the Circular blur model will probably give the best results. The default setting will sharpen an image which is slightly unsharp. To find out which radius gives the best result use the Test button. This will produce a number of reconstructions with different filter radius. Enter an iteration count (~12), click Test, enter the lower and upper bound for the radius and the number of reconstructions to generate. If the result is too grainy then reduce the number of iterations.

Original

Corrected, circular blur 12 iterations, radius=3.6

If the convolution filter matrix is known it can be given when selecting Matrix filter or Matrix file:

F is a matrix and F(r,c,d) is the expression for the element (r,c) where (0,0) is the center. d is the distance from the center, d=||r-c||. This makes it easier making circular symmetric filters.

If you are wondering what interp() is you can just use the Expression evaluator (in help menu or F11) to plot it using the command "plot(interp(x),x)". Note that you should open the deconvolution window first to get the function defined. It just a very simple function used for interpolation when constructing the circular convolution filter.

Matrix files should be in either MAP, Matlab MAT or text format. An example of a filter file can be found here: 5star.txt
When used for deconvolution, this matrix will result in sharpening of the image.


Very short mathematical description of the algorithm

Adaptive noise reduction

Adaptive noise removal (Alt-A) can remove high-frequency noise from most images. Unlike the smoothing algorithm for noise reduction found in many image processing programs, Adaptive noise removal works without unsharpening edges in the image.
Not only will noise reduction improve the visual impression of an image, it will also make JPEG compression more effective producing smaller files with the same quality selection.
The example is the result of applying the filter to the deconvolution image above using the default options.

Texture synthesis

Texture synthesis (Special menu) is a tool for generating textures from a sample or filling holes in an image.
Texture generation is performed by creating a blank image (File | New) and opening one or more sample images and selecting them in the Texture sources box. Destination mask tells the program what part of the image is known. In texture generation we say that only the center pixel is known and all other pixels should be synthesized. Method should be Source match and the Texel size the approximate size of the pattern features. In the example below a large brick is about 45 pixels wide. If the random error is set larger than 0, some more computation time is required but the program might be better at synthesizing high-frequency elements.

Sample	Sample
Synthesized texture	Synthesized texture

If part of an image is covered (e.g. by text) or contains an unwanted object, texture synthesis can sometimes be used for restoration. The traditional way of solving such a problem is by cloning and retouching by hand, but texture synthesis can do it automatically. In the example the bird from above was removed by synthesis using a texture sample taken from the image itself. A selection around the bird was made, Destination mask set to Selection and Target to Inside. The Source match method and Texel size equal to 9 was used.

Texture sample	Fixed image

The other two methods are also for hole filling. Instead of sample textures they only use the border of the hole for the synthesis. These methods are much faster but will only produce good results if the texture is very simple. If you want to define the target area more precise than it is possible with a rectangular selection you can make a grayscale image the same size as the synthesis image and mark the target area with white. This mask image will then appear in the Destination mask list.
A note about computation time: Texture synthesis can be very time consuming. To speed up the process use textures as small as possible (maybe 64 x 64 pixels) and select a small texel size. Using grayscale images and textures is the fastest and will reduce the time of experiments. Also turn the progress display off while synthesizing large textures.

Help index