Results 1 - 10
of
238
Graph Cuts and Efficient N-D Image Segmentation
, 2006
"... Combinatorial graph cut algorithms have been successfully applied to a wide range of problems in vision and graphics. This paper focusses on possibly the simplest application of graph-cuts: segmentation of objects in image data. Despite its simplicity, this application epitomizes the best features ..."
Abstract
-
Cited by 307 (7 self)
- Add to MetaCart
Combinatorial graph cut algorithms have been successfully applied to a wide range of problems in vision and graphics. This paper focusses on possibly the simplest application of graph-cuts: segmentation of objects in image data. Despite its simplicity, this application epitomizes the best features of combinatorial graph cuts methods in vision: global optima, practical efficiency, numerical robustness, ability to fuse a wide range of visual cues and constraints, unrestricted topological properties of segments, and applicability to N-D problems. Graph cuts based approaches to object extraction have also been shown to have interesting connections with earlier segmentation methods such as snakes, geodesic active contours, and level-sets. The segmentation energies optimized by graph cuts combine boundary regularization with region-based properties in the same fashion as Mumford-Shah style functionals. We present motivation and detailed technical description of the basic combinatorial optimization framework for image segmentation via s/t graph cuts. After the general concept of using binary graph cut algorithms for object segmentation was first proposed and tested in Boykov and Jolly (2001), this idea was widely studied in computer vision and graphics communities. We provide links to a large number of known extensions based on iterative parameter re-estimation and learning, multi-scale or hierarchical approaches, narrow bands, and other techniques for demanding photo, video, and medical applications.
Computing geodesics and minimal surfaces via graph cuts
- in International Conference on Computer Vision
, 2003
"... Geodesic active contours and graph cuts are two standard image segmentation techniques. We introduce a new segmentation method combining some of their benefits. Our main intuition is that any cut on a graph embedded in some continuous space can be interpreted as a contour (in 2D) or a surface (in 3D ..."
Abstract
-
Cited by 251 (26 self)
- Add to MetaCart
(Show Context)
Geodesic active contours and graph cuts are two standard image segmentation techniques. We introduce a new segmentation method combining some of their benefits. Our main intuition is that any cut on a graph embedded in some continuous space can be interpreted as a contour (in 2D) or a surface (in 3D). We show how to build a grid graph and set its edge weights so that the cost of cuts is arbitrarily close to the length (area) of the corresponding contours (surfaces) for any anisotropic Riemannian metric. There are two interesting consequences of this technical result. First, graph cut algorithms can be used to find globally minimum geodesic contours (minimal surfaces in 3D) under arbitrary Riemannian metric for a given set of boundary conditions. Second, we show how to minimize metrication artifacts in existing graph-cut based methods in vision. Theoretically speaking, our work provides an interesting link between several branches of mathematics-differential geometry, integral geometry, and combinatorial optimization. The main technical problem is solved using Cauchy-Crofton formula from integral geometry. 1.
Fast Global Minimization of the Active Contour/Snake Model
"... The active contour/snake model is one of the most successful variational models in image segmentation. It consists of evolving a contour in images toward the boundaries of objects. Its success is based on strong mathematical properties and efficient numerical schemes based on the level set method. ..."
Abstract
-
Cited by 161 (10 self)
- Add to MetaCart
The active contour/snake model is one of the most successful variational models in image segmentation. It consists of evolving a contour in images toward the boundaries of objects. Its success is based on strong mathematical properties and efficient numerical schemes based on the level set method. The only drawback of this model is the existence of local minima in the active contour energy, which makes the initial guess critical to get satisfactory results. In this paper, we propose to solve this problem by determining a global minimum of the active contour model. Our approach is based on the unification of image segmentation and image denoising tasks into a global minimization framework. More precisely, we propose to unify three well-known image variational models, namely the snake model, the Rudin-Osher-Fatemi denoising model and the Mumford-Shah segmentation model. We will establish theorems with proofs to determine the existence of a global minimum of the active contour model. From a numerical point of view, we propose a new practical way to solve the active contour propagation problem toward object boundaries through a dual formulation of the minimization problem. The dual formulation, easy to implement, allows us a fast global minimization of the snake energy. It avoids the usual drawback in the level set approach that consists of initializing the active contour in a distance function and re-initializing it periodically during the evolution, which is time-consuming. We apply our segmentation algorithms on synthetic and real-world images, such as texture images and medical images, to emphasize the performances of our model compared with other segmentation models.
Interactive segmentation with intelligent scissors
- Graphical Models and Image Processing
, 1998
"... We present a new, interactive tool called Intelligent Scissors which we use for image seg-mentation. Fully automated segmentation is an unsolved problem, while manual tracing is inaccu-rate and laboriously unacceptable. However, Intelligent Scissors allow objects within digital images to be extracte ..."
Abstract
-
Cited by 145 (3 self)
- Add to MetaCart
(Show Context)
We present a new, interactive tool called Intelligent Scissors which we use for image seg-mentation. Fully automated segmentation is an unsolved problem, while manual tracing is inaccu-rate and laboriously unacceptable. However, Intelligent Scissors allow objects within digital images to be extracted quickly and accurately using simple gesture motions with a mouse. When the gestured mouse position comes in proximity to an object edge, a live-wire boundary “snaps” to, and wraps around the object of interest. Live-wire boundary detection formulates boundary detection as an optimal path search in a weighted graph. Optimal graph searching provides mathematically piece-wise optimal bound-aries while greatly reducing sensitivity to local noise or other intervening structures. Robustness is further enhanced with on-the-fly training which causes the boundary to adhere to the specific type of edge currently being followed, rather than simply the strongest edge in the neighborhood. Boundary cooling automatically freezes unchanging segments and automates input of additional seed points. Cooling also allows the user to be much more free with the gesture path, thereby increasing the efficiency and finesse with which boundaries can be extracted. (2) 1.
Fast extraction of minimal paths in 3D images and applications to virtual endoscopy
, 2001
"... ..."
(Show Context)
Optimal Algorithm for Shape from Shading and Path Planning
, 2001
"... An optimal algorithm for the reconstruction of a surface from its shading image is presented. The algorithm solves the 3D reconstruction from a single shading image problem. The shading image is treated as a penalty function and the height of the reconstructed surface is a weighted distance. A cons ..."
Abstract
-
Cited by 80 (2 self)
- Add to MetaCart
An optimal algorithm for the reconstruction of a surface from its shading image is presented. The algorithm solves the 3D reconstruction from a single shading image problem. The shading image is treated as a penalty function and the height of the reconstructed surface is a weighted distance. A consistent numerical scheme based on Sethian’s fast marching method is used to compute the reconstructed surface. The surface is a viscosity solution of an Eikonal equation for the vertical light source case. For the oblique light source case, the reconstructed surface is the viscosity solution to a different partial differential equation. A modification of the fast marching method yields a numerically consistent, computationally optimal, and practically fast algorithm for the classical shape from shading problem. Next, the fast marching method coupled with a back tracking via gradient descent along the reconstructed surface is shown to solve the path planning problem in robot navigation.
Minimal Surfaces Based Object Segmentation
- IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence
, 1997
"... A geometric approach for 3D object segmentation and representation is presented. The segmentation is obtained by deformable surfaces moving towards the objects to be detected in the 3D image. The model is based on curvature motion and the computation of surfaces with minimal areas, better known as m ..."
Abstract
-
Cited by 75 (13 self)
- Add to MetaCart
(Show Context)
A geometric approach for 3D object segmentation and representation is presented. The segmentation is obtained by deformable surfaces moving towards the objects to be detected in the 3D image. The model is based on curvature motion and the computation of surfaces with minimal areas, better known as minimal surfaces. The space where the surfaces are computed is induced from the 3D image (volumetric data) in which the objects are to be detected. The model links between classical deformable surfaces obtained via energy minimization, and intrinsic ones derived from curvature based flows. The new approach is stable, robust, and automatically handles changes in the surface topology during the deformation. Index Terms---3D segmentation, minimal surfaces, deformable models, mean curvature motion, medical images. ------------------------ F ------------------------ 1I NTRODUCTION ONE of the basic problems in image analysis is object detection. It can be associated with the problem of boundary detection, when boundaries are defined as curves or surfaces separating homogeneous regions. "Snakes," or active contours, were proposed by Kass et al. in [16] to solve this problem, and were later extended to 3D surfaces. The classical snakes and 3D deformable surfaces approach are based on deforming an initial contour or surface towards the boundary of the object to be detected. The deformation is obtained by minimizing a functional designed so that its (local) minima is at the boundary of the object [3], [33]. The energy usually involves two terms, one that controls the smoothness of the surface and the other that attracts it to the object's boundary. The topology of the final surface is, in general, as that of the initial one, unless special procedures are used to detect possible spli...
O(N) Implementation of the Fast Marching Algorithm
- Journal of Computational Physics
, 2005
"... In this note we present an implementation of the fast marching algorithm for solving Eikonal equations that reduces the original run-time from O(N log N) to linear. This lower run-time cost is obtained while keeping an error bound of the same order of magnitude as the original algorithm. This improv ..."
Abstract
-
Cited by 69 (11 self)
- Add to MetaCart
(Show Context)
In this note we present an implementation of the fast marching algorithm for solving Eikonal equations that reduces the original run-time from O(N log N) to linear. This lower run-time cost is obtained while keeping an error bound of the same order of magnitude as the original algorithm. This improvement is achieved introducing the straight forward untidy priority queue, obtained via a quantization of the priorities in the marching computation. We present the underlying framework, estimations on the error, and examples showing the usefulness of the proposed approach. Key words: Fast marching, Hamilton-Jacobi and Eikonal equations, distance functions, bucket sort, untidy priority queue.
Fast computation of weighted distance functions and geodesics on implicit hypersurfaces
- J. Comput. Phys
"... An algorithm for the computationally optimal construction of intrinsic weighted distance functions on implicit hyper-surfaces is introduced in this paper. The basic idea is to approximate the intrinsic weighted distance by the Euclidean weighted distance computed in a band surrounding the implicit h ..."
Abstract
-
Cited by 63 (8 self)
- Add to MetaCart
(Show Context)
An algorithm for the computationally optimal construction of intrinsic weighted distance functions on implicit hyper-surfaces is introduced in this paper. The basic idea is to approximate the intrinsic weighted distance by the Euclidean weighted distance computed in a band surrounding the implicit hyper-surface in the embedding space, thereby performing all the computations in a Cartesian grid with classical and efficient numerics. Based on work on geodesics on Riemannian manifolds with boundaries, we bound the error between the two distance functions. We show that this error is of the same order as the theoretical numerical error in computationally optimal, Hamilton–Jacobi-based, algorithms for computing distance functions in Cartesian grids. Therefore, we can use these algorithms, modified to deal with spaces with boundaries, and obtain also for the case of intrinsic distance functions on implicit hyper-surfaces a computationally efficient technique. The approach can be extended to solve a more general class of Hamilton–Jacobi equations defined on the implicit surface, following the same idea of approximating their solutions by the solutions in the embedding Euclidean space. The framework here introduced thereby allows for the computations to be performed on a Cartesian grid with computationally optimal algorithms, in spite of the fact that the distance and Hamilton–Jacobi equations are intrinsic to the implicit hyper-surface. c ○ 2001 Academic Press Key Words: implicit hyper-surfaces; distance functions; geodesics; Hamilton– Jacobi equations; fast computations.
A.: Vessels as 4-d curves: Global minimal 4-d paths to extract 3-d tubular surfaces and centerlines
- IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging
, 2007
"... In this paper, we propose an innovative approach to the segmentation of tubular or vessel-like structures which combines all the benefits of minimal path techniques (global minimizers, fast computation, powerful incorporation of user input) with some of the benefits of active surface techniques (rep ..."
Abstract
-
Cited by 57 (3 self)
- Add to MetaCart
(Show Context)
In this paper, we propose an innovative approach to the segmentation of tubular or vessel-like structures which combines all the benefits of minimal path techniques (global minimizers, fast computation, powerful incorporation of user input) with some of the benefits of active surface techniques (representation of a full 3D tubular surface rather than a just curve). The key is to represent the trajectory of the vessel not as a 3D curve but to go up a dimension and represent the entire vessel as a 4D curve, where each 4D point represents a 3D sphere (three coordinates for the center point and one for the radius). The 3D vessel structure is then obtained as the envelope of the family of spheres traversed along this 4D curve. Because the 3D surface is simply a curve in 4D, we are able to fully exploit minimal path techniques to obtain global minimizing trajectories between two user supplied end-points in order to reconstruct vessels from noisy or low contrast 3D data without the sensitivity to local minima inherent in most active surface techniques. In contrast to standard purely spatial 3D minimal path techniques, however, we are able to represent the full vessel surface rather than just a curve which runs through its interior. Our representation also yields a natural notion of a vessel’s “central curve”, which is obtained by tracing the center points of the family of 3D spheres rather than its envelope. We demonstrate the utility of this approach on 2D images of roads as well as both 2D and 3D MR angiography and CT images. 1.
