Vladimir Kovalevsky - Modern Algorithms for Image Processing: Computer Imagery by Example Using C#

Any source code or other supplementary material referenced by the author in this book is available to readers on GitHub via the books product page, located at www.apress.com/9781484242360 . For more detailed information, please visit http://www.apress.com/source-code .

This book presents a collection of algorithms and projects for processing two-dimensional images. I developed and investigated the algorithms. Special emphasis is placed on computer solutions of problems related to the improvement of the quality of images, with image analysis and recognition of some geometrically definable objects. New data structures useful for image analysis are presented. The description of all algorithms contains examples of source code in the C# programming language. Descriptions of projects contain source code that can be used by readers.

With this book I intend to help you develop efficient software for processing two-dimensional images. There are a lot of books on image processing, but important algorithms are missing from these books. I have developed many efficient algorithms as a new and important contribution to this area.

I have paid great attention to solutions of problems in image analysis. On the other hand, problems of improving the quality of images are important for the arts. My wife is a recognized specialist in the history of the arts, and her publications often use copies of famous pictures and drawings. The photographs of these artworks are often of low quality. Often photographs of historical drawings illustrating the work of a painter are of such low quality that it is almost impossible to clearly see the contents of the image. Improving these images is therefore very important. In such cases, the programs I have developed for improving the quality of pictures are very useful.

I have developed efficient algorithms for recognizing circles and ellipses in noisy images. These algorithms can be used for recognizing objects with a shape approximating a circle; for example, apples, mushrooms, and so on. They can also be used for recognizing bicycles in images of traffic because the wheels of bicycles are ideal circles, but if the bicycle is positioned in such a way that the plane of its frame is not orthogonal to the viewing ray, then its wheels look like ellipses rather than circles. I was therefore forced to develop efficient algorithms for recognizing ellipses in noisy images as well. My efforts were successful and the book contains a chapter devoted to the recognition of bicycles in noisy images.

All descriptions are followed by a pseudo-code similar to the C# programming language. Most of the descriptions contain source code that can be copied from the text and used directly in a Windows Forms program written in the C# .NET language.

All source code and figures are included in a download file (which you can access via the Download Source Code button located at www.apress.com/9781484242360 ) so you can see the colors.

I wish to acknowledge valuable and fruitful discussions with Boris Flach, Reinhard Klette, Ulrich Koethe, Alexander Kovalevsky, Volkmar Miszalok, and Peer Stelldinger. These discussions have significantly contributed to this work.

I would like to express my special appreciation to Alexander V. Kovalevsky, who helped significantly as an experienced programmer in the development of my projects.