lines_color🔗
Short description🔗
lines_color — Detect color lines and their width.
Signature🔗
lines_color( image Image, out xld_cont Lines, number Sigma, number Low, number High, string ExtractWidth, string CompleteJunctions )
Description🔗
lines_color extracts color lines from the input image
Image and returns the extracted lines as subpixel precise
XLD-contours in Lines. Color lines are defined as dark
lines in the amplitude image of the color edge filter (see
edges_color). lines_color always uses the Canny
color edge filter. Hence, the required partial derivatives of the
image are always computed by convolution with the respective partial
derivatives of the Gaussian smoothing masks (see
derivate_gauss). The corresponding smoothing is determined
by the parameter Sigma.
By defining color lines as dark lines in the amplitude image, in
contrast to lines_gauss, for single-channel images no
distinction is made whether the lines are darker or brighter than
their surroundings. Furthermore, lines_color also returns
staircase lines, i.e., lines for which the gray value of the lines
lies between the gray values in the surrounding area to the left and
right sides of the line. In multi-channel images, the above
definition allows each channel to have a different line type. For
example, in a three-channel image the first channel may have a dark
line, the second channel a bright line, and the third channel a
staircase line at the same position.
If ExtractWidth is set to 'true' the line width is
extracted for each line point. Because the line extractor is unable
to extract certain junctions because of differential geometric
reasons, it tries to extract these by different means if
CompleteJunctions is set to 'true'.
lines_color links the line points into lines by using an
algorithm similar to a hysteresis threshold operation, which is also
used in lines_gauss and edges_color_sub_pix. Points
with an amplitude larger than High are immediately accepted
as belonging to a line, while points with an amplitude smaller than
Low are rejected. All other points are accepted as lines
if they are connected to accepted line points (see also
lines_gauss). Here, amplitude means the line amplitude of
the dark line (see lines_gauss and lines_facet).
This value corresponds to the third directional derivative of the
smoothed input image in the direction perpendicular to the line.
For the choice of the thresholds High and Low one
has to keep in mind that the third directional derivative depends on
the amplitude and width of the line as well as the choice of
Sigma. The value of the third derivative depends linearly
on the amplitude, i.e., the larger the amplitude, the larger the
response. For the width of the line there is an inverse dependence:
The wider the line is, the smaller the response gets. This holds
analogously for the dependence on Sigma: The larger
Sigma is chosen, the smaller the second derivative will be.
This means that for larger smoothing correspondingly smaller values
for High and Low should be chosen.
The extracted lines are returned in a topologically sound data
structure in Lines. This means that lines are correctly
split at junction points.
lines_color defines the following attributes for each
line point if ExtractWidth was set to 'false':
-
'angle' The angle of the direction perpendicular to the line (oriented such that the normal vectors point to the right side of the line as the line is traversed from start to end point; the angles are given with respect to the row axis of the image.)
-
'response': The magnitude of the second derivative
If ExtractWidth was set to 'true', additionally
the following attributes are defined:
-
'width_left': The line width to the left of the line
-
'width_right': The line width to the right of the line
Use get_contour_attrib_xld to obtain attribute values.
See the operator reference of get_contour_attrib_xld for further
information about contour attributes.
Attention🔗
In general, but in particular if the line width is to be extracted, \(\textrm{Sigma} \ge w/\sqrt{3}\) should be selected, where \(w\) is the width (half the diameter) of the lines in the image. As the lowest allowable value \(\textrm{Sigma} \ge w/2.5\) must be selected. If, for example, lines with a width of 4 pixels (diameter 8 pixels) are to be extracted, \(\textrm{Sigma} \ge 2.3\) should be selected. If it is expected that staircase lines are present in at least one channel, and if such lines should be extracted, in addition to the above restriction, \(\textrm{Sigma} \le w\) should be selected. This is necessary because staircase lines turn into normal step edges for large amounts of smoothing, and therefore no longer appear as dark lines in the amplitude image of the color edge filter.
Note that filter operators may return unexpected results if an image with a reduced domain is used as input. Please refer to the chapter Filters.
Execution information🔗
Execution information
-
Multithreading type: reentrant (runs in parallel with non-exclusive operators).
-
Multithreading scope: global (may be called from any thread).
-
Automatically parallelized on internal data level.
Parameters🔗
Image (input_object) (multichannel-)image → object (byte / uint2)
Input image.
Lines (output_object) xld_cont-array → object
Extracted lines.
Sigma (input_control) number → (real / integer)
Amount of Gaussian smoothing to be applied.
Default: 1.5
Suggested values: 1, 1.2, 1.5, 1.8, 2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5
Recommended increment: 0.1
Restriction: Sigma > 0.0
Low (input_control) number → (real / integer)
Lower threshold for the hysteresis threshold operation.
Default: 3
Suggested values: 0, 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10
Value range: 0 ≤ Low
Recommended increment: 0.5
High (input_control) number → (real / integer)
Upper threshold for the hysteresis threshold operation.
Default: 8
Suggested values: 0, 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25
Value range: 0 ≤ High
Recommended increment: 0.5
Restriction: High >= Low
ExtractWidth (input_control) string → (string)
Should the line width be extracted?
Default: 'true'
List of values: 'false', 'true'
CompleteJunctions (input_control) string → (string)
Should junctions be added where they cannot be extracted?
Default: 'true'
List of values: 'false', 'true'
Complexity🔗
The amount of temporary memory required is dependent on the height \(H\)
of the domain of Image.
Result🔗
lines_color returns 2 (H_MSG_TRUE) if all parameters are correct and
no error occurs during execution. If the input is empty the
behavior can be set via
set_system(::'no_object_result',<Result>:). If necessary,
an exception is raised.
Combinations with other operators🔗
Combinations
Possible successors
Alternatives
See also
References🔗
C. Steger: “Subpixel-Precise Extraction of Lines and Edges”; International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, vol. XXXIII, part B3; pp. 141-156; 2000.
C. Steger: “An Unbiased Detector of Curvilinear Structures”; IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence; vol. 20, no. 2; pp. 113-125; 1998.
C. Steger: ``Unbiased Extraction of Curvilinear Structures from 2D and 3D Images’‘; Herbert Utz Verlag, München; 1998.
Module🔗
2D Metrology