.. _filter_2d: Making your own linear filters! ******************************** Goal ===== In this tutorial you will learn how to: .. container:: enumeratevisibleitemswithsquare * Use the OpenCV function :filter2d:`filter2D <>` to create your own linear filters. Theory ======= .. note:: The explanation below belongs to the book **Learning OpenCV** by Bradski and Kaehler. Convolution ------------ In a very general sense, convolution is an operation between every part of an image and an operator (kernel). What is a kernel? ------------------ A kernel is essentially a fixed size array of numerical coefficeints along with an *anchor point* in that array, which is tipically located at the center. .. image:: images/filter_2d_tutorial_kernel_theory.png :alt: kernel example :align: center How does convolution with a kernel work? ----------------------------------------- Assume you want to know the resulting value of a particular location in the image. The value of the convolution is calculated in the following way: #. Place the kernel anchor on top of a determined pixel, with the rest of the kernel overlaying the corresponding local pixels in the image. #. Multiply the kernel coefficients by the corresponding image pixel values and sum the result. #. Place the result to the location of the *anchor* in the input image. #. Repeat the process for all pixels by scanning the kernel over the entire image. Expressing the procedure above in the form of an equation we would have: .. math:: H(x,y) = \sum_{i=0}^{M_{i} - 1} \sum_{j=0}^{M_{j}-1} I(x+i - a_{i}, y + j - a_{j})K(i,j) Fortunately, OpenCV provides you with the function :filter2d:`filter2D <>` so you do not have to code all these operations. Code ====== #. **What does this program do?** * Loads an image * Performs a *normalized box filter*. For instance, for a kernel of size :math:`size = 3`, the kernel would be: .. math:: K = \dfrac{1}{3 \cdot 3} \begin{bmatrix} 1 & 1 & 1 \\ 1 & 1 & 1 \\ 1 & 1 & 1 \end{bmatrix} The program will perform the filter operation with kernels of sizes 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11. * The filter output (with each kernel) will be shown during 500 milliseconds #. The tutorial code's is shown lines below. You can also download it from `here `_ .. code-block:: cpp #include "opencv2/imgproc/imgproc.hpp" #include "opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp" #include #include using namespace cv; /** @function main */ int main ( int argc, char** argv ) { /// Declare variables Mat src, dst; Mat kernel; Point anchor; double delta; int ddepth; int kernel_size; char* window_name = "filter2D Demo"; int c; /// Load an image src = imread( argv[1] ); if( !src.data ) { return -1; } /// Create window namedWindow( window_name, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE ); /// Initialize arguments for the filter anchor = Point( -1, -1 ); delta = 0; ddepth = -1; /// Loop - Will filter the image with different kernel sizes each 0.5 seconds int ind = 0; while( true ) { c = waitKey(500); /// Press 'ESC' to exit the program if( (char)c == 27 ) { break; } /// Update kernel size for a normalized box filter kernel_size = 3 + 2*( ind%5 ); kernel = Mat::ones( kernel_size, kernel_size, CV_32F )/ (float)(kernel_size*kernel_size); /// Apply filter filter2D(src, dst, ddepth , kernel, anchor, delta, BORDER_DEFAULT ); imshow( window_name, dst ); ind++; } return 0; } Explanation ============= #. Load an image .. code-block:: cpp src = imread( argv[1] ); if( !src.data ) { return -1; } #. Create a window to display the result .. code-block:: cpp namedWindow( window_name, CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE ); #. Initialize the arguments for the linear filter .. code-block:: cpp anchor = Point( -1, -1 ); delta = 0; ddepth = -1; #. Perform an infinite loop updating the kernel size and applying our linear filter to the input image. Let's analyze that more in detail: #. First we define the kernel our filter is going to use. Here it is: .. code-block:: cpp kernel_size = 3 + 2*( ind%5 ); kernel = Mat::ones( kernel_size, kernel_size, CV_32F )/ (float)(kernel_size*kernel_size); The first line is to update the *kernel_size* to odd values in the range: :math:`[3,11]`. The second line actually builds the kernel by setting its value to a matrix filled with :math:`1's` and normalizing it by dividing it between the number of elements. #. After setting the kernel, we can generate the filter by using the function :filter2d:`filter2D <>`: .. code-block:: cpp filter2D(src, dst, ddepth , kernel, anchor, delta, BORDER_DEFAULT ); The arguments denote: a. *src*: Source image #. *dst*: Destination image #. *ddepth*: The depth of *dst*. A negative value (such as :math:`-1`) indicates that the depth is the same as the source. #. *kernel*: The kernel to be scanned through the image #. *anchor*: The position of the anchor relative to its kernel. The location *Point(-1, -1)* indicates the center by default. #. *delta*: A value to be added to each pixel during the convolution. By default it is :math:`0` #. *BORDER_DEFAULT*: We let this value by default (more details in the following tutorial) #. Our program will effectuate a *while* loop, each 500 ms the kernel size of our filter will be updated in the range indicated. Results ======== #. After compiling the code above, you can execute it giving as argument the path of an image. The result should be a window that shows an image blurred by a normalized filter. Each 0.5 seconds the kernel size should change, as can be seen in the series of snapshots below: .. image:: images/filter_2d_tutorial_result.jpg :alt: kernel example :align: center