imaging and machine vision europe october/november 2010
www.imveurope.com
26
intelligent image processing Soft progress
Stephen Mounsey looks at trends in the development of image processing software and libraries, and finds that usability is becoming increasingly important here
The difference between simple digital photography and a true imaging or machine vision implementation lies in what the user does with the image. Using software to extract useful data from an image is fundamental to the imaging and machine vision industry, and it should therefore come as no surprise that some of the most exciting developments within vision fall within the scope of intelligent image processing. The most advanced imaging system in the
world would be of little commercial interest to customers if it needed a full-time post-doc researcher to calibrate its processing software. As such, the developers of imaging systems are investing their efforts into making sure that their products are easy to use. The Matrox Imaging Library (MIL) is a collection of image processing algorithms that are collected as a series of tools, available to higher level programs as required. The MIL and other libraries like it are becoming more useful through improved accessibility, as Pierantonio Boriero, product line manager at Matrox, explains: ‘The imaging library is the foundation [of the image processing solution], and the Matrox Design Assistant sits on top of this. Tools and algorithms that are available at the
MIL level are also available at the Design Assistant level, the only difference between the two being that to use the tool at the MIL level, you must be able to write traditional programming code in C, C++, C#, or Visual Basic, whereas Design Assistant gives access to the tools through a flowchart that you construct.’ This, he says, makes the process of designing and optimising an image processing system accessible to users without dedicated programming expertise. ‘In terms of the intelligence of the software, both approaches have access to the same tools.’ The tools on offer within the MIL include
pattern recognition, feature extraction and analysis, edge-finding tools, and colour analysis tools that users would expect from a library such as this, and Boriero readily points out that libraries supplied by other imaging suppliers offer similar tools. ‘A lot of these tools, to be honest with you, are quite consistent at the higher level from vendor to vendor, but the way they differ is through implementations… the way in which the user interacts with the tool, and how easy it is to make use of the tool.’ Machine vision is, he adds, a very broad field, covering a wide breadth of applications, but software tools must nonetheless be easy to use. ‘Making them easy to
use essentially means minimising the number of dials and switches you need to flip – and that’s the challenge. Today’s customers are pressed in terms of time to get a solution up-and-running as quickly as possible, and they don’t necessarily have the time to fiddle with all of the parameters.’ According to Boriero, many customers expect their image processing solution to work out of the box for their specific case. ‘In certain cases this works, but unfortunately sometimes you’ve got to roll up your sleeves and get turning some dials and flipping some switches.’
Improving in real time A flowchart-based approach to constructing an imaging algorithm is one way to make the process easier for a non-programmer. Elsewhere, techniques of real-time visualisation have been used to create what amounts to rapid prototyping for image processing software. Yves Daoust is CEO and founder of Vision for Vision, a Belgian company offering this kind of intelligent image processing software. The company’s Vis+ prototyping environment has been shortlisted for the Vision Award, to be presented at Vision 2010 in Stuttgart. ‘We provide our customers with
A point cloud (left) is one method used by software packages to reconstruct an object in 3D (right), in this case through the Matrox Imaging Library
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