Blobdetect 1.3b

This is blobdetect-1.3b, an API for extracting blob features from
RGB images. The algorithm for blob feature extraction is described
in the thesis "Channel Representations for Low and Medium Level
Vision" by Per-Erik Forssén.

Author is Per-Erik Forssén, perfo@isy.liu.se.


License

This is free software, published under the GNU General Public License
(GPL). What this basically means is that you are free to use, modify,
and redistribute the program under the same license. See the file
COPYING for details.


Files

This archive should contain the following files

README                This file
COPYING               License file
testim.ppm            Test image
blobdemo_ppm.exe      Example executable for WIN32 platform
blobdetect_api.pdf    API documentation
image_buffer.c        Source code
pnmio.c               Source code
sbinfilt.c            Source code
region_image.c        Source code
merge_blobs.c         Source code
file_and_time.c       Source code
extract_blobs.c       Source code
visualise.c           Source code
image_buffer.h        Source code
pnmio.h               Source code
sbinfilt.h            Source code
region_image.h        Source code
merge_blobs.h         Source code
file_and_time.h       Source code
extract_blobs.h       Source code
visualise.h           Source code
blobdemo_ppm.c        Example source code
detect_blobs.c        Example source code
draw_blobs.c          Example source code
detect_blobs.m        Matlab help file
draw_blobs.m          Matlab help file
matlab_demo.m         Matlab demo script
Makefile              Makefile for building executable


Platforms

Blobdetect has been developed under Solaris 9. It has also been
found to work under Linux, Windows 2000, and XP. It will probably work
on most UNIX platforms as well, possibly requiring some modifications
to the Makefile.


Prerequisites for blobdemo_ppm

Images are read and written by the application in PPM format only.
So you will need a software that can read and write this format.
Examples of suitable software are GIMP (http://www.gimp.org)
and IrfanView (http://www.irfanview.com).
In order to build the executable, you will also need a C compiler
environment.


Installation of blobdemo_ppm

On UNIX, compress the archive and build the executable using the
command:
> make blobdemo_ppm

For Windows users there is a precompiled binary called
blobdemo_ppm.exe, which you can place in your favourite folder.

To compile in Windows, you must modify the Makefile such that
-DWIN32 is passed to the compiler. Failing to do so will lead to
problems with reading PPM-files.


Running blobdemo_ppm

The program runs in a shell (command window), and has the following
syntax:
> blobdemo_ppm <image.ppm> <blobs.ppm> [<regions.ppm>] [<dmax>]

for details, please refer to the documentation (blobdetect_api.pdf).


Matlab MEX interface functions

There are at present two Matlab MEX interface functions.
detect_blobs and draw_blobs. Please refer to the corresponding
Matlab help files for further information about calling syntax.
There is also a matlab_demo.m script that you can have a look at.
For info about compiling the MEX-interface, see the Makefile.
Note that -DDOUBLE_FLOATS should be passed to the compiler, since
the input is passed from Matlab by reference (and Matlab uses
doubles).

Documentation

The file blobdemo_api.pdf contains an API reference of the functions
in the package.


References

The Ph.D. thesis, as well as a number of related papers, can be
found at

http://www.isy.liu.se/cvl/ScOut/


Bug Reports

Please send bug reports, bug fixes, improvements, and success stories
to the author at perfo@isy.liu.se. The toolbox is of course provided as
is, no warranty, etc.


Linköping 2005-01-20
Per-Erik Forssén