How to code up an image stitching software for these 'simple' images?
TLDR: Need help trying to calculate overlap region between 2 graphs.
So I'm trying to stitch these 2 images:
Since I know that the images I will be stitching definitely come from the same image, I feel that I should be able to code this up myself. Using libraries like OpenCV feels a little like overkill for me for this task.
My current idea is that I can simplify this task by doing the following steps for each image:
- Load image using PIL
- Convert image to black and white (PIL image mode “L”)
- [Optional: crop images to overlapping region by inspection by eye]
- Create vector
row_sum, which is a sum of each row - [Optional: log
row_sum, to reduce the size of values we're working with] - Plot row_sum.
This would reduce the (potentially) (3*2)-dimensional problem, with 3 RGB channels for each pixel on the 2D image to a (1*2)-D problem with the black and white pixel for the 2D image instead. Then, summing across the rows reduces this to a 1D problem.
I used the following code to implement the above:
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
from PIL import Image
class Stitcher():
def combine_2(self, img1, img2):
# thr1, thr2 = self.get_cropped_bw(img1, 115, img2, 80)
thr1, thr2 = self.get_cropped_bw(img1, 0, img2, 0)
row_sum1 = np.log(thr1.sum(1))
row_sum2 = np.log(thr2.sum(1))
self.plot_4x4(thr1, thr2, row_sum1, row_sum2)
def get_cropped_bw(self, img1, img1_keep_from, img2, img2_keep_till):
im1 = Image.open(img1).convert("L")
im2 = Image.open(img2).convert("L")
data1 = (np.array(im1)[img1_keep_from:]
if img1_keep_from != 0 else np.array(im1))
data2 = (np.array(im2)[:img2_keep_till]
if img2_keep_till != 0 else np.array(im2))
return data1, data2
def plot_4x4(self, thr1, thr2, row_sum1, row_sum2):
fig, ax = plt.subplots(2, 2, sharey="row", constrained_layout=True)
ax[0, 0].imshow(thr1, cmap="Greys")
ax[0, 1].imshow(thr2, cmap="Greys")
ax[1, 0].plot(row_sum1, "k.")
ax[1, 1].plot(row_sum2, "r.")
ax[1, 0].set(
xlabel="Index Value",
ylabel="Row Sum",
)
plt.show()
imgs = (r"combine\imgs\test_image_part_1.jpg",
r"combine\imgs\test_image_part_2.jpg")
s = Stitcher()
s.combine_2(*imgs)
This gave me this graph:
(I've added in those yellow boxes, to indicate the overlap regions.)
This is the bit I'm stuck at. I want to find exactly:
- the index value of the left-side of the yellow box for the 1st image and
- the index value of the right-side of the yellow box for the 2nd image.
I define the overlap region as the longest range for which the end of the 1st graph 'matches' the start of the 2nd graph. For the method to find the overlap region, what should I do if the row sum values aren't exactly the same (what if one is the other scaled by some factor)?
I feel like this could be a problem that could use dot products to find the similarity between the 2 graphs? But I can't think of how to implement this.
I had a lot more fun with this than I expected. I wrote this using opencv, but that's just to load and show the image. Everything else is done with numpy so swapping this to PIL shouldn't be too difficult.
I'm using a brute-force matcher. I also wrote a random-start hillclimber that runs in much less time, but I can't guarantee it'll find the correct answer since the gradient space isn't smooth. I won't include it in my code since it's long and janky, but if you really need the time efficiency I can add it back in later.
I added a random crop and some salt and pepper noise to the images to test for robustness.
The brute-force matcher operates on the idea that we don't know which section of the two images overlap, so we need to convolve the smaller image over the larger image from left to right, top to bottom. This means our search space is:
horizontal = small_width + big_width
vertical = small_height + big_height
area = horizontal * vertical
This will grow very quickly with image size. I motivate the algorithm by giving it points for having a larger overlap, but it loses more points for having differences in color for the overlapped area.
Here are some pictures from an execution of this program
import cv2
import numpy as np
import random
# randomly snips edges
def randCrop(image, maxMargin):
c = [random.randint(0,maxMargin) for a in range(4)];
return image[c[0]:-c[1], c[2]:-c[3]];
# adds noise to image
def saltPepper(image, minNoise, maxNoise):
h,w = image.shape;
randNum = random.randint(minNoise, maxNoise);
for a in range(randNum):
x = random.randint(0, w-1);
y = random.randint(0, h-1);
image[y,x] = random.randint(0, 255);
return image;
# evaluate layout
def getScore(one, two):
# do raw subtraction
left = one - two;
right = two - one;
sub = np.minimum(left, right);
return np.count_nonzero(sub);
# return 2d random position within range
def randPos(img, big_shape):
th,tw = big_shape;
h,w = img.shape;
x = random.randint(0, tw - w);
y = random.randint(0, th - h);
return [x,y];
# overlays small image onto big image
def overlay(small, big, pos):
# unpack
h,w = small.shape;
x,y = pos;
# copy and place
copy = big.copy();
copy[y:y+h, x:x+w] = small;
return copy;
# calculates overlap region
def overlap(one, two, pos_one, pos_two):
# unpack
h1,w1 = one.shape;
h2,w2 = two.shape;
x1,y1 = pos_one;
x2,y2 = pos_two;
# set edges
l1 = x1;
l2 = x2;
r1 = x1 + w1;
r2 = x2 + w2;
t1 = y1;
t2 = y2;
b1 = y1 + h1;
b2 = y2 + h2;
# go
left = max(l1, l2);
right = min(r1, r2);
top = max(t1, t2);
bottom = min(b1, b2);
return [left, right, top, bottom];
# wrapper for overlay + getScore
def fullScore(one, two, pos_one, pos_two, big_empty):
# check positions
x,y = pos_two;
h,w = two.shape;
th,tw = big_empty.shape;
if y+h > th or x+w > tw or x < 0 or y < 0:
return -99999999;
# overlay
temp_one = overlay(one, big_empty, pos_one);
temp_two = overlay(two, big_empty, pos_two);
# get overlap
l,r,t,b = overlap(one, two, pos_one, pos_two);
temp_one = temp_one[t:b, l:r];
temp_two = temp_two[t:b, l:r];
# score
diff = getScore(temp_one, temp_two);
score = (r-l) * (b-t);
score -= diff*2;
return score;
# do brute force
def bruteForce(one, two):
# calculate search space
# unpack size
h,w = one.shape;
one_size = h*w;
h,w = two.shape;
two_size = h*w;
# small and big
if one_size < two_size:
small = one;
big = two;
else:
small = two;
big = one;
# unpack size
sh, sw = small.shape;
bh, bw = big.shape;
total_width = bw + sw * 2;
total_height = bh + sh * 2;
# set up empty images
empty = np.zeros((total_height, total_width), np.uint8);
# set global best
best_score = -999999;
best_pos = None;
# start scrolling
ybound = total_height - sh;
xbound = total_width - sw;
for y in range(ybound):
print("y: " + str(y) + " || " + str(empty.shape));
for x in range(xbound):
# get score
score = fullScore(big, small, [sw,sh], [x,y], empty);
# show
# prog = overlay(big, empty, [sw,sh]);
# prog = overlay(small, prog, [x,y]);
# cv2.imshow("prog", prog);
# cv2.waitKey(1);
# compare
if score > best_score:
best_score = score;
best_pos = [x,y];
print("best_score: " + str(best_score));
return best_pos, [sw,sh], small, big, empty;
# do a step of hill climber
def hillStep(one, two, best_pos, big_empty, step):
# make a step
new_pos = best_pos[1][:];
new_pos[0] += step[0];
new_pos[1] += step[1];
# get score
return fullScore(one, two, best_pos[0], new_pos, big_empty), new_pos;
# hunt around for good position
# let's do a random-start hillclimber
def randHill(one, two, shape):
# set up empty images
big_empty = np.zeros(shape, np.uint8);
# set global best
g_best_score = -999999;
g_best_pos = None;
# lets do 200 iterations
iters = 200;
for a in range(iters):
# progress check
print(str(a) + " of " + str(iters));
# start with random position
h,w = two.shape[:2];
pos_one = [w,h];
pos_two = randPos(two, shape);
# get score
best_score = fullScore(one, two, pos_one, pos_two, big_empty);
best_pos = [pos_one, pos_two];
# hill climb (only on second image)
while True:
# end condition: no step improves score
end_flag = True;
# 8-way
for y in range(-1, 1+1):
for x in range(-1, 1+1):
if x != 0 or y != 0:
# get score and update
score, new_pos = hillStep(one, two, best_pos, big_empty, [x,y]);
if score > best_score:
best_score = score;
best_pos[1] = new_pos[:];
end_flag = False;
# end
if end_flag:
break;
else:
# show
# prog = overlay(one, big_empty, best_pos[0]);
# prog = overlay(two, prog, best_pos[1]);
# cv2.imshow("prog", prog);
# cv2.waitKey(1);
pass;
# check for new global best
if best_score > g_best_score:
g_best_score = best_score;
g_best_pos = best_pos[:];
print("top score: " + str(g_best_score));
return g_best_score, g_best_pos;
# load both images
top = cv2.imread("top.jpg");
bottom = cv2.imread("bottom.jpg");
top = cv2.cvtColor(top, cv2.COLOR_BGR2GRAY);
bottom = cv2.cvtColor(bottom, cv2.COLOR_BGR2GRAY);
# randomly crop
top = randCrop(top, 20);
bottom = randCrop(bottom, 20);
# randomly add noise
saltPepper(top, 200, 1000);
saltPepper(bottom, 200, 1000);
# set up max image (assume no overlap whatsoever)
tw = 0;
th = 0;
h, w = top.shape;
tw += w;
th += h;
h, w = bottom.shape;
tw += w*2;
th += h*2;
# do random-start hill climb
_, best_pos = randHill(top, bottom, (th, tw));
# show
empty = np.zeros((th, tw), np.uint8);
pos1, pos2 = best_pos;
image = overlay(top, empty, pos1);
image = overlay(bottom, image, pos2);
# do brute force
# small_pos, big_pos, small, big, empty = bruteForce(top, bottom);
# image = overlay(big, empty, big_pos);
# image = overlay(small, image, small_pos);
# recolor overlap
h,w = empty.shape;
color = np.zeros((h,w,3), np.uint8);
l,r,t,b = overlap(top, bottom, pos1, pos2);
color[:,:,0] = image;
color[:,:,1] = image;
color[:,:,2] = image;
color[t:b, l:r, 0] += 100;
# show images
cv2.imshow("top", top);
cv2.imshow("bottom", bottom);
cv2.imshow("overlayed", image);
cv2.imshow("Color", color);
cv2.waitKey(0);
Edit: I added in the random-start hillclimber