image registration

[baj]

Hi,

I am looking for some functionality to register two or more images. Then I want to calculate averages, build sums, calculate differences etc. Does anyone know how to do these things?

I have searched but couldn't find anything in this direction... Maybe you are using different terms?

IF all this fails, I would like to request this as a feature...

Thanks,

Bernd

[jch2103]

Can you clarify what you mean by 'register'?

[baj]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_registration:

Image registration is the process of transforming different sets of data into one coordinate system. Data may be multiple photographs, data from different sensors, times, depths, or viewpoints.[1] It is used in computer vision, medical imaging, military automatic target recognition, and compiling and analyzing images and data from satellites. Registration is necessary in order to be able to compare or integrate the data obtained from these different measurements.

[jch2103]

OK, yes, I'm familiar with image registration as used in geographic information systems, e.g., ArcGIS. I don't recall seeing any reference to this capability in the IMatch 5 Help, however. If you use a program or tool that generates metadata tags as an output of a registration process, IMatch might be able to make such tags available for further (external) manipulation. (The Metadata Working Group Guidance document http://www.metadataworkinggroup.com/pdf/mwg_guidance.pdf discusses standards for image region metadata, but mostly in the context of facial recognition.)

What programs/tools are you using for this purpose now?

[baj]

Currently, I am exploring my options. Unfortunately I don't have the money to buy Matlab. But there are things like ITK (and many more) that can do the job.
What I need is a system to build in/on with a GUI. Thus, imatch is one of the possibilities. I was also thinking of OMERO or KNIME, but they are more from the science field (where I am from too) and the support for photos is not optimal. I am actually thinking right now of building some scripts/macros for imatch that can automatically group photos based on their similarity, then I need to select a group and register the images. Depending on what type of exposure I chose originally I would then add (+) images or create an average, define regions of interest to exclude... I also found the follow link yesterday (http://research.microsoft.com/apps/pubs/default.aspx?id=75695) that has a lot of really interesting information that I would like to have available in an application...

Anyways that is where my thinking goes towards... any comments are welcome!!!

[Richard]

I am actually thinking right now of building some scripts/macros for imatch that can automatically group photos based on their similarity

Have you read the search topic in Help?

Searching
IMatch provides a number of Search features which allow you to find files in your database by various criteria. This includes finding binary duplicates, color-based search and search for visually similar images.

[baj]

Yes, thank you, I know about the search capabilities but that is just the first part of my intended workflow. I am will then have to register and manipulate the  group of images... This I believe I cannot do at the moment, or am I missing something?

[Mario]

Panorama applications have a use for image registration, and some applications with a more scientific or research background.
This is nothing that's useful for a regular DAM application which is used to manage digital files. If there was more demand for this it could be commercially interesting for somebody to write a plug-in for IMatch. But I doubt it.

Such a functionality could by implemented by a mix of an IMatch script and code written in .NET or C++. The script would be the glue to link the external code and IMatch. Or maybe you can find an application which does what you want (e.g. the free ImageMagik) and write a script which calls the other tool via command line. The result could be region info written in the XMP record or something.

All this is something that could be fun to play with, but not for me. At least not over the next 6 - 12 months 

[baj]

Thanks for the information...

Is there actually an API such that I can communicate from another application with Imatch?

[Mario]

You can call COM components from within IMatch.
You can call functions exported in DLLs.
You can run command line applications.
Scripts which use .NET technologies can interface with all .NET assemblies.

You can interface to JavaScript Libraries from IMatch Apps
You can interface to web services from IMatch Apps

...

Plenty to choose  from