Image Processing in C

Citation

Abbott, P. (1998), "Image Processing in C", Assembly Automation, Vol. 18 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/aa.1998.03318cad.010

Image Processing in C

Image Processing in C

D. PhilipsR&D PublicationsDistributed by McGraw-Hill1994724 pagesISBN 0-87930-443-X£32.99

Keywords Image processing, Personal computer, Publication

Subtitled "Analysing and enhancing digital images", this is an entirely hands-on book, aimed at the programmer, or those wishing to acquire an understanding of the fundamentals of image processing via a practical approach. The book is based around the author's own PC-based image processing software, that implements a wide range of processing algorithms on disk-based image files (PC compatible only). The author's chosen image format is that of the tag image file (TIF).

The image-processing tutorial works through the fundamentals of the subject, from histogram equalisations, edge detection and spatial frequency filtering, with further chapters covering a number of shape manipulations. Overlay operations and Boolean combination of images are also introduced and explained.

The book is extremely accessible for anyone approaching the subject for the first time, though with the caveat that it is based on practical implementations of the algorithms, rather than a rigorous treatise of the theory. All operations discussed in the text are well illustrated both in the sense of diagrammatic illustrations of the algorithms via numerical examples, in addition to a generous selection of "before and after" photographs of real images that have undergone the various image manipulation processes discussed in the body of the text.

The book does read something like a development project for the end software which is included on disk, though paradoxically the whole package is let down by the same software, being DOS-based with a poor user interface. At the time the book was written the author was able to claim its downward compatibility to very basic PC hardware as a virtue, but times and entry level PC specifications have moved on and the average reader might expect more. Where the book does score though, is in the provision of source code for the image processing system which is both printed in full within the book and included on the disk. The working translation of the algorithms into code would potentially save the experimenter much debugging time and effort, even if it were preferable to transport the code into a more contemporary development environment. A useful resource that might also provide an intuitive introduction to the subject.

Paul Abbott