Kristian Jantz

SIOX: simple interactive object extraction in still images

The following article presents an approach for interactive foreground extraction in still images that is currently being integrated into the GIMP. The presented approach has been derived from color signatures, a technique originating from image retrieval. The article explains the algorithm and presents some benchmark results to show the improvements in speed and accuracy compared to state of the art solutions. The article also describes how the algorithm can easily be adapted for video segmentation tasks.

A Practical Approach to Boundary Accurate Multi-Object Extraction from Still Images and Videos

This paper presents recent improvements on a previous published practical approach to object segmentation from still images called SIOX: simple interactive object extraction. The basic method has been improved further and applied to a variety of applications. In the case of videos, this technique allows scale and rotation invariant real-time tracking of foreground objects including the classification of newly introduced objects. In the case of still-images, the method has been extended to cope with highly detailed textures with sub-pixel accuracy. The approach is robust in the presence of noise and can be applied to a variety of problems where objects have to be extracted, tracked and/or identified. The approach has been released as an open source framework. We discuss various applications of the algorithm and incorporated experiences and user feedback from several projects that have begun to integrate the algorithm

OBJECT CUT AND PASTE IN IMAGES AND VIDEOS

Most image and video editing applications implement only a set of low-level operations, such as linear and non-linear filters, scaling, and simple rectangular cropping. A skilled user is required to combine these traditional tools creatively to perform a useful task. This article presents an example of an approach that takes into account the semantics of the image and is therefore more powerful than traditional tools. Using a model of the foreground and the background of a given image, the SIOX tool (Simple Interactive Object Extraction) allows a user to cut out a certain object from an image or video with very little user interaction. The core of the algorithm is a color clustering approach that has been derived from image retrieval techniques and evaluated against a benchmark proposed by Microsoft Research. The method allows for sub-pixel accuracy, allows video segmentation in realtime (640 × 480 × 25), and is noise robust. SIOX has recently been integrated into the development versions of several open source image and video editing applications such as GIMP, Blender, and Inkscape.

The virtual technician: an automatic software enhancer for audio recording in lecture halls

Webcasting and recording of university lectures has become common practice. While much effort has been put into the development and improvement of formats and codecs, few scientist have studied how to improve the quality of the signal before it is digitized. Lecture halls or seminar rooms are not professional recording studios. Good quality recordings require full-time technicians to setup and monitor the signals. This paper describes a tool that eases studioless voice recording by automatizing several tasks usually handled by audio technicians. The expert system measures the quality of the sound hardware used, monitors possible hardware malfunctions, prevents common user mistakes, and provides gain control and filter mechanisms.

A low-cost mobile pointing and drawing device

This paper introduces a system that enables a presenter to work directly on the projected screen without interrupting the presentation flow by mouse or keyboard use. One uses his fingers as a natural pointing device. The system consists basically of an LED and a webcam as well as a small software system that runs on the presenters notebook. The camera observes the LED position and the software converts it into mouse events.

Conserving an Ancient Art of Music: Making SID Tunes Editable

This paper describes our approach for editing PSID files. PSID is a sound format that allows the original Commodore 64 synthesizer music to be played on modern computers and thus conserves a music subculture of the eighties. So far, editing PSID files required working directly with Commodore 64 machine language. The paper gives a small overview of sound synthesis with the Commodore 64, argues why this topic is still interesting for both musicians and computer scientists, and describes our editing approach.