Image morphing based on morphological interpolation combined with linear filtering

Abstract

This paper describes a novel approach to color image morphing which is based on the combination of morphological image processing tools and linear filtering. In the proposed method the morphing engine is provided by the morphological interpolation by means of the morphological median. By the successive generation of morphological medians using an algorithm proposed in the paper, the sequence transforming one input image into another one is produced. The algorithm makes use of the similarity measure between two successive frames. Two versions of the algorithm are proposed - in the first one the required parameter is the number of frames of the final sequence, in the second one the maximal acceptable error between two consecutive frames. Three linear tools are proposed to improve the visual quality of the morphing sequence: the temporal linear filtering, the spatial linear filtering and the auxiliary cross-dissolving. Contrary to the traditional approaches to image morphing, the proposed method doesn't require any control points. The human operator is obliged to introduce only a few input parameters. Two examples showing the results are also presented in the paper.