How do you implement a calculated Gaussian kernel? - c++

I am struggling with my ability to implement a calculated gaussian kernel to return a blurred image.
My current code that calculates the kernel is below:
const int m = 5;
const int n = 5;
double sigma = std;
Mat Gauss;
double kernel[m][n];
for ( int x = 0; x < m; ++x )
for ( int y = 0; y < n; ++y )
{
kernel[x][y] = (1 / (sigma * (sqrt(2 * M_PI))))
* exp(-0.5 * (std::pow((x - avg) / sigma, 2.0)
+ pow((y - avg) / sigma, 2.0) ) / (2 * M_PI * sigma * sigma));
}
However, I can't figure out how to apply this to the image in a way that I am returned a blurred image.
I would appreciate it if anyone could give me some pointers in a way that I can apply this to an image.
I was thinking of using a for loop to replace the pixels of the original image but I could not properly implement this idea.
Thank you for your time.

It sounds like you want to compute a convolution of the original image with a Gaussian kernel, something like this:
blurred[x][y] = Integral (kernel[s][t] * original[x-s][y-t]) ds dt
There are a number of techniques for that:
Direct convolution: go through the grid and compute the above integral at each point. This works well for kernels with very small support, on the order of 5 grid points in each direction, but for kernels with larger support becomes too slow. For Gaussian kernels a rule of thumb for truncating support is about 3*sigma, so it's not unreasonable to do direct convolution with sigma under 2 grid points.
Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). This works reasonable fast for any kernel. Therefore FFT became the standard way to compute convolution of nearly anything with nearly anything. Direct convolution beats FFT only for kernel with very small support.
Analytical: integrals of some kernels have analytical expressions. In particular, integral of a Gaussian is the Erf function, and, at least on Unix systems, it's available as a function call. Moreover, on some hardware (such as GPUs) Erf is implemented in hardware. In some rare (but important) cases of coarse bi-level images one can replace convolution with Gaussian with a loop of Erf function calls.
For most computational system your best bet would be to go with FFT: it's fast and it's flexible enough to handle correctly any kernels and images.

Related

Image Gaussian convolution in Fourier domain: works, while should't

The problem is I can't fully understand the principles of convolution in frequency domain.
I have an image of size 256x256, which I want to convolve with 3x3 gaussian matrix. It's coefficients are (1/16, 1/8, 1/4):
PlainImage<float> FourierRunner::getGaussMask(int sz)
{
PlainImage<float> G(3,3);
*G.at(0, 0) = 1.0/16; *G.at(0, 1) = 1.0/8; *G.at(0, 2) = 1.0/16;
*G.at(1, 0) = 1.0/8; *G.at(1, 1) = 1.0/4; *G.at(1, 2) = 1.0/8;
*G.at(2, 0) = 1.0/16; *G.at(2, 1) = 1.0/8; *G.at(2, 2) = 1.0/16;
return G;
}
To get FFT of both image and filter kernel, I zero-pad them. sz_common stands for the extended size. Image and kernel are moved to the center of h and g ComplexImages respectively, so they are zero-padded at right, left, bottom and top.
I've read that size should be sz_common >= sz+gsz-1 because of circular convolution property: filter can change undesired image values on boundaries.
But it don't works: adequate results are only when sz_common = sz, when sz_common = sz+gsz-1 or sz_common = 2*sz, after IFFT I get 2-3 times smaller convolved image! Why?
Also I'm confused that filter matrix values should be multiplied by 256, like pixel values: other questions on SO contain Matlab code without such normalization. As in previous case, without such multiplying it works bad: I get black image. Why?
// fft_in is shifted fourier image with center in [sz/2;sz/2]
void FourierRunner::convolveImage(ComplexImage& fft_in)
{
int sz = 256; // equal to fft_in.width()
// Get original complex image (backward fft_in)
ComplexImage original_complex = fft_in;
fft2d_backward(fft_in, original_complex);
int gsz = 3;
PlainImage<float> filter = getGaussMask(gsz);
ComplexImage filter_complex = ComplexImage::fromFloat(filter);
int sz_common = pow2ceil(sz); // should be sz+gsz-1 ???
ComplexImage h = ComplexImage::zeros(sz_common,sz_common);
ComplexImage g = ComplexImage::zeros(sz_common,sz_common);
copyImageToCenter(h, original_complex);
copyImageToCenter(g, filter_complex);
LOOP_2D(sz_common, sz_common) g.setPoint(x, y, g.at(x, y)*256);
fft2d_forward(g, g);
fft2d_forward(h, h);
fft2d_fft_shift(g);
// CONVOLVE
LOOP_2D(sz_common,sz_common) h.setPoint(x, y, h.at(x, y)*g.at(x, y));
copyImageToCenter(fft_in, h);
fft2d_backward(fft_in, fft_in);
fft2d_fft_shift(fft_in);
// TEST DIFFERENCE BTW DOMAINS
PlainImage<float> frequency_res(sz,sz);
writeComplexToPlainImage(fft_in, frequency_res);
fft2d_forward(fft_in, fft_in);
}
I tried to zero-padd image at right and bottom, such that smaller image is copied to the start of bigger, but it also doesn't work.
I wrote convolution in spatial domain to compare results, frequency blur results are almost the same as in spatial domain (avg. error btw pixels is 5), only when sz_common = sz.
So, could you explain phenomena of zero-padding and normalization for this case? Thanks in advance.
Convolution in the Spatial Domain is equivalent of Multiplication in the Fourier Domain.
This is the truth for Continuous functions which are defined everywhere.
Yet in practice, we have discrete signals and convolution kernels.
Which require more gentle caring.
If you have an image of the size M x N and a Kernel of the size of MM x NN if you apply DFT (FFT is an efficient way to calculate the DFT) on them you'll get functions of the size of M x N and MM x NN respectively.
Moreover, the theorem above, about the multiplication equivalence requires to multiply the same frequencies one with each other.
Since practically the Kernel is much smaller than the image, usually it is zero padded to the size of the image.
Now, by applying the DFT you'll get to matrices of the same M x N size and will be able to multiply them.
Yet, this will be equivalent of the Circular Convolution between the Image and Kernel.
To apply the linear convolution you should make them both in the size of (M + MM - 1) x (N + NN - 1).
Usually this would be by applying "Replicate" boundary condition on the image and zero pad the Kernel.
Enjoy...
P.S.
Could you support a new Community Proposal for SE at - http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/86832/.
We need more people to follow, up vote questions with less than 10 up votes and more question to be asked.
Thank You.

Calculation sine and cosine in one shot

I have a scientific code that uses both sine and cosine of the same argument (I basically need the complex exponential of that argument). I was wondering if it were possible to do this faster than calling sine and cosine functions separately.
Also I only need about 0.1% precision. So is there any way I can find the default trig functions and truncate the power series for speed?
One other thing I have in mind is, is there any way to perform the remainder operation such that the result is always positive? In my own algorithm I used x=fmod(x,2*pi); but then I would need to add 2pi if x is negative (smaller domain means I can use a shorter power series)
EDIT: LUT turned out to be the best approach for this, however I am glad I learned about other approximation techniques. I will also advise using an explicit midpoint approximation. This is what I ended up doing:
const int N = 10000;//about 3e-4 error for 1000//3e-5 for 10 000//3e-6 for 100 000
double *cs = new double[N];
double *sn = new double[N];
for(int i =0;i<N;i++){
double A= (i+0.5)*2*pi/N;
cs[i]=cos(A);
sn[i]=sin(A);
}
The following part approximates (midpoint) sincos(2*pi*(wc2+t[j]*(cotp*t[j]-wc)))
double A=(wc2+t[j]*(cotp*t[j]-wc));
int B =(int)N*(A-floor(A));
re += cs[B]*f[j];
im += sn[B]*f[j];
Another approach could have been using the chebyshev decomposition. You can use the orthogonality property to find the coefficients. Optimized for exponential, it looks like this:
double fastsin(double x){
x=x-floor(x/2/pi)*2*pi-pi;//this line can be improved, both inside this
//function and before you input it into the function
double x2 = x*x;
return (((0.00015025063885163012*x2-
0.008034350857376128)*x2+ 0.1659789684145034)*x2-0.9995812174943602)*x;} //7th order chebyshev approx
If you seek fast evaluation with good (but not high) accuracy with powerseries you should use an expansion in Chebyshev polynomials: tabulate the coefficients (you'll need VERY few for 0.1% accuracy) and evaluate the expansion with the recursion relations for these polynomials (it's really very easy).
References:
Tabulated coefficients: http://www.ams.org/mcom/1980-34-149/S0025-5718-1980-0551302-5/S0025-5718-1980-0551302-5.pdf
Evaluation of chebyshev expansion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chebyshev_polynomials
You'll need to (a) get the "reduced" argument in the range -pi/2..+pi/2 and consequently then (b) handle the sign in your results when the argument actually should have been in the "other" half of the full elementary interval -pi..+pi. These aspects should not pose a major problem:
determine (and "remember" as an integer 1 or -1) the sign in the original angle and proceed with the absolute value.
use a modulo function to reduce to the interval 0..2PI
Determine (and "remember" as an integer 1 or -1) whether it is in the "second" half and, if so, subtract pi*3/2, otherwise subtract pi/2. Note: this effectively interchanges sine and cosine (apart from signs); take this into account in the final evaluation.
This completes the step to get an angle in -pi/2..+pi/2
After evaluating sine and cosine with the Cheb-expansions, apply the "flags" of steps 1 and 3 above to get the right signs in the values.
Just create a lookup table. The following will let you lookup the sin and cos of any radian value between -2PI and 2PI.
// LOOK UP TABLE
var LUT_SIN_COS = [];
var N = 14400;
var HALF_N = N >> 1;
var STEP = 4 * Math.PI / N;
var INV_STEP = 1 / STEP;
// BUILD LUT
for(var i=0, r = -2*Math.PI; i < N; i++, r += STEP) {
LUT_SIN_COS[2*i] = Math.sin(r);
LUT_SIN_COS[2*i + 1] = Math.cos(r);
}
You index into the lookup table by:
var index = ((r * INV_STEP) + HALF_N) << 1;
var sin = LUT_SIN_COS[index];
var cos = LUT_SIN_COS[index + 1];
Here's a fiddle that displays the % error you can expect from different sized LUTS http://jsfiddle.net/77h6tvhj/
EDIT Here's an ideone (c++) with a ~benchmark~ vs the float sin and cos. http://ideone.com/SGrFVG For whatever a benchmark on ideone.com is worth the LUT is 5 times faster.
One way to go would be to learn how to implement the CORDIC algorithm. It is not difficult and pretty interesting intelectually. This gives you both the cosine and the sine. Wikipedia gives a MATLAB example that should be easy to adapt in C++.
Note that you can augment speed and reduce precision simply by lowering the parameter n.
About your second question, it has already been asked here (in C). It seems that there is no simple way.
You can also calculate sine using a square root, given the angle and the cosine.
The example below assumes the angle ranges from 0 to 2π:
double c = cos(angle);
double s = sqrt(1.0-c*c);
if(angle>pi)s=-s;
For single-precision floats, Microsoft uses 11-degree polynomial approximation for sine, 10-degree for cosine: XMScalarSinCos.
They also have faster version, XMScalarSinCosEst, that uses lower-degree polynomials.
If you aren’t on Windows, you’ll find same code + coefficients on geometrictools.com under Boost license.

Curvature Scale Space corner detection algorithm. Arc Length Parameter?

I'm studying about the CSS algorithm and I don't get the hang of the concept of 'Arc Length Parameter'.
According to the literature, planar curve Gamma(u)=(x(u),y(u)) and they say this u is the arc length parameter and apparently, Gaussian Kernel g is also parameterized by this u here.
Stop me if I got something wrong but, aren't x and y location of the pixel? How is it represented by another parameter?
I had no idea when I first saw it on the literature so, I looked up the code. and apparently, I got puzzled even more.
here is the portion of the code
void getGaussianDerivs(double sigma, int M, vector<double>& gaussian,
vector<double>& dg, vector<double>& d2g) {
int L = (M - 1) / 2;
double sigma_sq = sigma * sigma;
double sigma_quad = sigma_sq*sigma_sq;
dg.resize(M); d2g.resize(M); gaussian.resize(M);
Mat_<double> g = getGaussianKernel(M, sigma, CV_64F);
for (double i = -L; i < L+1.0; i += 1.0) {
int idx = (int)(i+L);
gaussian[idx] = g(idx);
// from http://www.cedar.buffalo.edu/~srihari/CSE555/Normal2.pdf
dg[idx] = (-i/sigma_sq) * g(idx);
d2g[idx] = (-sigma_sq + i*i)/sigma_quad * g(idx);
}
}
so, it seems the code uses simple 1D Gaussian Kernel Aperture size of M and it is trying to compute its 1st and 2nd derivatives. As far as I know, 1D Gaussian kernel has parameter of x which is a horizontal coordinate and sigma which is scale. it seems like that 'arc length parameter u' is equivalent to the variable of x. That doesn't make any sense because later in the code, it directly convolutes the set of x and y on the contour.
what is this u?
PS. since I replied to the fellow who tried to answer my question, I think I should modify my question, so, here we go.
What I'm confusing is, how is this parameter 'u' implemented in codes? I think I understood the full code above -of course, I inserted only a portion of the code- but the problem is, I have no idea about what it would be for the 'improved' version of the algorithm. It says it's using 'affine length parameter' instead of this 'arc length parameter' and I'm not so sure how I implement the concept into the code.
According to the literature, the main difference between arc length parameter and affine length parameter is it's sampling interval and arc length parameter uses 1 for the vertical and horizontal direction and root of 2 for the diagonal direction. It makes sense since the portion of the code above is using for loop to compute 1st and 2nd derivatives of the 1d Gaussian and it directly inserts the value of interval 1 but, how is it gonna be with different interval with different variable? Is it possible that I'm not able to use 'for loop' for it?

Create a Fast Sin() function to improve fps ? Fast sin() function?

I am rendering 500x500 points in real-time.
I have to compute the position of points using atan() and sin() functions. By using atan() and sin() I am getting 24 fps (frames per second).
float thetaC = atan(value);
float h = (value) / (sin(thetaC)));
If I don't use sin() I am getting 52 fps.
and if I dont use atan() I am 30 fps.
So, the big problem is with sin(). How can I use Fast Sin version. Can I create a Look Up Table for that ? I don't have any specific values to create LUT. what can I do in this situation ?
PS: I have also tried fast sin function of ASM but not getting any difference.
Thanks.
Hang on a second....
You have a triangle, you're computing the hypoteneuse. First, you're taking atan(value) to get the angle, and then using value again with sin to compute h. So we have the scenario where one side of the triangle is 1:
/|
h / | value
/ |
/C__|
1
All you really need to do is calculate h = sqrt(value*value + 1); ... But then, sqrt isn't the fastest function around either.
Perhaps I've missed the point or you've left something out. I've always used lookup tables for sin and cos, and found them to be fast. If you don't know the values ahead of time then you need to approximate, but this means a multiplication, truncation to integer (and possibly sign conversion) in order to get the array index. If you can convert your units to work in integers (effectively making your floats into fixed-point), it makes the lookup even quicker.
It depends on the accuracy that you need. The maximum derivative of sin is 1, so if if x1 and x2 are within epsilon of one another, then sin(x1) and sin(x2) are also within epsilon. If you just need accuracy to within, say 0.001, then you can create a lookup table of 1000 * PI = 3142 points, and just look up the value closest to the one you need. This can be faster than what the native code does, since the native code (probably) uses a lookup table for polynomial coefficients, and then interpolates, and since this table can be small enough to stay in cache easily.
If you need complete accuracy over the whole range, then there's probably nothing better that you can do.
If you wanted, you could also create a lookup table over (1/sin(x)), since that's your actual function of interest. Either way, you'll want to be careful around sin(x) = 0, since a small error in sin(x) can cause a big error in 1/sin(x). Defining your error tolerance is important for figuring out what shortcuts you can take.
You'd create the lookup table with something like:
float *table = malloc(1000 * sizeof(float));
for(int i = 0; i < 1000; i++){
table[i] = sin(i/1000.0);
}
and would access it something like
float fastSin(float x){
int index = x * 1000.0;
return table[index];
}
This code isn't complete (and will crash for anything outside of 0 < x < 1, because of array bounds), but should get you started.
For sin (but not atan) you can actually get simpler than a table--just create
float sin_arr[31416]; //Or as much precision as you need
for (int i=0; i<31416; ++i)
sin_arr[i] = sin( i / 10000.0 );
//...
float h = (value) / sin_arr[ (int)(thetaC*10000.0) % 31416 ];
My guess is that this will give you a speed improvement.

Fast equivalent to sin() for DSP referenced in STK

I'm using bits of Perry Cook's Synthesis Toolkit (STK) to generate saw and square waves. STK includes this BLIT-based sawtooth oscillator:
inline STKFloat BlitSaw::tick( void ) {
StkFloat tmp, denominator = sin( phase_ );
if ( fabs(denominator) <= std::numeric_limits<StkFloat>::epsilon() )
tmp = a_;
else {
tmp = sin( m_ * phase_ );
tmp /= p_ * denominator;
}
tmp += state_ - C2_;
state_ = tmp * 0.995;
phase_ += rate_;
if ( phase_ >= PI )
phase_ -= PI;
lastFrame_[0] = tmp;
return lastFrame_[0];
}
The square wave oscillator is broadly similar. At the top, there's this comment:
// A fully optimized version of this code would replace the two sin
// calls with a pair of fast sin oscillators, for which stable fast
// two-multiply algorithms are well known.
I don't know where to start looking for these "fast two-multiply algorithms" and I'd appreciate some pointers. I could use a lookup table instead, but I'm keen to learn what these 'fast sin oscillators' are. I could also use an abbreviated Taylor series, but thats way more than two multiplies. Searching hasn't turned up anything much, although I did find this approximation:
#define AD_SIN(n) (n*(2.f- fabs(n)))
Plotting it out shows that it's not really a close approximation outside the range of -1 to 1, so I don't think I can use it when phase_ is in the range -pi to pi:
Here, Sine is the blue line and the purple line is the approximation.
Profiling my code reveals that the calls to sin() are far and away the most time-consuming calls, so I really would like to optimise this piece.
Thanks
EDIT Thanks for the detailed and varied answers. I will explore these and accept one at the weekend.
EDIT 2 Would the anonymous close voter please kindly explain their vote in the comments? Thank you.
Essentially the sinusoidal oscilator is one (or more) variables that change with each DSP step, rather than getting recalculated from scratch.
The simplest are based on the following trig identities: (where d is constant, and thus so is cos(d) and sin(d) )
sin(x+d) = sin(x) cos(d) + cos(x) sin(d)
cos(x+d) = cos(x) cos(d) - sin(x) sin(d)
However this requires two variables (one for sin and one for cos) and 4 multiplications to update. However this will still be far faster than calculating a full sine at each step.
The solution by Oli Charlesworth is based on solutions to this general equation
A_{n+1} = a A_{n} + A_{n-1}
Where looking for a solution of the form A_n = k e^(i theta n) gives an equation for theta.
e^(i theta (n+1) ) = a e^(i theta n ) + b e^(i theta (n-1) )
Which simplifies to
e^(i theta) - e^(-i theta ) = a
2 cos(theta) = a
Giving
A_{n+1} = 2 cos(theta) A_{n} + A_{n-1}
Whichever approach you use you'll either need to use one or two of these oscillators for each frequency, or use another trig identity to derive the higher or lower frequencies.
How accurate do you need this?
This function, f(x)=0.398x*(3.1076-|x|), does a reasonably good job for x between -pi and pi.
Edit
An even better approximation is f(x)=0.38981969947653056*(pi-|x|), which keeps the absolute error to 0.038158444604 or less for x between -pi and pi.
A least squares minimization will yield a slightly different function.
It's not possible to generate one-off sin calls with just two multiplies (well, not a useful approximation, at any rate). But it is possible to generate an oscillator with low complexity, i.e. where each value is calculated in terms of the preceding ones.
For instance, consider that the following difference equation will give you a sinusoid:
y[n] = 2*cos(phi)*y[n-1] - y[n-2]
(where cos(phi) is a constant)
(From the original author of the VST BLT code).
As a matter of fact, I was porting the VST BLT oscillators to C#, so I was googling for good sin oscillators. Here's what I came up with. Translation to C++ is straightforward. See the notes at the end about accuumulated round-off errors.
public class FastOscillator
{
private double b1;
private double y1, y2;
private double fScale;
public void Initialize(int sampleRate)
{
fScale = AudioMath.TwoPi / sampleRate;
}
// frequency in Hz. phase in radians.
public void Start(float frequency, double phase)
{
double w = frequency * fScale;
b1 = 2.0 * Math.Cos(w);
y1 = Math.Sin(phase - w);
y2 = Math.Sin(phase - w * 2);
}
public double Tick()
{
double y0 = b1 * y1 - y2;
y2 = y1;
y1 = y0;
return y0;
}
}
Note that this particular oscillator implementation will drift over time, so it needs to be re-initialzed periodically. In this particular implementation, the magnitude of the sin wave decays over time. The original comments in the STK code suggested a two-multiply oscillator. There are, in fact, two-multiply oscillators that are reasonably stable over time. But in retrospect, the need to keep the sin(phase), and sin(m*phase) oscillators tightly in synch probably means that they have to be resynched anyway. Round-off errors between phase and m*phase mean that even if the oscillators were stable, they would drift eventually, running a significant risk of producing large spikes in values near the zeros of the BLT functions. May as well use a one-multiply oscillator.
These particular oscillators should probably be re-initialized every 30 to 100 cycles (or so). My C# implementation is frame based (i.e. it calculates an float[] array of results in a void Tick(int count, float[] result) method. The oscillators are re-synched at the end of each Tick call. Something like this:
void Tick(int count, float[] result)
{
for (int i = 0; i < count; ++i)
{
...
result[i] = bltResult;
}
// re-initialize the oscillators to avoid accumulated drift.
this.phase = (this.phase + this.dPhase*count) % AudioMath.TwoPi;
this.sinOsc.Initialize(frequency,this.phase);
this.mSinOsc.Initialize(frequency*m,this.phase*m);
}
Probably missing from the STK code. You might want to investigate this. The original code provided to the STK did this. Gary Scavone tweaked the code a bit, and I think the optimization was lost. I do know that the STK implementations suffer from DC drift, which can be almost entirely eliminated when implemented properly.
There's a peculiar hack that prevents DC drift of the oscillators, even when sweeping the frequency of the oscillators. The trick is that the oscillators should be started with an initial phase adjustment of dPhase/2. That just so happens to start the oscillators off with zero DC drift, without having to figure out wat the correct initial state for various integrators in each of the BLT oscillators.
Strangely, if the adjustment is re-adjusted whenever the frequency of the oscillator changes, then this also prevents wild DC drift of the output when sweeping the frequency of the oscillator. Whenever the frequency changes, subtract dPhase/2 from the previous phase value, recalculate dPhase for the new frequency, and then add dPhase/2.I rather suspect this could be formally proven; but I have not been able to so. All I know is that It Just Works.
For a block implementation, the oscillators should actually be initialized as follows, instead of carrying the phase adjustment in the current this.phase value.
this.sinOsc.Initialize(frequency,phase+dPhase*0.5);
this.mSinOsc.Initialize(frequency*m,(phase+dPhase*0.5)*m);
You might want to take a look here:
http://devmaster.net/forums/topic/4648-fast-and-accurate-sinecosine/
There's some sample code that calculates a very good appoximation of sin/cos using only multiplies, additions and the abs() function. Quite fast too. The comments are also a good read.
It essentiall boils down to this:
float sine(float x)
{
const float B = 4/pi;
const float C = -4/(pi*pi);
const float P = 0.225;
float y = B * x + C * x * abs(x);
return P * (y * abs(y) - y) + y;
}
and works for a range of -PI to PI
If you can, you should consider memorization based techniques. Essentially store sin(x) and cos(x) values for a bunch values. To calculate sin(y), find a and b for which precomputed values exist such that a<=y<=b. Now using sin(a), sin(b), cos(a), cos(b), y-a and y-b approximately calculate sin(y).
The general idea of getting periodically sampled results from the sine or cosine function is to use a trig recursion or an initialized (barely) stable IIR filter (which can end up being pretty much the same computations). There are bunches of these in the DSP literature, of varying accuracy and stability. Choose carefully.