Phaer

NEW ! Gradient Domain Processing

With HALCON 11s new Gradient Domain Processing, it is now possible to process images in an alternative way!

Traditional image processing operates in the spatial domain, like the widely known Sobel filter, or in the frequency domain, like a band-pass filter with the fast fourier transform.

With gradient domain processing one operates in the gradient (the
derivative) of an image directly. After manipulation, the gradient of the image is integrated and a modified image is obtained that differs from the input image according to how the gradients were changed.

With the detour of manipulating the gradient instead of the gray values, novel filters can intuitively be designed that have a wide range of applications like:

• denoising
• image stitching
• nonlinear contrast enhancement
• image edititing
• shadow removal

For instance, if there are interfering edges in the images, one can directly remove them by zeroing the gradients at the respective pixel position. The result is an image with the interfering edge removed but the remaining image stays unchanged as much as possible.

It is also possible to combine and process multiple images in a novel way. This allows for instance:

• high dynamic range imaging (combining images that were taken with different exposure times and detect defects that are not visible with one fixed exposure time)
• combining different imaging modalities like visible light
• visible light images with infrared images to visualize where heat is leaking from a building

For detailed information about other HALCON 11 features, see:
http://www.halcon.com/version11/

Improved photometric stereo, in particular useful for surface inspection

Surface inspection is a widely used application area in industry. By HALCON 11's improved photometric stereo, 3D surface inspection is enhanced. It makes use of shadows to detect dents in surfaces fast and easily.