Content-Aware Image Resizing

An anonymous reader writes "At the SIGGRAPH 2007 conference in San Diego, two Israeli professors, Shai Avidan and Ariel Shamir, have demonstrated a new method to shrink images. The method is called 'Seam Carving for Content-Aware Image Resizing' (PDF paper here) and it figures out which parts of an image are less significant. This makes it possible to change the aspect ratio of an image without making the content look skewed or stretched out. There is a video demonstration up on YouTube."

Comments

Practical uses

[themushroom]

Finally, a way to reduce the space between surgically augmented breasts and lengthen wangs on Flickr!

The Commissar Vanishes

[Anonymous Coward]

This technology could render very visually-convincing (but not computer/analytically convincing) image censorship or alteration. I am strongly reminded of this example of photo-editing from the 1940s:

http://www.newseum.org/berlinwall/commissar_vanish es/vanishes.htm

I don't mean to instigate a knee-jerk, authoritarian censorship discussion. I think it's obvious that this technique is just plain cool and has great potential for beneficial use, even if it might be used for ill. That's just an intersting historical example that it might have made easier in execution (har-har; gallows humor and pun 2-for-1!).

Whao

[Arthur B.]

Ths s rly gret !

I can see the spam now

[MarkovianChained]

Shrink the rest of your body, and increase you penis size by up to 20 pixels!

Re:nice!

[aliquis]

I'd never understod this hate-your-ex-thing? The person where part of your life for some time but you have decided to hate it and want to erase it from it?
Better never get a partner then at all if you are going to hate the person once it doesn't work longer.

But then I'm a regular slashdot visitor and don't have any exs so what do I know.

Does Anyone Find It Ironic

[szyzyg]

I find a small irony in the fact that the video is posted on youtube, a site which stretches and squeezes video to fit into a 4:3 aspect ratio

Let us be wholly thankful...

[Arthur Grumbine]

What is unmentioned in the PDF is that in order to test significance-measuring algorithms for parts of an image, they used goatse. After thousands of tests they were only satisfied once the method returned a blank image.

Those performing the evaluation of the test results before the final version were forced to be institutionalized.

I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank those brave soldiers for their unblinking fortitude in this ultimate self-sacrifice. It's times like this when I become truly aware of my own gaping inadequacies, and feel the deep, deep obligation to rectify my own short comings.

Re:Let us be wholly thankful...

[kennygraham]

It's times like this when I become truly aware of my own gaping inadequacies, and feel the deep, deep obligation to rectify my own short comings.

hehe... gaping... deep deep... rectum... i mean rectify... hehe

i need to get some sleep

I know this isn't adding much to the discussion...

[svunt]

so...fucking...cool

Re:Great

[compro01]

I'm not sure what else you want. for it to automatically remove less-significant faces.

Re:some code

[jez9999]

jpegin = fopen("test.png","rb");
  jpegout = fopen("out.png","wb");

WTF?

Re:Great - We can do this, but should we?

[Dogtanian]

Is that really what we want? Reminds me of that Harry Enfield sketch.... Is that what you want? 'Cos that's what'll happen. Won't make any sense to Americans, but who cares :-)