Simultaneous segmentation of prostatic zones using Active Appearance Models with multiple coupled levelsets

In this work we present an improvement to the popular Active Appearance Model (AAM) algorithm, that we call the Multiple-Levelset AAM (MLA). The MLA can simultaneously segment multiple objects, and makes use of multiple levelsets, rather than anatomical landmarks, to define the shapes. AAMs traditionally define the shape of each object using a set of anatomical landmarks. However, landmarks can be difficult to identify, and AAMs traditionally only allow for segmentation of a single object of interest. The MLA, which is a landmark independent AAM, allows for levelsets of multiple objects to be determined and allows for them to be coupled with image intensities. This gives the MLA the flexibility to simulataneously segmentation multiple objects of interest in a new image.In this work we apply the MLA to segment the prostate capsule, the prostate peripheral zone (PZ), and the prostate central gland (CG), from a set of 40 endorectal, T2-weighted MRI images. The MLA system we employ in this work leverages a hierarchical segmentation framework, so constructed as to exploit domain specific attributes, by utilizing a given prostate segmentation to help drive the segmentations of the CG and PZ, which are embedded within the prostate. Our coupled MLA scheme yielded mean Dice accuracy values of .81, .79 and .68 for the prostate, CG, and PZ, respectively using a leave-one-out cross validation scheme over 40 patient studies. When only considering the midgland of the prostate, the mean DSC values were .89, .84, and .76 for the prostate, CG, and PZ respectively.     

2D vs. 3D Deformable Face Models: Representational Power,Construction, and Real-Time Fitting

Model-based face analysis is a general paradigm with applications that include face recognition, expression recognition, lip-reading, head pose estimation, and gaze estimation. A face model is first constructed from a collection of training data, either 2D images or 3D range scans. The face model is then fit to the input image(s) and the model parameters used in whatever the application is. Most existing face models can be classified as either 2D (e.g. Active Appearance Models) or 3D (e.g. Morphable Models). In this paper we compare 2D and 3D face models along three axes: (1) representational power, (2) construction, and (3) real-time fitting. For each axis in turn, we outline the differences that result from using a 2D or a 3D face model.     

Learning a generic 3D face model from 2D image databases using incremental Structure-from-Motion

Over the last decade 3D face models have been extensively used in many applications such as face recognition, facial animation and facial expression analysis. 3D Morphable Models (MMs) have become a popular tool to build and fit 3D face models to images. Critical to the success of MMs is the ability to build a generic 3D face model. Major limitations in the MMs building process are: (1) collecting 3D data usually involves the use of expensive laser scans and complex capture setups, (2) the number of available 3D databases is limited, and typically there is a lack of expression variability and (3) finding correspondences and registering the 3D model is a labor intensive and error prone process.     

Real-time 3D face tracking based on active appearance model constrained by depth data

Active Appearance Model (AAM) is an algorithm for fitting a generative model of object shape and appearance to an input image. AAM allows accurate, real-time tracking of human faces in 2D and can be extended to track faces in 3D by constraining its fitting with a linear 3D morphable model. Unfortunately, this AAM-based 3D tracking does not provide adequate accuracy and robustness, as we show in this paper. We introduce a new constraint into AAM fitting that uses depth data from a commodity RGBD camera (Kinect). This addition significantly reduces 3D tracking errors. We also describe how to initialize the 3D morphable face model used in our tracking algorithm by computing its face shape parameters of the user from a batch of tracked frames. The described face tracking algorithm is used in Microsoft's Kinect system.     

Video-based face model fitting using Adaptive Active Appearance Model

Active Appearance Model (AAM) represents the shape and appearance of an object via two low-dimensional subspaces, one for shape and one for appearance. AAM for facial images is currently receiving considerable attention from the computer vision community. However, most existing work focuses on fitting an AAM to a single image. For many applications, effectively fitting an AAM to video sequences is of critical importance and challenging, especially considering the varying quality of real-world video content. This paper proposes an Adaptive Active Appearance Model (AAAM) to address this problem, where both a generic AAM component and a subject-specific appearance model component are employed simultaneously in the proposed fitting scheme. While the generic AAM component is held fixed, the subject-specific model component is updated during the fitting process by selecting the frames that can be best explained by the generic model. Experimental results from both indoor and outdoor representative video sequences demonstrate the faster fitting convergence and improved fitting accuracy.     

噪声对基于不同梯度算子的ICG算法的影响

反向合成梯度算法是一种基于局部指向性的反向合成图像对齐算法,能有效克服光照变化对匹配结果准确性的影响。局部指向性的计算在本质上是梯度的计算,可以用不同的梯度算子求解。该文采用4种梯度算子计算局部指向性,通过给输入图像和模板图像中加入噪声模拟实际图像,研究了噪声对基于4种梯度算子的反向合成梯度算法的影响。     

Lucas-Kanade 20 Years On: A Unifying Framework

Since the Lucas-Kanade algorithm was proposed in 1981 image alignment has become one of the most widely used techniques in computer vision. Applications range from optical flow and tracking to layered motion, mosaic construction, and face coding. Numerous algorithms have been proposed and a wide variety of extensions have been made to the original formulation. We present an overview of image alignment, describing most of the algorithms and their extensions in a consistent framework. We concentrate on the inverse compositional algorithm, an efficient algorithm that we recently proposed. We examine which of the extensions to Lucas-Kanade can be used with the inverse compositional algorithm without any significant loss of efficiency, and which cannot. In this paper, Part 1 in a series of papers, we cover the quantity approximated, the warp update rule, and the gradient descent approximation. In future papers, we will cover the choice of the error function, how to allow linear appearance variation, and how to impose priors on the parameters.     

采用多尺度掩模消除干扰的反向组合算法

反向组合算法是最有效的图像对齐算法之一,但该算法抗干扰能力差.当输入图像部分被遮挡时,图像对齐效果变差.针对该问题,我们提出一种采用多尺度掩模消除干扰的反向组合算法.该算法采用自适应的方法设置初始掩模,再通过迭代判断和逐层分块来细化初始掩模,使得掩模能准确地设置在干扰区域上.实验结果表明,该算法既保留了原反向组合算法的优点,又提高了算法抗干扰的能力,使得反向组合算法能在更复杂的环境下进行图像对齐.     

The Painful Face - Pain Expression Recognition Using Active Appearance Models

Pain is typically assessed by patient self-report. Self-reported pain, however, is difficult to interpret and may be impaired or in some circumstances (i.e., young children and the severely ill) not even possible. To circumvent these problems behavioral scientists have identified reliable and valid facial indicators of pain. Hitherto, these methods have required manual measurement by highly skilled human observers. In this paper we explore an approach for automatically recognizing acute pain without the need for human observers. Specifically, our study was restricted to automatically detecting pain in adult patients with rotator cuff injuries. The system employed video input of the patients as they moved their affected and unaffected shoulder. Two types of ground truth were considered. Sequence-level ground truth consisted of Likert-type ratings by skilled observers. Frame-level ground truth was calculated from presence/absence and intensity of facial actions previously associated with pain. Active appearance models (AAM) were used to decouple shape and appearance in the digitized face images. Support vector machines (SVM) were compared for several representations from the AAM and of ground truth of varying granularity. We explored two questions pertinent to the construction, design and development of automatic pain detection systems. First, at what level (i.e., sequence- or frame-level) should datasets be labeled in order to obtain satisfactory automatic pain detection performance? Second, how important is it, at both levels of labeling, that we non-rigidly register the face?     

梯度算子对反向合成梯度算法的影响

反向合成梯度算法是一种基于局部指向性的反向合成图像对齐算法。与传统的反向合成图像对齐算法相比,该算法可有效地克服光照变化对匹配结果的影响[1]。由于局部指向性的计算在本质上是梯度的计算,而图像梯度的计算可以采用不同的梯度算子,因此采用4种不同的梯度算子（一阶差分算子,Roberts算子,Sobel算子和Prewitt算子）来计算局部指向性,并通过实验比较分析了4种梯度算子对反向合成梯度算法的影响。