We propose a new model for active contours to detect objects in a given image, based on techniques of curve evolution, Mumford-Shah (1989) functional for segmentation and level sets. Our model can detect objects whose boundaries are not necessarily defined by the gradient. We minimize an energy which can be seen as a particular case of the minimal partition problem. In the level set formulation, the problem becomes a "mean-curvature flow"-like evolving the active contour, which will stop on the desired boundary. However, the stopping term does not depend on the gradient of the image, as in the classical active contour models, but is instead related to a particular segmentation of the image. We give a numerical algorithm using finite differences. Finally, we present various experimental results and in particular some examples for which the classical snakes methods based on the gradient are not applicable. Also, the initial curve can be anywhere in the image, and interior contours are automatically detected.

/pdf/active-contours-without-edges-2tt3qz9lq0.pdf

Active contours without edges

Convergence of Probability Measures. By P. Billingsley. Chichester, Sussex, Wiley, 1968. xii, 253 p. 9 1/4“. 117s.

Convergence of Probability Measures

Level Set Methods and Fast Marching Methods: Evolving Interfaces in Computational Geometry, Fluid Mechanics, Computer Vision, and Materials Science (2nd edition)

Shape modeling is an important constituent of computer vision as well as computer graphics research. Shape models aid the tasks of object representation and recognition. This paper presents a new approach to shape modeling which retains some of the attractive features of existing methods and overcomes some of their limitations. The authors' techniques can be applied to model arbitrarily complex shapes, which include shapes with significant protrusions, and to situations where no a priori assumption about the object's topology is made. A single instance of the authors' model, when presented with an image having more than one object of interest, has the ability to split freely to represent each object. This method is based on the ideas developed by Osher and Sethian (1988) to model propagating solid/liquid interfaces with curvature-dependent speeds. The interface (front) is a closed, nonintersecting, hypersurface flowing along its gradient field with constant speed or a speed that depends on the curvature. It is moved by solving a "Hamilton-Jacobi" type equation written for a function in which the interface is a particular level set. A speed term synthesized from the image is used to stop the interface in the vicinity of object boundaries. The resulting equation of motion is solved by employing entropy-satisfying upwind finite difference schemes. The authors present a variety of ways of computing the evolving front, including narrow bands, reinitializations, and different stopping criteria. The efficacy of the scheme is demonstrated with numerical experiments on some synthesized images and some low contrast medical images. >

/pdf/shape-modeling-with-front-propagation-a-level-set-approach-56u4gn9dqv.pdf

Shape modeling with front propagation: a level set approach

/pdf/from-kuramoto-to-crawford-exploring-the-onset-of-3wpvjokr2x.pdf

From Kuramoto to Crawford: exploring the onset of synchronization in populations of coupled oscillators

A level set approach for computing solutions to incompressible two-phase flow

A level set method for capturing the interface between two fluids is combined with a variable density projection method to allow for computation of two-phase flow where the interface can merge/break and the flow can have a high Reynolds number. A distance function formulation of the level set method enables one to compute flows with large density ratios (1000/1) and flows that are surface tension driven; with no emotional involvement. Recent work has improved the accuracy of the distance function formulation and the accuracy of the advection scheme. We compute flows involving air bubbles and water drops, to name a few. We validate our code against experiments and theory.

/pdf/a-level-set-approach-for-computing-solutions-to-4tmkyrk3t6.pdf

A level set approach for computing solutions to incompressible two- phase flow II

An improved level set method for incompressible two-phase flows

A Remark on Computing Distance Functions

We present a number of three-dimensional axisymmetric free boundary problems for two immiscible fluids, such as air and water. A level set method is used where the interface is the zero level set of a continuous function while the two fluids are solutions of the incompressible Navier–Stokes equation. We examine the rise and distortion of an initially spherical bubble into cap bubbles and toroidal bubbles. Steady solutions for gas bubbles rising in a liquid are computed, with favourable comparisons to experimental data. We also study the inviscid limit and compare our results with a boundary integral method. The problems of an air bubble bursting at a free surface and a liquid drop hitting a free surface are also computed.

Peter Smereka

Papers

A level set approach for computing solutions to incompressible two-phase flow

A level set approach for computing solutions to incompressible two- phase flow II

An improved level set method for incompressible two-phase flows

A Remark on Computing Distance Functions

Axisymmetric free boundary problems