Image analysis tools / techniques

[nekitamo]

DISCLAIMER: As lots of useful (free) software tools and image analysis techniques were mentioned / used in the past year, I believe this subject deserves its own thread - some kind of simple listing with links, at the very least. However, it would be even better if only one tool / technique was covered per post, also including some basic description and usage information for quick reference. I also propose to keep actual research or irrelevant comments out of here, as this thread is intended only as a directory of useful tools and techniques to be used in the other threads (that is, if you agree that we need something like this here at the DRT forum).

I'll start with the latest tool I've found - remember Dr. Neal Krawetz, who presented (among other things) his JPEG error level analysis technique at the blackhat conference last year? If I remember correctly, he was even contacted about this case, but to no avail. Well, someone finally made a simple windows application based on his work, which can be found here: http://www.tinyappz.com/wiki/Error_Level_Analyser.



It is not without some glitches, but it works and Dr. Krawetz himself called it excellent, so perhaps it will prove useful.
I've also found a nice example of its usage here: Barack Obama Birth Certificate Image Tampering Analysis.

[elevenaugust]

Great idea, Neki!
I'll begin with the best tool for reading EXIF metadata in images: ExifTool by Phil Harvey.
Short presentation:
"ExifTool is a platform-independent Perl library plus a command-line application for reading, writing and editing meta information in image, audio and video files."
Comparatively to others exif tools, ExifTool is the most complete:

Raj's photo with EXIFTOOL:



Raj's photo with EXIFREAD:


As one can see it, for example, the Photoshop tags (XMP) are completely shown with Exiftool while Exifread only show traces of it with JFIF data.

[elevenaugust]

The next tool I'll present is JPEG snoop, a little freeware very useful for determining whether or not a photo has been edited / tampered in any way.

A short description:
"Every digital photo contains a wealth of hidden information -- JPEGsnoop was written to expose these details to those who are curious.

Not only can one determine the various settings that were used in the digital camera in taking the photo (EXIF metadata, IPTC), but one can also extract information that indicates the quality and nature of the JPEG image compression used by the camera in saving the file. Each digical cameras specifies a compression quality levels, many of them wildly different, leading to the fact that some cameras produce far better JPEG images than others........[...]
JPEGsnoop reports a huge amount of information, including: quantization table matrix (chrominance and luminance), chroma subsampling, estimates JPEG Quality setting, JPEG resolution settings, Huffman tables, EXIF metadata, Makernotes, RGB histograms, etc. Most of the JPEG JFIF markers are reported. In addition, you can enable a full huffman VLC decode, which will help those who are learning about JPEG compression and those who are writing a JPEG decoder.

Other potential uses: determine quality setting used in Photoshop Save As or Save for Web settings, increasing your scanner quality, locating recoverable images / videos, decoding AVI files, examining .THM files, JPEG EXIF thumbnails, extract embedded images in Adobe PDF documents, etc.  "

[nekitamo]

As 3D image analysis seems to be the talk of the moment, I was to write about the free version of trueSpace3.2 as a great and very simple tool for beginners, but changed my mind after receiving this e-mail the other day:

trueSpace7.6 released
Latest version now available at no charge!

Dear Caligari community member,

Today is an important day in the 23 year history of trueSpace. We are releasing a major upgrade to our flagship product with trueSpace7.6, bringing significant improvements in modeling, animation, rendering and workflows, plus new direct export to Virtual Earth...

What you may not expect is that we are making trueSpace7.6 available to everyone at no charge, in a giant step forward to bring high-end 3D authoring tools to all who want them!

So if you're interested in 3D image analysis (or for other uses), in my experience trueSpace is a great all-in-one application to start with - and the latest version is completely free, as you can see above. Not as simple any more as the previous free version (still recommended if you find this one too complicated), but very intuitive and with a nice manual, lots of video tutorials and many predefined stuff (objects, scenes, materials, lighting, etc...) for easy startup. Here's what it looks like (beyond compare with my renderings of the same model using the old version):



To download trueSpace7.6, visit the link below (registration required):
http://cart1.caligari.com/web/Truespacemainreg.aspx

Direct download trueSpace7.6 full installation (software and all libraries) - 130MB:
http://cdn.caligari.com/tS76.exe

Direct download trueSpace7.6 PDF Manual - 51MB:
http://cdn.caligari.com/tS76PDF.exe

[10538]

As 3D image analysis seems to be the talk of the moment, I was to write about the free version of trueSpace3.2 as a great and very simple tool for beginners, but changed my mind after receiving this e-mail the other day:

Cool.  Thanks.  I might try it out.  It seems this subject almost requires some amount of ability in CGI.

BTW, did you use this software to help you conclude that PICT16 was hoaxed?

[nekitamo]

As 3D image analysis seems to be the talk of the moment, I was to write about the free version of trueSpace3.2 as a great and very simple tool for beginners, but changed my mind after receiving this e-mail the other day:

Cool.  Thanks.  I might try it out.  It seems this subject almost requires some amount of ability in CGI.

BTW, did you use this software to help you conclude that PICT16 was hoaxed?

If you mean the old version, yes - all my renders so far (except the above image) were done with it. I also tried some other (free) 3D software, but trueSpace somehow seemed the easiest and most intuitive to work with, at least for me. The same is valid for new version, too, as it keeps the same basic user interface only with much more features.

Btw, no conclusion here yet... just some shadow issues I'm still working at.

[elevenaugust]

Next tool I present is Noise Ninja.
Short presentation:
"Noise Ninja is the most effective and productive solution for removing noise and grain from digital photographs and scanned film images. It is a must-have tool for anyone shooting in low-light or fast-action situations -- including news, sports, wedding, and event coverage -- where high ISO photography is required and the resulting noise compromises the image.

Noise Ninja often yields a two-stop improvement in effective image quality, while preserving important image detail. In addition, it can produce cleaner, smoother enlargements from low-ISO images."

The software is available for free, it only add a watermark on the saving final rendering.
To give you an idea of the accuracy of Noise Ninja, I'll compare the results to another reducing noise tool software: Neat Image.

Original

Save with Neat image at the default settings (Luminance Channel 60% and Chrominance Channel 100%)

Save with Noise Ninja at the default settings (Luminance and Colors at 0 and Sharpening at 60% amount and 1.2 radius)

[elevenaugust]

Another incredible tool that I love to use is Image Analyzer

Description
Advanced image editing, enhancement and analysis software. The program contains both most image enhancement features found in conventional image editors plus a number of advanced features not even available in professional photo suites.

Features
    * Automatic brightness, contrast, gamma and saturation adjustment
    * Build-in conventional and adaptive filters for noise reduction, edge extraction etc.
    * Retouch tools
    * Retinex filter for reducing shadows and increasing local contrast
    * Deconvolution for out-of-focus and motion blur compensation
    * Easy red-eye removal
    * User specified filters in spatial and frequency domain
    * Resize, rotate, crop and warping of images
    * Scanner, camera and printer support
    * File format support:
      Read/write BMP, ICO, CUR, WMF, EMF, PNG, MNG, GIF, PCX, JPEG and JPEG 2000 images
      Read RAS, PNM, PGM, PPM, HIPS and Matlab files
    * Morphological operations
    * Color model conversion: RGB, CMY, HSI, Lab, YCbCr, YIQ and PCA
    * Distance, Fourier and discrete cosine transformation
    * Math expression module for creating and transforming images and advanced "pocket" calculator with equation solver
    * Plugin system for adding more specialized features. See below for available plugins:

Plugins
Combine for High Dynamic Range (HDR)
Microscopic imaging
3D modeling
Batch processing
Fractal interpolation
Add text and vector graphics
Raster Export
TIFF reader
Profile line
PCA Color Stretch
8fb Plugin Interface
Developers' information.

As you can see, lots of tools in this software; the most difficult part being to control their use; more especially as there is neither technical support nor related forum.

Samples:

Original                              Corrected, circular blur, r=3.6

[10538]

Another incredible tool that I love to use is Image Analyzer

Samples:

Original                              Corrected, circular blur, r=3.6

Got any Big Basin drone pandas to go with those?   

[majicbar]

Looks like it is time to upgrade my computer and software suites. This thread is something that should provide us with the tools to generate some answers and I thank your contributions. 

[onthefence]

This similar images  tool could have come in handy at the beginning of the drone case, here is an article/review: Google Similar Images First Look

[ordinarypop]

Actually you can even already try that Google similar images tool