Technology - An Inside Look

Image Segmentation is a complex science dealing with analyzing an image's color structure and calculating a set of pieces (segments) which are both non overlapping, completely cover the orignal image, and contain similar color and texture with them. The ability to segment images has many scientific and engineering applications. For instance, many machine vision applications rely on being able to separate a subject from its background to do further processing.

We've taken that same science and simplified the approach for a non-scientific applications. We've been able to create a well tuned, optimized software engine that works wonderfully on images created from today's digital photography. More than just a color-by-number pattern generator, Segmation™ has helped artists, crafts folks, sign makers, cartoonists, and photographers get to the essence of images.

The algorithm we've perfected builds segments starting from individual pixels in a digitized image. Similar pixels are joined based on a number of criteria involving color science, texturing, and input parameters. The segments are thus grown, according to a specific formula. When many segments are created, a subset are carefully joined together in a manner that preserves the original image's structure.

Once created, line geometry is extracted from the segment borders creating a segmented pattern defined with non-intersecting Bezier curves. An optimal color palette is chosen based on the segmented pieces. Lastly, a few checks are made including the elimination of neighboring segments with the same palette color.

We're busy packaging this technology in several forms. The Segmation™ brand refers to an exciting new series of software products and crafts that will show off the beauty hidden away in today's digital photography.