KR20110070700A

KR20110070700A - Method for compositing background of photograph

Info

Publication number: KR20110070700A
Application number: KR1020100034143A
Authority: KR
Inventors: 채원석
Original assignee: 한국전자통신연구원
Priority date: 2009-12-18
Filing date: 2010-04-14
Publication date: 2011-06-24

Abstract

The present invention relates to a photo background synthesizing method for obtaining an effect photographed at a place other than a space where an actual photograph was taken by a few simple operations, the method comprising: obtaining and displaying an image to be used for photo editing; Providing a menu screen for allowing a user to color different colors in the area to be the foreground and the area to be the background; Performing alpha matte editing based on colors painted by a user to divide the area of the image into a foreground area and a background area; Providing a menu screen allowing a user to select one of a plurality of themes; And when the user selects one theme through an interactive interface, synthesizing the selected theme into a background area of the image.

Description

Method for compositing background of photograph

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a photo editing method, and more particularly, to a photo background synthesizing method capable of obtaining an effect photographed at a place other than a space where an actual photo is taken by a few simple operations.

The present invention is derived from a study conducted as part of the IT growth engine technology development project of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism [Task Management Number: 2007-S-051-03, Title: Digital Creature Production S / W Development].

The ID photo vending machine is a device that prints the participant's picture by appropriate lighting in the closed space, not the natural background, and is specialized to make a single face photo to meet the original purpose. Of course, since the purpose is to take an ID picture, no further function is required, and the degree of the user's involvement in the process of outputting the taken picture is extremely small.

In addition, the sticker vending machine is a device that allows the user to print and decorate the photo in various forms by combining various templates predefined in the portrait photo, instead of taking a simple portrait. Unlike the ID photo vending machine, it can be taken in a closed space, not in a closed space.

However, in the case of a sticker photo vending machine, since the positions of people are usually arranged in the center, the method of decorating a photograph is mainly a method of decorating the edge of the photo with a frame or various patterns. Of course, it adds a variety of decorations or artificial small patterns, but it is impossible to change the place where the picture was taken to a completely different place.

On the other hand, with various image editing programs such as Photoshop and paint shop, it is possible to make various changes to the photos or to synthesize them in various forms and output them to the photo printer, but this requires some degree of expertise or training. In addition, in the case of changing the background of a portrait photograph taken in various spaces to a completely different place, the image editing time may take tens of minutes to many hours.

Recently, various forms of digital image matting algorithms have been introduced to calculate the separation of the foreground and background areas from raw raw photographs.

Only manual separation is very laborious to obtain sophisticated results, but with the introduction of the trimap method, the user inputs a clear foreground area, a clear background area, and an ambiguous area into an image of the same size as the original picture. It is easy to achieve such a result.

Recently, the scribble input method of inputting a little bit of graffiti in a certain background area and a different color graffiti in a certain foreground area has been introduced, so that sophisticated results can be obtained with very few user inputs. However, a small amount of input by the user results in inaccuracy of the results or results in the computation time being too slow to wait.

Accordingly, in the present invention, a general user who is inexperienced in image editing and composite image production takes a portrait picture at an arbitrary place, and changes the background of the photo to various themes without any professional knowledge or training through an intuitive and interactive interface to synthesize the picture. We want to provide a photo editing method that can be printed or printed.

Means for solving the above problems, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the process of obtaining and displaying an image to be used for photo editing; Providing a menu screen for allowing a user to color different colors in the area to be the foreground and the area to be the background; Performing alpha matte editing based on colors painted by a user to divide the area of the image into a foreground area and a background area; Providing a menu screen allowing a user to select one of a plurality of themes; And when the user selects one theme through an interactive interface, synthesizing the selected theme into a background area of the image.

The photo editing method of the present invention enables image editing and compositing, which is not realized by a conventional ID photo vending machine or a sticker photo vending machine. Intuitive interactive interface is provided for video editing or composite video production without any training or training, so you can get the effect of shooting in a place other than the space where you actually took the picture with just a few simple operations. In addition, conventional photo vending machines have a disadvantage that only a small number of people, such as a confined space or a couple, can take a picture, but the present invention can be edited by taking a group picture.

Existing video editing and compositing method has to move the photos taken with the camera to a computer, and then use a separate video editing and compositing software to perform a tedious and arduous manual work, and then output the pictures again. One program allows shooting, simple editing, and printing.

In recent years, various methods have been proposed to obtain a sophisticated result with a small amount of user input for digital image matting problem that separates the foreground image and the background image. By rearranging people in the new background image, the collage can be printed on the spot.

In addition to a theme that synthesizes a new background image behind a portrait, it is also possible to synthesize a theme photo such as being locked in prison bars or holding a prisoner's license plate. The desired effect can be obtained by inserting a portrait image automatically separated in the editing step between the prison background and the barbed image prepared in advance. In addition, by automatically processing a person image separated in black and white and inserting it in the cloudy image area of the black and white newspaper image, it is also possible to obtain a picture that appeared in the newspaper.

According to the present invention, the participants can directly experience the newly developed digital image matting algorithm in a place for promotion such as an exhibition or a technology briefing session. In addition, the exhibition effect can be enhanced by providing participants with commemorative photographs as a commemorative photo at theme parks, festivals, and cultural events. Educational effects can be achieved by providing children with photographs of indirect experiences without having to go to historic or historic sites.

1 is a diagram illustrating a photo editing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a diagram schematically illustrating a photo editing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a view for explaining the foreground / background coloring process according to an embodiment of the present invention in more detail.
4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a menu screen for photographing according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a menu screen for coloring a region to be a foreground / background according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a menu screen showing a result of coloring a region to be a foreground / background according to an embodiment of the present invention.
7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a menu screen showing a result of an alpha matte process according to an embodiment of the present invention.
8 illustrates an example of a menu screen for supporting theme selection according to an embodiment of the present invention.
9 is a diagram illustrating an example of an enlarged display of a menu screen of a selected theme according to an embodiment of the present invention.
10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a menu screen showing a synthesis result according to an embodiment of the present invention.
11 is a diagram illustrating another example of a menu screen showing a synthesis result according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As the present invention allows for various changes and numerous embodiments, particular embodiments will be illustrated in the drawings and described in detail in the written description.

However, this is not intended to limit the present invention to specific embodiments, it should be understood to include all modifications, equivalents, and substitutes included in the spirit and scope of the present invention.

The terms first, second, etc. may be used to describe various components, but the components should not be limited by the terms. The terms are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another. For example, without departing from the scope of the present invention, the first component may be referred to as the second component, and similarly, the second component may also be referred to as the first component. And / or < / RTI > includes any combination of a plurality of related listed items or any of a plurality of related listed items.

When a component is referred to as being "connected" or "connected" to another component, it may be directly connected to or connected to that other component, but it may be understood that other components may be present in between. Should be. On the other hand, when a component is said to be "directly connected" or "directly connected" to another component, it should be understood that there is no other component in between.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular example embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the present invention. Singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. In this application, the terms "comprise" or "have" are intended to indicate that there is a feature, number, step, operation, component, part, or combination thereof described in the specification, and one or more other features. It is to be understood that the present invention does not exclude the possibility of the presence or the addition of numbers, steps, operations, components, components, or a combination thereof.

Unless defined otherwise, all terms used herein, including technical or scientific terms, have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. Terms such as those defined in the commonly used dictionaries should be construed as having meanings consistent with the meanings in the context of the related art, and shall not be construed in ideal or excessively formal meanings unless expressly defined in this application. Do not.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings, it will be described in detail a preferred embodiment of the present invention. In describing the present invention, in order to facilitate the overall understanding, the same reference numerals are used for the same elements in the drawings, and redundant description of the same elements is omitted.

1 is a diagram illustrating a photo editing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the photo editing system may include a computing device 11, a camera 12, an interactive interface 13, a photo output device 14, and the like.

The computing device 11 incorporates software for driving and input / output management, image editing, and compositing automation of the camera 12, the interactive interface 13, and the photo output device 14, and thus the overall photo editing process. Jurisdiction and control.

The camera 12 captures a user under the control of the computing device 11 to obtain an image to be used for photo editing.

The interactive interface 13 is implemented as a pointing device such as a mouse for realizing an intuitive interactive interface with a user, and detects and acquires various inputs of the user and notifies the computing device 11. .

The photo output device 14 is implemented as a monitor device for displaying a picture or a printing device for printing a picture, and outputs or prints the final image edited and synthesized through the computing device 11. If it is used for exhibition or promotional purposes, an additional larger display device, such as a wall-mounted TV, is added in addition to the display device necessary for running and editing the software so that multiple users can observe the user's sequence of actions. can do.

2 and 3 are views for explaining a photo editing method according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figures 4 to 11 are views showing menu screens provided for each process.

Referring to FIG. 2, the photo editing method includes a photo taking process (S10), a foreground / background coloring process (S20), an alpha matte checking process (S30), a theme selection process (S40), and a synthesis result. It can be divided into the verification process (S50) and the photo output process (S60).

3, the foreground / background coloring process (S20) is again performed by the foreground / background coloring step (S21), the colored foreground and background erasing step (S22), the entire filling step into the foreground (S23), and the whole. It can be divided into fill with background (S24), full foreground and background clearing step (S25), foreground and background switching step (S26), and brush size changing step (S27), alpha matte check process (S30) The matte editing step S31 may be performed.

The above processes and steps are not necessarily performed sequentially, but may be combined in various orders.

For example, the theme selection process (S40) may be returned to the alpha matte check process (S30) again, the synthesis result check process (S50) again to the theme selection process (S40) or the photo output process (S60) After this, the process may return to the theme selection process S40 again. This means that the part in which the one-way arrow of FIG. 2 is changed to the two-way arrow in FIG. 3. Of course, it is also possible to reverse all the steps continuously.

That is, even after performing the photo output process (S60), and then come back to the synthesis result confirmation process (S50), and then again to the theme selection process (S40) again alpha matte confirmation process (S30), foreground / background coloring process (S20), It is also possible to return all the processes continuously in the photo output process (S60). And the whole process can go back to the start process and go back in a moment to take a picture again. This is made possible by selecting the camera button visible in all steps. Pressing the camera button in any process returns to the picture taking process (S10) and can be started again from the beginning.

In addition, the foreground / background coloring process S20 may colorize the foreground / background area by combining various editing steps S21 to S27 of FIG. 3 in various orders. Of course, instead of directly erasing and painting the color of the actual photograph, the part defined by the foreground color is overlaid on the part of the part where the foreground is definite, and the background on the part of the part where the background is definite. Overlays the color defined by the color. The eraser or the eraser does not erase the photographed photographic image, but erases the foreground and background colors, and when the eraser erases the original photographed image. In order to increase the convenience of work, the original image may be displayed by painting with a transparent foreground color and a background color.

In the alpha matte verification process (S30), it is possible to directly edit the alpha matte in the same manner. For example, it is possible to provide detailed editing functions such as directly painting and erasing an area represented in black.

Hereinafter, a photo editing method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 4 to 10.

First, in the photographing process S10, the computing device 11 provides a menu screen including the user image display window 41 and the camera button 42 as shown in FIG. While checking the image in real time, you can take a pose and take a picture in a desired position. Accordingly, when the user selects the camera button 42 through the interactive interface 13, the computing device 11 captures the user through the camera 11 to obtain an image for editing a photo.

When the image acquisition is completed, in the foreground / background coloring process (S20), the computing device 11 provides a menu screen additionally including various edit buttons 45 to 51 as shown in FIG. Use (45 ~ 51) to color the different areas in the foreground and background.

In the menu screen 500 of FIG. 5, the background button 45 for selecting the background color, the foreground button 46 for selecting the foreground color, and the area colored with the foreground / background color are opposite to each other, that is, the foreground color is the background color. The background color can be changed by using the change button 47 to switch to the foreground color, the brush and eraser buttons 48 and 49 to select the foreground and background to be painted or erased, and the entire photo area. A paint button 50 for filling the foreground / background color at a time, a delete all button 51 for deleting all the portions painted with the foreground / background, and the like may be provided.

Accordingly, the user can variously select the edit buttons 45 to 51 through the interactive interface 13 to color different colors on the area to be the foreground and the area to be the background. For example, the user fills the entire area with the paint bucket button 50 with the background area and erases the edge of the part to be selected as the foreground with the eraser button 49, and then, using the switch button 50, the portion filled with the foreground area but with the background color. Foreground and background can be distinguished by changing the foreground color. Alternatively, the foreground and background can be distinguished by filling the entire area with the foreground area, erasing the edges, and converting the background area filled with the foreground color to the background color.

In addition, the computing device 11 may support to adjust the brush size as desired in order to speed up coloring at each step or to support a portion requiring precise manipulation. For example, you can use the mouse wheel to rotate the wheel up to make the brush larger, and to turn the wheel down to make the brush smaller. You can also tell if it is getting smaller.

Subsequently, in the alpha matte checking process (S30), alpha matte editing is performed on an image in which different colors are colored in the area to be the foreground and the area to be the background by the user.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an alpha matte edited image, in which a portion shown in black in FIG. 7 is a background region to be erased from the photographed picture, and a new theme (or background) will be displayed instead. The part marked in white is the part of the foreground that will be left in the captured picture and will appear in the composite image.

If the foreground / background is completely distinguished for all pixels, the edges of the foreground area in the composite image will look as if cut out with a knife, so the obscure part of the edge is calculated by cutting the middle gray between white and black. You can let the new background melt naturally. In particular, in the case of human hair, it is very effective to calculate the gray area. The darker the gray, the more the new background is revealed, and the lighter the gray, the more the foreground part of the actually photographed image is revealed.

In the alpha matte checking process (S30), the computing device 11 may go back to the foreground / background coloring process (S20) to re-edit to obtain the alpha matte again to obtain more sophisticated results, but the user may select various buttons ( 45-51) to fine-tune black and white alpha matte directly. In this case, if the part calculated in gray is too wide, the result of the synthesis may not be good, so it is desirable to erase the gray area not too wide.

In the theme selection process (S40), the computing device 11 provides a menu screen providing various themes 52 and a plurality of direction selection buttons 43, 44, 53, and 54 as shown in FIG. Allows you to choose one of the themes you like.

At this time, instead of simply synthesizing the foreground to a new background, prepare a prison or prisoner theme to separate the prison background from the foreground of the grate and place the photograph taken by the user in the middle so that the user is in jail. You can also make an image available. In the case of a prisoner image, the background for taking a prisoner's photo, the prisoner's license plate, and a holding hand may be separated in advance, and the user may be positioned between them to create a feeling of being a prisoner. In addition, a theme that applies special effects to photographs is also possible. In the case of newspaper themes, the separate foreground area of the photographed picture is processed in black and white and added to the picture / photo area of the prepared newspaper image. Can help to produce an effect.

In addition, in the theme selection process (S40), as shown in FIG. 9, an enlarged display of the theme 55 selected by the user may help the user to select a theme. In addition, the next button 43 and the previous button 44 are also provided, and if the user does not like the selected theme, the user selects the previous button 44 to return to the previous screen and selects a different theme. In this case, the next button 43 may be selected to check the synthesized result.

In operation S50, the computing device 11 generates a composite image by replacing the background area of the image with a theme selected by the theme selection process S40. Then, after displaying the synthesis result through a menu screen including the synthesis result window 56 and the print button 57, the synthesis result is output or printed in response to a user's request.

Of course, the computing device 11 also provides the previous button 44 at this time, and if the background composition is not satisfactory, the user returns to the theme selection process S40 as shown in FIG. 11 and selects another theme again. You can also create photos with different themes by using different themes and outputting them. In addition, when editing, an invisible advertisement text, a company logo, an event logo, or the like may be inserted to output and print a composite image, thereby advertising or promoting effects.

Although described with reference to the embodiments above, those skilled in the art will understand that the present invention can be variously modified and changed without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the claims below. Could be.

11: computing device 12: camera
13: Interactive interface 14: Photo output device

Claims

Acquiring and displaying an image to be used for photo editing;
Providing a menu screen for allowing a user to color different colors in the area to be the foreground and the area to be the background;
Performing alpha matte editing based on colors painted by a user to divide the area of the image into a foreground area and a background area;
Providing a menu screen allowing a user to select one of a plurality of themes; And
Synthesizing a theme selected by a user into a background area of the image.