Attrasoft

ImageFinderSeg for Windows

Version 2013.0

Attrasoft ImageFinderSeg searches for a cropped image segment

from a folder in three clicks.

Attrasoft. Inc.

P. O. Box 13051

Savannah, GA, 31406

USA

gina@attrasoft.com

Order: http://attrasoft.com

# Install the Software

The deliverable is either a CD or a zip file downloaded from a web address. To install the software from a CD:

· Copy CD:\IfSeg2013\ to a folder, say C:\IfSeg2013\;

· Click “ImageFinderSeg.exe” in the folder to run.

To install the software from a downloaded zip file:

· Unzip IfSeg2013.zip to a folder, say C:\IfSeg2013\;

· Click “ImageFinderSeg.exe” in the folder to run.

The software requires an updated Windows to run.

# Statement of Copyright Restriction

The Attrasoft program that you purchased is copyrighted by Attrasoft, and your rights of ownership are subject to the limitations and restrictions imposed by the copyright laws outlined below.

It is against the law to copy, reproduce, or transmit (including, without limitation, electronic transmission over any network) any part of the program except as permitted by the copyright act of the United States (title 17, United States code). However, you are permitted by law to write the contents of the program into the Machine memory of your computer so that the program may be executed. You are also permitted by law to make a back-up copy of the program subject to the following restrictions:

· Each back-up copy must be treated in the same way as the original copy purchased from Attrasoft;

· No copy (original, or back-up) may be used while another copy, (original, or back-up) is in use;

· If you ever sell or give away the original copy of the program, all back-up copies must also be given to the same person, or destroyed.

In addition, this software is for the personal use only. This is defined as follows:

· You cannot sell a service based on any computation results produced by this software. You must purchase a separate annual license for commercial use from Attrasoft.

· You cannot use the software to perform work for which you will get paid. You must purchase a separate annual license for business use from Attrasoft.

This User’s Guide and Reference Manual is copyrighted by Attrasoft.

© 2008 – 2013

# Software Restrictions

To improve performance, the off-the-shelf Attrasoft ImageFinderSeg searches for a cropped image segment from a folder of images with the following restrictions:

· Scale variations start from 20%: The cropped images and their appearances in the original images must be at least 20% in each direction.

· No rotation variations: The cropped images and their appearances in the original images must have the same direction.

# Table of Contents

Install the Software. 2

Statement of Copyright Restriction. 3

Software Restrictions. 4

Table of Contents. 5

1. Introduction. 6

2. How to Use ImageFinderSeg. 9

2.1 Learn by Example. 10

2.2 User’s Guide. 14

2.3 More Examples. 15

2.4 Detailed Matching Results. 18

3. Advanced Users. 19

3.1 Types of License, Software Limits, and Support 19

3.2 Customized Software and Services. 19

3.3 Q & A.. 20

# 1. Introduction

Attrasoft ImageFinderSeg (Figure 1) searches for a cropped image segment from a folder in three clicks:

· Select a “Key image” by dragging and dropping;

· Select a folder by dragging and dropping;

· Search a folder for image segments that match the key image by clicking a menu item.

Figure 1. ImageFinderSeg.

Figure 2. Toolbar.

These three steps are implemented by three buttons in the toolbar (Figure 2). You can operate the Attrasoft ImageFinderSeg from the Toolbar (Figure 2) alone.

Figure 3. Three image Panels: Key, Folder, and Results.

The ImageFinderSeg has three image panels (Figure 3):

· Key Panel;

· Folder Panel; and

· Results Panel.

Key

A key is a cropped image segment to be searched. To obtain a key, you can cut out an image segment from an image by using Windows Paint. Figure 4 shows an example of how to obtain a key segment from an image by using Windows’s Paint.

Folder

A folder is a collection of previously stored images in a folder. Use the F, >, and < buttons in Figure 5 to see the images in the folder. The “F” button goes to the first image; the “>” button goes to the next image; and the “<” goes to the previous image. All sub-folders will be included.

Results

Results are images that matched the “key” image segment. Use the F, >, and < buttons in Figure 5 to see matched images. The “F” button goes to the first image; the “>” button goes to the next image; and the “<” goes to the previous image.

Figure 4. Obtaining a cropped key segment from an image by using Windows’s Paint.

Figure 5. Use the F, >, and < buttons to see the images in the folder and Results. The “F” button goes to the first image; the “>” button goes to the next image; and the “<” goes to the previous image.

To search for an image segment in a folder in your computer:

1. Select a Key (Drag & drop an image to the first text box);

2. Select a folder (Drag & drop a folder to the second text box);

3. Search (click the “3” button in the Toolbar, or menu items under menu “Search”).

Step 3, Search, can take some time.

To see the results:

1. Click the “F” button in Results Panel (see Figure 5);

2. Click the “>” button in Results Panel (see Figure 5).

Step 3, Search, can take some time.

Attrasoft ImageFinderSeg searches for a cropped image segment from a folder of images with the following restrictions to improve performance:

· Scale invariance start from 20%: The cropped images and their appearances in the original images must be at least 20% in each direction.

· No rotation invariance: The cropped images and their appearances in the original images must have the same direction.

In the following chapters, we assume you will install the software to:

C:\IfSeg2013\.

If not, simply substitute this folder with your folder.

# 2. How to Use ImageFinderSeg

The deliverable is either a CD or a zip file downloaded from a web address. To install the software from a CD:

· Copy CD:\IfSeg2013\ to a folder, say C:\IfSeg2013\;

· Click “ImageFinderSeg.exe” in the folder to run.

To install the software from a downloaded zip file:

· Unzip IfSeg2013.zip to a folder, say C:\IfSeg2013\;

· Click “ImageFinderSeg.exe” in the folder to run.

The software requires an updated Windows to run.

To search for an image segment in a folder in your computer:

1. Select a Key

Step 1, selecting a Key, can be completed by dragging & dropping an image to the first text box;

2. Select a folder

Step 2, select a folder, which can be completed by dragging & dropping a folder to the second text box;

3. Search

Step 3, Search, can be completed by the Search menu in Figure 5.

To see the results:

1. Click the Results “F” button (Figure 5);

2. Click the Results “>” button (Figure 5).

## 2.1 Learn by Example

Figure 6. 1:1 Matching.

The first example (see Figure 6) is to match the key,

C:\IfSeg2013\ ex_object1\key.jpg,

against the image,

C:\IfSeg2013\ ex_object1\CIMG4643_mid_shelf1.JPG.

The example will take three clicks:

1. Drag & drop an image (see Figure 7).

Drag & drop C:\IfSeg2013\ ex_object1\key.jpg to the first text box.

Figure 7. Step 1, selecting a key. After selecting a key image, the image will be displayed in the Key Panel.

2. Drag & drop a folder

Drag & drop the folder, C:\IfSeg2013\ ex_object1\, to the second text box; see Figure 8.

Figure 8. Step 2, selecting a folder. After selecting a folder, the first image will be displayed in the Folder Panel (middle picture box). The “F” button goes to the first image; the “>” button goes to the next image; and the “<” goes to the previous image. All sub-folders will be included.

3. Search.

Figure 9. Search menu.

To make a 1:1 search,

· Click the “Search/1:1 Matching” menu item in Figure 9.

Figure 10. Images that matched the “key” will be displayed in the Results Panel. A blue box indicates the location.

Figure 11. The matched score and coordinates, (x, y, w, h), are given in a text file: “.\data\c.txt”.

To see the first matched image, click the “F” button in the Results Panel (see Figure 5). To see the next matched image, click the “>” button in the Results Panel. The key and the matched images are displayed side-by-side.

Figure 12. To see the first matched image, click the “F” button in the Results Panel. To see the next matched image, click the “>” button in the Results Panel. The key and the matched images are displayed side-by-side.

Figure 13. Completing the example in two clicks.

This example can be completed in two clicks:

· Click the “Example/Product Image” menu item;

· Click the “Search/1:1 Matching” menu item.

## 2.2 User’s Guide

To search for an image segment in a folder in your computer:

1. Select a Key

Step 1, selecting a Key, can be completed by dragging & dropping an image to the first text box;

2. Select a folder

Step 2, select a folder, can be completed by dragging & dropping a folder to the second text box;

3. Search

Step 3, Search, can be completed by clicking menu item “Search/1:1 Matching” or “1:N matching. “Search/1:1 Matching” will match the key against the image displayed in the Folder panel in Figure 3. “Search/1:N Matching” will match the key against the all images in the selected folder.

To see the results:

1. Click the Results “F” button (Figure 5);

2. Click the Results “>” button (Figure 5).

## 2.3 More Examples

There are more examples in the software:

C:\IfSeg2013\ ex_object1\

C:\IfSeg2013\ ex_object2\

C:\IfSeg2013\ ex_object3\

C:\IfSeg2013\ ex_object4\

C:\IfSeg2013\ ex_object5\

Each example can be completed in a few seconds. The first example is done in section 2.1. We will go through all 4 remaining examples in Figure 13.

The second example uses data in C:\IfSeg2013\ ex_object2\.

· Click the “Example/Face Image (1:1)” menu item to get Figure 14;

· Click the “Search/1:1 Matching” menu item to get Figure 15.

Figure 14. Click “Example/Face Image (1:1)”.

Figure 15. Click the “Search/1:1 Matching”

The third example uses data in C:\IfSeg2013\ ex_object3\.

· Click the “Example/Car Image (1:1)” menu item to get Figure 16;

· Click the “Search/1:1 Matching” menu item to get Figure 17.

Figure 16. Click “Example/Car Image (1:1)”.

Figure 17. Click the “Search/1:1 Matching”

The fourth example uses data in C:\IfSeg2013\ ex_object4\.

· Click the “Example/Movie Image (1:1)” menu item to get Figure 18;

· Click the “Search/1:1 Matching” menu item to get Figure 19.

Figure 18. Click “Example/Movie Image (1:1)”.

Figure 19. Click the “Search/1:1 Matching”

The fifth example uses data in C:\IfSeg2013\ ex_object5\.

· Click the “Example/Magazine Image (1:1)”;

· Click the “Search/1:1 Matching” menu item to get Figure 20.

Figure 20. Click the “Search/1:1 Matching”

## 2.4 Detailed Matching Results

The results are stored in a text file. To see the results, click:

Search/Results.

# 3. Advanced Users

## 3.1 Types of License, Software Limits, and Support

ImageFinderSeg has three different types of licenses:

· Personal License;

· Business License;

· Commercial License.

This package is for personal use only, which has the following limitations:

· You cannot sell a service based on any computation results produced by this software. You must purchase a separate annual license for commercial use from Attrasoft.

· You cannot use the software to perform work for which you will get paid for. You must purchase a separate annual license for business use from Attrasoft.

For a business annual subscription or a commercial annual subscription, please contact Attrasoft at gina@attrasoft.com. Operation of the software requires only three clicks and some parameter settings. If customer support is required, there will be an additional fee for customer support.

Customization is available for additional requirements.

## 3.2 Customized Software and Services

Attrasoft will also customize the software for:

· Variation of images such as scale, rotation, flipping, translation, lighting condition(s),

· Different data acquisition devices (ex., camera vs. scanner),

· Catalog images vs. Operation images, etc,

· Searching for an object in an image,

· Different Interface,

· Fine-tuning internal parameters or programming,

· Emphasizing speed, i.e. searching a huge amount of images very fast,

· Licensing the technology,

· Etc.

In addition, Attrasoft offers services such as:

· Image Search Online Hosting Service

· Faster Image Search

· Video Search: Download Demo (http://attrasoft.com)

· Video Index

· ID Image Duplication Verification

· Trademark Identification

· Etc.

## 3.3 Q & A

Q: What are ImageFinderSeg’s running requirements?

A: Updated Microsoft Windows.

Q: What is an image?

A: An image is a file with the extension *.jpg, *gif…

Q: How to download an image?

A: Go to a web site;

Right click an image;

Click ‘Save Picture As’ …

Save to C:\temp\; now the image is saved in c:\temp. Double click it to see it.

Q: Can you search Video?

A: The difference between video search and image search is that a video has a lot more images. Attrasoft VideoFinder deals with Videos.

Q: How to handle multiple key images?

A: You can only search one key image at a time; however, you can search multiple times. Just load all of your images to a single folder in your computer first, say c:\temp\, and then search one image at a time from that folder. Customization can also address speed.

Q. What is Customized software?

A. Customized software can be built for special requirements such as:

· Variation of images such as scale, rotation, flipping, lighting condition(s),

· Different data acquisition devices (camera vs. scanner),

· Catalog images vs. operation images, etc,

· Searching for an object in an image,

· A different web interface,

· A document image search,

· Fine-tuning internal parameters or programming,

· Emphasizing speed, i.e. it can search a huge amount of images very fast,

· Licensing the technology.

Contact: gina@attrasoft.com