[SciPy-user] Advanced Image Processing with Python

[Pierre Raybaut]

>
>> > Hi all,
>> >
>> > I'm about to start a project at work and I would really appreciate to
>> > have your opinion.
>> >
>> > The purpose of this project is to develop a modular image and signal
>> > processing software (I would really like it to be open-source but it's
>> > far from easy at my work, so I'll see in time) with an "object-oriented
>> > GUI" (i.e. from the user point of view) and an interactive console.
>> > Image processing features will be quite advanced (not just filters and
>> > basic operations) and signal processing features will be basic (just
>> > what's needed to process image profiles: smoothing, curve fitting, and
>> > so on).
>> >
>> > I am sure that some of you are using advanced image processing tools in
>> > Python.
>> > So, according to your experience in this field, what would be the most
>> > complete, advanced and up-to-date Python module for this application?
>> >
>> > Apparently, VTK, OpenCV, and PIL (too basic?) are generally used in this
>> > field.
>> >
>>     
>
> Hi Pierre,
> You failed to say what you mean by "image" -- 2D or 3D or maybe even
> sequences of the above ...
> Color or gray-scale or multi-wavelength !?
>
> How would your software compare to existing ones -- like ImageJ ?
>
> - Sebastian Haase
You're right, I've been intentionally vague, but I guess I could be more 
specific anyway.
I used the word "advanced" to illustrate the fact that it would be a 
scientific image processing tool, and not just a simple software to 
apply basic operations (maybe it was an unnecessary precaution since 
this is the *Sci*Py user list...). In fact, the "advanced" image 
processing would be based on some of our own algorithms which I will not 
explain here (and could never be a part of the open-source project if 
there is one). The rest of what I'm looking for is basically what you 
can find in MATLAB image processing toolbox, and some shape recognition 
algorithms eventually.

The main idea would be to develop a first software with commonly used 
image processing tools (basic ones: filters, geometric transformations, 
basic operations, histograms, profile extraction, fft, ...), and 
optional modules to extend its features.

This software will be used to process mainly gray-scale (and less often 
color) images, that can be stored in 2D data arrays (as well as 1D 
signals, but that's not a problem with Numpy/Scipy). So what I'm looking 
for would be an image processing library (and one only if possible) to 
handle this, and of course I'd prefer it to be widely used, still 
developed and maintained, with a great future ahead... the perfect library!

I didn't know ImageJ, it seems interesting, I'll have to take a closer 
look at it.

Thanks for your help
Pierre