NAU Capstone Design Sequence
Capstone Project Description
Image Colorization extensions for Qview

Sponsor Information:

Jeff Anderson, Computer Scientist
U. S. Geological Survey
2255 N Gemini Drive
Flagstaff Arizona
928-556-7167 

janderson@usgs.gov

Project Overview: (SEE ALSO THIS POWERPOINT PRESENTATION)

Develop black and white image pseudo-color tool.  

The Integrated Software for Imagers and Spectrometers (ISIS) is a software package used by the USGS Astrogeology Team to process and analyze digital imagery from NASA spaceflight missions such as Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Cassini, Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odyssey, Mars Exploration Rover, Pathfinder, Viking, and Voyager.  An integral application within ISIS is the image visualization tool “qview”, shown below.

Research has shown humans are capable of discerning approximately 50 different levels of gray tones.   Typically, imaging electronics record 8 to 16-bits of digital information at each pixel.  Therefore, there are between 256 to 65536 different gray levels in an image.

A standard image processing technique to overcome the human limitation involves pseudo-coloring an image.  By colorizing a black and white image, subtle changes in pixel levels can be visualized by a scientist in their research.  For example, the image on left is a topography model where pixels represent elevation.  On the right is a simple example of a pseudo-colored image using continuous color tables.

“Qview” is highly modular, tool-based visualization program.  The toolbar on the right side of program has many tools which allow a user to manipulate an image including zoom, pan, measure, edit, and stretch.

The objective of this project is to develop a pseudo-color tool within qview.  Capabilities of the tool will include:

  • Automatic colorization using a selection from a list of preset color tables
  • Manual color selection for a range of gray levels
  • Application of continuous and discrete color tables
  • Application of color tables to a large image outside of the “qview” environment

The capstone team will be expected to:

  1. gather user requirements from Astrogeology scientists and processors and
  2. research existing pseudo-color tools in other image processing packages to ensure an optimal user interface is designed.

Knowledge, skills, and expertise required for this project:

Linux, C++, and familiarity with the Qt Toolkit are desired skills for this project.

Equipment Requirements:

The USGS will provide access to Linux computers with the appropriate development environment.  However, students can install ISIS and develop on their own Linux machine.

Deliverables:

 The following deliverables are required
  • User requirements document
  • A functioning tool within qview that meets the major user requirements
  • Programmer and user documentation