quantize(5)               OpenBSD Programmer's Manual              quantize(5)



NAME
       Quantize - ImageMagick's color reduction algorithm.

SYNOPSIS
       #include <magick.h>

DESCRIPTION
       This document describes how ImageMagick performs color reduction on an
       image.  To fully understand this document, you should have a knowledge
       of basic imaging techniques and the tree data structure and
       terminology.

       For purposes of color allocation, an image is a set of n pixels, where
       each pixel is a point in RGB space.  RGB space is a 3-dimensional
       vector space, and each pixel, pi,  is defined by an ordered triple of
       red, green, and blue coordinates, (ri, gi, bi).

       Each primary color component (red, green, or blue) represents an
       intensity which varies linearly from 0 to a maximum value, cmax, which
       corresponds to full saturation of that color.  Color allocation is
       defined over a domain consisting of the cube in RGB space with opposite
       vertices at (0,0,0) and (cmax,cmax,cmax).  ImageMagick requires cmax =
       255.

       The algorithm maps this domain onto a tree in which each node
       represents a cube within that domain.  In the following discussion,
       these cubes are defined by the coordinate of two opposite vertices: The
       vertex nearest the origin in RGB space and the vertex farthest from the
       origin.

       The tree's root node represents the the entire domain, (0,0,0) through
       (cmax,cmax,cmax).  Each lower level in the tree is generated by
       subdividing one node's cube into eight smaller cubes of equal size.
       This corresponds to bisecting the parent cube with planes passing
       through the midpoints of each edge.

       The basic algorithm operates in three phases:  Classification,
       Reduction, and Assignment.  Classification builds a color description
       tree for the image.  Reduction collapses the tree until the number it
       represents, at most, is the number of colors desired in the output
       image.  Assignment defines the output image's color map and sets each
       pixel's color by reclassification in the reduced tree. Our goal is to
       minimize the numerical discrepancies between the original colors and
       quantized colors.  To learn more about quantization error, see
       MEASURING COLOR REDUCTION ERROR later in this document.

       Classification begins by initializing a color description tree of
       sufficient depth to represent each possible input color in a leaf.
       However, it is impractical to generate a fully-formed color description
       tree in the classification phase for realistic values of cmax.  If
       color components in the input image are quantized to k-bit precision,
       so that cmax = 2k-1, the tree would need k levels below the root node
       to allow representing each possible input color in a leaf.  This
       becomes prohibitive because the tree's total number of nodes is
               _
               > ki=1 8k

       A complete tree would require 19,173,961 nodes for k = 8, cmax = 255.
       Therefore, to avoid building a fully populated tree, ImageMagick: (1)
       Initializes data structures for nodes only as they are needed; (2)
       Chooses a maximum depth for the tree as a function of the desired
       number of colors in the output image (currently log4(colormap size)+2).
       A tree of this depth generally allows the best representation of the
       source image with the fastest computational speed and the least amount
       of memory.  However, the default depth is inappropriate for some
       images.  Therefore, the caller can request a specific tree depth.

       For each pixel in the input image, classification scans downward from
       the root of the color description tree.  At each level of the tree, it
       identifies the single node which represents a cube in RGB space
       containing the pixel's color.  It updates the following data for each
       such node:

       n1:    Number of pixels whose color is contained in the RGB cube which
              this node represents;

       n2:    Number of pixels whose color is not represented in a node at
              lower depth in the tree;  initially,  n2 = 0 for all nodes
              except leaves of the tree.

       Sr, Sg, Sb:
              Sums of the red, green, and blue component values for all pixels
              not classified at a lower depth.  The combination of these sums
              and n2 will ultimately characterize the mean color of a set of
              pixels represented by this node.

       E:     The distance squared in RGB space between each pixel contained
              within a node and the nodes' center.  This represents the
              quantization error for a node.

       Reduction repeatedly prunes the tree until the number of nodes with n2
       > 0 is less than or equal to the maximum number of colors allowed in
       the output image.  On any given iteration over the tree, it selects
       those nodes whose E value is minimal for pruning and merges their color
       statistics upward.  It uses a pruning threshold, Ep, to govern node
       selection as follows:

         Ep = 0
         while number of nodes with (n2 > 0) > required maximum number of
       colors
             prune all nodes such that E <= Ep
             Set Ep  to minimum E in remaining nodes

       This has the effect of minimizing any quantization error when merging
       two nodes together.

       When a node to be pruned has offspring, the pruning procedure invokes
       itself recursively in order to prune the tree from the leaves upward.
       The values of n2  Sr, Sg,  and Sb in a node being pruned are always
       added to the corresponding data in that node's parent.  This retains
       the pruned node's color characteristics for later averaging.

       For each node,  n2 pixels exist for which that node represents the
       smallest volume in RGB space containing those pixel's colors.  When n2
       > 0 the node will uniquely define a color in the output image.  At the
       beginning of reduction, n2 = 0  for all nodes except the leaves of the
       tree which represent colors present in the input image.

       The other pixel count, n1,  indicates the total number of colors within
       the cubic volume which the node represents.  This includes n1 - n2
       pixels whose colors should be defined by nodes at a lower level in the
       tree.

       Assignment generates the output image from the pruned tree.  The output
       image consists of two parts:  (1)  A color map, which is an array of
       color descriptions (RGB triples) for each color present in the output
       image; (2)  A pixel array, which represents each pixel as an index into
       the color map array.

       First, the assignment phase makes one pass over the pruned color
       description tree to establish the image's color map.  For each node
       with n2 > 0, it divides Sr, Sg, and Sb by n2.  This produces the mean
       color of all pixels that classify no lower than this node.  Each of
       these colors becomes an entry in the color map.

       Finally, the assignment phase reclassifies each pixel in the pruned
       tree to identify the deepest node containing the pixel's color.  The
       pixel's value in the pixel array becomes the index of this node's mean
       color in the color map.

       Empirical evidence suggests that distances in color spaces such as YUV,
       or YIQ correspond to perceptual color differences more closely than do
       distances in RGB space.  These color spaces may give better results
       when color reducing an image.  Here the algorithm is as described
       except each pixel is a point in the alternate color space.  For
       convenience, the color components are normalized to the range 0 to a
       maximum value, cmax.  The color reduction can then proceed as
       described.

MEASURING COLOR REDUCTION ERROR
       Depending on the image, the color reduction error may be obvious or
       invisible.  Images with high spatial frequencies (such as hair or
       grass) will show error much less than pictures with large smoothly
       shaded areas (such as faces).  This is because the high-frequency
       contour edges introduced by the color reduction process are masked by
       the high frequencies in the image.

       To measure the difference between the original and color reduced images
       (the total color reduction error), ImageMagick sums over all pixels in
       an image the distance squared in RGB space between each original pixel
       value and its color reduced value. ImageMagick prints several error
       measurements including the mean error per pixel, the normalized mean
       error, and the normalized maximum error.

       The normalized error measurement can be used to compare images.  In
       general, the closer the mean error is to zero the more the quantized
       image resembles the source image.  Ideally, the error should be
       perceptually-based, since the human eye is the final judge of
       quantization quality.

       These errors are measured and printed when -verbose and -colors are
       specified on the command line:

       mean error per pixel:
              is the mean error for any single pixel in the image.

       normalized mean square error:
              is the normalized mean square quantization error for any single
              pixel in the image.

              This distance measure is normalized to a range between 0 and 1.
              It is independent of the range of red, green, and blue values in
              the image.

       normalized maximum square error:
              is the largest normalized square quantization error for any
              single pixel in the image.

              This distance measure is normalized to a range between 0 and 1.
              It is independent of the range of red, green, and blue values in
              the image.

SEE ALSO
       display(1), animate(1), mogrify(1), import(1), miff(5)

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (C) 2002 ImageMagick Studio, a non-profit organization
       dedicated to making software imaging solutions freely available.

       Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a
       copy of this software and associated documentation files
       ("ImageMagick"), to deal in ImageMagick without restriction, including
       without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
       distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of ImageMagick, and to
       permit persons to whom the ImageMagick is furnished to do so, subject
       to the following conditions:

       The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included
       in all copies or substantial portions of ImageMagick.

       The software is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind, express
       or implied, including but not limited to the warranties of
       merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and noninfringement.
       In no event shall ImageMagick Studio be liable for any claim, damages
       or other liability, whether in an action of contract, tort or
       otherwise, arising from, out of or in connection with ImageMagick or
       the use or other dealings in ImageMagick.

       Except as contained in this notice, the name of the ImageMagick Studio
       shall not be used in advertising or otherwise to promote the sale, use
       or other dealings in ImageMagick without prior written authorization
       from the ImageMagick Studio.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
       Paul Raveling, USC Information Sciences Institute, for the original
       idea of using space subdivision for the color reduction algorithm.
       With Paul's permission, this document is an adaptation from a document
       he wrote.

AUTHORS
       John Cristy, ImageMagick Studio



ImageMagick              $Date: 2001/12/07 18:43:53 $              quantize(5)
