Computer-assisted addition of colors to monochrome images or movies

 Highlights

• Computer-assisted process for adding colors to monochrome images or films
• Simplifies colorization process by exploiting the premise that neighboring pixels in an image possess corresponding intensities and color shades
• Interactive colorization process improves image quality with less manual effort than existing techniques
• Application: image editing for stills and films companies and studios specializing in computer graphics, films, photos, and image editing software

Our Innovation

Computer graphics colorization technique in which an image is annotated with a few free-form brush strokes using mouse (referred to as color scribbles). The indicated colors are automatically propagated as they spread outward to produce an image or sequence in the selected color, eliminating the time-consuming need for the user to manually define explicit region boundaries.

Key Features

• Frees professional colorization specialist for creative endeavors
• Colors and shades directly selected
• Results can be refined by additional scribbles of color
• Applicable to both still images and image sequences
• Automatic propagation of color to the remaining pixels in the image sequence
• Provides a simpler and faster interface while giving the user high quality results

Development Milestones

• Seeking partner for industrial trials

The Opportunity

• Effective, intuitive solution for high quality colorization in stills and film clips
• Additional digital photography application in re-coloring and special effects (55% of digital camera owners purchase additional software for managing and enhancing digital photos).
• Overall digital imaging market valued at more than $258 billion in 2004, with 18.1% annual growth between 2004 and 2010