Java Image Filters - Binary

This page includes filters which perform operations on binary (black and white) images. It also includes one filter which will produce a binary image from a color image.

The Image Editor is the best way to explore these filters as it has dialogs allowing you to explore the results of different parameters and allows you to set colormaps. Many of the filter parameters are non-intuitive and can produce surprising (or more often, disappointing) results and you'll find it lot easier to use the dialogs.


ThresholdFilter

This isn't really a binary operation, but is a way of getting a binary image from a coloured image. You specify a threshold, and all pixels above the threshold will be turned white. All pixels below the threshold will be turned black.

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ThresholdFilter

ErodeFilter

This filter performs binary erosion, removing black pixels from the edges of black areas. You can specify a threshold for the number of neighbours needed to flip pixels.

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ErodeFilter

DilateFilter

This filter performs binary dilation, adding black pixels to the edges of black areas. You can specify a threshold for the number of neighbours needed to flip pixels.

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DilateFilter

OutlineFilter

Removes black pixels from the centre of black areas, leaving just the outline.

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OutlineFilter

SkeletonFilter

This filter continually removes pixels from the edges of black areas until a thin "skeleton" is left of the original image. You can specify the number of iterations to apply to the image.

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SkeletonFilter

LifeFilter

Performs one turn of John Conway's game of Life on the image. It's not terribly useful as an image processing operation I admit, but it's fun.