Astonishing resizable images.
Two researchers, Shai Avidan and Ariel Shamir, demonstrate a technique for resizing images on the fly that may well be revolutionary. This is one of those ideas that, once explained, seem so obviously powerful that you wonder why it wasn’t invented long ago.
The principle consists in the removal of what they call seams: paths connecting the top and bottom (or left and right) edges of the image. These seams can be chosen so as to make them the least noticeable set of pixels missing. Similarly, pixels can be added along those same pathways, interpolating existing adjacent pixels.
But the icing on the cake is this: the function that determines “least noticeable” can be manipulated to protect areas of the image, making it less likely for a seam to pass through them, or on the contrary more likely. Watch for yourself what happens then:
If this technique becomes part of the regular toolset of the web designer or even offline photo editor, and integrated into applications like Photoshop, it will change the way we look and the degree to which we trust published images. Authenticity is manipulated in a pretty major way.
Though this is nothing fundamentally new. Glossy magazines photoshop images of celebrities as a matter of course — see the recent mini-scandal surrounding M. Sarkozy’s disappearing love handles on his holiday picture published in Paris Match (local copy of the image).
(Hat tip: Sean B. Palmer pointed the YouTube video out to me.)
chris @ August 28, 2007