ImageAlchemy

ImageAlchemy - A PyQT5-based image processing application offering a variety of techniques implemented from scratch without external libraries.

Description

ImageAlchemy is a comprehensive image processing application developed using PyQT5, providing a range of powerful techniques including grayscale conversion, noise addition, various filters, edge and boundary detection, thresholding, equalization, active contouring using SNAKE Algorithm, and hybrid image creation. Remarkably, all functionalities are implemented from scratch, avoiding dependency on external libraries like OpenCV or Scikit-Image, ensuring a lightweight and self-contained solution for digital image processing needs.

Features

✅ 3 Ways to add an image to the viewport

✔️ Using the import button in the File menu in the menu bar, or use the shortcut
✔️ Drag and drop an image from your system
✔️ Pick an image from the library included in the Tools menu in the menu bar

✅ Image Tree: Full Image History

✔️ Open multiple images at the same time and seamlessly browse between them, applying different processing techniques to each.

✅ Full control over the applied effects (under development)

Upon applying multiple effects to an image, you can arrange the effects into a chain to get a cumulative pipeline that offers you the following:

✔️ Visualise each effect on its own.
✔️ Delete a specific effect, whether you are in the mode of accumulation or not. If you are in this mode, the outputs of other effects of the chain will be recalculated.
✔️ Change the order of the effects to get a new cumulative output.

✅ Digital Image Processing Techniques

✔️ Convert to grayscale
✔️ Add 3 different types of noise: Uniform, Gaussian, and Salt & Pepper
✔️ Filter Image with 3 different types of filters: Mean, Median, and Gaussian
✔️ Detect Edges in Images with 6 types of detectors
✔️ Apply High-pass and Low-pass Frequency Filters to Images
✔️ Apply Local and Global Threshold to Images
✔️ Equalize Images
✔️ Normalize Images
✔️ Create Hybrid Images
✔️ Active Contouring, Snake Algorithm
✔️ Perform Hough Transformations for Lines, Circles, and Ellipses

Quick Preview

Browse Images

Apply and Adjust Local and Global Threshold Effect

Adjust Added Noise

Navigate Through the Applied Effects Output

Perform Active Contouring

Reset

UI Structure

The provided image serves as a guide to understanding the various sections of our app's interface. Below, we'll delve into each section's functionality and elucidate how users can navigate and utilize the app effectively.

Menu Bar: Contained within this bar are four distinct menus:

File Menu: Primarily responsible for importing images, saving options for edited image outputs, and exiting the application.
Edit Menu: Under development, intended for customizing the app interface's appearance. Presently, it has no visible impact on the app.
Tools Menu: This menu currently houses the image library and examples for users to experiment with different image processing techniques.
Help Menu: Provides options to access the application's documentation and a guide on app usage. These features are currently unavailable as the app is still in development.

Main Viewport:

The viewport serves the purpose of displaying both the imported input image and the output image post-application of various processing techniques. Essentially, it functions as a tab, offering developers the flexibility to incorporate additional tabs for specific steps or plots related to certain effects in the future.

Image Tree:

Designed to facilitate the seamless navigation between different images and their associated effects, the image tree displays imported images along with their respective effects. Users can simply double-click on an image name within the tree to revert to a previously opened image.

Effects to Add:

This section features buttons representing specific effects. Users can expand the menu to view the names of each effect and add them to the current image by double-clicking the desired effect.

Effects Tweaking Menu:

Tailored to accommodate the specific attributes and parameters of each image processing technique, this menu displays controllers for adjusting these parameters. By default, it showcases the parameters of all effects applied to all images, organized within group boxes. However, users have the flexibility to focus on specific effects by double-clicking on their names within the tree.

Added Effects Table:

Currently unavailable in the app version provided, this table is under development. It will showcase the effects added to the current image, allowing users to create cumulative outputs if desired. Users can manipulate the table to show or hide all effects, revert to the original imported image, or remove specific effects. Furthermore, they can adjust the order of applied effects in the cumulative pipeline by dragging rows. Double-clicking on an effect will open a new tab exclusively visualizing the output of that effect, including any intermediate steps typically hidden from users.

Folder Structure

Classes

DialogTheme: This folder contains only the dialog class that appears to the user when he wants to change the appearance of the app.
Effects: This directory houses classes, each representing a specific image processing effect.
EffectsWidgets: Within this folder are classes inheriting from GroupBox, designed to streamline the integration of effect controllers (e.g., sliders, spinboxes) into the user interface. Upon applying an effect, an instance of the corresponding groupbox is instantiated and added to the UI, allowing users to adjust parameters and observe the resulting changes in real-time.
ExtendedWidgets: This directory contains custom widgets developed to address specific developmental challenges, tailored for internal use by developers rather than end-users.

Resources

Icons: This folder contains the icons used in the stylesheets of the app.
ImagesLibrary: An assortment of image examples categorized into Classic, Old Classic, Fingerprints, High Resolution, Medical, Special, Sun and Planets, Textures, and Additional. Users can utilize these images to test various effects.
HoughSamples: Sanple images to test the Hough Transformation algorithm. These are organized into 3 subfolders for each type of Hough Transformation: Line, Circle, and Ellipse.
Themes: (under development): Currently in progress, this section will incorporate multiple stylesheets or themes, enabling users to customize the appearance of the application, although this feature is not yet accessible for use.

Main Files in the root:

ImageAlchemyUI.py: The user interface file, housing fixed UI components of the application, which can be dynamically modified during runtime. This serves as the primary file executed to launch the application.

ImageAlchemyBackend.py (Backend & Image Class): This file encapsulates the core functionality of the application, orchestrating interactions between the user interface and backend processing. Upon user selection of an effect, the backend instantiates the corresponding effect class, passes inputs, retrieves output images, and manages image history by creating instances of the image class and storing relevant attributes and applied effects.

HelperFunctions.py: As the name suggests, this folder contains the functions that facilitate the application of different effects, especially the Equalizer.

--- Folder Structure ---
[App]
  ├── [Classes]
      ├── [DialogTheme]
          ├── ThemeDialog.py
          └── ThemeDialog.ui
      ├── [Effects]
          ├── EdgeDetector.py
          ├── Equalizer.py
          ├── Filter.py
          ├── FreqFilters.py
          ├── HoughTransform.py
          ├── Hybrid.py
          ├── Noise.py
          ├── Normalize.py
          ├── Snake.py
          └── Thresholding.py
      ├── [EffectsWidgets]
          ├── EdgeDetectorGroupBox.py
          ├── FilterGroupBox.py
          ├── FreqFiltersGroupBox.py
          ├── GrayscaleGroupbox.py
          ├── HistogramGroupbox.py
          ├── HoughTransformGroupBox.py
          ├── HybridGroupBox.py
          ├── NoiseGroupBox.py
          ├── NormalizeGroupBox.py
          ├── SnakeGroupBox.py
          └── ThresholdingGroupBox.py
      └── [ExtendedWidgets]
          ├── CanvasWidget.py
          ├── CustomFrame.py
          ├── CustomTabWidget.py
          ├── DoubleClickPushButton.py
          ├── TableWithMovingRows.py
          ├── TabWidget.py
          └── ThemeDialog.py
  ├── HelperFunctions.py
  ├── ImageAlchemyBackend.py
  ├── ImageAlchemyUI.py
  ├── [Resources]
      ├── [HoughSamples]
          ├── [Circle]
          ├── [Ellipse]
          └── [Line]
      ├── [Icons]
      ├── [ImagesLibrary]
      ├── [Other Image Resources]
      └── [Themes]
          ├── BlackTheme.qss
          ├── Stylesheet.qss
          └── WhiteTheme.qss
README.md
[README_resources]
    ├── App_Flow.png
    ├── App_UI.png
    ├── Import__gif.gif
    └── Thresholding.gif
requirements.txt

Executing program

To be able to use our app, you can simply follow these steps:

Install Python3 on your device. You can download it from Here.
Install the required packages by the following command.

pip install -r requirements.txt

Run the file with the name "ImageAlchemyUI.py"

App Flow: How to use the app?

Importing an Image:

You can import an image in three ways: drag and drop, through the file menu, or by accessing the included image library within the app.
Applying Effects:

Simply double-click on the desired effect from the left sidebar. You can expand the sidebar to view the full names of each effect or hover over them to see a tooltip displaying their names.
Fine-Tuning Effects:

In the right-side panel, double-click on the effect's name from the tree. This will open a menu displaying all the parameters and controls. Adjust these to achieve the desired result.
Navigating Images:

Easily switch between different images by double-clicking their names in the image tree located in the right-side menu.
Saving Output:

To save the output image, simply press CTRL+S or access the save option from the File menu in the menu bar.

Shortcuts

Shortcut	Functionality
Ctrl+I	Import Image
Ctrl+S	Save the output image of the current image as PNG
Shift+Ctrl+S	Save the output image of the current image and specify the extension
Alt+S	Save all the output images of the opened images
Ctrl+Q	Exit the app
Ctrl+C	Show a guide on how to use the app (Currently unavailable)
Ctrl+H	Open the documentation of the app (Currently unavailable)

Future Updates

In upcoming releases, we are planning to introduce a significant enhancement to our application by implementing cumulative effects output. This feature will revolutionize the image processing workflow by seamlessly integrating multiple effects. Specifically, the output generated by the first applied effect will serve as the input for subsequent effects. Also, we are working now on enhancing the app's performance to suit Computationally weak devices. All that besides, new processing techniques are coming soon.

Help

If you encounter any issues or have questions, feel free to reach out.

Contributors

Gratitude goes out to all team members for their valuable contributions to this project.

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ImageAlchemy

Table of Contents:

Description

Features