Abstract
Exemplar-based image inpainting, as proposed by Criminisi et al. (IEEE Trans Image Process 13(9):1200–1212, 2004), fills missing regions by using a similar exemplar. However, when the missing region is a unique texture patch, an incorrect texture is filled in the missing region because a similar exemplar of damaged patch could not be found. A new image inpainting method based on an eight-direction or arbitrary direction symmetrical exemplar is proposed, suitable for damaged images containing local symmetry. The following three steps are the keys of this method. (1) According to certain similarity criteria, the symmetrical exemplars of damaged regions in eight directions or arbitrary directions are found. (2) The most similar symmetrical exemplar is selected from eight-direction or arbitrary-direction symmetrical exemplars. (3) Finally, the damaged region is filled using the most similar symmetrical exemplar. It is shown that the results of image inpainting are good when missing image regions have similar symmetry. Image inpainting is a single, efficient method. In addition, a new evaluation method of image restoration results based on similar exemplars is proposed for the inpainting effect, which is closely related to the repair algorithm. Therefore, the methods can more objectively measure the inpainting effect.
Highlights
Image inpainting is an important research field in image restoration that can be used to retouch damaged images and videos, remove text, and conceal errors in videos
A new evaluation method of image restoration results based on similar exemplars is proposed for the inpainting effect, which is closely related to the repair algorithm
The algorithm is not universal due to the arbitrary direction symmetries in an damaged image, so an image inpainting algorithms based on arbitrary direction symmetrical exemplars are proposed in this paper, the method fills missing regions by using similar symmetrical exemplar
Summary
Image inpainting is an important research field in image restoration that can be used to retouch damaged images and videos, remove text, and conceal errors in videos. Bertalmio et al [1] presented a PDE-based image inpainting method through which holes in an image were filled by propagating image Laplacians in the isophote direction continuously from the exterior. This method achieves a good inpainting effect for small damaged regions, yet the image is blurred for larger areas, with the larger the damaged patch, the more obvious the blurring becomes. Levin et al [2] approached a repair method based on probability, which has a good repair effect on the corners of the target. Criminisi et al [3] employed an exemplar-based texture synthesis technique
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