SkelGAN: A Font Image Skeletonization Method

Abstract

In this research, we study the problem of font image skeletonization using an end-to-end deep adversarial network, in contrast with the state-of-the-art methods that use mathematical algorithms. Several studies have been concerned with skeletonization, but a few have utilized deep learning. Further, no study has considered generative models based on deep neural networks for font character skeletonization, which are more delicate than natural objects. In this work, we take a step closer to producing realistic synthesized skeletons of font characters. We consider using an end-to-end deep adversarial network, SkelGAN, for font-image skeletonization, in contrast with the state-of-the-art methods that use mathematical algorithms. The proposed skeleton generator is proved superior to all well-known mathematical skeletonization methods in terms of character structure, including delicate strokes, serifs, and even special styles. Experimental results also demonstrate the dominance of our method against the state-of-the-art supervised image-to-image translation method in font character skeletonization task.