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NAME
SYNOPSIS
PARAMETERS
DESCRIPTION
EXAMPLE
AUTHORS
AVAILABILITY
SEE ALSO

NAME

imvariance - calculates the variance of an image

SYNOPSIS

variance_matrix = imvariance(image)

PARAMETERS

image
A gray-level image.

DESCRIPTION

This function computes a matrix containing the variance of each point of an image.
The variance is the sum of the absolute value of the differences between the central pixel and its neighbours:
variance=sum(|x(neighbour)-x(central)|)
A low variance value means a pixel is not very different from its neigbours (in all directions).
This property can be used to unwrap phased images. In case of a "path-following algorithm", the variance can be a "merit function" used to determine which pixels should be connected first. This "merit function" is much more noise immune than a "merit function" based on a laplace kernel.
This algorithm calculates the variance everywhere even on the edges. In some cases, consider multiplying by a mask like this
 [8/3 8/5 8/5...;
  8/5   1   1...;
so that edge values are really significatives.

EXAMPLE

stacksize(1e7); // images are very much memory consumming...

varian=imvariance(imread(SIPDIR+'images/photonics/pyramide_wrapped.jpg'));

imshow(varian/max(varian));// high levels (blank on the image)
                    //represent points where intensity
                    //changes quickly

AUTHORS

Jocelyn DRUEL <jocelyn.druel1@libertysurf.fr>

AVAILABILITY

The latest version of the Scilab Image Processing toolbox can be found at
http://siptoolbox.sourceforge.net

SEE ALSO

unwrapl, mkfilter('laplace1')