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Most image and video editing applications implement only a set of low-level operations, such as linear and non-linear filters, scaling, and simple rectangular cropping. A skilled user is required to combine these traditional tools creatively to perform a useful task. This article presents an example of an approach that takes into account the semantics of the image and is therefore more powerful than traditional tools. Using a model of the foreground and the background of a given image, the SIOX tool (Simple Interactive Object Extraction) allows a user to cut out a certain object from an image or video with very little user interaction. The core of the algorithm is a color clustering approach that has been derived from image retrieval techniques and evaluated against a benchmark proposed by Microsoft Research. The method allows for sub-pixel accuracy, allows video segmentation in realtime (640 × 480 × 25), and is noise robust. SIOX has recently been integrated into the development versions of several open source image and video editing applications such as GIMP, Blender, and Inkscape. Keywords: Object extracion; image and video processing. Int. J. Semantic Computing 2007.01:221-247. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com by NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY on 08/27/15. For personal use only.

This paper presents recent improvements on a previous published practical approach to object segmentation from still images called SIOX: Simple Interactive Object Extraction. The basic method has been improved further and applied to a variety of applications. In the case of videos, this technique allows scale and rotation invariant real-time tracking of foreground objects including the classification of newly introduced objects. In the case of still-images, the method has been extended to cope with highly detailed textures with sub-pixel accuracy. The approach is robust in the presence of noise and can be applied to a variety of problems where objects have to be extracted, tracked and/or identified. The approach has been released as an open source framework. We discuss various applications of the algorithm and incorporated experiences and user feedback from several projects that have begun to integrate the algorithm.

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This paper introduces a system that enables a presenter to work directly on the projected screen without interrupting the presentation flow by mouse or keyboard use. One uses his fingers as a natural pointing device. The system consists basically of an LED and a webcam as well as a small software system that runs on the presenter's notebook. The camera observes the LED position and the software converts it into mouse events.