Abstract
For interactive image manipulation, a new region extraction method using active contour model (ACM) is proposed. In this method, to the region of a single object, multiple ACMs controlled by the statistical characteristics of image data are applied. These ACMs compete with each other, and each ACM extracts a sub-region of uniform image properties. The entire region of the object is extracted as a set of several sub-regions. This method requires multiple initial ACMs set suitably. To lighten this initial setting, a procedure for making initial ACMs from a few initial curves is also proposed. In this procedure, a few initial curves are set in an image, each initial curve is divided into appropriate number segments at the optimal loci, and dilating these segments makes multiple initial ACMs.