Inking Old Black-and-White Cartoons
Author(s): Daniel Sýkora.
Master Thesis: Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Prague, Czech Republic, January,
2003.
[BibTeX]
Abstract:
This diploma thesis discuss the problem of applying color to the old
black and white cartoons produced by original step by step technology,
where each animation phase was exposed on the one frame of film negative.
Thanks to possibility, which allows us to convert the original analogue
material to the sequence of digital images using resolution suitable for TV
broadcasting, we are able to solve our problem by methods of digital image
processing. We introduce several algorithms based on unsupervised image
segmentation and synthesis techniques, which exploit classical properties
of cartoons produced by paper or foil technology, where foreground parts
are represented by homogeneous surfaces with constant grey-scale intensity
enclosed by bold contours. These algorithms together with couple of prediction
techniques provide us to speed up whole inking process. An important
part of this thesis is also description of application, where purposed algorithms
are implemented. This implementation take into account also human
driven interaction which guarantee the final image quality. Described application
was practically used as a part of project focussed on restoration of
the old black and white cartoon: "O loupeznıku Rumcajsovi" (directed by
well known czech artist Radek Pilaˇr). During this project we measured the
overall application efficiency which will be also discussed in this thesis.