Why is the ability to manipulate images so important, and why are a wide variety of options for image manipulation so desirable? The reasons are as varied as the applications that are developed.
Sometimes, you start with an image that has some undesirable qualities. For example, if the original image is too flat, you may want to use one of the contrast enhancement functions to make permanent improvements.
At other times, you may need to make temporary changes for use on a particular monitor or printer. Using the ActiveX control or DLL functions, you can set the brightness, contrast, and gamma correction for the display of all images, without affecting the bitmaps.
Some image manipulations, such as edge-detection filters, are commonly used to analyze an image, rather than to improve it. For example, in an industrial quality-assurance application, defects in a machine part may be easier to detect if an image of the part is processed with an edge-detection filter. Similarly, the creation of a histogram (an array that charts the frequency of color usage in an image) can be of value in an analytical situation.
Edge detection and histogram creation can also be used as steps
in improving an image. For example, creating a histogram is a necessary step,
internally, in some of the contrast-improvement functions. Also, an image
created with an edge detection filter can be combined with the original image
to harden or soften the original's edges.
LEADTOOLS SDKs allow developers to add an extensive list (the widest in the industry) of image processing filters to their applications quickly and easily. LEADTOOLS includes functions with many options that give you the flexibility to make your images look as good as possible or ready them for analyzing. Whether you are working with medical images, scanned documents or digital, LEADTOOLS can help you display your images optimally.
