Process Surface by Filter

Description

This Step is used to preprocess the surface data with a specific filter to obtain better surface data.

Workflow

The process of configuring this Step is shown below.

process surface by filter process
  1. Configure the input. Connect the ports manually or select the input(s) under Input in the parameter configuration panel.

  2. Determine whether to use the feature region, select the Filter Type, and set the filter parameters.

  3. Select the output item Surface Data (selected by default).

  4. Run the Step and view the output.

Parameter Description

Parameter Description

Show Advanced Filters

Once this parameter is selected, both common filters and advanced filters will become available in the drop-down list of Filter Type.

Use Feature Region

Use feature region(s) to define the region where surface preprocessing will be performed. If no feature region is used, the Step will process all surface data. If a feature region or feature regions are used, set the following parameters:

  • Feature Region Mode

    Use this parameter to decide whether to process the data inside or outside of the feature region.

  • Feature Region

    See Feature Region for details on setting and adjusting a feature region.

  • Keep Unfiltered Data

    Once this parameter is selected, the unfiltered data will be retained in the output. By default, this option is unselected, and only the filtered data will be output.

Filter Type

Decides the filter to use for surface data processing.

Value list: The available filters are listed below. For more details, refer to Filters.

Output Description

The output of this Step is processed surface data that can be used as input into other Steps.

Filters

Common Filters

Gap filling

Fills the missing data within a specified window size by the selected gap-filling type.

Parameter Description

Gap Filling Type

Decides the method for filling the gaps.

  • Min Z point filling: When applied to a depth map, the filter uses the smallest depth value of the gap endpoints to fill the gaps. For an intensity image, it uses the smallest intensity value of the gap endpoints to fill the gaps.

  • Max Z point filling: When applied to a depth map, the filter uses the greatest depth value of the gap endpoints to fill the gaps. For an intensity image, it uses the greatest intensity value of the gap endpoints to fill the gaps.

  • Linear interpolation filling: When applied to a depth map, the filter fills gaps by linear interpolation based on the depth values of the gap endpoints. For an intensity image, it fills the gaps by linear interpolation based on the intensity values of the gap endpoints.

Image for Gap Filling

Used to specify the type of image for gap filling.

Value list: Depth map, intensity image, depth map and intensity image

Filter in X Direction

Used to determine whether to filter the surface data in the X-direction.

X-Direction Window Size

The window size for X-direction filtering. Default value: 3 px.

Filter in Y Direction

Used to determine whether to filter the surface data in the Y-direction.

Y-Direction Window Size

The window size for Y-direction filtering. Default value: 3 px.

Mean

Replaces the value of each pixel with the mean of the pixel and its neighbors, thereby smoothing the image and reducing random noise.

Parameter Description

Filter in X Direction

Used to determine whether to filter the surface data in the X-direction.

X-Direction Window Size

The window size for X-direction filtering. Default value: 3 px.

Filter in Y Direction

Used to determine whether to filter the surface data in the Y-direction.

Y-Direction Window Size

The window size for Y-direction filtering. Default value: 3 px.

Median

Replaces the value of each pixel with the median of the pixel and its neighbors to effectively reduce noise in images, especially salt and pepper noise (typically appearing as random black and white points).

Parameter Description

Filter in X Direction

Used to determine whether to filter the surface data in the X-direction.

X-Direction Window Size

The window size for X-direction filtering. Default value: 3 px.

Filter in Y Direction

Used to determine whether to filter the surface data in the Y-direction.

Y-Direction Window Size

The window size for Y-direction filtering. Default value: 3 px.

Decimation

Reduces image resolution by discarding certain pixels from the raw image.

Parameter Description

Filter in X Direction

Used to determine whether to filter the surface data in the X-direction.

X-Direction Window Size

The window size for X-direction filtering. Default value: 3 px.

Filter in Y Direction

Used to determine whether to filter the surface data in the Y-direction.

Y-Direction Window Size

The window size for Y-direction filtering. Default value: 3 px.

Crop

Extracts data from specified regions of the image. If no feature regions are specified, the entire image is the cropping target.

Parameter Description

Output as Single Image

By default, this option is selected, indicating that the original positions of the cropped areas will be retained and merged into a single output image. When it is unselected, a separate image for each cropped area will be output.

Advanced Filters

Dilation

Fills small holes in an image to make the image more complete.

Note that dilation may also expand noise in the image. When performing dilation on images, you should set a proper kernel size and symmetry to ensure that the operation can achieve the desired result.

Parameter Description

Use Intensity Image

When unselected, the Step processes the depth map; when selected, the Step processes the intensity image.

Keep Original Pixel Value

When selected, this parameter ensures that the original pixel values in non-edge areas of the image remain unchanged during the dilation operation. It is unselected by default.

Kernel Size

Used to determine the kernel size during dilation. Default value: 3 px.

Symmetry

Used to determine the direction of the dilation operation.

  • Horizontal symmetry: Perform dilation on the image horizontally by the set dilation kernel.

  • Vertical symmetry: Perform dilation on the image vertically by the set dilation kernel.

  • Central symmetry: Perform dilation on the image horizontally and vertically by a square dilation kernel of the set size.

Erosion

Removes small objects or noise in the image to make the image clearer.

Note that the erosion operation may lead to loss of image details. When performing erosion on images, you should set a proper kernel size and symmetry to ensure that the operation can achieve the desired result.

Parameter Description

Use Intensity Image

When unselected, the Step processes the depth map; when selected, the Step processes the intensity image.

Keep Original Pixel Value

When selected, this parameter ensures that the original pixel values in non-edge areas of the image remain unchanged during the dilation operation. It is unselected by default.

Kernel Size

Used to determine the kernel size during erosion. Default value: 3 px.

Symmetry

Used to determine the direction of the erosion operation.

  • Horizontal Symmetry: Perform erosion on the image horizontally by the set erosion kernel.

  • Vertical Symmetry: Perform erosion on the image vertically by the set erosion kernel.

  • Central symmetry: Perform erosion on the image horizontally and vertically by a square erosion kernel of the set size.

Opening

Removes the small noise in the image while preserving the edges and main features of objects. Opening is essentially erosion followed by dilation.

Parameter Description

Use Intensity Image

When unselected, the Step processes the depth map; when selected, the Step processes the intensity image.

Keep Original Pixel Value

When selected, this parameter ensures that the original pixel values in non-edge areas of the image remain unchanged during the dilation operation. It is unselected by default.

Kernel Size

Used to determine the kernel size for opening. Default value: 3 px.

Closing

Fills small holes and smooths object edges, effectively addressing the problem of rough edges caused by noise. Closing is essentially dilation followed by erosion.

Parameter Description

Use Intensity Image

When unselected, the Step processes the depth map; when selected, the Step processes the intensity image.

Keep Original Pixel Value

When selected, this parameter ensures that the original pixel values in non-edge areas of the image remain unchanged during the dilation operation. It is unselected by default.

Kernel Size

This parameter is used to set the kernel size for closing. Default value: 3 px.

Morph Gradient

Morphological gradient is an operation in image morphological processing that highlights the edges in an image by calculating the difference between dilation and erosion.

Parameter Description

Use Intensity Image

When unselected, the Step processes the depth map; when selected, the Step processes the intensity image.

Keep Original Pixel Value

When selected, this parameter ensures that the original pixel values in non-edge areas of the image remain unchanged during the dilation operation. It is unselected by default.

Kernel Size

Used to determine the kernel size during the gradient operation. Default value: 3 px.

Gaussian

Effectively removes certain noise from an image to smooth the image while preserving edges and details as much as possible. It is commonly used for image smoothing, noise reduction, and preprocessing before edge detection.

Parameter Description

Use Intensity Image

When unselected, the Step processes the depth map; when selected, the Step processes the intensity image.

Kernel Size

This parameter is used to set the kernel size for Gaussian filtering. Default value: 3 px.

Sobel

Used for edge detection, which can produce smooth edges and generally works best when the edges in the image have strong directional features.

Parameter Description

Use Intensity Image

When unselected, the Step processes the depth map; when selected, the Step processes the intensity image.

Kernel Size

This parameter is used to set the kernel size during edge detection. Default value: 3 px.

Symmetry

This parameter is used to set the applied method for edge detection.

  • Horizontal Symmetry: Apply the set kernel on the image horizontally to detect edges.

  • Vertical Symmetry: Apply the set kernel on the image vertically to detect edges.

  • Central symmetry: Perform edge detection on the image horizontally and vertically by a square kernel of set size.

Min Threshold

Upon filtering, points with depth values greater than this threshold will be considered edge points.

Max Threshold

Used to limit the depth values of the filtered points to this threshold or lower.

Min Intensity Threshold

Upon filtering, points with intensity values greater than this threshold will be considered edge points.

Max Intensity Threshold

Used to limit the intensity values of the filtered points to this threshold or lower.

Laplacian

Used for edge detection, which can produce sharp and fine edges and typically works best when the image has minimal noise.

Parameter Description

Use Intensity Image

When unselected, the Step processes the depth map; when selected, the Step processes the intensity image.

Kernel Size

Used to determine the kernel size during edge detection. Default value: 3 px.

Min Threshold

Upon filtering, points with depth values greater than this threshold will be considered edge points.

Max Threshold

Used to limit the depth values of the filtered points to this threshold or lower.

Min Intensity Threshold

Upon filtering, points with intensity values greater than this threshold will be considered edge points.

Max Intensity Threshold

Used to limit the intensity values of the filtered points to this threshold or lower.

Negative

Inverts the value of each pixel in an image to produce a visually inverted color effect.

Parameter Description

Use Intensity Image

When unselected, the Step processes the depth map; when selected, the Step processes the intensity image.

Include Null Points

Null points do not contain any depth information. This parameter is used to determine whether to include null points in the processed image.

When it is selected, set Null Filling Value of Depth.

Null Filling Value of Depth

Set the depth value for filling null points. It is visible only when Include Null Points is selected.

Normalization

Enhances the contrast of an image.

Parameter Description

Use Intensity Image

When unselected, the Step processes the depth map; when selected, the Step processes the intensity image.

Min Threshold

The depth values of points will be normalized to the range of Min Threshold to Max Threshold.

Max Threshold

The depth values of points will be normalized to the range of Min Threshold to Max Threshold.

Min Intensity Threshold

The intensity values of points will be normalized to the range of Min Intensity Threshold to Max Intensity Threshold.

Max Intensity Threshold

The intensity values of points will be normalized to the range of Min Intensity Threshold to Max Intensity Threshold.

Binarization

Resets the depth or intensity value of each point in an image according to the specified height or intensity threshold.

Parameter Description

Use Intensity Image

When unselected, the Step processes the depth map; when selected, the Step processes the intensity image.

Min Threshold

When the depth value of a data point is less than or equal to the set Depth Threshold, the depth value of the point will be reset to the value of Min Threshold.

Max Threshold

When the depth value of a data point is above the set Depth Threshold, the depth value of the point will be reset to the value of Max Threshold.

Depth Threshold

The threshold used to binarize the depth map.

Min Intensity Threshold

When the intensity value of a data point is less than or equal to the set Intensity Threshold, the intensity value of the point will be reset to the value of Min Intensity Threshold.

Max Intensity Threshold

When the intensity value of a data point is above the set Intensity Threshold, the intensity value of the point will be reset to the value of Max Intensity Threshold.

Intensity Threshold

The threshold used to binarize the intensity image.

Percentile

Removes data points outside of the specified percentile range.

Parameter Description

Use Intensity Image

When unselected, the Step processes the depth map; when selected, the Step processes the intensity image.

Low Threshold Percentile

  • Depth map: Only points with depth values within the range of Low Threshold Percentile to High Threshold Percentile are retained.

  • Intensity image: Points with intensity values within the range of Low Threshold Percentile to High Threshold Percentile are retained, while points that fall outside of the range have their intensity values reset to 1.

High Threshold Percentile

  • Depth map: Only points with depth values within the range of Low Threshold Percentile to High Threshold Percentile are retained.

  • Intensity image: Points with intensity values within the range of Low Threshold Percentile to High Threshold Percentile are retained, while points that fall outside of the range have their intensity values reset to 1.

Relative Threshold

Removes data points that fall outside of the specified height or intensity range, where the height or intensity threshold can be a relative value.

Parameter Description

Use Intensity Image

When it is unselected, the Step processes the depth map, and you need to set the Low Threshold and High Threshold.

When it is selected, the Step processes the intensity image, and you need to set the Min Intensity Threshold and Max Intensity Threshold.

Low Threshold

Data points with a height value between Low Threshold and High Threshold are retained.

High Threshold

Data points with a height value between Low Threshold and High Threshold are retained.

Min Intensity Threshold

Set Min Intensity Threshold and Max Intensity Threshold to define the intensity value range of data points. Data points within the range keep their intensity values, while data points outside of the range have their intensity values reset to 1.

Max Intensity Threshold

Set Min Intensity Threshold and Max Intensity Threshold to define the intensity value range of data points. Data points within the range keep their intensity values, while data points outside of the range have their intensity values reset to 1.

Use Reference Feature Region

When this parameter is selected, you need to set one or multiple reference feature regions. The average depth or intensity value of data points defined by the reference feature region(s) serves as a reference value, and the specified height or intensity value range should be set on this basis.

  • Reference Feature Region Mode

    • Determines whether to use the data within the feature region or the data outside the feature region.

    • Value list: Include data in Region, Exclude data in Region

  • Reference Feature Region

Troubleshooting

  • For common errors, see Error Code List.

  • If the error code is inconsistent with the error message, please contact Technical Support for help.

CV-W2001

Error: The selected filter type is invalid.

Possible cause: The selected filter type was not Negative, Normalization, or Binarization.

Solution: Make sure the selected filter type is Negative, Normalization, or Binarization.

CV-W2301

Error: The “Kernel Size” value of the selected filter should exceed 0.

Possible cause: The “Kernel Size” value is less than or equal to 0.

Solution: Make sure the parameter value is greater than 0.

CV-W2302

Error: The selected filter type is invalid.

Possible cause: The selected filter type was not Gaussian, Sobel, or Laplacian.

Solution: Make sure the selected filter type is Gaussian, Sobel, or Laplacian.

CV-W2401

Error: The X-direction window size or Y-direction window size should exceed 0.

Possible cause: The parameter value is less than or equal to 0.

Solution: Make sure the parameter value is greater than 0.

CV-W2402

Error: The selected gap filling type is invalid.

Possible cause: The selected gap filling type is invalid.

Solution: Select the gap filling type again from the drop-down list.

CV-W2403

Error: The set “Image for Gap Filling” is invalid.

Solution: Select a valid image type for gap filling from the drop-down list.

CV-W2501

Error: The selected filter type is invalid.

Possible cause: The selected filter type was not Dilation, Erosion, Opening, Closing, or Morph gradient.

Solution: Make sure the selected filter type is Dilation, Erosion, Opening, Closing, or Morph gradient.

CV-W2502

Error: The “Kernel Size” value of the selected filter should exceed 0.

Possible cause: The parameter value is less than or equal to 0.

Solution: Make sure the parameter value is greater than 0.

CV-W2601

Error: The X-direction window size or Y-direction window size should exceed 0.

Possible cause: The parameter value is less than or equal to 0.

Solution: Make sure the parameter value is greater than 0.

CV-W2602

Error: The selected filter type is invalid.

Possible cause: The selected filter type was not Mean, Median, or Decimation.

Solution: Make sure the selected filter type is Mean, Median, or Decimation.

CV-W2701

Error: The “Low Threshold” value should not be greater than that of “High Threshold,” or either of them is not within the range of 0 to 100%.

Possible causes:

  • The low threshold is not less than the high threshold;

  • The filter type is “Percentile,” and the threshold is not within the range of 0 to 100%.

Solution:

  • Make sure the low threshold is less than or equal to the high threshold;

  • When the filter type is “Percentile”, make sure the threshold is within the range of 0 to 100%.

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