The Distance Transform and its Computation

TL;DR

This paper provides a comprehensive tutorial on distance transforms, comparing various methods and clarifying differences between approximate and exact Euclidean transformations, supported by source code examples.

Contribution

It offers a detailed explanation and comparison of different distance transform approaches, including exact Euclidean methods, with source code to aid understanding.

Findings

Different approaches are explained and compared.

Clarification of differences between approximate and exact Euclidean transforms.

Source code is provided for practical implementation.

Abstract

Distance transformation is an image processing technique used for many different applications. Related to a binary image, the general idea is to determine the distance of all background points to the nearest object point (or vice versa). In this tutorial, different approaches are explained in detail and compared using examples. Corresponding source code is provided to facilitate own investigations. A particular objective of this tutorial is to clarify the difference between arbitrary distance transforms and exact Euclidean distance transformations.