Attrasoft
ImageFinderLite for Windows
Version 2010
Attrasoft ImageFinderLite searches for an image from a folder in four clicks:
- Select a folder;
- Convert all images in the folder into image signatures;
- Select a “Key image”;
- Search a folder for images that match the key image.
Download ImageFinderLite Demo
Attrasoft, Inc.
P. O. Box 13051
Savannah, GA, 31406
USA
gina@attrasoft.com
Demo: http://attraseek.com
Install the Software
The deliverable is either a zip file on a CD or downloaded from a web address. To install the software:
- Unzip CD:\IFLite2010.zip to a folder;
- Click “ImageFinder Lite.exe” in the folder to run.
The software requires an updated Windows to run.
The Attrasoft program that you purchased is copyrighted by
Attrasoft, and your rights of ownership are subject to the limitations and
restrictions imposed by the copyright laws outlined below.
It is against the law to copy, reproduce or transmit
(including, without limitation, electronic transmission over any network) any
part of the program except as permitted by the copyright act of the United
States (title 17, United States code). However, you are permitted by law to
write the contents of the program into the Machine memory of your computer so
that the program may be executed. You are also permitted by law to make a
back-up copy of the program subject to the following restrictions:
- Each back-up copy must be treated in the same way as the original copy purchased from Attrasoft;
- No copy (original, or back-up) may be used while another copy, (original, or back-up) is in use;
- If you ever sell or give away the original copy of the program, all back-up copies must also be given to the same person, or destroyed.
In addition, this software is for the personal use only.
This is defined as follows:
- You cannot sell a service based any computation results produced by this software. You must purchase a separate annual license for commercial use from Attrasoft.
- You cannot use the software to perform work for which you will get paid for. You must purchase a separate annual license for business use from Attrasoft.
This User’s Guide and
Reference Manual is copyrighted by Attrasoft.
© 2008 - 2010
Statement of Copyright Restriction. 3
Table of Contents. 4
1. Introduction. 5
2. How to Use ImageFinderLite. 9
2.1 Learn by Example. 10
2.2 User’s Guide. 13
3. Advanced Users. 15
3.1 Results Menu. 15
3.2 Advanced Menu. 15
3.3 M:N Matching. 17
3.4 Segment Menu. 17
3.5 Image Variations. 18
3.6 Parameters. 20
4. Related Issues. 22
4.1 Demo. 22
4.2 Potential Uses. 22
4.3 Customized Software and Services. 23
4.4 Types of License, Software Limits, and Support 24
4.5 Q & A.. 24
Attrasoft ImageFinderLite (Figure 1.1) searches for an image
from a folder in four clicks:
·
Select a folder;
·
Convert all images in the folder
into image signatures;
·
Select a “Key image”;
·
Search a folder for images that
match the key image.
These four
steps are implemented by four buttons in the toolbar (Figure 1.2).
The
matching between a key image and images in a folder (including sub-folders) is
implemented via “Signature” matching, i.e. all images must be converted into
signatures first.
Figure 1.1
ImageFinderLite.
Figure 1.2
Toolbar.
You can
operate the Attrasoft ImageFinderLite from the Toolbar (Figure 1.2) or “Search”
menu (Figure 1.4) alone. The ImageFinderLite has three image panels (Figure 1.3):
·
Key
Panel;
·
Folder
Panel; and
·
Results
Panel.
Key: the image to be searched.
Folder:
a collection of previously stored images in a folder. Use the Home, Next
(=>), and Previous (<=) buttons to see the images in the folder. The
“Home” button goes to the first image; the “=>” button goes to the next
image; and the “<=” goes to the previous image. All sub-folders will be
included.
Results: images that matched the “key”
image. Use the Home, Next (=>), and Previous (<=) buttons to see matched images.
. The “Home” button goes to the first image; the “=>” button goes to the
next image; and the “<=” goes to the previous image.
Figure 1.3
Three image Panels: Key, Folder, and Results.
To search for
an image in a folder in your computer (Figure 1.2):
1. Select a folder (Click the “1”
Button in the Toolbar, See Figure 1.2)
2. Get Library Signatures (Click the
“2” button in the Toolbar, See Figure 1.2)
3. Select a Key image (Click the “3”
Button in the Toolbar, See Figure 1.2)
4. Search (Click the “4” button in the
Toolbar, See Figure 1.2)
To see the
results:
1. Click the “Home” Button in the Results
Panel (See Figure 1.3);
2. Click the “=>” Button in the Results
Panel (See Figure 1.3).
Step 2,
converting images in a folder into image signatures, can take some time. After
the four clicks, as long as you want to search the same folder, you do not have
to do step 1 and 2 again.
What is
New in this version?
(1) A new function, loading library, is
introduced so you do not have to load the same library in each run;
(2) M:N matching is introduced;
(3) Simple image segments are
introduced; and
(4) Simple image variations are
introduced.
Figure 1.4
Search Menu.
Initially,
you will need the following four steps for an image search:
1. Select a folder (Click the “1”
Button in the Toolbar, See Figure 1.2)
2. Get Library Signatures (Click the
“2” button in the Toolbar, See Figure 1.2)
3. Select a Key image (Click the “3”
Button in the Toolbar, See Figure 1.2)
4. Search (Click the “4” button in the
Toolbar, See Figure 1.2)
To see the
results:
1. Click the “Home” Button in the Results
Panel (See Figure 1.3);
2. Click the “=>” Button in the Results
Panel (See Figure 1.3).
Starting
from the second search, you do not have to create an image signature library
each time; each search has only two steps:
3. Select a Key image (“3” Button)
4. Search (“4” button)
3. Select a Key image (“3” Button)
4. Search (“4” button)
…
The
deliverable is either a zip file, IFLite2010.zip, on a CD or downloaded from a web
address.
To install the software, unzip the
file to a folder, for example:
C:\IFLite2010
Data used in this example (20
images) is in:
C:\IFLite2010\test\
Software is:
C:\IFLite2010\ImageFinder Lite.exe
The
example will take four clicks:
1.
Click
the “1” button in the Toolbar, and select folder, “C:\IFLite2010\test\”;
see Figure 2.1.
Figure 2.1 Step 1, selecting a
folder. After selecting a folder, the first image will be displayed in the Folder
Panel. The list of image files will be displayed in the text window. The “Home” button goes to the first
image; the “=>” button goes to the next image; and the “<=” goes to the
previous image. All sub-folders will be included.
2. Click the “2” button in the Toolbar
to convert images into signatures; this step will take a minute;
see Figure 2.2.
Figure
2.2 Step 2, converting images to signatures. This
step will take a minute. This step will end with a message, “Save …”.
3.
Click
the “3” Button in the Toolbar and select any image, for example “C:\IFLite2010\test\L01008key-082301_m.jpg”;
see Figure 2.3.
Figure
2.3 Step 3, selecting a key. After selecting a key image, the image will be
displayed in the Key Panel.
4. Click the “4” button in the Toolbar
to search; see Figure 2.4.
Figure
2.4 Search the selected folder. Images that matched the “key” image will be
displayed in the Results Panel. Use the Home, Next, and Previous buttons to see
matched images. The “Home” button goes to the first image; the “=>” button
goes to the next image; and the “<=” goes to the previous image.
Figure 2.5 Text Output.
Figure 2.5
shows the text output. Figure 2.6 shows the visual output. To see the first
matched image, click the “Home” button in the Results Panel (See Figure 2.6).
Figure 2.6
The “key” image and matched images are
displayed side-by-side.
1. Select a Folder (“1” Button)
An image is converted into an image
signature. A set of image signatures forms a library. This step selects an
image folder that has images you want to search through. This step is
implemented by:
·
Click
“Search/1. Select A Folder” menu item, or
·
Click
the “1” button in the Toolbar, or
·
Click
the “1. Folder” button, or
·
Drag
and drop a folder into the second textbox.
The images in the selected folder
will be displayed in the second picture box (Folder Panel).
2.
Get Image Signatures (“2” Button)
This step converts all images in the
selected folder into signatures and saves them to a file. This step will take
some time; after the conversion is done, a message comes out in the text window
below the picture boxes. It will say the data is saved to a file.
It will take one second to convert
one image into one image signature; so if you have many images, this step can
take hours. Once a signature library for a folder is computed, you can use it
over and over again unless you later add new images to this folder, OR until
you want to search a different folder. This step is implemented by clicking:
·
“Search/2.
Convert Images To Signatures” menu item, or
·
“2”
button in the Toolbar, or
·
“2.
Signature” button.
3.
Select Key (“3” Button)
A key is an image you are looking
for from a folder. The key image (for example, c:\abc\def\ghi.jpg) will be
entered into the ImageFinderLite.
This step selects a key image by:
·
Click
“Search/3. Select An Image” menu item, or
·
Click
the “3”
button, or
·
Click
the “3. Key” button, or
·
Drag
and drop an image into the first textbox.
The selected key image will be displayed
in the first picture box.
4.
Search (“4” button)
The image will first be converted
into a signature; then it will be matched against a library of signatures. This step is implemented by clicking:
·
“Search/4.
Search” menu item, or
·
“4”
button, or
·
“4.
Search” button.
To see the results:
1. Click the 2nd “Home” Button;
2. Click the 2nd “=>” Button.
The
results are stored in three different formats:
Text file;
Html files with links;
Html files with images displayed in
the page.
These
files can be opened by menu items (Figure 3.1):
Results/Text
Results/Html without Images
Results/With Images
Figure 3.1
Results menu.
The "Search" manual finds
an image in a folder in 4 clicks:
Click
the “1”, "2", "3", and "4" Buttons in the Toolbar.
However, while this is very simple,
the "Search" Menu has two problems:
(1) Every run loads the signature
library, which can take some time if the library is large;
(2) There is only one library,
a1.txt.
The "Advanced" Menu solves
both problems (Figure 3.2). To search for an image in a folder in your
computer:
1. Select a folder (Click the “1”
Button in the Toolbar);
2. Get Library Signatures (Click the
“2” button in the Toolbar);
3. Move the signatures to the
correct location (Click "Advanced/Create Library (Copy .\data\a1.txt to
.\data\libraries)" menu item).
4. Load the library (Click the
"Advanced/Load Library (.\data\libraries\*.txt)" menu item);
5. Select a Key image (Click the “3”
Button in the Toolbar);
6. Search (Click the "Advanced/1:N
Matching (key vs. Library)" menu item).
Starting
from the second search, you do not have to create an image signature library
each time; each search has only two steps:
5. Select a Key image (Click the “3”
Button in the Toolbar);
6. Search (Click the
"Advanced/1:N Matching (key vs. Library)" menu item).
5. Select a Key image (Click the “3”
Button in the Toolbar);
6. Search (Click the
"Advanced/1:N Matching (key vs. Library)" menu item).
…
The "Advanced" Menu allows
you to search without loading the same library each time. It also allows you to
use multiple library files computed earlier. In step 4 above, all files in the
folder, .\data\libraries\*.txt, will be loaded.
Figure 3.2 Advanced Menu.
In addition, during running, you can
add more library files by clicking "Advanced/Load Additional Library
(.\data\libraries2\*.txt)" menu item).
To move an image signature file to
folder, .\data\libraries\*.txt
1. Select a folder (Click the “1”
Button in the Toolbar);
2. Get Library Signatures (Click the
“2” button in the Toolbar);
3. Move the file to the right folder
for loading (Click "Advanced/Create Library (Copy .\data\a1.txt to
.\data\libraries)" menu item).
To move an image signature file to folder,
.\data\libraries2\*.txt
1. Select a folder (Click the “1”
Button in the Toolbar);
2. Get Library Signatures (Click the
“2” button in the Toolbar);
3. Move the file to the right folder
for loading (Click "Advanced/Create Additional Library (Copy .\data\a1.txt to
.\data\libraries2)" menu item).
To search for multiple images in a
folder in your computer (Figure 3.2):
1. Select a folder (Click the “1”
Button in the Toolbar);
2. Get Library Signatures (Click the
“2” button in the Toolbar);
3. Move (Click "Advanced/Create
Library (Copy .\data\a1.txt to .\data\libraries)" menu item).
4. Load the library (Click the
"Advanced/Load Library (.\data\libraries\*.txt)" menu item);
5. Select a folder (Click the “1”
Button in the Toolbar);
6. Get Signatures for images in this
folder (Click the “2” button in the Toolbar);
7. Search (Click the
"Advanced/N:M Matching (a1.txt vs. Library)" menu item).
The "Search" manual finds
an image in a folder in 4 clicks:
Click
the “1”, "2", "3", and "4" Buttons in the
Toolbar.
However, while this is very simple,
the "Search" Menu has some problems:
(1) It matches whole images against
whole images, i.e. it does not look inside the image.
The "Segment" Menu
attempts to partially address this problem. The "Segment" menu will
look at some segments inside an image. On average, it will look at six
segments.
To search for an image in a folder
in your computer:
1. Select a folder (Click the
“Segment/1. Select A Folder" menu item);
2. Get Library Signatures (Click the
“Segment/2. Convert Segments To Signatures” menu item);
3. Select a Key image (Click the
“Segment/3. Select An Image” menu item);
4. Search (Click the “Segment/4.
Search” menu item).
Figure 3.3 Segment Menu.
Figure 3.4 Signature (Variation)
Menu.
Image Matching is done through
something called Image Signature. An image has a set of computed values called
features. A collection of features is grouped into a signature. A single image
signature will take care of a certain amount of variation. To increase the
variations, additional signatures will be added, which is the purpose of this
menu. For example, if you flip an image, a new signature needs to be added.
To search for an image:
1. Select a folder (Click the “1”
Button in the Toolbar);
2. Get Library Signatures (Click the
“2” button in the Toolbar);
3. Select a Key image (Click the “3”
Button in the Toolbar);
4. Search (Click the “4” button in
the Toolbar).
Each menu item in the
"Signature" Menu can replace step 2 of the above (Figure 3.4).
To compute the signatures:
1. Select a folder (Click the “1”
Button in the Toolbar);
2. Get Library Signatures (Click a
menu item in the "Signature" menu).
This menu supports the following
variations:
Signatures/Scale (95,90,85,80)
This
menu item generates 7 image signatures:
100%,
90%, 80%, 70%, 60%, 50%, 40%.
Here
90% is an image that has 5% border region removed.
Signatures/Rotation (90,180,270)
This
menu item generates 4 image signatures:
0,
90,180,270.
Here
90 is an image that has a 90 degree rotation.
Signatures/Flip (X,Y,XY)
This
menu item generates 4 image signatures:
0,
X, Y, XY.
Here
X is an image that has flipped around x axis.
Signature/Flip Rotation (16
variations)
This
menu item generates 16 image signatures:
{0,
90,180,270} ^ {0, X, Y, XY}.
Here
(90, X) is an image that has 90 degree rotation and flipped around x axis.
Signature/Stretch (4 variations)
This
menu item generates 5 image signatures:
(0,0),
(120%, 100%), (80%, 100%), (100%, 120%), (100%, 80%).
Here
(120%, 100%) are stretch percentages along the x and y directions.
Signature/Resize
This
menu item generates 5 image signatures:
100,
150, 200, 300, 400.
Here
150 increases the image size by 50% in terms of pixel counts in each direction.
You can see the parameters settings
in this version. To see the current parameters, click the “Para” button in
Figure 3.5.
You can also see how the
ImageFinderLite is seeing an image. To see this:
1.
Select
a Key image (Click the “3” Button in the Toolbar, See Figure 1.2);
2.
Click
the “Filter” button (Figure 3.5);
3.
Click
the Key button to select the same image again to go back to step 1.
Figure 3.5 Parameters and Filtered
Images.
The
ImageFinderLite has an equivalent online version, AttraSeek, which can be used
as a Demo:
http:\\attraseek.com
The Online
demo has three steps:
·
Browse
(Select an Image)
·
Upload
·
Search
To
get a Test Image:
·
Click
“Test Images”;
·
Choose
any image on the list and save the image to your computer.
To
make a Search:
·
Click
the “Browse” button and select the image you just saved;
·
Click
the “Upload” button;
·
Click
the “Search” button.
NOTE: This is a demo that only has 1.5 million images. It is not
meant to replicate a Net Search. Use of random images may not get a match.
Please test with our 40,000 test images. As
you can see from looking at the Test Images the range of image types is wide.
The
ImageFinderLite is the Windows version and the AttraSeek is the Internet
version. The image signature library for the AttraSeek has already been computed
in advance.
We have
listed some potential applications below:
(a) Employees cannot memorize
large amounts of images (in the order of 1000); manual image identification in
such cases takes a long time.
(b) Employees cannot memorize
large amounts of images (in the order of 1000); manual image identification in such
cases has many errors.
(c) Automated image search to
locate engineering drawings, graphs, charts, architectural designs, maps,
document images, logos, etc. are required in many applications.
(d) Assigning keywords to images
can be labor intensive and expensive.
(e) Some images, when described
by keywords, will yield millions of results, producing low relevancy.
(f) Some images cannot be
accurately described by keywords.
(g) Some images can be difficult
to describe via keywords; for example, there are 70,000 car wheel rims styles, and
“car wheel rim” can mean one of 70,000 different objects.
(h) Some images can be mislabeled
(human error or intentionally).
(i) Government / Law Firms need
an automated search to identify Patent drawings / trademarks and more.
(j) Keyword search does not group
a specific image well in search results (similar images are separated by many
images).
(k) For many applications both
image index search and image direct search are required.
(l)
…
ImageFinderLite
matches a whole image against a whole image. It is possible that you will need
to find a logo inside an image. You might consider the ImageFinder itself
instead of ImageFinderLite; however, the ImageFinder has three thousand
parameters to adjust, which is much harder to use than the ImageFinderLite.
Attrasoft will also customize the software
for:
·
Scale
·
Rotation
·
Translation
·
Flipping
·
Lighting
Conditions
·
Different
Data Acquisition Devices (camera vs. scanner)
·
Catalog
images vs. Operation images
·
Searching
for an object in an image
·
Different
Interface
·
Licensing
the technology
·
…
In
addition, if you need services, such as:
·
Mini-AttraSeek
Hosting Service
·
Video
Search: Download Demo (http://attrasoft.com)
·
Video
Index
·
ID
Image Duplication Verification
·
Trademark
Identification
·
…
4.4 Types of
License, Software Limits, and Support
ImageFinderLite has three different
types of license:
·
Personal License;
·
Business License;
·
Commerce License.
This package is for the personal use only,
which has the following limitations:
·
You cannot sell a service based any
computation results produced by this software. You must purchase a separate
annual license for commercial use from Attrasoft.
·
You cannot use the software to
perform work for which you will get paid for. You must purchase a separate
annual license for business use from Attrasoft.
The
ImageFinderLite will search up to 100,000 images in a folder, including all
images in subfolders. The 100,000 limit is generous for personal use. Beyond
this limit, a customized version can be ordered from Attrasoft. These versions
use annual license subscription instead of one-time fee:
·
200,000 version (2x annual license);
·
400,000 version (4x annual license);
·
800,000 version (8x annual license);
·
1,600,000 version (16x annual
license);
·
…
For
a business annual subscription or a commercial annual subscription, please
contact Attrasoft at gina@attrasoft.com.
Operation
of the software requires only four clicks. If customer support is required,
there will be an additional fee for customer support.
Q: What
are ImageFinderLite’s running requirements?
A: Microsoft
Windows.
Q: What
is an image?
A: An
image is a file with the extension *.jpg, *gif… Currently, all navigation
images, thumbnails, and images less than 5K are ignored.
Q: How to download an image?
A: Go to
a web site;
Right
click an image;
Click
‘Save Picture As’ …
Save to
C:\temp\; now the image is saved in c:\temp. Double click it to see it.
Q: What
are scores?
·
Absolute
match: 99% - 100%
·
Good
matches: 90% - 98%
·
Somewhat
matches: 83% - 89%
·
Possible
Similarities: 80% - 82%
·
Few
Similarities: <80%.
Q: Can
you search Video?
A: The
difference between video search and image search is that a video has a lot more
images. Attrasoft VideoFinder deals with Videos.
Q: How
to handle multiple images?
A: You
can only search one image at a time; however, you can search multiple times.
Just load all of your images to a single folder in your computer first, say
c:\temp\, and then search one image at a time from that folder.
Q: Can I
rotate a Test Image and then search?
A: No.
An image search engine simply searches for the whole image as it is found on
the website where it has been downloaded. Rotated images can be handled in a
customized version.
Q: Can I
clip a portion out of a Test Image and then search?
A: No.
An image search engine simply searches for the whole image as it is found on
the website where it has been downloaded. Searching for an image within an
image can be handled in a customized version.
Q. What
is Customized software?
A. Customized
software can be built for special requirements such as:
·
Variation
of images such as scale, rotation, flipping, lighting condition(s),
·
Different
data acquisition devices (camera vs. scanner),
·
Catalog
images vs. operation images, etc,
·
Searching
for an object in an image,
·
A
different web interface,
·
A
document image search,
·
Fine-tuning
internal parameters or programming,
·
Emphasizing
speed, i.e. it can search a huge amount of images very fast,
·
Licensing
the technology.
Contact: gina@attrasoft.com
Download ImageFinderLite Demo
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