Matlab image filtering without using conv2

Question

I've been given a task to create image filtering function for 3x3 matrices, and its outcome must be equal to conv2's. I have written this function, but it filters image incorrectly:

function [ image ] = Func134( img,matrix )
  image=img;
  len=length(img)
  for i=2:1:len-1
    for j=2:1:len-1
      value=0;
      for g=-1:1:1
        for l=-1:1:1
          value=value+img(i+g,j+l)*matrix(g+2,l+2);
        end
      end
     image(i,j)=value;
    end
  end
i=1:1:length
image(i,1)=image(i,2)
image(i,len)=image(i,len-1)
image(1,i)=image(2,i)
image(len,i)=image(len-1,i)
end

Filtration matrix is [3,10,3;0,0,0;-3,-10,-3]

Please help to figure out what is wrong with my code.

Some sample results I get between conv2 and my code are seen below.

Answer 1

First off, this line doesn't make sense:

i=1:1:length;

I think you meant to use len instead of length as the ending index:

i=1:1:len;

Now referring to your code, it is correct, but what you are doing is correlation not convolution. In 2D convolution, you have to perform a 180 degree rotation of the kernel / mask and then do the weighted sum. As such, if you want to achieve the same results using conv2 , you must pre-rotate the mask before calling it.

mask = [3,10,3;0,0,0;-3,-10,-3]
mask_flip = mask(end:-1:1,end:-1:1);
out = conv2(img, mask, 'same');

mask_flip contains the 180 degree rotated kernel. We use the 'same' flag to ensure that the output size of the result is the same size as the input. However, when using conv2 , we are assuming that the borders of the image are zero-padded. Your code simply copies the border pixels of the original image into the resulting image. This is known as replicating behaviour but that is not what conv2 does natively. conv2 assumes that the border pixels are zero-padded as I mentioned before, so what I would suggest you do is create two additional images, one being the output image that has 2 more rows and 2 more columns and another being the input image that is the same size as the output image but you place the input image inside this matrix. Next, perform the filtering on this new image, place the resulting filtered pixels in the output image then crop this result. I've decided to create a new padded input image in order to keep most of your code intact.

I would also recommend that you abolish the use of length here. Use size instead to determine the image dimensions. Something like this will work:

function [ image ] = Func134( img,matrix )
  [rows,cols] = size(img); %// Change

  %// New - Create a padded matrix that is the same class as the input
  new_img = zeros(rows+2,cols+2);
  new_img = cast(new_img, class(img));

  %// New -  Place original image in padded result
  new_img(2:end-1,2:end-1) = img;

  %// Also create new output image the same size as the padded result
  image = zeros(size(new_img));
  image = cast(image, class(img));

  for i=2:1:rows+1 %// Change
    for j=2:1:cols+1 %// Change
      value=0;
      for g=-1:1:1
        for l=-1:1:1
          value=value+new_img(i+g,j+l)*matrix(g+2,l+2); %// Change
        end
      end
     image(i,j)=value;
    end
  end

%// Change
%// Crop the image and remove the extra border pixels
image = image(2:end-1,2:end-1);
end

---

To compare, I've generated this random matrix:

>> rng(123);
>> A = rand(10,10)

A =

    0.6965    0.3432    0.6344    0.0921    0.6240    0.1206    0.6693    0.0957    0.3188    0.7050
    0.2861    0.7290    0.8494    0.4337    0.1156    0.8263    0.5859    0.8853    0.6920    0.9954
    0.2269    0.4386    0.7245    0.4309    0.3173    0.6031    0.6249    0.6272    0.5544    0.3559
    0.5513    0.0597    0.6110    0.4937    0.4148    0.5451    0.6747    0.7234    0.3890    0.7625
    0.7195    0.3980    0.7224    0.4258    0.8663    0.3428    0.8423    0.0161    0.9251    0.5932
    0.4231    0.7380    0.3230    0.3123    0.2505    0.3041    0.0832    0.5944    0.8417    0.6917
    0.9808    0.1825    0.3618    0.4264    0.4830    0.4170    0.7637    0.5568    0.3574    0.1511
    0.6848    0.1755    0.2283    0.8934    0.9856    0.6813    0.2437    0.1590    0.0436    0.3989
    0.4809    0.5316    0.2937    0.9442    0.5195    0.8755    0.1942    0.1531    0.3048    0.2409
    0.3921    0.5318    0.6310    0.5018    0.6129    0.5104    0.5725    0.6955    0.3982    0.3435

Now running with what we talked about above:

mask = [3,10,3;0,0,0;-3,-10,-3];
mask_flip = mask(end:-1:1,end:-1:1);
B = Func134(A,mask);
C = conv2(A, mask_flip,'same');

We get the following for your function and the output of conv2 :

>> B

B =

   -5.0485  -10.6972  -11.9826   -7.2322   -4.9363  -10.3681  -10.9944  -12.6870  -12.5618  -12.0295
    4.4100    0.1847   -2.2030   -2.7377    0.6031   -3.7711   -2.5978   -5.8890   -2.9036    2.7836
   -0.6436    6.6134    4.2122   -0.7822   -2.3282    1.6488    0.4420    2.2619    4.2144    3.2372
   -4.8046   -1.0665    0.1568   -1.5907   -4.6943    0.3036    0.4399    4.3466   -2.5859   -3.4849
   -0.7529   -5.5344    1.3900    3.1715    2.9108    4.6771    7.0247    1.7062   -3.9277   -0.6497
   -1.9663    2.4536    4.2516    2.2266    3.6084    0.6432   -1.0581   -3.4674    5.3815    6.1237
   -0.9296    5.1244    0.8912   -7.7325  -10.2260   -6.4585   -1.4298    6.2675   10.1657    5.3225
    3.9511   -1.7869   -1.9199   -5.0832   -3.2932   -2.9853    5.5304    5.9034    1.4683   -0.7394
    1.8580   -3.8938   -3.9216    3.8254    5.4139    1.8404   -4.3850   -7.4159   -4.9894   -0.5096
    6.4040    7.6395    7.3643   11.8812   10.6537   10.8957    5.0278    3.0277    4.2295    3.3229

>> C

C =

   -5.0485  -10.6972  -11.9826   -7.2322   -4.9363  -10.3681  -10.9944  -12.6870  -12.5618  -12.0295
    4.4100    0.1847   -2.2030   -2.7377    0.6031   -3.7711   -2.5978   -5.8890   -2.9036    2.7836
   -0.6436    6.6134    4.2122   -0.7822   -2.3282    1.6488    0.4420    2.2619    4.2144    3.2372
   -4.8046   -1.0665    0.1568   -1.5907   -4.6943    0.3036    0.4399    4.3466   -2.5859   -3.4849
   -0.7529   -5.5344    1.3900    3.1715    2.9108    4.6771    7.0247    1.7062   -3.9277   -0.6497
   -1.9663    2.4536    4.2516    2.2266    3.6084    0.6432   -1.0581   -3.4674    5.3815    6.1237
   -0.9296    5.1244    0.8912   -7.7325  -10.2260   -6.4585   -1.4298    6.2675   10.1657    5.3225
    3.9511   -1.7869   -1.9199   -5.0832   -3.2932   -2.9853    5.5304    5.9034    1.4683   -0.7394
    1.8580   -3.8938   -3.9216    3.8254    5.4139    1.8404   -4.3850   -7.4159   -4.9894   -0.5096
    6.4040    7.6395    7.3643   11.8812   10.6537   10.8957    5.0278    3.0277    4.2295    3.3229