A simple function that blits an image front onto an image back and returns the result. It works with both 3 and 4-channel images and deals with the alpha channel. Overlaps are handled as well.
The output image has the same size as back, but always 4 channels.
The output alpha channel is given by (u+v)/(1+uv) where u,v are the alpha channels of the front and back image and -1 <= u,v <= 1. Where there is no overlap with front, the alpha value from back is taken.
import cv2
def merge_image(back, front, x,y):
# convert to rgba
if back.shape[2] == 3:
back = cv2.cvtColor(back, cv2.COLOR_BGR2BGRA)
if front.shape[2] == 3:
front = cv2.cvtColor(front, cv2.COLOR_BGR2BGRA)
# crop the overlay from both images
bh,bw = back.shape[:2]
fh,fw = front.shape[:2]
x1, x2 = max(x, 0), min(x+fw, bw)
y1, y2 = max(y, 0), min(y+fh, bh)
front_cropped = front[y1-y:y2-y, x1-x:x2-x]
back_cropped = back[y1:y2, x1:x2]
alpha_front = front_cropped[:,:,3:4] / 255
alpha_back = back_cropped[:,:,3:4] / 255
# replace an area in result with overlay
result = back.copy()
print(f'af: {alpha_front.shape}\nab: {alpha_back.shape}\nfront_cropped: {front_cropped.shape}\nback_cropped: {back_cropped.shape}')
result[y1:y2, x1:x2, :3] = alpha_front * front_cropped[:,:,:3] + alpha_back * back_cropped[:,:,:3]
result[y1:y2, x1:x2, 3:4] = (alpha_front + alpha_back) / (1 + alpha_front*alpha_back) * 255
return result