[image-processing] Simple and fast method to compare images for similarity

I face the same issues recently, to solve this problem(simple and fast algorithm to compare two images) once and for all, I contribute an img_hash module to opencv_contrib, you can find the details from this link.

img_hash module provide six image hash algorithms, quite easy to use.

Codes example

origin lena

blur lena

resize lena

shift lena

#include <opencv2/core.hpp>
#include <opencv2/core/ocl.hpp>
#include <opencv2/highgui.hpp>
#include <opencv2/img_hash.hpp>
#include <opencv2/imgproc.hpp>

#include <iostream>

void compute(cv::Ptr<cv::img_hash::ImgHashBase> algo)
{
    auto input = cv::imread("lena.png");
    cv::Mat similar_img;

    //detect similiar image after blur attack
    cv::GaussianBlur(input, similar_img, {7,7}, 2, 2);
    cv::imwrite("lena_blur.png", similar_img);
    cv::Mat hash_input, hash_similar;
    algo->compute(input, hash_input);
    algo->compute(similar_img, hash_similar);
    std::cout<<"gaussian blur attack : "<<
               algo->compare(hash_input, hash_similar)<<std::endl;

    //detect similar image after shift attack
    similar_img.setTo(0);
    input(cv::Rect(0,10, input.cols,input.rows-10)).
            copyTo(similar_img(cv::Rect(0,0,input.cols,input.rows-10)));
    cv::imwrite("lena_shift.png", similar_img);
    algo->compute(similar_img, hash_similar);
    std::cout<<"shift attack : "<<
               algo->compare(hash_input, hash_similar)<<std::endl;

    //detect similar image after resize
    cv::resize(input, similar_img, {120, 40});
    cv::imwrite("lena_resize.png", similar_img);
    algo->compute(similar_img, hash_similar);
    std::cout<<"resize attack : "<<
               algo->compare(hash_input, hash_similar)<<std::endl;
}

int main()
{
    using namespace cv::img_hash;

    //disable opencl acceleration may(or may not) boost up speed of img_hash
    cv::ocl::setUseOpenCL(false);

    //if the value after compare <= 8, that means the images
    //very similar to each other
    compute(ColorMomentHash::create());

    //there are other algorithms you can try out
    //every algorithms have their pros and cons
    compute(AverageHash::create());
    compute(PHash::create());
    compute(MarrHildrethHash::create());
    compute(RadialVarianceHash::create());
    //BlockMeanHash support mode 0 and mode 1, they associate to
    //mode 1 and mode 2 of PHash library
    compute(BlockMeanHash::create(0));
    compute(BlockMeanHash::create(1));
}

In this case, ColorMomentHash give us best result

• gaussian blur attack : 0.567521
• shift attack : 0.229728
• resize attack : 0.229358

Pros and cons of each algorithm

The performance of img_hash is good too

Speed comparison with PHash library(100 images from ukbench)

If you want to know the recommend thresholds for these algorithms, please check this post(http://qtandopencv.blogspot.my/2016/06/introduction-to-image-hash-module-of.html). If you are interesting about how do I measure the performance of img_hash modules(include speed and different attacks), please check this link(http://qtandopencv.blogspot.my/2016/06/speed-up-image-hashing-of-opencvimghash.html).