how images are divided into sub-images

the input image should be divided into many sub images. how to achieve this.

Answer 1

[Image Analyst]

Check out my demo:

% Demo to divide a color image up into blocks.
clc;    % Clear the command window.
close all;  % Close all figures (except those of imtool.)
workspace;  % Make sure the workspace panel is showing.
fontSize = 20;

% Read in a standard MATLAB color demo image.
folder = fullfile(matlabroot, '\toolbox\images\imdemos');
baseFileName = 'peppers.png';
% Get the full filename, with path prepended.
fullFileName = fullfile(folder, baseFileName);
if ~exist(fullFileName, 'file')
  % Didn't find it there.  Check the search path for it.
  fullFileName = baseFileName; % No path this time.
  if ~exist(fullFileName, 'file')
    % Still didn't find it.  Alert user.
    errorMessage = sprintf('Error: %s does not exist.', fullFileName);
    uiwait(warndlg(errorMessage));
    return;
  end
end
% Read the image from disk.
rgbImage = imread(fullFileName);

% Test code if you want to try it with a gray scale image.
% Uncomment line below if you want to see how it works with a gray scale image.
% rgbImage = rgb2gray(rgbImage);

% Display image full screen.
imshow(rgbImage);
% Enlarge figure to full screen.
set(gcf, 'units','normalized','outerposition',[0 0 1 1]);
drawnow;
% Get the dimensions of the image.  numberOfColorBands should be = 3.
[rows columns numberOfColorBands] = size(rgbImage)

%==========================================================================
% The first way to divide an image up into blocks is by using mat2cell().
blockSizeR = 150; % Rows in block.
blockSizeC = 100; % Columns in block.

% Figure out the size of each block in rows. 
% Most will be blockSizeR but there may be a remainder amount of less than that.
wholeBlockRows = floor(rows / blockSizeR);
blockVectorR = [blockSizeR * ones(1, wholeBlockRows), rem(rows, blockSizeR)];
% Figure out the size of each block in columns. 
wholeBlockCols = floor(columns / blockSizeC);
blockVectorC = [blockSizeC * ones(1, wholeBlockCols), rem(columns, blockSizeC)];

% Create the cell array, ca.  
% Each cell (except for the remainder cells at the end of the image)
% in the array contains a blockSizeR by blockSizeC by 3 color array.
% This line is where the image is actually divided up into blocks.
if numberOfColorBands > 1
  % It's a color image.
  ca = mat2cell(rgbImage, blockVectorR, blockVectorC, numberOfColorBands);
else
  ca = mat2cell(rgbImage, blockVectorR, blockVectorC);
end

% Now display all the blocks.
plotIndex = 1;
numPlotsR = size(ca, 1);
numPlotsC = size(ca, 2);
for r = 1 : numPlotsR
  for c = 1 : numPlotsC
    fprintf('plotindex = %d,   c=%d, r=%d\n', plotIndex, c, r);
    % Specify the location for display of the image.
    subplot(numPlotsR, numPlotsC, plotIndex);
    % Extract the numerical array out of the cell
    % just for tutorial purposes.
    rgbBlock = ca{r,c};
    imshow(rgbBlock); % Could call imshow(ca{r,c}) if you wanted to.
    [rowsB columnsB numberOfColorBandsB] = size(rgbBlock);
    % Make the caption the block number.
    caption = sprintf('Block #%d of %d\n%d rows by %d columns', ...
      plotIndex, numPlotsR*numPlotsC, rowsB, columnsB);
    title(caption);
    drawnow;
    % Increment the subplot to the next location.
    plotIndex = plotIndex + 1;
  end
end

% Display the original image in the upper left.
subplot(4, 6, 1);
imshow(rgbImage);
title('Original Image');

%==============================================================================
% Another way to split the image up into blocks is to use indexing.
% Read in a standard MATLAB gray scale demo image.
folder = fullfile(matlabroot, '\toolbox\images\imdemos');
baseFileName = 'cameraman.tif';
fullFileName = fullfile(folder, baseFileName);
% Get the full filename, with path prepended.
fullFileName = fullfile(folder, baseFileName);
if ~exist(fullFileName, 'file')
  % Didn't find it there.  Check the search path for it.
  fullFileName = baseFileName; % No path this time.
  if ~exist(fullFileName, 'file')
    % Still didn't find it.  Alert user.
    errorMessage = sprintf('Error: %s does not exist.', fullFileName);
    uiwait(warndlg(errorMessage));
    return;
  end
end
grayImage = imread(fullFileName);
% Get the dimensions of the image.  numberOfColorBands should be = 1.
[rows columns numberOfColorBands] = size(grayImage);
% Display the original gray scale image.
figure;
subplot(2, 2, 1);
imshow(grayImage, []);
title('Original Grayscale Image', 'FontSize', fontSize);
% Enlarge figure to full screen.
set(gcf, 'units','normalized','outerposition',[0 0 1 1]);

% Divide the image up into 4 blocks.
% Let's assume we know the block size and that all blocks will be the same size.
blockSizeR = 128; % Rows in block.
blockSizeC = 128; % Columns in block.
% Figure out the size of each block. 
wholeBlockRows = floor(rows / blockSizeR);
wholeBlockCols = floor(columns / blockSizeC);
% Preallocate a 3D image
image3d = zeros(wholeBlockRows, wholeBlockCols, 3);
% Now scan though, getting each block and putting it as a slice of a 3D array.
sliceNumber = 1;
for row = 1 : blockSizeR : rows
  for col = 1 : blockSizeR : columns
    % Let's be a little explicit here in our variables
    % to make it easier to see what's going on.
    row1 = row;
    row2 = row1 + blockSizeR - 1;
    col1 = col;
    col2 = col1 + blockSizeC - 1;
    % Extract out the block into a single subimage.
    oneBlock = grayImage(row1:row2, col1:col2);
    % Specify the location for display of the image.
    subplot(2, 2, sliceNumber);
    imshow(oneBlock);
    % Make the caption the block number.
    caption = sprintf('Block #%d of 4', sliceNumber);
    title(caption);
    drawnow;
    % Assign this slice to the image we just extracted.
    image3D(:, :, sliceNumber) = oneBlock;
    sliceNumber = sliceNumber + 1;
  end
end
% Now image3D is a 3D image where each slice, 
% or plane, is one quadrant of the original 2D image.

msgbox('Done with demo!  Check out the two figures.');

[Sivakumaran Chandrasekaran]

Hi, The first code exactly fulfills my requirement. My input image has been divided into 5 small images. My next task is to divide further those 5 small images into small sub images. and this is the link for my input image.. http://tinypic.com/r/1zgqkvl/6

[Image Analyst]

You're welcome.

[Sheshjee]

Thanks for ur code. the first code is very helpfull to me.But the problem is after dividing an image into blocks, i want to remove some blocks which are not required to me and then combine the remaining blocks to form a image of the same size as the original was. Thanks for help.

[Walter Roberson]

What do you want to put in place of the blocks that are "not required" ?

Answer 2

[Michiel Van Duppen]

i have the same problem. After dividing the picture, I want to work with some blocks, other can be deleted. Is this possible? If yes, how can I do it?

[Image Analyst]

Yes. How are you determining which blocks to operate on and which to ignore? Just put your "decision" code into the loop on the code I provided.

useThisBlock = DecisionFunction(theBlock);
% DecisionFunction is a function you devise.
if ~useThisBlock
    continue; % Skip to bottom of loop
end
% else operate on this block.

[myetceteramail myetceteramail]

i have used your code and i have done encryption on each block. i had a 512*512 image i broke it up in 3d array of 64*64*64. did encryption on each block. now i want to join the pieces back together to get back the encrypted image i.e a 2D array. can you help.