Digital image warping

This book is a product of my doctoral studies at Columbia University. I consider

myself very fortunate to have spent several exciting years among a vibrant group of

faculty and students in the Computer Science department. My deepest thanks go to Prof.

Terry Boult, my advisor and good friend. He has played an instrumental role in my pro-

fessional growth. His guidance and support have sharpened my research skills, sparked

my interest in a broad range of research topics, set high standards for me to emulate, and

made the whole experience a truly special one for me. I am very gratefui for our many

fruitful discussions that have influenced the form and content of this book and my related

dissertation.

I also wish to thank Profs. Steven Feiner and Gerald Maguim for many scintillating

conversations and for their meticulous review of the manuscript. Their suggestions

helped me refine my ideas and presentation. Special thanks are owed to Henry Massalin

for his invaluable insights and thoughtful discussions. He innovated the ideas for the

exponential filters described in Chapter 5. His original implementation of these filters for

audio applications prompted me to s'uggest their usage in video processing where a dif-

ferent set of operating assumptions make them particularly cost-effective and robust

(Qua!). I also thank David Kurlander for his help and support, including his assistance

with Figs. 4.1, 4.2, 5.2, 6.8, and my photograph on the back cover.

The source of my inspiration for this book, and indext for my decision to pursue

doctoral studies, stems from my friendship with Dr. Theo Pavlidis. While still an under-

graduate electrical engineering student at Cooper Union, I was priviledged to work for

him at AT&T Bell Laboratories over the course of two summers. During that time, I

experienced a great deal of professional growth, an enthusiasm towards research, and a

fascination with image processing, pattern recognition, and computer graphics. I am

greatly indebted to him for his long-standing inspiration and support.

My early interest in digital image warping is rooted in my consulting work with

Fantastic Animation Machine, a computer animation company in New York City. I wish

to thank Jim Lindner and his staff of software gums and artists for making the hectic

pace of television production work a lot of fun. It was an excellent learning experience.