Dirk,

I'm concerned about the backwards compatibility issues.  I would recommend that 
a new set of member functions for setting the radius be added that implements 
your solution, but leave the current API with no backwards compatibility issues.

Hans

From: Wes Turner <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>
Date: Thursday, October 17, 2013 8:51 AM
To: "Padfield, Dirk R (GE Global Research)" 
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>
Cc: ITK <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>
Subject: Re: [Insight-developers] BUG in BinaryBallStructuringElement

Just to weigh in on this, I am finding this class in the repository since 2002. 
I agree that Dirk's proposal better approximates the true area, but I am not 
convinced it represents an error. The difference seems to be more one of 
interpretation. Is a voxel in the structuring element if it is cut by the 
parametric ball, or only if its center is included in the parametric ball? This 
will break backwards compatibility for some users, is there enough consensus 
that the center-based interpretation is correct and not just an alternative 
interpretation?

- Wes


On Thu, Oct 17, 2013 at 9:09 AM, Padfield, Dirk R (GE Global Research) 
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Hi Ho,

Thanks for your feedback and insight!  I agree that discretizing continuous 
functions is always a tricky thing.  Luckily, we have the spatial objects to 
help with this since they define their own inside-outside tests.  The Ellipse 
spatial object is used in the BinaryBallStructuringElement implementation, but 
the problem is that the spatial object itself is used incorrectly.  By 
definition, the axes should be "radius*2" rather than "radius*2+1".  Defining 
the axes of an ellipse/circle to be "radius*2+1" is simply an error.

We can also attack this question by considering the area of the continuous 
function versus the discretized version by counting the number of "on" pixels 
in the kernel as follows:

For radius=1, the true area is pi = 3.14
Using the old version, we get 9
Using the correction, we get 5

For radius=5, the true area is 25*pi = 78.5
Using the old version, we get 97 (24% error)
Using the correction, we get 81 (3% error)

For radius=11, the true area is 121*pi = 380
Using the old version, we get 421 (11% error)
Using the correction, we get 377 (1% error)

For radius=21, the true area is 21*21*pi = 1385
Using the old version, we get 1457 (5% error)
Using the correction, we get 1373 (1% error)

As expected, as the radius increases, the discretized version better 
approximates the continuous function.  We can also see that the corrected 
version is always more accurate than the old version.

What do you think?

Thanks,
Dirk


________________________________
From: Ho Cheung [[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>]
Sent: Wednesday, October 16, 2013 6:26 PM
To: Padfield, Dirk R (GE Global Research)
Cc: ITK
Subject: Re: [Insight-developers] BUG in BinaryBallStructuringElement

Dirk,

As a counterpoint, I do not agree that there is a bug but rather just an 
ambiguity in the way we have defined whether or not a pixel is to be included.

If you take a protractor and plotted a unit circle, then superimpose a grid on 
it (this this case, 3x3), and then shaded in the nearest pixels to the circle, 
it would look like the “original” example. The same applies to the radius 5 
circle.

Technically, if you look at the parametric definition of a circle, then yes, 
those pixels would not be included, as their physical space points fall outside 
the circle.

However, I believe (anecdotal) in graphics rendering, it is common practice to 
include those pixels which are nearest to the actual physical space point.

Regards,

Ho Cheung
(775) 388-2368<tel:%28775%29%20388-2368>

On Oct 16, 2013, at 1:05 PM, Padfield, Dirk R (GE Global Research) 
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]><mailto:[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>>
 wrote:

Hi All,

I am writing to ask your advice about a bug I found in 
BinaryBallStructuringElement.

For a while, I have been bothered by the fact that the 
BinaryBallStructuringElement return balls that are larger than the specified 
radius.  For example, when given a radius of 1, it returns the structuring 
element:
1    1    1
1    1    1
1    1    1

But this structuring element has a radius that is more than 1!  If it truly had 
a radius of 1, it would be a cross shape in this case.

When choosing a larger radius, the problem is more obvious.  Setting radius = 5 
(leading to a structuring element size of 11x11) results in:
0    0    0    1    1    1    1    1    0    0    0
0    0    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    0    0
0    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    0
1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1
1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1
1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1
1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1
1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1
0    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    0
0    0    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    0    0
0    0    0    1    1    1    1    1    0    0    0

This is clearly not an ellipse/circle with radius 5 because the interior 
ellipse/circle is touching each image border at five points rather than just 
one.  As it turns out, the code is actually defining a radius that is "X + 
0.5", where X is the radius that is requested!

The problem is in the specification of the ellipse axes on lines 70-76 of 
itkBinaryBallStructuringElement.hxx:
 // Define and set the axes lengths for the ellipsoid
 typename EllipsoidType::InputType axes;
 for ( i = 0; i < VDimension; i++ )
   {
   axes[i] = this->GetSize(i);
   }
 spatialFunction->SetAxes(axes);

In this case, "this->GetSize()" is equal to radius*2+1.  But, an ellipse/circle 
with radius X should have axes length 2X, not 2X+1!  In the implementation, the 
center of the ellipse is properly accounted for by setting it to 
"this->GetRadius+1", but the size of the ellipse is not correct!

To correct this, we can make a simple change either
   axes[i] = this->GetSize(i) - 1;
or
   axes[i] = this->GetRadius(i) * 2;

The second is probably more intuitive.

With this fix, we get for radius=1:
0    1    0
1    1    1
0    1    0

and for radius=5:
0    0    0    0    0    1    0    0    0    0    0
0    0    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    0    0
0    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    0
0    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    0
0    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    0
1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1
0    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    0
0    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    0
0    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    0
0    0    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    0    0
0    0    0    0    0    1    0    0    0    0    0

This is a true circle with radius 5!

My questions are:
1) Is anyone else bothered by this bug?  I imagine that many users expect the 
corrected version and don't realize they are getting the incorrect one.
2) Do others agree with this fix?
3) Can we make this fix given the number of filters/applications that will 
change slightly as a result of this fix?

Many thanks,
Dirk



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--
Wesley D. Turner, Ph.D.
Kitware, Inc.
Technical Leader
28 Corporate Drive
Clifton Park, NY 12065-8662
Phone: 518-881-4920


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