Active contours without edges for vector-valued images

In this paper, we propose an active contour algorithm for object detection in vector-valued images (such as RGB or multispectral). The model is an extension of the scalar Chan-Vese algorithm to the vector-valued case [1]. The model minimizes a Mumford-Shah functional over the length of the contour, plus the sum of the fitting error over each component of the vector-valued image. Like the Chan-Vese model, our vector-valued model can detect edges both with or without gradient. We show examples where our model detects vector-valued objects which are undetectable in any scalar representation. For instance, objects with different missing parts in different channels are completely detected (such as occlusion). Also, in color images, objects which are invisible in each channel or in intensity can be detected by our algorithm. Finally, the model is robust with respect to noise, requiring no a priori denoising step. (C) 2000 Academic Press.