GrowCut is an interactive segmentation algorithm

Algorithm

In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm is an effective method expressed as a finite list of well-defined instructions for calculating a function. Algorithms are used for calculation, data processing, and automated reasoning...

. It uses Cellular Automaton

Cellular automaton

A cellular automaton is a discrete model studied in computability theory, mathematics, physics, complexity science, theoretical biology and microstructure modeling. It consists of a regular grid of cells, each in one of a finite number of states, such as "On" and "Off"...

 as an image model. Automata evolution models segmentation process. Each cell of the automata has some label (in case of binary segmentation - 'object', 'background' and 'empty'). During automata evolution

Automata theory

In theoretical computer science, automata theory is the study of abstract machines and the computational problems that can be solved using these machines. These abstract machines are called automata...

 some cells capture their neighbours, replacing their labels.

In GrowCut, a user vaguely draws some strokes inside the object of interest with an object brush, and outside the object with a background brush. In simple cases only a few strokes suffice for segmentation

Segmentation

Segmentation may mean:*Market segmentation, in economics and marketingBiology*A process of morphogenesis that divides a metazoan body into a series of semi-repetitive segments*Segmentation , a series of semi-repetitive segments...

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External links

• http://www.growcut.com - a Photoshop plugin, which implements GrowCut algorithm