Waveblend - complex dualtree based image fusionVersion 0.1.0README FILE2004/07/121. Introduction------------------------------------------------------------------------------Waveblend is a tool implementing an image fusion algorithm. It can combine anumber of input pictures having all the same size into one output picture.While this could be useful for a number of purposes, waveblend focuses on onlyone: to enhance the focus of the combined image.  Focus enhancing can be explained roughly like this: Take a number of inputimages, all taken from the same point of view with different depth-of-focus(that is, they are sharp at different depths). All the images are combinedinto one image, which spans the whole depth-of-focus of all images, so thatthe resulting image is "sharp" everywhere.  This has a number of applications: in microscopy, astronomy and photographyyou can improve the results of a sample image by combining a number of sampleimages. A good scientific paper explaining the algorithm we use in waveblendis available at: http://bigwww.epfl.ch/demo/edf/, "Extended Depth of Focus".2. License------------------------------------------------------------------------------The whole program is free software released under the conditions of the GNUGeneral Public License. The license is included in the distribution in the'LICENSE' file. Please read and acknowledge this license before using thisprogram.3. Requirements and Installation------------------------------------------------------------------------------3.1. On Linux/Unix, you need    - Mono, a free .NET Framework version 1.0 or later      http://www.mono-project.com/    - Gtk#, the GTK 2.2 library language bindings for .NET, version 1.0 or      later      http://gtk-sharp.sourceforge.net/ and http://www.mono-project.com/On Debian/unstable you can install the "libgtk-cil" and "mono" packages. Forother distributions, please refer to their individual package databases to seeif the packages are available.3.2. On Windows XP and 2000, you need    - A .NET Framework, either Mono or the Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1      (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?       FamilyID=262d25e3-f589-4842-8157-034d1e7cf3a3&displaylang=en)    - Gtk#, the GTK 2.2 library language binding for .NET, version 1.0 or      later      If you use the Microsoft .NET Framework:      (http://forge.novell.com/modules/xfmod/project/?gtk-sharp)      or      (http://ftp.novell.com/pub/forge/gtk-sharp/       GTK-Sharp%20Runtime/Alpha/gtk-sharp-1.0-runtime.zip)If you choose to use Mono on Windows, you might want to use the combined Monoand Gtk# installer for Windows:(http://forge.novell.com/modules/xfmod/project/showfiles.php? group_id=1395&release_id=1905#selected)4. Usage------------------------------------------------------------------------------Please see the included manpage or the TXT and PDF documents generated fromit.5. Thanks------------------------------------------------------------------------------I thank the following persons for their helpful advice, implementation ofalgorithms or helpful texts:Prof. Ivan Selesnick, who was quick to respond to a wavelet question and    spotted my mistake instantly.Shihua Cai, Keyong Li, Farras Abdelnour and Prof. Ivan Selesnick, for    implementing and publishing the Matlab code of different kinds of real and    complex dualtree wavelet transforms. Their excellent Matlab implementation    which I used to test and develop my implementation is available at    http://taco.poly.edu/WaveletSoftware/index.html. I wish more scientists    would follow their example and provide code to reproduce cutting-edge    research.B. Forster, D. Van De Ville, J. Berent, D. Sage, M. Unser, for publishing	their paper "Extended Depth-of-Focus for Multi-Channel Microscopy Images:    A Complex Wavelet Approach", which is available at    http://bigwww.epfl.ch/demo/edf/ and which is the model for my    implementation. The paper is a bit light on the wavelet part but provides    good ideas. I also used their sample images for testing against my    implementation.Rik Littlefield, for pointing me to the above paper.6. Author and Contact------------------------------------------------------------------------------The program was written by Sebastian Nowozin.For feedback, bug reports or any other question, please mail me at <nowozin atcs dot tu-berlin dot de>.Updated versions of this program will be made available at this address:http://cs.tu-berlin.de/~nowozin/waveblend/