As humans, we perceive the three-dimensional structure of the world around us with apparent ease. However, despite all of the recent advances in computer vision research, the dream of having a computer interpret an image at the same level as a two-year old remains elusive. Why is computer vision such a challenging problem, and what is the current state of the art?

Computer Vision: Algorithms and Applications explores the variety of techniques commonly used to analyze and interpret images. It also describes challenging real-world applications where vision is being successfully used, both for specialized applications such as medical imaging and fun consumer-level tasks such as image editing and stitching, which students can apply to their own personal photos and videos.

More than just a source of "recipes," this text/reference also takes a scientific approach to basic vision problems, formulating physical models of the imaging process before inverting this process to produce the best possible descriptions of a scene. Exercises are presented throughout the book, with a heavy emphasis on testing algorithms.

Suitable for either an undergraduate or a graduate-level course in computer vision, this textbook focuses on basic techniques that work under real-world conditions and encourages students to push their creative boundaries.

Dr. Richard Szeliski has over twenty yearsa (TM) experience in computer vision research, most notably at Digital Equipment Corporation and Microsoft.