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modefilt

2-D and 3-D mode filtering

Since R2020a

Description

B = modefilt(A) performs mode filtering on the 2-D image or 3-D volume A. Each output pixel in B contains the mode (most frequently occurring value) in the neighborhood around the corresponding pixel in A. modefilt pads A by mirroring border elements.

Mode filtering can be useful for processing categorical data, where other types of filtering, such as median filtering, are not available.

example

B = modefilt(A,filtSize) also specifies the size of the filter neighborhood.

B = modefilt(___,padopt) also specifies how modefilt pads array boundaries.

Examples

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Load an image (img) and the corresponding categorical labeled version of the image (label) into the workspace.

load buildingPixelLabeled;

View the original image, img.

imshow(img)

Figure contains an axes object. The hidden axes object contains an object of type image.

View the categorical labeled image, label. The categorical image labels four separate categories: sky, grass, building, and sidewalk. For viewing, convert these categories to colors using the label2rgb function.

imshow(label2rgb(label))

Figure contains an axes object. The hidden axes object contains an object of type image.

Perform mode filtering on the categorical labeled image, label, using the default filter size and padding method.

 b = modefilt(label);

View the filtered categorical labeled image, b. In the filtered image, the edges between labeled regions are more distinct.

 figure
 imshow(label2rgb(b));

Figure contains an axes object. The hidden axes object contains an object of type image.

Read a grayscale image of a brain MRI and the corresponding labels. The image loads in the workspace variable vol and the labels load in the workspace variable label.

dataDir = fullfile(toolboxdir("images"),"imdata","BrainMRILabeled");
load(fullfile(dataDir,"images","vol_001.mat"));
load(fullfile(dataDir,"labels","label_001.mat"));

Display the labeled volume.

viewer1 = viewer3d(BackgroundColor="white",BackgroundGradient="off",CameraZoom=1.5);
vol1 = volshow(vol,OverlayData=label,Parent=viewer1, ...
    RenderingStyle="GradientOpacity",GradientOpacityValue=0.8, ...
    Alphamap=linspace(0,0.2,256),OverlayAlpha=0.8);

Perform mode filtering on the labels, specifying the size of the filter.

labelFiltered = modefilt(label,[5 5 5]);

Display the filtered labeled volume.

viewer2 = viewer3d(BackgroundColor="white",BackgroundGradient="off",CameraZoom=1.5);
vol2 = volshow(vol,OverlayData=labelFiltered,Parent=viewer2, ...
    RenderingStyle="GradientOpacity",GradientOpacityValue=0.8, ...
    Alphamap=linspace(0,0.2,256),OverlayAlpha=0.8);

Input Arguments

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2-D image or 3-D volume, specified as a categorical, logical, or numeric array.

Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | logical | categorical

Filter size, specified as a vector of positive odd integers. For 2-D images, specify a vector of the form [height width]. The default for 2-D images is [3 3]. For 3-D volumes, specify a vector of the form [height width depth]. The default for 3-D volumes is [3 3 3].

Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64

Padding method, specified as one of the following values.

ValueDescription
"symmetric"Pad array with a mirror reflection of itself.
"replicate"Pad array by repeating border elements.
"zeros"Pad array with 0s for numeric data or with <undefined>s for categorical data.

Data Types: char | string

Output Arguments

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Filtered image or volume, returned as a numeric array of the same size and class as the input image A.

Tips

  • When the neighborhood has more than one pixel in a tie for the mode value, the function uses the following tie-breaking algorithm:

    • If the center pixel is one of the mode values in the tie, the function uses this value.

    • If the center pixel is not one of the mode values in the tie, the function uses the mode with the smallest numeric value.

    • For categorical input, the function chooses the first category (among the categories tied for mode) that appears in the list returned by categories(A).

  • modefilt treats RGB images as 3-D volumes. To do channel-wise filtering of an RGB image, specify filtSize as [3 3 1], as in this code: b = modefilt(a,[3 3 1]); .

Extended Capabilities

Version History

Introduced in R2020a

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