Image Morphing or Image processing

Morphing is a Special effect in motion pictures and animation that changes (or morphs) one image to another through a seamless transition. Most often it is used to depict one person turning into another. Morphing is probably most noticeably used to produce incredible special effects in the entertainment industry.

It is also “an animation technique that allows you to dynamically blend two still images, creating a sequence of in-between pictures that, when played in Quick Time, metamorphoses the first image into the second.”

The word morph derives from the word metamorphosis meaning to change shape, appearance or form. Basically, a morph consists of one image changing its shape over time until it becomes another image.

Morphing was invented and first used by Industrial Light and Magic. The original author of the first morphing algorithm is Douglas B. Smythe.

SIGINIFICANCE OF MORPHING:

Animation techniques are constantly increasing in quality and creativity. Because consumers demand better quality special effects and effects that will captivate and engage themselves grows profoundly.

Multimedia users and entertainment seekers are no longer satisfied with animation, they desire fancier transitions and animation to amaze them and keep them interested in the product.

Morphing has been one way to satisfy consumers need to be entertained, impressed, and amazed by the final product.

Example: "Megan Fox as Wonder Women".

MORPHING TECHNIQUES:

Image morphing techniques can be classified into two categories such as mesh-based and feature-based methods in terms of their ways for specifying features.

1) In mesh-based methods, the features on an image are specified by a non uniform mesh.

2) In Feature-based methods specify the features with a set of points or line segments.

One way of achieving the morphing effect is to transform one image into another by creating a cross-dissolve between them.

A second way to achieve morphing is feature interpolation, which is performed by combining warps with the color interpolation.

MAJOR USES:

Morphing can be used as a "visual effect".

Morphing is a powerful tool that can enhance many multimedia projects such as presentations, education, electronic book illustrations, and computer-based training.

The first commercial use of morphing was in a sequence in the movie Willow. Since then, morphing has been widely used. Among the more memorable morphing sequences are those found in Michael Jackson's ``Black or White'' video, and in the movie “Terminator2”.

DIFFERENT SOFTWARE'S USED FOR CREATING MORPHING:

Morpher,MorphInk 2.0, Blender 2.12 , WinMorph, MorphMan 2.01,MorphMan 2000

MorphWizard, Morphology 101 , PhotoMorph 2 , Video Craft 3.0etc..

CONCLUSION:

In conclusion, morphing is an image processing technique used for the metamorphosis of one image to another. This technique can be performed in several different ways. The first is by creating a cross- dissolve between the images and the second is by using feature interpolation. There are a variety of software products such as MorphMan, WinMorph, Tracer, etc.

Morphing is used far more heavily today than ever before. In years past, effects were obvious, which led to their overuse. Now, morphing effects are most often designed to be seamless and invisible to the eye.