This demo code shows how to split an image into non-overlapping blocks or tiles:
% Demo to divide an image up into blocks (non-overlapping tiles). % The first way to divide an image up into blocks is by using mat2cell(). % In this demo, I demonstrate that with a color image. % Another way to split the image up into blocks is to use indexing. % In this demo, I demonstrate that method with a grayscale image. clc; % Clear the command window. close all; % Close all figures (except those of imtool.) workspace; % Make sure the workspace panel is showing. fontSize = 20; % Read in a standard MATLAB color demo image. folder = fullfile(matlabroot, '\toolbox\images\imdemos'); baseFileName = 'peppers.png'; % Get the full filename, with path prepended. fullFileName = fullfile(folder, baseFileName); if ~exist(fullFileName, 'file') % Didn't find it there. Check the search path for it. fullFileName = baseFileName; % No path this time. if ~exist(fullFileName, 'file') % Still didn't find it. Alert user. errorMessage = sprintf('Error: %s does not exist.', fullFileName); uiwait(warndlg(errorMessage)); return; end end % Read the image from disk. rgbImage = imread(fullFileName); % Test code if you want to try it with a gray scale image. % Uncomment line below if you want to see how it works with a gray scale image. % rgbImage = rgb2gray(rgbImage); % Display image full screen. imshow(rgbImage); % Enlarge figure to full screen. set(gcf, 'units','normalized','outerposition',[0 0 1 1]); drawnow; % Get the dimensions of the image. numberOfColorBands should be = 3. [rows columns numberOfColorBands] = size(rgbImage) %========================================================================== % The first way to divide an image up into blocks is by using mat2cell(). blockSizeR = 150; % Rows in block. blockSizeC = 100; % Columns in block. % Figure out the size of each block in rows. % Most will be blockSizeR but there may be a remainder amount of less than that. wholeBlockRows = floor(rows / blockSizeR); blockVectorR = [blockSizeR * ones(1, wholeBlockRows), rem(rows, blockSizeR)]; % Figure out the size of each block in columns. wholeBlockCols = floor(columns / blockSizeC); blockVectorC = [blockSizeC * ones(1, wholeBlockCols), rem(columns, blockSizeC)]; % Create the cell array, ca. % Each cell (except for the remainder cells at the end of the image) % in the array contains a blockSizeR by blockSizeC by 3 color array. % This line is where the image is actually divided up into blocks. if numberOfColorBands > 1 % It's a color image. ca = mat2cell(rgbImage, blockVectorR, blockVectorC, numberOfColorBands); else ca = mat2cell(rgbImage, blockVectorR, blockVectorC); end % Now display all the blocks. plotIndex = 1; numPlotsR = size(ca, 1); numPlotsC = size(ca, 2); for r = 1 : numPlotsR for c = 1 : numPlotsC fprintf('plotindex = %d, c=%d, r=%d\n', plotIndex, c, r); % Specify the location for display of the image. subplot(numPlotsR, numPlotsC, plotIndex); % Extract the numerical array out of the cell % just for tutorial purposes. rgbBlock = ca{r,c}; imshow(rgbBlock); % Could call imshow(ca{r,c}) if you wanted to. [rowsB columnsB numberOfColorBandsB] = size(rgbBlock); % Make the caption the block number. caption = sprintf('Block #%d of %d\n%d rows by %d columns', ... plotIndex, numPlotsR*numPlotsC, rowsB, columnsB); title(caption); drawnow; % Increment the subplot to the next location. plotIndex = plotIndex + 1; end end % Display the original image in the upper left. subplot(4, 6, 1); imshow(rgbImage); title('Original Image'); % Inform user of next stage where we process a gray scale image. promptMessage = sprintf('Now I will do the same for a gray scale image.'); titleBarCaption = 'Continue?'; button = questdlg(promptMessage, titleBarCaption, 'OK', 'Cancel', 'OK'); if strcmpi(button, 'Cancel') return; end %============================================================================== % Another way to split the image up into blocks is to use indexing. % Read in a standard MATLAB gray scale demo image. folder = fullfile(matlabroot, '\toolbox\images\imdemos'); baseFileName = 'cameraman.tif'; fullFileName = fullfile(folder, baseFileName); % Get the full filename, with path prepended. fullFileName = fullfile(folder, baseFileName); if ~exist(fullFileName, 'file') % Didn't find it there. Check the search path for it. fullFileName = baseFileName; % No path this time. if ~exist(fullFileName, 'file') % Still didn't find it. Alert user. errorMessage = sprintf('Error: %s does not exist.', fullFileName); uiwait(warndlg(errorMessage)); return; end end grayImage = imread(fullFileName); % Get the dimensions of the image. numberOfColorBands should be = 1. [rows columns numberOfColorBands] = size(grayImage); % Display the original gray scale image. figure; subplot(2, 2, 1); imshow(grayImage, []); title('Original Grayscale Image', 'FontSize', fontSize); % Enlarge figure to full screen. set(gcf, 'units','normalized','outerposition',[0 0 1 1]); % Divide the image up into 4 blocks. % Let's assume we know the block size and that all blocks will be the same size. blockSizeR = 128; % Rows in block. blockSizeC = 128; % Columns in block. % Figure out the size of each block. wholeBlockRows = floor(rows / blockSizeR); wholeBlockCols = floor(columns / blockSizeC); % Preallocate a 3D image image3d = zeros(wholeBlockRows, wholeBlockCols, 3); % Now scan though, getting each block and putting it as a slice of a 3D array. sliceNumber = 1; for row = 1 : blockSizeR : rows for col = 1 : blockSizeC : columns % Let's be a little explicit here in our variables % to make it easier to see what's going on. % Determine starting and ending rows. row1 = row; row2 = row1 + blockSizeR - 1; row2 = min(rows, row2); % Don't let it go outside the image. % Determine starting and ending columns. col1 = col; col2 = col1 + blockSizeC - 1; col2 = min(columns, col2); % Don't let it go outside the image. % Extract out the block into a single subimage. oneBlock = grayImage(row1:row2, col1:col2); % Specify the location for display of the image. subplot(2, 2, sliceNumber); imshow(oneBlock); % Make the caption the block number. caption = sprintf('Block #%d of 4', sliceNumber); title(caption, 'FontSize', fontSize); drawnow; % Assign this slice to the image we just extracted. if (row2-row1+1) == blockSizeR && (col2-col1+1) == blockSizeC % Then the block size is the tile size, % so add a slice to our 3D image stack. image3D(:, :, sliceNumber) = oneBlock; else newTileSize = [(row2-row1+1), (col2-col1+1)]; warningMessage = sprintf('Warning: this block size of %d rows and %d columns\ndoes not match the preset block size of %d rows and %d columns.\nIt will not be added to the 3D image stack.',... newTileSize(1), newTileSize(2), blockSizeR, blockSizeC); uiwait(warndlg(warningMessage)); end sliceNumber = sliceNumber + 1; end end % Now image3D is a 3D image where each slice, % or plane, is one quadrant of the original 2D image. msgbox('Done with demo! Check out the two figures.');