The Hebrew University of Jerusalem has developed a computer-assisted method for colorizing black and white images and movies.

So far, automatic algorithms often failed to correctly identify fuzzy or complex region boundaries, leaving the artist with the task of manually delineating complicated boundaries between regions. Colorization of movies requires, in addition, tracking regions, as movement occurs across the frames of a particular scene.

Dani Lischinski, Yair Weiss and Anat Levin‘s new colorization process requires neither precise, manual, region detection, nor accurate tracking.

The user indicates simply “scribbles” the desired color inside the targeted region instead of tracing its precise boundary.

With these “hints,” the software automatically propagates colors to the remainder of the image and from there to subsequent frames of the movie.

Movie.

Via eurekalert.