The Distance Transform and its Computation

Abstract

Distance transformation is an image processing technique used for many different applications. Related to a binary image, the general idea is to determine the distance of all background points to the nearest object point (or vice versa). In this tutorial, different approaches are explained in detail and compared using examples. Corresponding source code is provided to facilitate own investigations. A particular objective of this tutorial is to clarify the difference between arbitrary distance transforms and exact Euclidean distance transformations.