Atlas
1998

Gradient vector flow

When the snake cannot feel the boundary, can a better force reach it?

Primary source C. Xu and J. L. Prince, “Snakes, shapes, and gradient vector flow,” IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 359–369, 1998. doi:10.1109/83.661186

The same snake on a U-shaped object, under two external forces. Kass’s force (the edge gradient) is strong only beside the edges and points at the walls inside the notch, so the snake bridges the opening. Gradient vector flow spreads that edge information through the image, and the snake follows it into the notch.

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