Image enhancement with mask having fuzzy edges

摘要

A mask having at least two areas is defined over an image. The mask pixels are mapped with an error diffusion or dithering process to mix the mask pixels between the areas. Image pixels which correspond in position to the mask pixels are mapped to color palettes selected for the at least two areas. An image effect is applied to the color palette of one of the areas called the unmasked area. The same image effect is not applied to the masked area. The error diffusion or dithering has provided a fuzzy edge to the mask and these processes are quick to accomplish with a minimum number of states. Since the image effect is applied to only a relatively small number of palette colors, user feedback is nearly instantaneous.