How to add colorbar using image data
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How can I add colorbar using the colors represented in the attached image (imagesr.png)? Thanks!
Answers (1)
Matt J
on 27 Jan 2024
I would guess maybe,
colormap parula
However, we really need to see the corresponding grayscale image to make an informed choice.
15 Comments
Walter Roberson
on 27 Jan 2024
You would need
colorbar
after the colormap call.
Sajjad Ahmad Khan
on 27 Jan 2024
Matt J
on 27 Jan 2024
Because we don't know, from your posted image, which regions are supposed to be bright and which are dark.
Walter Roberson
on 27 Jan 2024
Edited: Walter Roberson
on 27 Jan 2024
You cannot extract the colormap information from a grayscale image.
If you had a grayscale image and the corresponding colored image, then you could attempted to extract a colormap
GID = 1 + double(GrayImage(:));
CID = reshape(double(ColorImage),[],3);
cmap_red = accumarray(GID,CID(:,1),[256],@mean);
cmap_green = accumarray(GID,CID(:,2),[256],@mean);
cmap_blue = accumarray(GID,CID(:,3),[256],@mean);
cmap = uint8([cmap_red, cmap_green, cmap_blue]);
Sajjad Ahmad Khan
on 27 Jan 2024
Matt J
on 27 Jan 2024
That's not a grayscale image. That's a color image of a grayscale image.
It is moot in any case what you post for us. @Walter Roberson has given you code to estimate the colormap in his last comment.
GID = round( rescale( GrayImage(:),1,256 ));
CID = reshape(double(ColorImage),[],3);
if any(CID(:)>1), CID=CID/255; end
cmap_red = accumarray(GID,CID(:,1),[256],@mean,nan);
cmap_green = accumarray(GID,CID(:,2),[256],@mean,nan);
cmap_blue = accumarray(GID,CID(:,3),[256],@mean,nan);
cmap = fillmissing( [cmap_red, cmap_green, cmap_blue],'linear' ,1);
colormap(cmap); colorbar
Sajjad Ahmad Khan
on 27 Jan 2024
Matt J
on 27 Jan 2024
colormap(cmap); colorbar
Walter Roberson
on 27 Jan 2024
You have to be careful about the range of values for the colormap. colormap() accepts an N x 3 double array in the range [0 1], or accepts an N x 3 uint8 in the range 0 to 255.
With you having done double(ColorImage) and then @mean, the values will probably be in the range 0 to 255 double precision
One possible correction would be
CID = reshape(im2double(ColorImage),[],3);
Walter Roberson
on 27 Jan 2024
But I uint8() afterwards ;-)
Sajjad Ahmad Khan
on 27 Jan 2024
Edited: Matt J
on 27 Jan 2024
But I uint8() afterwards ;-)
Yes, that's true. I have modified my version accordingly.
load Images
GID = round( rescale( GrayImage(:),1,256 ));
CID = reshape(double(ColorImage),[],3);
if any(CID(:)>1), CID=CID/255; end
cmap_red = accumarray(GID,CID(:,1),[256,1],@mean,nan);
cmap_green = accumarray(GID,CID(:,2),[256,1],@mean,nan);
cmap_blue = accumarray(GID,CID(:,3),[256,1],@mean,nan);
cmap = fillmissing( [cmap_red, cmap_green, cmap_blue],'linear' ,1);
close all
tiledlayout(3,1);
nexttile; imshow(ColorImage);
nexttile; imshow(GrayImage, colormap(gray(256)));
nexttile; imshow(GrayImage, cmap); colorbar
There are multiple problems here. The two images aren't the same size, and they don't seem to be registered, so simply resizing them won't help.
Let's say you resized them anyway and ignored all the error caused by misregistration. I imagine this isn't an acceptable result:

Note how much color has simply been lost. Given the span of the color cloud, I have to question whether this was generated using a simple linear colormapping process. At the very least, it's not meaningful to reduce it to a 1D colormap. It looks more like it's a 2D mapping of some sort. If it is a 2D mapping, then I have to suspect that it's based on more information than the single grayscale image that's been given.

Is the image the process of any colormapping process, or is it just some sort of composite image? If that's the case, why have a colorbar at all?
The colored image is larger and blurrier than the source grayscale image. Maybe it's a screenshot? Either way, if the grayscale image is the source image, then we should be working from that instead of some mystery degraded copy, the meaning of which nobody understands yet. If you know where the colored copy came from or how it was created, now would be the time to tell us.
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