Cartoonize an Image Using Bilateral Filtering

Abstract

This paper introduces a fast method for turning images into cartoons in real-time. We use bilateral filtering, a strong smoothing technique that preserves important edges. Cartoonization is a popular image transformation that gives photos a cartoon-like look while keeping key details and edges. Our method uses bilateral filtering for quick performance, making it suitable for live video and mobile applications. We have a few main steps: first, we apply bilateral filtering to the image to smooth small details while keeping larger structures and edges. Then, we detect edges using methods like Canny edge detection. These edges are crucial for defining cartoon-like contours. To create the cartoon effect, we make a stylized color palette based on the image's color values and use it to limit the colors to a set of tones, like traditional cartoons. Finally, we overlay the cartoon edges and color palette on the original image, producing a real-time cartoon result. Our experiments show that our method is effective.