Scan-flood Fill(SCAFF): an Efficient Automatic Precise Region Filling Algorithm for Complicated Regions

Abstract: Recently, instant level labeling for supervised machine learning requires a considerable number of filled masks. In this paper, we propose an efficient automatic region filling algorithm for complicated regions. Distinguishing between adjacent connected regions, the Main Filling Process scans through all pixels and fills all the pixels except boundary ones with either exterior or interior label color. In this way, we succeed in classifying all the pixels inside the region except boundary ones in the given image to form two groups: a background group and a mask group. We then set all exterior label pixels to background color, and interior label pixels to mask color. With this algorithm, we are able to generate output masks precisely and efficiently even for complicated regions as long as boundary pixels are given. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can generate precise masks that allow for various machine learning tasks such as supervised training. This algorithm can effectively handle multiple regions, complicated `holes' and regions whose boundaries touch the image border. By testing the algorithm on both toy and practical images, we show that the performance of Scan-flood Fill(SCAFF) has achieved favorable results.