Efficient palette-based decomposition and recoloring of images via RGBXY-space geometry

Abstract

We introduce an extremely scalable and efficient yet simple palette-based image decomposition algorithm. Given an RGB image and set of palette colors, our algorithm decomposes the image into a set of additive mixing layers, each of which corresponds to a palette color applied with varying weight. Our approach is based on the geometry of images in RGBXY-space. This new geometric approach is orders of magnitude more efficient than previous work and requires no numerical optimization. We provide an implementation of the algorithm in 48 lines of Python code. We demonstrate a real-time layer decomposition tool in which users can interactively edit the palette to adjust the layers. After preprocessing, our algorithm can decompose 6 MP images into layers in 20 milliseconds.