Matlab Process Images
MathWorksOfficialCreated by MathWorks
- Skill
- Tool integration
- Software development
- BSD-2-Clause
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AutoGineer summary
Written by AutoGineer from the skill’s own files, not by the author
This skill serves as the primary entry point for MATLAB tasks involving images, scans, frames, and 3-D volumes. It provides core conventions for image data types, coordinate systems, and display practices, while routing users to specific references for tasks such as I/O, filtering, segmentation, and measurement. It ensures consistent use of Image Processing Toolbox functions and helps users navigate common pitfalls in image analysis workflows.
What it does
- Provides standardized conventions for image data types and coordinate systems.
- Routes users to specialized references for image I/O, filtering, and transformation tasks.
- Defines best practices for displaying images using the imageshow function.
- Offers guidance on handling 3-D volumetric data and large-scale images.
- Assists with selecting appropriate functions for segmentation and object measurement.
- Provides troubleshooting patterns for common image processing errors.
When to use it
- When performing image processing tasks in MATLAB, such as filtering, enhancing, or segmenting.
- When working with image formats like TIFF, PNG, JPEG, DICOM, or NIfTI.
- When needing to understand MATLAB-specific coordinate conventions for image data.
- When determining the correct toolbox function for a specific image analysis goal.
- When troubleshooting syntax or type-related errors in image processing scripts.
Advantages
- Ensures consistent coding patterns across different image processing tasks.
- Reduces errors by providing clear guidance on coordinate and data type conventions.
- Simplifies the selection of appropriate tools for complex workflows like 3-D volume processing.
- Promotes the use of modern display functions like imageshow over legacy alternatives.
- Provides a structured approach to identifying the correct documentation for specific functions.
Usage examples
- “How do I read a DICOM file and display it in MATLAB?”
- The agent will guide you to use the medical-data-io reference for reading the file and the imageshow function for display, following the core conventions.
- “I need to count the number of objects in a binary image.”
- The agent will provide the standard analysis pipeline using bwconncomp and regionprops, ensuring the input is correctly formatted as logical.
- “How do I perform 3-D filtering on a volume?”
- The agent will direct you to the 3-D volume processing reference to select the appropriate 3-D specific function, such as imgaussfilt3.
- “Why is my regionprops measurement returning only one object?”
- The agent will explain that the input must be a logical array and provide the code to convert your numeric array to logical.
Install
Download the skill as a ZIP:
https://mp-staging.autogineer.com/agent-skills/matlab/matlab-process-images/downloadUnzip it into the cross-client skills folder of your project:
mkdir -p .agents/skills && unzip matlab-process-images.zip -d .agents/skills
Documentation by MathWorks
Image Processing
Process, analyze, and transform images using MATLAB Image Processing Toolbox (IPT). This skill routes you to the correct reference for your task and provides core conventions that apply across all IPT work.
When to Use
Loaded for general-purpose IPT work: file and batch I/O, filtering, restoration, morphology, segmentation, measurement, geometric transforms, color, texture, quality metrics, deep learning on images, and image apps. Non-medical microscopy — cell and particle counting on plain IPT — is in scope.
Hand off (and co-load) instead of answering alone: see the handoff table under ## Routing.
When NOT to Use
Training a network with no image-specific preprocessing — use Deep Learning Toolbox directly
Simulink or Stateflow video blocks — use Simulink directly
C/C++ code generation, MEX, GPU acceleration and deployment — use MATLAB Coder / GPU Coder directly
Point clouds, 3-D reconstruction, and video stabilization — use Computer Vision Toolbox directly
General MATLAB questions unrelated to images
Looking at an image yourself (e.g., "look at this screenshot") when no MATLAB work is requested — use your own vision instead
Core Conventions
Image Data Types
| Type | Range | When to use |
|---|---|---|
uint8 | 0–255 | Display, file I/O, memory-efficient storage |
uint16 | 0–65535 | High dynamic range sensors, medical. Camera RAW is n-bit in a uint16 container — rescale with rawinfo BlackLevel/WhiteLevel, not 65535 |
single / double | 0.0–1.0 | Arithmetic, filtering, computation |
logical | 0 or 1 | Binary masks, segmentation results |
Most IPT functions accept integer types directly — do not convert to floating-point unless required.
Default Coordinate Conventions
MATLAB images are (row, col) — row is Y (down), column is X (right)
size(img)returns[height, width, channels]Spatial functions use (x, y) order for coordinates (e.g.,
imref2d,regionpropscentroids)Pixel centers are at integer intrinsic coordinates; in default world referencing, pixel (1,1) center is at world (1.0, 1.0) and the image edge starts at 0.5
imref2dandimref3dcan specify non-default spatial referencing to place images into world coordinate systems. By default they use the unit-spaced, integer-pixel-centered coordinate system described here, e.g.Rout = imref2d(imageSize). Functions that do not accept spatial referencing objects assume this intrinsic coordinate system for any operation requiring spatial referencing.
Multichannel Images
Grayscale:
M×NorM×N×1RGB:
M×N×3With alpha: read using
[img, ~, alpha] = imread(...)(alpha is the third output)Convert:
rgb2gray,im2gray(preferred, handles more input types)
Display Functions — use imageshow, not imshow
Always use imageshow instead of imshow in all generated code — scripts, apps, examples, and quick previews. The signatures are compatible for common cases: replace imshow(...) with imageshow(...). imageshow (R2024b+) handles sub-bit-depth containers (e.g., 12-bit in uint16) via DisplayRangeMode, supports OverlayData for label/mask overlays, and works with viewer2d. imshow lacks all of these capabilities and should not appear in new code.
Title convention: imageshow creates a viewer2d, not an axes — gca does not return it. To add a title, get the viewer from the Image object's parent:
obj = imageshow(im);
viewer = obj.Parent;
title(viewer, "Title Text");Do not use title("text") or title(gca, "text") after imageshow — these silently fail or create a stray axes title.
Code Execution
Execute code blocks via evaluate_matlab_code before presenting them to the user. If it errors, fix and re-run. This catches type mismatches, wrong argument orders, and nonexistent functions before the user sees them. If execution requires user data or toolboxes not available in the current session, present the code with a note that it should be run with the user's own data — do not loop trying to synthesize stand-in data.
Error Recovery
If code throws an error after execution, load the matlab-read-documentation skill and look up the function's doc page to verify syntax, required arguments, and supported input types before retrying.
When to Ask the User
Ask for clarification before proceeding when:
The image type/format is ambiguous and affects the processing approach
Multiple valid approaches exist with different tradeoffs (speed vs quality, lossy vs lossless)
The task requires choosing parameters that depend on domain knowledge (e.g., object size thresholds, noise characteristics)
The user's MATLAB release is unknown and the recommended function may not be available
Routing
Match your task in the tables below. Check the handoff table first. If the task belongs to another skill, load that skill in addition to this one — the Core Conventions above (data types, coordinate order, code execution) apply to all image data. Do not re-derive them from the sibling. If a row in both tables fits, the handoff table wins on workflow; this skill still owns conventions.
Unfamiliar data? Load
references/image-understanding.mdfirst — but only when class, range, or content is unknown.Starting from a function name, not a task? The function column is illustrative, not exhaustive. To locate any function:
grep -rln '<functionName>' references/. To look up syntax details, loadmatlab-read-documentation.Pipeline tasks: load several references; cap at three unless the task genuinely spans more.
Follow the patterns in loaded references. References contain specific code patterns and workflows — use them instead of improvising equivalent code from general knowledge.
No row matches? Name the owning product, state the closest IPT fallback, and say so — do not guess a reference.
Check first: is this another skill's job?
| If the task involves... | Also load |
|---|---|
| Segmenting anatomy — tumor, lesion, organ, vessel — in CT, MRI, PET, ultrasound; MedSAM; radiomics | No skill covers this — Medical Imaging Toolbox (segmentMedicalImage, groundTruthMedical); look up the doc page |
Displaying or viewing a 2-D image: imshow, imageshow, viewer2d, montage, mask overlay, annotation, colorbar, colormap, figure export | matlab-display-image |
Displaying a 3-D volume: volshow, viewer3d, isosurface rendering, slice viewer, orthogonal views | matlab-display-volume |
| Hyperspectral or multispectral cubes, spectral indices, unmixing, ENVI, band selection | matlab-analyze-spectral-images |
| Calling a PyTorch or ONNX vision model from MATLAB | matlab-integrate-pytorch-vision |
| OCR, text recognition, reading text out of an image | matlab-recognize-text (requires Computer Vision Toolbox) |
| Factory-floor visual inspection: anomaly detection, defect/scratch/dent detection, gauging, pass/fail counting | matlab-use-visual-inspection (requires Visual Inspection Toolbox, R2026b+) |
| Barcode or QR reading, camera calibration | No skill covers this — Computer Vision Toolbox (readBarcode, estimateCameraParameters); look up the doc page |
| Optical system design: lens import, prescription-side MTF, spot diagrams, ray tracing, tolerance analysis | matlab-model-optics |
In scope: pick the reference
| If the task or the user's words involve... | Illustrative functions | Load |
|---|---|---|
| inspect, understand, characterize, explore data, look at my images, what kind of image, what am I working with, what's in this folder, describe the data, summarize the dataset, what format, bit depth, class and range, indexed image, alpha channel, metadata, file info, dataset characterization, before I start processing | imfinfo, imhist, countEachLabel | references/image-understanding.md |
| read, write, load, save, import, export, open an image, convert format, batch, folder of images, TIFF, PNG, JPEG, RAW, HDR, test pattern | imread, imwrite, imageDatastore, hdrread | references/image-io.md |
| video, footage, frames, read video, write video, VideoReader, VideoWriter, frame rate, video codec, MP4, AVI | VideoReader, VideoWriter, readFrame, hasFrame, writeVideo | references/video-io.md |
| smooth, blur an image, sharpen, denoise, noise, grainy, filter, kernel, padding, edge-preserving, bilateral, non-local means, frequency filter | imgaussfilt, medfilt2, imsharpen, imbilatfilt, imnlmfilt, imdiffusefilt, imfilter, ordfilt2, locallapfilt, wiener2 | references/filtering.md |
| contrast, brighten, darken, too dark, washed out, enhance, improve, histogram, equalize, CLAHE, normalize, rescale, blend, arithmetic, type convert, flat-field, illumination correction, vignetting, uneven lighting | imadjust, stretchlim, adapthisteq, histeq, rescale, mat2gray, im2single, imadd, imlincomb, imblend, imflatfield | references/preprocessing.md |
| erode, dilate, open, close, structuring element, 2-D morphology, fill holes, remove small objects, skeletonize, thin, tidy up a binary result | strel, imerode, imdilate, imopen, imclose, imfill, bwareaopen, bwskel, imtophat, imreconstruct | references/morphological-ops.md |
| deblur, blurry, unfocused, out of focus, motion blur, camera shake, restore a blurred image, deconvolution, PSF estimation | deconvblind, deconvlucy, deconvwnr, deconvreg | references/deblurring.md |
| resize, rotate, crop, warp, scale, flip, straighten, affine, projective, perspective, undistort, lens distortion, spatial referencing, world coordinates, voxel coordinates, pixel coordinates, coordinate conversion | imresize, imrotate, imcrop, imwarp, imtranslate, affinetform2d, imref2d | references/geometric-transforms.md |
| align two images, stitch, mosaic, panorama, overlapping shots, seam, motion correction, multi-modal alignment, control points, non-rigid, deformable, homography (feature-based requires Computer Vision Toolbox) | imregister, imregtform, imregdemons, imregcorr, detectSIFTFeatures, matchFeatures, estgeotform2d (last three: Computer Vision Toolbox), imregdeform (Medical Imaging Toolbox) | references/registration.md |
segment or threshold with no user input: binarize, Otsu, watershed, k-means or colour clustering, imsegsam automatic mode, deep-learning segmentation | imbinarize, graythresh, multithresh, adaptthresh, watershed, imsegkmeans, imsegkmeans3, imsegisodata, imsegsam | references/segmentation-automated.md |
| segment with user input: clicks, points, boxes, scribbles, seeds, prompted SAM, grabcut, active contours, region growing, lazy snapping, superpixels, App Designer segmentation UIs | segmentAnythingModel, grabcut, activecontour, lazysnapping, imsegfmm, grayconnected, superpixels | references/segmentation-interactive.md |
| measure, count objects, how many, area, perimeter, centroid, size, shape, width, thickness, gap, diameter, Feret, orientation, detect edges, circles, lines, boundary tracing, ROI, world units, metrology, region, region properties, analysis | regionprops, bwconncomp, bwareafilt, bwpropfilt, bwlabel, edge, imfindcircles, hough, bwboundaries | references/analysis-measurement.md |
| quality, PSNR, SSIM, sharpness, noise level, is it blurry, compare two images, difference, before/after, MTF (camera/chart SFR), test chart, artifact (register first — full-reference metrics need pixel correspondence) | psnr, ssim, multissim, immse, brisque, niqe, piqe, measureSharpness, esfrChart | references/quality-assessment.md |
| texture, repetitive pattern, frequency domain, Fourier, FFT, DCT, Radon, Gabor, co-occurrence, GLCM | graycomatrix, graycoprops, entropyfilt, fft2, dct2, radon, gabor | references/texture-transforms.md |
| color space, LAB, HSV, hue, saturation, white balance, color cast, color correction, color balance, ICC profile, grayscale conversion | rgb2lab, lab2rgb, rgb2hsv, chromadapt, illumwhite, makecform, deltaE, decorrstretch | references/color-processing.md |
| 3-D array, volume, volumetric, voxel, slice stack, z-stack — filtering, 3-D morphology, 3-D transforms, or measurement applied to a volume | imgaussfilt3, medfilt3, imresize3, regionprops3, bwvolumefilt (R2026b), bwpropfilt3 (R2026b) | references/3d-volume-processing.md |
| deep learning, neural network, train, U-Net, semantic segmentation networks, classify images, pretrained model, transfer learning, fine-tune, inference, augment, training dataset (requires DLT, often CVT) | unet, deeplabv3plus, trainnet, semanticseg, imageDataAugmenter, augmentedImageDatastore | references/deep-learning-imaging.md |
| build your own image app or GUI: sliders, live preview, parameter tuning, ROI widgets | uifigure, uigridlayout, uislider, drawrectangle | references/app-building.md |
DICOM, NIfTI, NRRD, DICOM-RT, patient metadata, anonymizing, medicalVolume, medicalImage, reading/writing medical formats, extractSlice, volume orientation, medical spatial referencing | medicalVolume, medicalImage, dicomreadVolume, dicomCollection, extractSlice, dicomContours, dicomanon | references/medical-data-io.md |
gigapixel, whole-slide, out-of-memory images, blockedImage, tiled workflows, image pyramids, .svs, .ndpi, .czi, TIFF > 10,000 px, parallel image processing, custom adapters | blockedImage, apply, getBlock, getRegion, selectBlockLocations, blockedImageDatastore | references/large-image-processing.md |
Toolbox Detection
When unsure what's available, check installed toolboxes:
hasIPT = ~isempty(ver('images'));
hasCVT = ~isempty(ver('vision'));
hasDLT = ~isempty(ver('nnet'));
hasMIT = ~isempty(ver('medical'));
hasWavelet = ~isempty(ver('wavelet'));Most functions in this skill require Image Processing Toolbox. The deep-learning-imaging reference also requires Deep Learning Toolbox. Feature-based registration (detectSIFTFeatures, matchFeatures, estgeotform2d) requires Computer Vision Toolbox.
Release-Gated Features
This skill targets R2024b+ but some features require newer releases. References annotate these with the required release. Key ones:
R2024b:
imageshow,imblend,viewer2dR2026a:
uidraw,uipaint,linkviewersR2026b:
bwvolumefilt,bwpropfilt3,uiannotate
If targeting an older release, check with isMATLABReleaseOlderThan("R2026a") and use the fallback patterns documented in the references. To check release notes for a specific function, load matlab-read-documentation.
Copyright 2026 The MathWorks, Inc.
Files
- ATTRIBUTION.mdAdded by AutoGineer1.1 KiB
- LICENSELicence file added by AutoGineer1.4 KiB
- SKILL.md15.8 KiB
- manifest.yaml811 B
- references/3d-volume-processing.md20.2 KiB
- references/analysis-measurement.md18.5 KiB
- references/app-building.md16.9 KiB
- references/blocked-3d-volumes.md9.9 KiB
- references/blocked-data-discovery.md22.1 KiB
- references/blocked-geospatial.md3.2 KiB
- references/blocked-specialized-workflows.md4.3 KiB
- references/blocked-training-and-labeling.md7.0 KiB
- references/blocked-visualization.md5.1 KiB
- references/blocked-whole-slide-images.md3.1 KiB
- references/color-processing.md9.0 KiB
- references/deblurring.md8.1 KiB
- references/deep-learning-imaging.md14.8 KiB
- references/dicom-anonymization.md3.3 KiB
- references/dicom-rt-workflows.md7.4 KiB
- references/filtering.md21.8 KiB
- references/geometric-transforms.md14.3 KiB
- references/image-io.md15.5 KiB
- references/image-understanding.md20.0 KiB
- references/ipt-reading-writing.md4.8 KiB
- references/large-image-processing.md12.3 KiB
- references/medical-data-io.md8.3 KiB
- references/mit-medical-volume.md8.2 KiB
- references/mit-spatial-referencing.md5.9 KiB
- references/morphological-ops.md18.0 KiB
- references/preprocessing.md14.4 KiB
- references/quality-assessment.md13.5 KiB
- references/registration.md24.7 KiB
- references/segmentation-automated.md9.7 KiB
- references/segmentation-interactive.md15.3 KiB
- references/texture-transforms.md10.4 KiB
- references/video-io.md3.4 KiB
references/deep-learning-imaging.md
Deep Learning for Image Processing
Decision guidance for combining deep learning with image processing: data preparation, semantic segmentation, pretrained networks, and inference pipelines. Requires Deep Learning Toolbox; some features require Computer Vision Toolbox.
Often loaded with:
image-io.md(datastores and batch loading),analysis-measurement.md(post-processing segmentation output).
Using Pretrained PyTorch Vision Models
For tasks where a pretrained PyTorch model is the best starting point (e.g., depth estimation, style transfer, foundation models not available natively in MATLAB), use the matlab-integrate-pytorch-vision skill to interface with Python model repositories from MATLAB.
Toolbox Requirements
| Task | Required toolboxes |
|---|---|
| Training/inference | Deep Learning Toolbox |
| Semantic segmentation architectures | Computer Vision Toolbox |
| Object detection architectures | Computer Vision Toolbox |
| Image data augmentation | Deep Learning Toolbox |
| Pretrained feature extraction | Deep Learning Toolbox |
Check availability before generating code:
hasDeepLearning = ~isempty(ver("nnet"));
hasComputerVision = ~isempty(ver("vision"));1. Data Preprocessing
Image Datastores
Classification (folder-per-class)
imds = imageDatastore("data/images/", ...
IncludeSubfolders=true, ...
LabelSource="foldernames"); % Labels from folder names (e.g., cat/, dog/)Semantic Segmentation (image + pixel label pairs)
imds = imageDatastore("data/images/");
classNames = ["background", "tumor", "healthy"];
labelIDs = [0 1 2];
pxds = pixelLabelDatastore("data/labels/", classNames, labelIDs);
ds = combine(imds, pxds);Image Regression (image + continuous target)
imds = imageDatastore("data/images/");
% Targets from a table or file (e.g., depth maps, angles, coordinates)
targets = readtable("data/targets.csv"); % columns: filename, value1, value2, ...
targetDs = arrayDatastore(targets{:, 2:end});
ds = combine(imds, targetDs);For image-to-image regression (e.g., denoising, super-resolution, depth estimation):
inputImds = imageDatastore("data/noisy/");
targetImds = imageDatastore("data/clean/");
ds = combine(inputImds, targetImds);Resizing for Network Input
Networks require fixed input size. Resize images to match:
targetSize = [256 256]; % [rows cols] — NOT [width height]
% For datastores — use transform
dsResized = transform(ds, @(data) resizeForNetwork(data, targetSize));
function out = resizeForNetwork(data, targetSize)
out{1} = imresize(data{1}, targetSize);
out{2} = imresize(data{2}, targetSize, "nearest"); % Labels: nearest!
endGotcha: Always use "nearest" interpolation when resizing label maps or masks. Default bicubic creates invalid fractional labels.
Aspect-Ratio-Preserving Resize
When aspect ratio distortion hurts accuracy (e.g., object detection), pad to the target size instead of stretching:
function out = letterboxResize(img, targetSize)
[h, w, ~] = size(img);
scale = min(targetSize(1)/h, targetSize(2)/w);
newSize = round([h w] * scale);
resized = imresize(img, newSize);
padValue = 114; % common gray fill for detection networks
out = ones(targetSize(1), targetSize(2), size(img,3), class(img)) * padValue;
offset = floor((targetSize - newSize) / 2) + 1;
out(offset(1):offset(1)+newSize(1)-1, offset(2):offset(2)+newSize(2)-1, :) = resized;
endFor semantic segmentation, wrap as a paired transform that also pads labels with an ignore value (e.g., 255) so padded pixels do not contribute to loss.
Input Normalization — Critical
Networks expect specific input ranges. Common patterns:
| Network type | Expected input | Prepare with |
|---|---|---|
| Pretrained (ImageNet) | Per-channel zero-mean, unit-variance | Subtract ImageNet channel means, divide by stds |
| Pretrained (COCO) | Per-channel zero-mean, unit-variance | Subtract COCO channel means, divide by stds |
| Custom (trained on [0,1]) | [0, 1] single | im2single(img) or rescale(img, 0, 1) for arbitrary-range data |
| Custom (trained on [-1,1]) | [-1, 1] | rescale(img, -1, 1) |
| Arbitrary range (medical HU, float sensors) | Dataset-specific z-score | Compute dataset mean/std, normalize |
Gotcha: If training data was uint8 [0,255] but inference images are double [0,1], the network can produce incorrect predictions. Always match inference preprocessing to training preprocessing.
Pretrained Networks (ImageNet / COCO)
Most pretrained backbones use fixed per-channel statistics:
% ImageNet (ResNet, VGG, EfficientNet, etc.)
channelMeans = single([0.485, 0.456, 0.406]);
channelStds = single([0.229, 0.224, 0.225]);
% COCO (detection/segmentation models pretrained on COCO)
channelMeans = single([0.471, 0.448, 0.408]);
channelStds = single([0.234, 0.239, 0.242]);
% Apply: input must be single [0,1] first
img = im2single(img); % uint8 [0,255] → single [0,1]
img = (img - reshape(channelMeans, 1, 1, 3)) ./ reshape(channelStds, 1, 1, 3);Custom Networks (Compute-Then-Apply)
Compute mean/std from your training set, save, then apply via transform:
% Step 1: Compute channel-wise statistics
imds = imageDatastore("train/", IncludeSubfolders=true);
pixelSum = single([0 0 0]);
pixelSqSum = single([0 0 0]);
nPixels = 0;
while hasdata(imds)
img = single(read(imds));
nPx = size(img, 1) * size(img, 2);
pixelSum = pixelSum + sum(img, [1 2]);
pixelSqSum = pixelSqSum + sum(img.^2, [1 2]);
nPixels = nPixels + nPx;
end
reset(imds);
channelMeans = pixelSum / nPixels;
channelStds = sqrt(pixelSqSum / nPixels - channelMeans.^2);
save("normalization_params.mat", "channelMeans", "channelStds");
% Step 2: Apply in training pipeline
params = load("normalization_params.mat");
dsTrain = transform(dsTrain, @(data) normalizeForTraining(data, params));
function out = normalizeForTraining(data, params)
img = single(data{1});
img = (img - reshape(params.channelMeans, 1, 1, [])) ./ ...
reshape(params.channelStds, 1, 1, []);
out = {img, data{2}}; % {normalized image, label}
endData Augmentation
augmenter = imageDataAugmenter( ...
RandXReflection=true, ...
RandRotation=[-10 10], ...
RandScale=[0.9 1.1]);
augDs = augmentedImageDatastore(targetSize, imds, ...
DataAugmentation=augmenter);For segmentation (paired image + label augmentation), use transform with custom function:
ds = combine(imds, pxds);
dsAug = transform(ds, @augmentPair);
function out = augmentPair(data)
img = data{1};
lbl = data{2};
% Apply same geometric transform to both
if rand > 0.5
img = fliplr(img);
lbl = fliplr(lbl);
end
tform = randomAffine2d(Rotation=[-15 15], Scale=[0.8 1.2]);
rout = affineOutputView(size(img), tform);
img = imwarp(img, tform, OutputView=rout);
lbl = imwarp(lbl, tform, OutputView=rout, Interpolation="nearest");
out = {img, lbl};
endChannel Count Mismatches
| Scenario | Solution |
|---|---|
| Grayscale image → network expects RGB (3-ch) | repmat(grayImg, 1, 1, 3) |
| RGB image → network expects grayscale (1-ch) | im2gray(rgbImg) |
| Volumetric data with a 2-D network | Process slices independently only when a 2-D workflow is appropriate; otherwise, consider a 3-D architecture such as unet3d |
| Multi-channel (>3) → standard network | Custom input layer or channel reduction |
2. Modeling
Building from Scratch (Layer-by-Layer)
Define custom architectures using Deep Learning Toolbox layers:
layers = [
imageInputLayer([256 256 3], Normalization="none")
convolution2dLayer(3, 32, Padding="same")
batchNormalizationLayer
reluLayer
maxPooling2dLayer(2, Stride=2)
convolution2dLayer(3, 64, Padding="same")
batchNormalizationLayer
reluLayer
globalAveragePooling2dLayer
fullyConnectedLayer(numClasses)
softmaxLayer
];
net = dlnetwork(layers);Use addLayers and connectLayers for branching or multi-input architectures. Each layer must have a unique Name, and all inputs of multi-input layers (e.g., concatenationLayer) must be connected:
net = dlnetwork;
% Main path
net = addLayers(net, [
imageInputLayer([256 256 3], Name="input")
convolution2dLayer(3, 32, Padding="same", Name="conv1")
reluLayer(Name="relu1")
]);
% Branch path
net = addLayers(net, [
convolution2dLayer(1, 32, Padding="same", Name="conv_branch")
reluLayer(Name="relu_branch")
]);
% Merge
net = addLayers(net, concatenationLayer(3, 2, Name="concat"));
% Connect: branch takes same input, concat merges both paths
net = connectLayers(net, "input", "conv_branch");
net = connectLayers(net, "relu1", "concat/in1");
net = connectLayers(net, "relu_branch", "concat/in2");Use Deep Network Designer app (deepNetworkDesigner) to visually inspect, edit, and validate network architectures.
Classification with Pretrained Encoders
Use pretrainedEncoderNetwork to create a feature extractor from a pretrained backbone, then add classification layers:
[encoder, outputNames] = pretrainedEncoderNetwork("resnet18", 4);Semantic Segmentation Architectures
| Architecture | Function | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| U-Net | unet | Limited training data and segmentation of small or intricate structures |
| 3-D U-Net | unet3d | Volumetric image data, such as CT and MRI |
| DeepLab v3+ | deeplabv3plus | Precise boundary delineation and objects at multiple scales |
| BiSeNet v2 | bisenetv2 | Real-time segmentation and applications with limited computational resources |
inputSize = [256 256 1]; % [H W C]
numClasses = 3;
% U-Net
net = unet(inputSize, numClasses, EncoderDepth=4);
% 3-D U-Net (volumetric)
net = unet3d([64 64 64 1], numClasses, EncoderDepth=3);
% DeepLab v3+ with pretrained backbone
net = deeplabv3plus([256 256 3], numClasses, "resnet18");
% BiSeNet v2 — pretrained transfer learning (keeps pretrained weights)
net = bisenetv2(inputSize, numClasses);
% BiSeNet v2 — custom uninitialized network (no pretrained weights)
net = bisenetv2(inputSize, numClasses, NetworkType="custom");To adapt segmentation architectures for image-to-image regression (e.g., depth estimation, denoising), replace the final classification layer with a regression output (1 or N channels, no softmax):
net = unet([256 256 3], 2, EncoderDepth=4); % Start with 2-class U-Net
% Replace final conv + softmax for single-channel regression output
net = replaceLayer(net, "encoderDecoderFinalConvLayer", ...
convolution2dLayer(1, 1, Name="encoderDecoderFinalConvLayer"));
net = removeLayers(net, "FinalNetworkSoftmax-Layer");Custom Encoder-Decoder
For more control over skip connections and decoder structure, use encoderDecoderNetwork with a pretrained encoder:
[encoder, outputNames] = pretrainedEncoderNetwork("resnet18", 4);
net = encoderDecoderNetwork([256 256 3], encoder, outputNames, ...
NumClasses=numClasses);3. Training
options = trainingOptions("adam", ...
InitialLearnRate=1e-3, ...
MaxEpochs=50, ...
MiniBatchSize=8, ...
Shuffle="every-epoch", ...
ValidationData=valDs, ...
ValidationFrequency=50, ...
Plots="training-progress");
net = trainnet(dsTrain, net, "crossentropy", options);Modern API: Use trainnet, not the legacy trainNetwork. trainnet returns a dlnetwork directly.
4. Evaluation
Inference
% Single image
result = semanticseg(testImage, net); % Returns categorical label map
% Batch via datastore
pxdsResults = semanticseg(testImds, net, WriteLocation="results/");Inference — Reuse Training Normalization
Always load and apply the same normalization at inference:
params = load("normalization_params.mat");
testImg = im2single(imread("test.png"));
testImg = (testImg - reshape(params.channelMeans, 1, 1, [])) ./ ...
reshape(params.channelStds, 1, 1, []);
result = semanticseg(testImg, net);Tiled or Patch-Based Inference (Large Images/Volumes)
For images larger than GPU memory, use blockedImage with apply to process tiles:
bim = blockedImage(largeImage);
patchSize = [256 256];
overlap = [32 32];
result = apply(bim, @(block) semanticseg(block.Data, net), ...
BlockSize=patchSize, ...
BorderSize=overlap, ...
PadPartialBlocks=true);For tiled training workflows that use blockedImage or blockedImageDatastore to prepare image tiles, see references/large-image-processing.md.
Classification Metrics
scores = minibatchpredict(net, dsTest);
YPred = scores2label(scores, classNames);
% ROC curve and AUC
rocObj = rocmetrics(YTest, scores, classNames);
plot(rocObj);
% Confusion matrix
confusionchart(YTest, YPred);Segmentation Quality Metrics
% Confusion matrix metrics
metrics = evaluateSemanticSegmentation(pxdsResults, pxdsGT);
disp(metrics.ClassMetrics); % Per-class IoU, accuracy
disp(metrics.DataSetMetrics); % Mean IoU, mean accuracy, weighted IoUPost-Processing Segmentation Output
Raw network output often needs cleanup:
% Convert categorical to numeric labels
labelMap = uint8(result);
% Remove small regions (per-class)
for c = 1:numClasses
classMask = labelMap == c;
classMask = bwareaopen(classMask, minPixels);
labelMap(labelMap == c & ~classMask) = 0;
end
% Fill holes in segmentation
for c = 1:numClasses
classMask = labelMap == c;
classMask = imfill(classMask, "holes");
labelMap(classMask) = c;
endCommon Mistakes
| Mistake | Why it's wrong | Correct approach |
|---|---|---|
trainNetwork (legacy) | Deprecated, returns SeriesNetwork/DAGNetwork | Use trainnet, returns dlnetwork |
| Resizing labels with default interpolation | Bicubic creates invalid fractional labels | Always imresize(lbl, sz, "nearest") |
| Mismatched input range at inference | Network trained on [0,255] but given [0,1] | Match preprocessing exactly to training |
| Grayscale into 3-channel network | Dimension mismatch error | repmat(gray, 1, 1, 3) |
| Training segmentation without class weighting | Rare classes never learned | Use class weights or "focal" loss |
| Processing a large image at full resolution | Can exceed available memory | Use tiled or patch-based processing when the full-resolution image exceeds available memory (blockedImage or randomPatchExtractionDatastore) |
augmentedImageDatastore for segmentation | Only augments images, not labels | Use transform with paired augmentation function |
Forgetting "nearest" for warping labels | imwarp default is linear → fractional labels | imwarp(lbl, tform, Interpolation="nearest") |
Copyright 2026 The MathWorks, Inc.
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Attribution and licence
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- MathWorks
- Publisher
- MathWorks (Official)
- Source
- matlab/matlab-agentic-toolkit · skills-catalog/image-processing-and-computer-vision/matlab-process-images · commit 2a7f215
- Licence
- BSD 2-Clause License (redistribution allowed)
- LICENSE (added by AutoGineer from LICENSE.md)
- ATTRIBUTION.md (written by AutoGineer)
- Synced
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