As a computer enthusiast, there are events in the history of the industry that will stay with me for a lifetime. AMD toppling the Intel empire with the Athlon, the first time I used a flash drive and the release of Windows XP are all moments that carry a special importance in my memory. I recall events like this with special significance because they mark a turning point in the course of a market. I just knew that AMD’s ascendence would finally bring reason to CPU prices. I just knew that the flash drive was going to kill the floppy. And I just knew that Windows XP was finally going bring mass stability to Windows. It’s not often that I add to this list, and it’s even less likely that I would add a SIGGRAPH demonstration to the list, but that is precisely what happened in 2007.
Doctors Ariel Shamir and Shai Avidan used SIGGRAPH 2007 to introduce a technology called Content-Aware Image Sizing. The technology analyzes pictures using paths or “seams” of similar visual details so an image can be resized without disturbing the unique elements of the picture. My time with the YouTube video of its first public demonstration was a transformative and epiphanic moment in the timeline of my fascination with the computing industry. If you’ve never seen CAIS in action, you need to stop and watch the proof-of-concept video I’m talking about:
I know that anyone seeing the video first time is sharing in the moment of prescience I experienced: “Oh my God, THIS is the future of image editing!”
It took two years for the technology to hit the ground running, and it’s no surprise that the honor of its first true commercial introduction falls to Adobe’s Photoshop CS4 which offers CAIS at the user’s discretion. While that’s swell, most agree that the price of Photoshop and its partners borders on the profane. Today I’d like to introduce a free tool that has been around almost since the date of CAIS’ debut, and that tool is called SEAMonster.
SEAMonster is an implementation of the original seam carving algorithm (PDF) introduced during SIGGRAPH 2007. It will allow you to resize images in much the same way Dr. Shamir did for the 2007 video which has undoubtedly tickled your fascination.
I’m not certain how I missed this tool, but even if I’ll never put it to legitimate use, I don’t know how I can go along in life without having it on my PC. I hope you feel the same way, too.
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