Mário Andrade

Patchmatch is an algorithm developed by Connelly Barnes, Eli Shechtman, Adam Finkelstein, and Dan B Goldman, that allows structural image editing by finding the common neighbor matching it between image patches.
For what I understood, previous versions would search the nearest neighbor to a specific point, the new algorithm has a wider search capability making it more accurate.

This new algorithm is inserted into Photoshop CS5 Healing tool giving it the amazing capability of creating a completely new image.

Image Recomposing / reshuffling

Image recomposing allows you to move parts of an image around and attaching it to other parts of the image. This allows you to create a completely new image effect simply by drag and drop method.

Image Completion / Inpainting

There was a time when removing foreign people and objects from an image had it’s dificulty. The new algorithm allows you to remove objects from an image quick and simple.

Image re-targeting

Adobe also implemented the directional similarity algorithm that simplifies repetitive structures with additional constrain tools to achieve better results.

The following video explains and shows Image reshuffling, In-painting and Image re-targeting methods:

Unfortunately if you notice the message in the end of the film, Photoshop response time is not as quick as seen on video as Adobe explains:

Except where noted, all image updates are shown in real time using 2 CPU cores for synthesis.

Some user interactions (Drawing paint strokes & lines) have been sped up by 5x for brevity.

Which means that this algorithm will eat your CPU heart out when you try to use it. Unfortunately this means I can’t test CS5 at home.

For more information visit the following links:

• http://www.cs.princeton.edu/gfx/pubs/Barnes_2009_PAR/index.php
• http://www.adobe.com/technology/graphics/patchmatch.html
• http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2009/10/video_new_from_adobe_labs_content-aware_fill.html