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Importance of blur with image gradients

While working on generative paintings with brush strokes, aligning the brush strokes with the gradients of the colors in the source images can make a huge difference on the results of the rendering. It's really important to first blur your source image before you calculate the gradients.

In the images below you can see the results of calculating the gradients with and withouth blurring the source/input image.

Brush strokes without blur:

Brush strokes with blur:

I created a simple blur shader which reads from the current GL_READ_FRAMEBUFFER and then applies a horizontal + vertical blur and stores the result in a texture that you can read back by calling setAsReadBuffer(). (I'm using a couple of custom classes for logging which you can simple remove or create your own macro to replace them; see RX_*()).

Blur.h

/*
 
  # Blur
 
  Simple blur shader which performs 2 passes; a vertical and horizontal blur.
  This class assumes you set the read framebuffer and then call blur(). We read
  the current GL_READ_FRAMEBUFFER into our intermediate scene texture and then 
  perfrom 2 passes. This means we might have one extra blit which might be considered
  a performance issue; thouh on modern gpus you won't notice anything.
 
  To use the blurred result, call setAsReadBuffer() and either blit it to the
  default framebuffer or do something else with it 
 
*/
 
#ifndef ROXLU_BLUR_H
#define ROXLU_BLUR_H
 
#include <roxlu/core/Constants.h>
#include <roxlu/opengl/GL.h>
 
 
static const char* B_VS = ""
  "#version 150\n"
 
  "const float w = 1.0;"
  "const float h = 1.0;"
 
  "const vec2 vertices[4] = vec2[]("
  "     vec2(-w, h), "
  "     vec2(-w, -h), "
  "     vec2( w,  h), "
  "     vec2( w, -h) "
  ");"
 
  "const vec2 texcoords[4] = vec2[] ("
  "     vec2(0.0, 0.0), "
  "     vec2(0.0, 1.0), "
  "     vec2(1.0, 0.0), "
  "     vec2(1.0, 1.0) "
  ");"
 
  "out vec2 v_tex;"
 
  "void main() {"
  "  gl_Position = vec4(vertices[gl_VertexID], 0.0, 1.0);"
  "  v_tex = texcoords[gl_VertexID]; "
  "}"
  "";
 
class Blur {
 public:
  Blur();
  ~Blur();
  bool setup(int winW, int winH, float blurAmount = 8.0f, int texFetches = 5);
  void blur();                   /* applies the blur */
  void setAsReadBuffer();        /* sets the result to the current read buffer */
 private:
  bool setupFBO();
  bool setupShader();
  float gauss(const float x, const float sigma2);
  void shutdown();               /* resets this class; destroys all allocated objects */
 public:
  GLuint fbo;                    /* the framebuffer for rtt */
  GLuint depth;                  /* depth buffer; not 100% we actually need one */
  GLuint vao;                    /* we use attribute-less rendering; but we need a vao as GL core 3 does not allow drawing with the default VAO */
  GLuint prog0;                  /* program for the vertical blur */
  GLuint prog1;                  /* program for the horizontal blur */
  GLuint vert;                   /* the above vertex shader */
  GLuint frag0;                  /* vertical fragment shader */
  GLuint frag1;                  /* horizontal fragment shader */
  GLuint tex0;                   /* first pass (scene capture) + combined blur */
  GLuint tex1;                   /* intermedia texture */
  int win_w;                     /* width of the window/fbo */
  int win_h;                     /* height of the window/fbo */
  float blur_amount;             /* the blur amount, 5-8 normal, 8+ heave */
  int num_fetches;               /* how many texel fetches (half), the more the heavier for the gpu but more blur  */
};
 
#endif

Blur.cpp

#include <assert.h>
#include <math.h>
#include <roxlu/opengl/GL.h>
#include <roxlu/opengl/Error.h>
#include <roxlu/core/Log.h>
#include <sstream>
#include <string.h>
#include "Blur.h"
 
Blur::Blur()
  :fbo(0)
  ,depth(0)
  ,vao(0)
  ,prog0(0)
  ,prog1(0)
  ,vert(0)
  ,frag0(0)
  ,frag1(0)
  ,tex0(0)
  ,tex1(0)
  ,win_w(0)
  ,win_h(0)
  ,blur_amount(0)
  ,num_fetches(0)
{
}
 
Blur::~Blur() {
  shutdown();
}
 
bool Blur::setup(int winW, int winH, float blurAmount, int texFetches) {
 assert(winW);
 assert(winH);
 assert(blurAmount);
 assert(texFetches);
 
 win_w = winW;
 win_h = winH;
 blur_amount = blurAmount;
 num_fetches = texFetches;
 
 glGenVertexArrays(1, &vao);
 
 if(!setupFBO()) {
   shutdown();
   return false;
 }
 
 if(!setupShader()) {
   shutdown();
   return false;
 }
 
 return true;
}
 
bool Blur::setupFBO() { 
  glGenFramebuffers(1, &fbo);
  glBindFramebuffer(GL_FRAMEBUFFER, fbo);
 
  glGenRenderbuffers(1, &depth);
  glBindRenderbuffer(GL_RENDERBUFFER, depth);
  glRenderbufferStorage(GL_RENDERBUFFER, GL_DEPTH_COMPONENT32, win_w, win_h);
  glFramebufferRenderbuffer(GL_FRAMEBUFFER, GL_DEPTH_ATTACHMENT, GL_RENDERBUFFER, depth);
 
  glGenTextures(1, &tex0);
  glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_2D, tex0);
  glTexImage2D(GL_TEXTURE_2D, 0, GL_RGBA8, win_w, win_h, 0, GL_RGBA, GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE, NULL);
  glTexParameteri(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MIN_FILTER, GL_LINEAR);
  glTexParameteri(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MAG_FILTER, GL_LINEAR);
  glFramebufferTexture2D(GL_FRAMEBUFFER, GL_COLOR_ATTACHMENT0, GL_TEXTURE_2D, tex0, 0);
 
  glGenTextures(1, &tex1);
  glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_2D, tex1);
  glTexImage2D(GL_TEXTURE_2D, 0, GL_RGBA8, win_w, win_h, 0, GL_RGBA, GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE, NULL);
  glTexParameteri(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MIN_FILTER, GL_LINEAR);
  glTexParameteri(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MAG_FILTER, GL_LINEAR);
  glFramebufferTexture2D(GL_FRAMEBUFFER, GL_COLOR_ATTACHMENT1, GL_TEXTURE_2D, tex1, 0);
 
  GLenum status = glCheckFramebufferStatus(GL_FRAMEBUFFER);
  if(status != GL_FRAMEBUFFER_COMPLETE) {
    RX_ERROR("Framebuffer not complete");
    shutdown();
    return false;
  }
 
  return true;
}
 
bool Blur::setupShader() {
 
  // CREATE SHADER SOURCES
  // -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  int num_els = num_fetches;  /* kernel size */
  float* weights = new float[num_els]; 
  float sum = 0.0;
  float sigma2 = blur_amount;
 
  weights[0] = gauss(0,sigma2);
  sum = weights[0];
 
  for(int i = 1; i < num_els; i++) {
    weights[i] = gauss(i, sigma2);
    sum += 2 * weights[i];
  }
 
  for(int i = 0; i < num_els; ++i) {
    weights[i] = weights[i] / sum;
  }
 
  float dy = 1.0 / win_h;
  float dx = 1.0 / win_w;
 
  std::stringstream xblur;
  std::stringstream yblur;
  std::stringstream base_frag;
 
  base_frag << "#version 150\n"
            << "uniform sampler2D u_scene_tex;\n"
            << "in vec2 v_tex;\n"
            << "out vec4 fragcolor;\n";
 
  xblur << base_frag.str()
        << "void main() {\n"
        << "  fragcolor = texture(u_scene_tex, v_tex) * " << weights[0] << ";\n";
 
  yblur << base_frag.str()
        << "void main() {\n"
        << "  fragcolor = texture(u_scene_tex, v_tex) * " << weights[0] << ";\n";
 
  for(int i = 1 ; i < num_els; ++i) {
    yblur << "  fragcolor += texture(u_scene_tex, v_tex + vec2(0.0, " << float(i) * dy << ")) * " << weights[i] << ";\n" ;
    yblur << "  fragcolor += texture(u_scene_tex, v_tex - vec2(0.0, " << float(i) * dy << ")) * " << weights[i] << ";\n" ;
    xblur << "  fragcolor += texture(u_scene_tex, v_tex + vec2(" << float(i) * dx << ", 0.0)) * " << weights[i] << ";\n" ;
    xblur << "  fragcolor += texture(u_scene_tex, v_tex - vec2(" << float(i) * dx << ", 0.0)) * " << weights[i] << ";\n" ;
  }
 
  yblur << "}";
  xblur << "}";
 
  delete weights;
  weights = NULL;
 
  // -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  std::string yblur_s = yblur.str();
  std::string xblur_s = xblur.str();
  const char* yblur_vss = yblur_s.c_str();
  const char* xblur_vss = xblur_s.c_str();
 
  vert = glCreateShader(GL_VERTEX_SHADER); glShaderSource(vert, 1, &B_VS, NULL); glCompileShader(vert);  eglGetShaderInfoLog(vert);
  frag0 = glCreateShader(GL_FRAGMENT_SHADER); glShaderSource(frag0, 1,&yblur_vss, NULL); glCompileShader(frag0); eglGetShaderInfoLog(frag0);
  prog0 = glCreateProgram(); glAttachShader(prog0, vert); glAttachShader(prog0, frag0); glLinkProgram(prog0); eglGetShaderLinkLog(prog0);
 
  frag1 = glCreateShader(GL_FRAGMENT_SHADER); glShaderSource(frag1, 1, &xblur_vss, NULL); glCompileShader(frag1); eglGetShaderInfoLog(frag1);
  prog1 = glCreateProgram(); glAttachShader(prog1, vert); glAttachShader(prog1, frag1); glLinkProgram(prog1); eglGetShaderLinkLog(prog1);
 
  GLint u_scene_tex = 0;
 
  // set scene tex unit for 1st pass
  glUseProgram(prog0);
  u_scene_tex = glGetUniformLocation(prog0, "u_scene_tex");
  if(u_scene_tex < 0) {
    RX_ERROR("Cannot find u_scene_tex (1)");
    shutdown();
    return false;
  }
  glUniform1i(u_scene_tex, 0);
 
  // set scene tex unit for 2nd pass
  glUseProgram(prog1);
  u_scene_tex = glGetUniformLocation(prog1, "u_scene_tex");
  if(u_scene_tex < 0) {
    RX_ERROR("Cannot find u_scene_tex (2)");
    shutdown();
    return false;
  }
  glUniform1i(u_scene_tex, 0);
 
  return true;
}
 
 
void Blur::blur() {
  assert(fbo);
 
  // Blur the current read framebuffer into our first attachment (the source)
  GLenum draw_bufs0[] = { GL_COLOR_ATTACHMENT0 } ;
  glBindFramebuffer(GL_DRAW_FRAMEBUFFER, fbo);
  glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT | GL_DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT);
  glDrawBuffers(1, draw_bufs0);
  glViewport(0,0,win_w, win_h);
  glBlitFramebuffer(0, 0, win_w, win_h, 0, 0, win_w, win_h, GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT, GL_LINEAR);
 
  glBindVertexArray(vao);
 
  {
    // vertical blur
    GLenum draw_bufs1[] = { GL_COLOR_ATTACHMENT1 } ;
    glDrawBuffers(1, draw_bufs1);
 
    glActiveTexture(GL_TEXTURE0);
    glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_2D, tex0);
 
    glUseProgram(prog0);
    glDrawArrays(GL_TRIANGLE_STRIP, 0, 4);
  }
 
  {
    // horizontal blur
    GLenum draw_bufs1[] = { GL_COLOR_ATTACHMENT0 } ;
    glDrawBuffers(1, draw_bufs1);
 
    glActiveTexture(GL_TEXTURE0);
    glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_2D, tex1);
 
    glUseProgram(prog1);
    glDrawArrays(GL_TRIANGLE_STRIP, 0, 4);
 
  }
 
  glBindFramebuffer(GL_DRAW_FRAMEBUFFER, 0);
}
 
void Blur::setAsReadBuffer() {
  assert(fbo);
 
  glBindFramebuffer(GL_DRAW_FRAMEBUFFER, 0);
  glBindFramebuffer(GL_READ_FRAMEBUFFER, fbo);
  glReadBuffer(GL_COLOR_ATTACHMENT0);
}
 
float Blur::gauss(const float x, const float sigma2) {
  double coeff = 1.0 / (2.0 * PI * sigma2);
  double expon = -(x*x) / (2.0 * sigma2);
  return (float) (coeff*exp(expon));
}
 
void Blur::shutdown() {
  if(fbo) {
    glDeleteFramebuffers(1, &fbo);
  }
  fbo = 0;
 
  if(depth) {
    glDeleteRenderbuffers(1, &depth);
  }
  depth = 0;
 
  if(vao) {
    glDeleteVertexArrays(1, &vao);
  }
  vao = 0;
 
  if(prog0) {
    glDeleteProgram(prog0);
  }
  prog0 = 0;
 
  if(prog1) {
    glDeleteProgram(prog1);
  }
  prog1 = 0;
 
  if(vert) {
    glDeleteShader(vert);
  }
  vert = 0;
 
  if(frag0) {
    glDeleteShader(frag0);
  }
  frag0 = 0;
 
  if(frag1) {
    glDeleteShader(frag1);
  }
  frag1 = 0;
 
  if(tex0) {
    glDeleteTextures(1, &tex0);
  }
  tex0 = 0;
 
  if(tex1) {
    glDeleteTextures(1, &tex1);
  }
  tex1 = 0;
 
  win_w = 0;
  win_h = 0;
  blur_amount = 0.0f;
  num_fetches = 0;
}

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