ECSE 415 Intro to Computer Vision

ECSE 415: Introduction to Computer Vision

McGill University, Winter 2017

Lectures: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:35-12:55am

Room: ENGTR 0060
Instructor: James Clark
Office: MC-422
Office Hours: Wednesdays 2:30-3:30pm or by appointment
Phone: 398-2654
Tutorials: Fridays, 11:35am-12:25pm
Room: ENGTR 0060
Teaching Assistants: Siavash Gorji and Gary Corcoran
Office Hours: TBD
The course instructor and T.A.s are available over email through mycourses.
Credit Weight: 3 credits
Activity Schedule: (3-1-5) 39 hours of lectures, 13 hours of tutorial, 65 hours of selfstudy.
Accreditation Unit Breakdown: Engineering Science: 50%, Engineering Design: 50%
CEAB Graduate Attributes: Knowledge Base for Engineering (2/4), Design (2/4),
Engineering Tools (1/4), Communication Skills (1/4)
Course Motivation:
Computer vision is a field that involves the development of computer programs to
automatically analyze and understand the content of images acquired from a sensor. The
image data can take many forms, such as video sequences, views from multiple cameras,
depth measurements from the Xbox Kinect, or multi-dimensional data from a medical
scanner. The objective is to produce some form of numerical or symbolic representation
of the contents of the scene. At times, the field has been concerned with duplicating the
human visual systems procedure for visual perception. Often models used involve the
development of mathematical tools, borrowed from the fields of geometry, probability and
statistics, physics, machine learning, and others.
As a scientific discipline, computer vision is concerned with the theory behind artificial
systems that extract information from images. As a technological discipline, computer
vision seeks to apply its theories and models to the construction of computer vision
systems. This course will cover essential topics in the field of computer vision, providing
students with background on some theoretical components of the field, as well as hands-

ECSE 415 Intro to Computer Vision

on experience through practical and fun assignments. The course would complement
existing courses in computer graphics, embedded systems, artificial intelligence and
signal processing.
It is important to note that computer vision is currently in a phase of high growth
worldwide. Hardware companies (e.g. Intel, Samsung, Qualcomm), software companies
(e.g. Google, Facebook), as well as car and entertainment companies (e.g. Disney,
Microsoft: Xbox) are all currently heavily investing in these domains, and aggressively
recruiting in the area. Many companies with products in the telecommunication area such
as Apple, Blackberry, Google, Bell, Apple, and Nokia all have significant activities in
developing vision and image manipulation apps for use in cellphones. Furthermore, a
large number of startups in this area have recently enjoyed tremendous success due to
the maturity and availability of the algorithms in the field as well as the ubiquitous nature
of cameras today. The material covered in this course is aimed at senior undergraduates,
both among those seeking employment the above application domains, and students
considering the field as an area for graduate research.
Prerequisities:
ECSE 304 Signals and Systems 2 or
ECSE 306 Fundamentals of Signals and Systems
Learning Outcomes:
During this course, the student will acquire a broad understanding of a variety of problems
addressed by researchers in the field of computer vision. These include (but are not
limited to): image formation, filtering and image enhancement, image matching, feature
detection and descriptors, feature alignment and stitching, grouping and matching, stereo,
motion and optical flow estimation, segmentation, scene understanding, face detection
and recognition, object recognition and an introduction to a few problems in medical
image analysis. Students will be given an overview of designing and programming in
Python and OpenCV in the context of solving practical problems in the field of computer
vision. By the end of the course, the students should be able to apply, in a design context,
their acquired programming skills to address a wide variety of problems in computer
vision.
Evaluation Method:
Assignments (4):
End of term project:
Final Exam:

50%
20%
30%

Please note that assignments that are handed in late will receive a penalty.

ECSE 415 Intro to Computer Vision

Textbook (for reference):
Computer Vision: Algorithms and Applications, by Richard Szeliski, Springer 2010. This
book is available for free online (author is a McGill graduate):
http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-1-84882-935-0.pdf

Supplementary texts:
Computer Vision: A Modern Approach, by David Forsyth and Jean Ponce, Prentice-Hall,
2nd edition, 2011.
Mastering OpenCV with Practical Computer Vision Projects, by Daniel Lelis Baggio, et
al., Packt Publishing, 2012.
Making Things See: 3D Vision with Kinect, Processing, Arduino and MakerBot, by Greg
Borenstein, Maker Media Inc., 2012

ECSE 415 Intro to Computer Vision

LECTURE SCHEDULE (subject to change)
Date
January 5
January 10
January 12
January 17
January 19
January 24
January 26
January 31
Feb 2
Feb 7
Feb 9
Feb 14
Feb 16
Feb 21
Feb 23
February 28
March 2
March 7
March 9
March 14
March 16
March 21
March 23
March 28
March 30
April 4
April 6
April 11

Topic
Intro to the course
Image formation and
acquisition
Digital camera design
Image filtering
Feature detection
Feature detection and
descriptors 1
Feature detection and
descriptors 2
Feature based image matching
Feature based image alignment
and stitching
Higher level features (Bag-OfWords) and clustering
Image segmentation
Shape-from-X
Stereo correspondences and
depth estimation
Optical flow and motion
estimation
Tracking
STUDY BREAK NO
CLASS
STUDY BREAK NO
CLASS
Structure from motion
Face detection/recognition
using PCA
Viola/Jones boosting approach
to face detection
Object recognition
Scene understanding and
inference 1
Scene understanding and
inference 2
Probabilistic inference
Bayesian recognition methods
Medical Image Analysis
Medical Image Analysis
Deep learning and
convolutional neural networks

Textbook Chapters
2.2, 2.3

3.2,3.3
4.1.1,4.2.1
4.1.2
4.1.2
4.1.3
6.1,9
14.4.1, 5.3.1 , 5.2.4 (time
permitting)
5.2
12.1
11
8

7
14.2.1
14.1.1

Appendix B
Appendix B

ECSE 415 Intro to Computer Vision

Useful computer vision links:

The Computer Vision Home Page
Annotated Computer Vision Bibliography
CVonline Compendium of Computer Vision

Protected Course Material:

Instructor generated course materials (e.g., handouts, notes, summaries, exam
questions, etc.) are protected by law and may not be copied or distributed in any form or
in any medium without explicit permission of the instructor. Note that infringements of
copyright can be subject to follow up by the University under the Code of Student Conduct
and Disciplinary Procedures.
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"McGill University values academic integrity. Therefore, all students must understand the
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Right to Submit in English or French Written Work that is to be Graded:
In accord with McGill Universitys Charter of Students Rights, students in this course
have the right to submit in English or in French any written work that is to be graded.
"Conformment la Charte des droits de ltudiant de lUniversit McGill, chaque
tudiant a le droit de soumettre en franais ou en anglais tout travail crit devant tre not
(sauf dans le cas des cours dont lun des objets est la matrise dune langue)."
Students with Disabilities:
"As the instructor of this course, I endeavor to provide an inclusive learning environment.
However, if you experience barriers to learning in this course, do not hesitate to discuss
them with me and the Office for Students with Disabilities, 514-398-6009."
Course Evaluations:
"End-of-course evaluations are one of the ways that McGill works towards maintaining

ECSE 415 Intro to Computer Vision

and improving the quality of courses and the students learning experience. You will be
notified by e-mail when the evaluations are available on Mercury, the online course
evaluation system. Please note that a minimum number of responses must be received
for results to be available to students."
Policy related to mobile computing and communications (MC2)
The use of MC2 devices must, in all cases, respect policies and regulations of the
University, including in particular the following:
1. The Code of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures;
2. The Policy Concerning the Rights of Students with Disabilities;
3. The Policy on the Responsible Use of McGill IT Resources.
Please Note:
"In the event of extraordinary circumstances beyond the Universitys control, the content
and/or evaluation scheme in this course is subject to change."