Recursive filtering and edge tracking: two primary tools for 3D edge detection

Abstract This paper deals with edge detection in 3D images such as scanner, magnetic resonance (NMR), or spatiotemporal data. We propose a unified formalism for 3D edge detection using optimal, recursive and separable filters recently introduced for 2D edge detection. Then we obtain some efficient 3D edge detection algorithms having a low computational cost. It is shown that the three-dimensional edge tracking algorithm extracts additional edges not provided by the filtering stage without introducing spurious edges. Experimental results obtained on NMR images are shown.