Why does downsample appear as a gray image? - image

Question

In the implementation of downsampling by a factor of 2 to the image, the downsampled image is gray. What should I do in order to add all of the color components to the downsampling implementation so that it will be a color image?
I = imread('lena.gif','gif');
[j k] = size(I)
x_new = j./2;
y_new = k./2;
x_scale = j./x_new;
y_scale = k./y_new;
M = zeros(x_new,y_new);
for count1 = 1:x_new
for count2 = 1:y_new
M(count1,count2) = I(count1.*x_scale,count2.*y_scale);
end
end
figure,imshow(I);
title('Original Image');
M = uint8(M);
figure,imshow(M);
title('Downsample');

Answer 1

GIF images are what are known as indexed images. This means that what you read in with imread are values that are indices to a colour map. Each index generates a unique colour for you, and that's how GIF images are stored. They choose from a predefined set of colours, and each pixel in the GIF image comes from one of the colours in the colour map.
You first need to convert the image into RGB, and you do that with ind2rgb. However, you need to read in the colour map first with the two-output version of imread. You also will want to convert the images to uint8 as good practice with im2uint8:
[X,map] = imread('lena.gif');
I = im2uint8(ind2rgb(X,map));
What you need to do next is what #NKN suggested. You must apply the algorithm to all channels.
As such, simply make an output matrix that has three channels, and apply the algorithm to each plane independently. If I can make a suggestion, when accessing pixels this way after you downsample, make sure you floor or round the image coordinates so you're not inadvertently specifying locations that aren't defined - things like (13.8, 25.5) for example. Image pixel locations are integer, so you need to make sure the coordinates are integer too.
[X,map] = imread('lena.gif');
I = im2uint8(ind2rgb(X,map));
j = size(I,1); %// Change
k = size(I,2);
x_new = j./2;
y_new = k./2;
x_scale = j./x_new;
y_scale = k./y_new;
M = zeros(x_new,y_new,size(I,3)); %// Change
for jj = 1 : size(I,3) %// Change
for count1 = 1:x_new
for count2 = 1:y_new
M(count1,count2,jj) = I(floor(count1.*x_scale),floor(count2.*y_scale),jj); %// Change
end
end
end
figure,imshow(I);
title('Original Image');
M = uint8(M);
figure,imshow(M);
title('Downsample');
To test this, I'm using the mandrill dataset that's part of MATLAB. It is an indexed image with an associated colour map. These are coincidentally stored in X and map respectfully:
load mandrill;
I = im2uint8(ind2rgb(X,map));
Running the modified code, I get these two figures:

Answer 2

When you read the original image it contains 3 layers, R-G-B (as suggested by #rayryeng:
[X,map] = imread('lena.gif');
I = ind2rgb(X,map);
size(I)
ans =
768 1024 3
You should perform the down-sampling process on all the layers:
The code you provided does not down-sample. A simple downsampling example is as follows:
imshow(I(1:2:end,1:2:end,:))