Since your problem is to downscale your image, there is no point in talking about interpolation -which is about creating pixel-. The issue here is downsampling.
To downsample an image, we need to turn each square of p * p pixels in the original image into a single pixel in the destination image.
For performances reasons Browsers do a very simple downsampling : to build the smaller image, they will just pick ONE pixel in the source and use its value for the destination. which ‘forgets’ some details and adds noise.
Yet there’s an exception to that : since the 2X image downsampling is very simple to compute (average 4 pixels to make one) and is used for retina/HiDPI pixels, this case is handled properly -the Browser does make use of 4 pixels to make one-.
BUT… if you use several time a 2X downsampling, you’ll face the issue that the successive rounding errors will add too much noise.
What’s worse, you won’t always resize by a power of two, and resizing to the nearest power + a last resizing is very noisy.
What you seek is a pixel-perfect downsampling, that is : a re-sampling of the image that will take all input pixels into account -whatever the scale-.
To do that we must compute, for each input pixel, its contribution to one, two, or four destination pixels depending wether the scaled projection of the input pixels is right inside a destination pixels, overlaps an X border, an Y border, or both.
( A scheme would be nice here, but i don’t have one. )
Here’s an example of canvas scale vs my pixel perfect scale on a 1/3 scale of a zombat.
Notice that the picture might get scaled in your Browser, and is .jpegized by S.O..
Yet we see that there’s much less noise especially in the grass behind the wombat, and the branches on its right. The noise in the fur makes it more contrasted, but it looks like he’s got white hairs -unlike source picture-.
Right image is less catchy but definitively nicer.
Here’s the code to do the pixel perfect downscaling :
fiddle result :
http://jsfiddle.net/gamealchemist/r6aVp/embedded/result/
fiddle itself : http://jsfiddle.net/gamealchemist/r6aVp/
// scales the image by (float) scale < 1
// returns a canvas containing the scaled image.
function downScaleImage(img, scale) {
var imgCV = document.createElement('canvas');
imgCV.width = img.width;
imgCV.height = img.height;
var imgCtx = imgCV.getContext('2d');
imgCtx.drawImage(img, 0, 0);
return downScaleCanvas(imgCV, scale);
}
// scales the canvas by (float) scale < 1
// returns a new canvas containing the scaled image.
function downScaleCanvas(cv, scale) {
if (!(scale < 1) || !(scale > 0)) throw ('scale must be a positive number <1 ');
var sqScale = scale * scale; // square scale = area of source pixel within target
var sw = cv.width; // source image width
var sh = cv.height; // source image height
var tw = Math.floor(sw * scale); // target image width
var th = Math.floor(sh * scale); // target image height
var sx = 0, sy = 0, sIndex = 0; // source x,y, index within source array
var tx = 0, ty = 0, yIndex = 0, tIndex = 0; // target x,y, x,y index within target array
var tX = 0, tY = 0; // rounded tx, ty
var w = 0, nw = 0, wx = 0, nwx = 0, wy = 0, nwy = 0; // weight / next weight x / y
// weight is weight of current source point within target.
// next weight is weight of current source point within next target's point.
var crossX = false; // does scaled px cross its current px right border ?
var crossY = false; // does scaled px cross its current px bottom border ?
var sBuffer = cv.getContext('2d').
getImageData(0, 0, sw, sh).data; // source buffer 8 bit rgba
var tBuffer = new Float32Array(3 * tw * th); // target buffer Float32 rgb
var sR = 0, sG = 0, sB = 0; // source's current point r,g,b
/* untested !
var sA = 0; //source alpha */
for (sy = 0; sy < sh; sy++) {
ty = sy * scale; // y src position within target
tY = 0 | ty; // rounded : target pixel's y
yIndex = 3 * tY * tw; // line index within target array
crossY = (tY != (0 | ty + scale));
if (crossY) { // if pixel is crossing botton target pixel
wy = (tY + 1 - ty); // weight of point within target pixel
nwy = (ty + scale - tY - 1); // ... within y+1 target pixel
}
for (sx = 0; sx < sw; sx++, sIndex += 4) {
tx = sx * scale; // x src position within target
tX = 0 | tx; // rounded : target pixel's x
tIndex = yIndex + tX * 3; // target pixel index within target array
crossX = (tX != (0 | tx + scale));
if (crossX) { // if pixel is crossing target pixel's right
wx = (tX + 1 - tx); // weight of point within target pixel
nwx = (tx + scale - tX - 1); // ... within x+1 target pixel
}
sR = sBuffer[sIndex ]; // retrieving r,g,b for curr src px.
sG = sBuffer[sIndex + 1];
sB = sBuffer[sIndex + 2];
/* !! untested : handling alpha !!
sA = sBuffer[sIndex + 3];
if (!sA) continue;
if (sA != 0xFF) {
sR = (sR * sA) >> 8; // or use /256 instead ??
sG = (sG * sA) >> 8;
sB = (sB * sA) >> 8;
}
*/
if (!crossX && !crossY) { // pixel does not cross
// just add components weighted by squared scale.
tBuffer[tIndex ] += sR * sqScale;
tBuffer[tIndex + 1] += sG * sqScale;
tBuffer[tIndex + 2] += sB * sqScale;
} else if (crossX && !crossY) { // cross on X only
w = wx * scale;
// add weighted component for current px
tBuffer[tIndex ] += sR * w;
tBuffer[tIndex + 1] += sG * w;
tBuffer[tIndex + 2] += sB * w;
// add weighted component for next (tX+1) px
nw = nwx * scale
tBuffer[tIndex + 3] += sR * nw;
tBuffer[tIndex + 4] += sG * nw;
tBuffer[tIndex + 5] += sB * nw;
} else if (crossY && !crossX) { // cross on Y only
w = wy * scale;
// add weighted component for current px
tBuffer[tIndex ] += sR * w;
tBuffer[tIndex + 1] += sG * w;
tBuffer[tIndex + 2] += sB * w;
// add weighted component for next (tY+1) px
nw = nwy * scale
tBuffer[tIndex + 3 * tw ] += sR * nw;
tBuffer[tIndex + 3 * tw + 1] += sG * nw;
tBuffer[tIndex + 3 * tw + 2] += sB * nw;
} else { // crosses both x and y : four target points involved
// add weighted component for current px
w = wx * wy;
tBuffer[tIndex ] += sR * w;
tBuffer[tIndex + 1] += sG * w;
tBuffer[tIndex + 2] += sB * w;
// for tX + 1; tY px
nw = nwx * wy;
tBuffer[tIndex + 3] += sR * nw;
tBuffer[tIndex + 4] += sG * nw;
tBuffer[tIndex + 5] += sB * nw;
// for tX ; tY + 1 px
nw = wx * nwy;
tBuffer[tIndex + 3 * tw ] += sR * nw;
tBuffer[tIndex + 3 * tw + 1] += sG * nw;
tBuffer[tIndex + 3 * tw + 2] += sB * nw;
// for tX + 1 ; tY +1 px
nw = nwx * nwy;
tBuffer[tIndex + 3 * tw + 3] += sR * nw;
tBuffer[tIndex + 3 * tw + 4] += sG * nw;
tBuffer[tIndex + 3 * tw + 5] += sB * nw;
}
} // end for sx
} // end for sy
// create result canvas
var resCV = document.createElement('canvas');
resCV.width = tw;
resCV.height = th;
var resCtx = resCV.getContext('2d');
var imgRes = resCtx.getImageData(0, 0, tw, th);
var tByteBuffer = imgRes.data;
// convert float32 array into a UInt8Clamped Array
var pxIndex = 0; //
for (sIndex = 0, tIndex = 0; pxIndex < tw * th; sIndex += 3, tIndex += 4, pxIndex++) {
tByteBuffer[tIndex] = Math.ceil(tBuffer[sIndex]);
tByteBuffer[tIndex + 1] = Math.ceil(tBuffer[sIndex + 1]);
tByteBuffer[tIndex + 2] = Math.ceil(tBuffer[sIndex + 2]);
tByteBuffer[tIndex + 3] = 255;
}
// writing result to canvas.
resCtx.putImageData(imgRes, 0, 0);
return resCV;
}
It is quite memory greedy, since a float buffer is required to store the intermediate values of the destination image (-> if we count the result canvas, we use 6 times the source image’s memory in this algorithm).
It is also quite expensive, since each source pixel is used whatever the destination size, and we have to pay for the getImageData / putImageDate, quite slow also.
But there’s no way to be faster than process each source value in this case, and situation is not that bad : For my 740 * 556 image of a wombat, processing takes between 30 and 40 ms.