An importance driven genetic algorithm for the halftoning process

Abstract

Most evolutionary approaches to halftoning techniques have been concerned with the paramount goal of halftoning: achieving an accurate reproduction of local grayscale intensities while avoiding the introduction of artifacts. A secondary concern in halftoning has been the preservation of edges in the halftoned image. In this paper, we will introduce a new evolutionary approach through the use of an importance function. This approach has at least two main characteristics. First, it can produce results similar to many other halftoning techniques. Second, if the chosen importance function is accordingly changed, areas of the image with high variance can be highlighted.