Calculate gradients of a 3d structure in Matlab - matlab

Question

I try to use the Matlab function gradient to calculate the gradient of a volume. I use quiver to display the gradients of slices.
I use a cube-like volume, which is symmetric with respect to x, y, and z axis. To my surprise, the result is not the same for all slices. Actually only the result in the xy-plane (Z-slice, last image) is the expected result.
I know that there are issues when calculating the gradient at the border of an image. But for me the result at the border is not important and so I don't care if the result next to the border is correct. For me it would be important that all three images look like the last one.
Can somebody tell me what is wrong with my code? Thanks!
f=zeros(20,20,20);
space = 5;
f(:,:,space) = 1; f(:,:,end-space) = 1;
f(:,space,:) = 1; f(:,end-space,:) = 1;
f(space,:,:) = 1; f(end-space,:,:) = 1;
space = 4;
f(:,:,space) = 1; f(:,:,end-space) = 1;
f(:,space,:) = 1; f(:,end-space,:) = 1;
f(space,:,:) = 1; f(end-space,:,:) = 1;
size_iso = size(f);
x_slice = round(size_iso(1)/2);
y_slice = round(size_iso(2)/2);
z_slice = round(size_iso(3)/2);
% display the gradient of the edge map
[fx,fy,fz] = gradient(f,0.1);
figure;
image(squeeze(f(x_slice,:,:))*50); colormap(gray(64)); hold on;
quiver(squeeze(fy(x_slice,:,:)),squeeze(fz(x_slice,:,:)));
axis equal;
title(['edge map gradient of X-slice ', num2str(x_slice)]);
figure;
image(squeeze(f(:,y_slice,:))*50); colormap(gray(64)); hold on;
quiver(squeeze(fx(:,y_slice,:)),squeeze(fz(:,y_slice,:)));
axis equal;
title(['edge map gradient of Y-slice ', num2str(y_slice)]);
figure;
image(squeeze(f(:,:,z_slice))*50); colormap(gray(64)); hold on;
quiver(squeeze(fx(:,:,z_slice)),squeeze(fy(:,:,z_slice)));
axis equal;
title(['edge map gradient of Z-slice ', num2str(z_slice)]);

Answer 1

Things are bit more complicated with 3D matrices and coordinates.
For example
img = rand(10,30);
imagesc(img);
axis equal;
will display an image 30 pixels wide and 10 pixels high.
In MatLab when you display an image its first dimension (rows) is actually Y-axis on the plot. Second dimension (columns) is X-axis on the plot.
See, for example, http://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/math/multidimensional-arrays.html
To illustrate mistake in your code consider simplified example:
% we need a 3D matrix with
% 10 points along the X-axis
% 20 points along the Y-axis
% 30 points along the Z-axis
f = rand(20,10,30); % note the order of numbers
size_iso = size(f), % gives [20 10 30]
x_slice = round(size_iso(2)/2) % gives 5
y_slice = round(size_iso(1)/2) % gives 10
z_slice = round(size_iso(3)/2) % gives 15
figure;
image(squeeze(f(:,x_slice,:))*50); colormap(gray(64)); hold on;
axis equal;
title(['X-slice ', num2str(x_slice)]);
% this code produces image 30 pixels wide and 20 pixels high
% Thus 1st dimension (vertical axis) is actually the Y-axis
% Thus 2nd dimension (horizontal axis) is actually the Z-axis
figure;
image(squeeze(f(y_slice,:,:))*50); colormap(gray(64)); hold on;
axis equal;
title(['Y-slice ', num2str(y_slice)]);
% this code produces image 30 pixels wide and 10 pixels high
% Thus 1st dimension (vertical axis) is actually the X-axis
% Thus 2nd dimension (horizontal axis) is actually the Z-axis
figure;
image(squeeze(f(:,:,z_slice))*50); colormap(gray(64)); hold on;
axis equal;
title(['Z-slice ', num2str(z_slice)]);
% this code produces 10 pixels wide and 20 pixels high
% Thus 1st dimension (vertical axis) is actually the Y-axis
% Thus 2nd dimension (horizontal axis) is actually the X-axis
For your code to work properly you should pay attention not only to the order of dimensions in the slice image but also to the way they are shifted by squeeze function.
Therefore you should provide proper combination of coordinates to the subsequent quiver function call.
I modified your code to fill slab perpendicular to given axis with unique value so you should be able to distinguish them easier. Also I'm using different dimensions along each axis for the same purpose.
xvalue=0.33;
yvalue=0.66;
zvalue=1.00;
% we need a 3D matrix with
% 10 points along the X-axis
% 20 points along the Y-axis
% 30 points along the Z-axis
f = zeros(20,10,30); % note the order of numbers
space = 3;
f(:,space,:) = xvalue; f(:,end-space,:) = xvalue;
f(space,:,:) = yvalue; f(end-space,:,:) = yvalue;
f(:,:,space) = zvalue; f(:,:,end-space) = zvalue;
size_iso = size(f);
x_slice = round(size_iso(2)/2); % note dimension number here for x_slice
y_slice = round(size_iso(1)/2); % note dimension number here for y_slice
z_slice = round(size_iso(3)/2);
% display the gradient of the edge map
[fx,fy,fz] = gradient(f,0.1);
figure;
image(squeeze(f(:,x_slice,:))*50); colormap(gray(64)); hold on;
quiver(squeeze(fz(:,x_slice,:)),squeeze(fy(:,x_slice,:)));
axis equal;
title(['edge map gradient of X-slice ', num2str(x_slice)]);
xlabel('Z')
ylabel('Y')
figure;
image(squeeze(f(y_slice,:,:))*50); colormap(gray(64)); hold on;
quiver(squeeze(fz(y_slice,:,:)),squeeze(fx(y_slice,:,:)));
axis equal;
title(['edge map gradient of Y-slice ', num2str(y_slice)]);
xlabel('Z')
ylabel('X')
figure;
image(squeeze(f(:,:,z_slice))*50); colormap(gray(64)); hold on;
quiver(squeeze(fx(:,:,z_slice)),squeeze(fy(:,:,z_slice)));
axis equal;
title(['edge map gradient of Z-slice ', num2str(z_slice)]);
xlabel('X')
ylabel('Y')
Yes, this is tricky and hard to understand at first but you'll get used to it with practice.