README.md

Hand Segmentation and Background Removal with DeepLabV3+ and ResNet-101

This repository demonstrates a computer vision pipeline for segmenting hands from images and removing their backgrounds using a U-Net and DeepLabV3+ architecture. The project integrates a Jupyter Notebook for training and evaluation and a Streamlit application for real-time testing and visualization.

Features

• Deep Learning Models: Utilizes DeepLabV3+ with ResNet-101 as the backbone for precise hand segmentation.
• Data Preprocessing: Includes resizing, normalization, and mask binarization.
• Post-processing: Improves mask quality with dilation and erosion for refined results.
• Interactive Streamlit App: Upload images to visualize segmentation results and background removal in real-time.

Table of Contents

• Installation
• Usage
  • Jupyter Notebook
  • Streamlit Application
• Model Training
• Streamlit Application Workflow
• Results
• Future Improvements
• Acknowledgments

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Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/migueleven/hands_background_removal.git
   cd hand-segmentation-app

2. Set up the Python environment:

   conda create -n hand_segmentation python=3.10 -y
   conda activate hand_segmentation
   pip install -r requirements.txt

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Usage

Jupyter Notebook

1. Run all the notebooks in order

Streamlit Application

0. Run all notebooks to save the models before running the streamlit app
1. Start the Streamlit app:

   streamlit run app.py

2. Upload an image of a hand and view the processed output with the background removed.

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Model Training

The model is trained on a dataset of hand images with corresponding segmentation masks. The architecture used is DeepLabV3+ with ResNet-101. Key configurations include:

• Optimizer: Adam
• Loss Function: Binary Cross-Entropy with Logits
• Data Augmentation: Random flips, rotations, and color shifts
• Metrics: Intersection over Union (IoU) and accuracy

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Streamlit Application Workflow

1. Load the pre-trained model from best_model_resnet101.pth.
2. Preprocess uploaded images (resize, normalize).
3. Predict the mask using the DeepLabV3+ model.
4. Post-process the mask with morphological operations (dilation, erosion).
5. Overlay the mask on the original image to remove the background.

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Results

Examples

Input vs. Predicted Output

Original Image	Predicted Mask	Background Removed

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Future Improvements

• Extend dataset for better generalization.
• Explore lightweight models for faster inference.

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