Image Comparator

A lightweight Python tool for comparing two images to detect differences using the Structural Similarity Index (SSIM) from scikit-image. Perfect for image processing, quality assurance, and computer vision projects.

Features

• Computes a similarity score (SSIM) between two images.
• Classifies images as identical, similar, or different based on a customizable threshold.
• Saves a difference image (diff.png) to highlight changes.
• Simple command-line interface (CLI) for easy use.
• Supports all OpenCV-compatible image formats (e.g., PNG, JPG, BMP).
• Lightweight and extensible for integration into larger workflows.

Prerequisites

• Python 3.8 or higher
• pip for dependency installation
• Git for cloning the repository

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/your-username/image-comparator.git
   cd image-comparator
   
   

2. Install dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt
   

3. Required packages:

   opencv-python
   scikit-image
   numpy

Usage

Basic Usage (CLI)

Compare two images by providing their file paths:

python compare.py path/to/image1.jpg path/to/image2.jpg

Options

--threshold : Set the SSIM threshold for similarity (default: 0.99). --save-diff: Save a difference image as diff.png.

Example with options: python compare.py images/image1.jpg images/image2.jpg --threshold 0.95 --save-diff

Example Output

When images differ:

Similarity Score: 0.8432
Images are different!
Difference image saved as diff.png

When images are similar:

Similarity Score: 0.9981
Images are identical (or very similar).