VIGRA Computer Vision Library, Version 1.5.0
============================================

                Copyright 1998-2001 by Ullrich Koethe
       Cognitive Systems Group, University of Hamburg, Germany

    This file is part of the VIGRA computer vision library.
    You may use, modify, and distribute this software according
    to the terms stated in the LICENSE.txt file included in
    the VIGRA distribution.

    The VIGRA Website is
        http://kogs-www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~koethe/vigra/
    Please direct questions, bug reports, and contributions to
        koethe@informatik.uni-hamburg.de


    THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED AS IS AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR
    IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED
    WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.


Installation
------------

Installation instructions can be found in the file
$VIGRA_PATH/doc/Installation.html

Documentation
-------------

The documentation can be found in $VIGRA_PATH/doc/, the start file is $VIGRA_PATH/doc/index.html.

Download
--------

VIGRA 1.5.0 can be downloaded at
http://kogs-www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~koethe/vigra/vigra1.5.0.tar.gz

What is VIGRA
-------------

VIGRA is a computer vision library that puts its main emphasize on flexible algorithms, because algorithms represent the principle know-how of this field. The library was consequently built using generic programming as introduced by Stepanov and Musser and exemplified in the C++ Standard Template Library. By writing a few adapters (image iterators and accessors) you can use VIGRA's algorithms on top of your data structures, within your environment. Alternatively, you can also use the data structures provided within VIGRA, which can be easily adapted to a wide range of applications. VIGRA's flexibility comes almost for free: Since the design uses compile-time polymorphism (templates), performance of the compiled program approaches that of a traditional, hand tuned, inflexible, solution.