MAGICROP: A Cropping System for Novice Users to Make Artful Portrait Images

AbstractImage cropping is an important way to improve the composition of images, and it depends on aesthetic literacy and photography skills, which are the outcomes of years of training and practice. For novice users who lack photography knowledge, it’s difficult to get well-composed cropping results, and there is no application-level solution to help them. We develop an image cropping software MAGICROP, which is designed for novice users to make artful portrait images automatically. With an intuitive user interface, the software is enabled with both deep learning and composition rules for cropping operations. From the two functional models provided by the system, users can get inspiration of cropping and set customized parameters to generate the required cropping results. User studies verify the effectiveness of MAGICROP in creating quality images. The SUS score suggests acceptable usability and a promising space for continuous improvement.Keywords: image croppingaesthetic assessmentautomatic composition Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationNotes on contributorsBinhui WangBinhui Wang received the PhD degree from Nankai University, Tianjin, China in 2011. He is currently an Associate Professor and a Master Instructor at the College of Software, Nankai University, Tianjin, China. His research interests and publications are focused on artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, data mining and computational aesthetics.BaiMa QvZhenBaiMa QvZhen received BS degree from Central South University, Changsha, China, in 2021. She is currently pursuing the MS degree of Engineering in College of Software, Nankai University, Tianjin, China. Her research interests include aesthetics quality assessment, and human–computer interaction.Zibo ZhangZibo Zhang received BS degree from Nankai University, Tianjin, China, in 2022 and he is currently pursuing the MS degree of Engineering in College of Software, Nankai University, Tianjin, China. His research interests include aesthetics quality assessment, and human–computer interaction.Yang LiYang Li received the BS degree of Engineering from Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China, in 2022. He is currently pursuing the MS degree of Engineering in College of Software, Nankai University, Tianjin, China. His research interests include aesthetics quality assessment, and human–computer interaction.Wei YaoWei Yao received BS degree from Nankai University, Tianjin, China, in 2021 and he is currently pursuing the MS degree of Engineering in College of Software, Nankai University, Tianjin, China. His research interests include aesthetics quality assessment, and human–computer interaction.Suzhou WeiSuzhou Wei received BS degree from Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China, in 2023. He is currently pursuing the MS degree of Engineering in College of Software, Nankai University, Tianjin, China. His research interests include aesthetics quality assessment, and human–computer interaction.Shusong XingShusong Xing received the PhD degree from Nanyang Technological University in 2005. He is currently an Associate Professor at the College of Software, Nankai University, China. His research interests include software design and evolution.