Structural texture similarity metrics for retrieval applications

Traditional image similarity metrics compare two images on a point-by-point basis. On the other hand, structural similarity metrics (SSIM) attempt to base image similarity on "structural" information. We evaluate the performance of SSIM metrics in the context of texture similarity, and propose new metrics that incorporate the best features of SSIM and eliminate the most serious drawbacks. We show that the proposed new texture similarity metrics outperform SSIM and its variations, as well as PSNR and other traditional metrics. We demonstrate the advantages of the new metrics on a carefully selected set of 39 texture pairs and comparisons with informal subjective test results.