Classic edge detectors made visible. Compare Sobel, Prewitt, and the full Canny pipeline on a procedural test image — no upload, no install.
Edge Detection StudioLive
Sobel / Prewitt / Canny on a test image
Controls
Edge detectors on a procedural grayscale test image. Sobel/Prewitt show gradient magnitude; Canny runs the full pipeline and thins to clean 1-pixel contours.
Reading this result: Canny blurs first (σ=1.4) to tame noise, then measures the intensity gradient — its magnitude spikes at brightness jumps, i.e. edges. Non-maximum suppression thins each ridge to a single pixel by keeping only the local maximum across the gradient direction. Double thresholding (low 20, high 55) then keeps strong edges, and hysteresis rescues weak pixels only where they connect to a strong one — linking faint but real contours while dropping isolated noise.
Runs locally in your browser — free forever. Scale to the cloud when reality gets heavy.
★ Sign in to save this setupSave your tuned setup, or drop this simulation into your own site, docs, or course page.
How it works
Edge detection finds where image brightness changes sharply. Sobel and Prewitt convolve the image with 3×3 derivative kernels and report the gradient magnitude √(Gx²+Gy²) — bright where intensity jumps. Canny goes further: it blurs with a Gaussian to suppress noise, computes Sobel gradients, thins the ridges to single-pixel edges with non-maximum suppression, then applies a double threshold plus hysteresis so faint-but-connected contours survive while isolated noise is dropped. Slide the σ and low/high thresholds to see the classic accuracy-vs-noise trade-off, and step through each Canny stage.
✦
Ask the AI about this model
The math, the assumptions, real-world uses, or a code translation — explained for this exact simulation.
Is this Sobel Canny edge detection tool really free?▾
Yes. Edge Detection runs entirely in your browser using your device's own compute, so local use is free forever. You only pay Compute Tokens if you scale a job to the cloud.
Do I need to install anything?▾
No. Everything runs client-side in a modern browser — no downloads, no license, no account required to start.
Can I save or share my simulation?▾
Create a free account to save projects, and use a shareable embed or minted DOI to publish a live, interactive version anywhere.
How accurate are the results?▾
The solver uses established numerical methods, but results are for research and educational purposes and should be validated against experiment or professional review before you rely on them.