Question

For instance, if I have got a vector describing a rectangle

xy=[165  88; 
    401  88; 
    401 278; 
    165 278];

on an image.

How can I obtain the following vector

[165  88; % increase X -     hold y
 166  88; 
 167  88;
   ...  ;
 399  88;
 400  88;
 401  88; % hold     x - increase y
 401  89;
 401  90;
 401  91;
   ...  ;
 401 276;
 401 277;
 401 278; % decrease X -     hold y
 400 278;
 399 278;
 398 278;
   ...  ;
 167 278;
 166 278;
 165 278; % hold     x - decrease y
 165 277;
 165 276;
   ...  ;
 165  87];

using a MATLAB inbuilt function or do I need to write it using FOR LOOPS?

The algorithm must work for a generic vector with n-points and xy coordinates.

Answer 1

If you have the image processing toolbox, you can do this by creating an image of the polygon followed by finding the contour:

xy=[165 88; 401 88; 401 278; 165 278];
%# create the image - check the help for impolygon for how to make sure that
%# your line is inside the pixel
img = poly2mask(xy(:,1),xy(:,2),max(xy(:,1))+3,max(xy(:,2))+3);
figure,imshow(img) %# show the image

%# extract the perimeter. Note that you have to inverse x and y, and that I had to
%# add 1 to hit the rectangle - this shows one has to be careful with rectangular 
%# polygons
boundary = bwtraceboundary(logical(img),xy(1,[2,1])+1,'n',8,inf,'clockwise');

%# overlay extracted boundary
hold on, plot(boundary(:,2),boundary(:,1),'.r')

Edited to show how to use bwtraceboundary and to warn of pixel offset with rectangles.