The snakes algorithm is an image segmentation process that utilises energy-minimising splines. The energy terms are obtained from discrete points that make up a snake and the gray-level values in an image. An algorithm for automated positioning of the initial snake points is presented by the authors, together with two additional energy terms (intensity and spring) for the snake functional. The introduction of these two terms was found to produce a better segmentation result, with fewer iterations required for the snake to complete its energy-minimising process.