Gaussian Smoothing

Gaussian Smoothing is the result of blurring an image by a

Gaussian function. It is also known as Gaussian blur.

 Course Name: Digital Image Processing Level(UG/PG): UG

 Author(s) : Phani Swathi Chitta

Mentor: Prof. Saravanan Vijayakumaran

*The contents in this ppt are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 India license
 Learning Objectives
After interacting with this Learning Object, the learner will be able to:
• Explain how the smoothing of an image is done using a Gaussian
filter
 Definitions of the components/Keywords:

1 •
–
Smoothing filters are used for blurring and for noise reduction.
Blurring is used in preprocessing steps, such as removal of small
details from an image prior to object extraction, and bridging of small
gaps in lines or curves
2 – Noise reduction can be accomplished by blurring

• In edge detection, Gaussian smoothing is done prior to Laplacian to

remove the effect of noise.

• Gaussian smoothing is a special case of weighted smoothing, where the

3 coefficients of the smoothing kernel are derived from a Gaussian
distribution.

• The 2D Gaussian smoothing filter is given by the equation

4
where σ is the variance of the mask

• The amount of smoothing can be controlled by varying the values of the

5 two standard deviations.
 Definitions of the components/Keywords:

1 • For a 3x3 mask, the values of x and y are taken from the below grid.

2 -1,-1 0,-1 1,-1

-1,0 0,0 1,0

-1,1 0,1 1,1

5
 Master Layout
1 Original Image Image after smoothing

4 • Give a slider ranging from 0.5 to 10 so

that user can select any one value of
sigma.

5
 Step 1: 3x3 mask, Sigma 0.5
1

3
4 Instruction for the animator
• The first fig. should appear and then when
the slider points at 0.5, the second fig.
should be shown
Text to be displayed in the working area (DT)
• The original image
• The resulting image after Gaussian smoothing is done

• The text in DT should appear in parallel to • The filter mask used for smoothing is of size 3x3
the figures

5
 Step 2: 3x3 mask, Sigma 0.8
1

3
4 Instruction for the animator
• The first fig. should appear and then when
the slider points at 0.8, the second fig.
should be shown
Text to be displayed in the working area (DT)
• The original image
• The resulting image after Gaussian smoothing is done

• The text in DT should appear in parallel to • The filter mask used for smoothing is of size 3x3
the figures

5
 Step 3: 3x3 Mask, Sigma 1
1

3
4 Instruction for the animator
• The first fig. should appear and then when
the slider points at 1, the second fig.
should be shown
Text to be displayed in the working area (DT)
• The original image
• The resulting image after Gaussian smoothing is done

• The text in DT should appear in parallel to • The filter mask used for smoothing is of size 3x3
the figures

5
 Step 4: 3x3 Mask , Sigma 3
1

3
4 Instruction for the animator
• The first fig. should appear and then when
the slider points at 3, the second fig.
should be shown
Text to be displayed in the working area (DT)
• The original image
• The resulting image after Gaussian smoothing is done

• The text in DT should appear in parallel to • The filter mask used for smoothing is of size 3x3
the figures

5
 Step 5: 3x3 Mask, Sigma 5
1

3
4 Instruction for the animator
• The first fig. should appear and then when
the slider points at 5, the second fig.
should be shown
Text to be displayed in the working area (DT)
• The original image
• The resulting image after Gaussian smoothing is done

• The text in DT should appear in parallel to • The filter mask used for smoothing is of size 3x3
the figures

5
 Step 6: 3x3 Mask, Sigma 8
1

3
4 Instruction for the animator
• The first fig. should appear and then when
the slider points at 8, the second fig.
should be shown
Text to be displayed in the working area (DT)
• The original image
• The resulting image after Gaussian smoothing is done

• The text in DT should appear in parallel to • The filter mask used for smoothing is of size 3x3
the figures

5
 Step 7: 3x3 Mask, Sigma 10
1

3
4 Instruction for the animator
• The first fig. should appear and then when
the slider points at 10, the second fig.
should be shown
Text to be displayed in the working area (DT)
• The original image
• The resulting image after Gaussian smoothing is done

• The text in DT should appear in parallel to • The filter mask used for smoothing is of size 3x3
the figures

5
 Step 8: 5x5 Mask, Sigma 0.5
1

3
4 Instruction for the animator
• The first fig. should appear and then when
the slider points at 0.5, the second fig.
should be shown
Text to be displayed in the working area (DT)
• The original image
• The resulting image after Gaussian smoothing is done

• The text in DT should appear in parallel to • The filter mask used for smoothing is of size 5x5
the figures

5
 Step 9: 5x5 Mask, Sigma 0.8
1

3
4 Instruction for the animator
• The first fig. should appear and then when
the slider points at 0.8, the second fig.
should be shown
Text to be displayed in the working area (DT)
• The original image
• The resulting image after Gaussian smoothing is done

• The text in DT should appear in parallel to • The filter mask used for smoothing is of size 5x5
the figures

5
 Step 10: 5x5 Mask, Sigma 1
1

3
4 Instruction for the animator
• The first fig. should appear and then when
the slider points at 1, the second fig.
should be shown
Text to be displayed in the working area (DT)
• The original image
• The resulting image after Gaussian smoothing is done

• The text in DT should appear in parallel to • The filter mask used for smoothing is of size 5x5
the figures

5
 Step 11: 5x5 Mask, Sigma 3
1

3
4 Instruction for the animator
• The first fig. should appear and then when
the slider points at 3, the second fig.
should be shown
Text to be displayed in the working area (DT)
• The original image
• The resulting image after Gaussian smoothing is done

• The text in DT should appear in parallel to • The filter mask used for smoothing is of size 5x5
the figures

5
 Step 12: 5x5 Mask, Sigma 5
1

3
4 Instruction for the animator
• The first fig. should appear and then when
the slider points at 5, the second fig.
should be shown
Text to be displayed in the working area (DT)
• The original image
• The resulting image after Gaussian smoothing is done

• The text in DT should appear in parallel to • The filter mask used for smoothing is of size 5x5
the figures

5
 Step 13: 5x5 Mask, Sigma 8
1

3
4 Instruction for the animator
• The first fig. should appear and then when
the slider points at 8, the second fig.
should be shown
Text to be displayed in the working area (DT)
• The original image
• The resulting image after Gaussian smoothing is done

• The text in DT should appear in parallel to • The filter mask used for smoothing is of size 5x5
the figures

5
 Step 14: 5x5 Mask, Sigma 10
1

3
4 Instruction for the animator
• The first fig. should appear and then when
the slider points at 10, the second fig.
should be shown
Text to be displayed in the working area (DT)
• The original image
• The resulting image after Gaussian smoothing is done

• The text in DT should appear in parallel to • The filter mask used for smoothing is of size 5x5
the figures

5
 Step 15: 7x7 Mask, Sigma 0.5
1

3
4 Instruction for the animator
• The first fig. should appear and then when
the slider points at 0.5, the second fig.
should be shown
Text to be displayed in the working area (DT)
• The original image
• The resulting image after Gaussian smoothing is done

• The text in DT should appear in parallel to • The filter mask used for smoothing is of size 7x7
the figures

5
 Step 16: 7x7 Mask, Sigma 0.8
1

3
4 Instruction for the animator
• The first fig. should appear and then when
the slider points at 0.8, the second fig.
should be shown
Text to be displayed in the working area (DT)
• The original image
• The resulting image after Gaussian smoothing is done

• The text in DT should appear in parallel to • The filter mask used for smoothing is of size 7x7
the figures

5
 Step 17: 7x7 Mask, Sigma 1
1

3
4 Instruction for the animator
• The first fig. should appear and then when
the slider points at 1, the second fig.
should be shown
Text to be displayed in the working area (DT)
• The original image
• The resulting image after Gaussian smoothing is done

• The text in DT should appear in parallel to • The filter mask used for smoothing is of size 7x7
the figures

5
 Step 18: 7x7 Mask, Sigma 3
1

3
4 Instruction for the animator
• The first fig. should appear and then when
the slider points at 3, the second fig.
should be shown
Text to be displayed in the working area (DT)
• The original image
• The resulting image after Gaussian smoothing is done

• The text in DT should appear in parallel to • The filter mask used for smoothing is of size 7x7
the figures

5
 Step 19: 7x7 Mask, Sigma 5
1

3
4 Instruction for the animator
• The first fig. should appear and then when
the slider points at 5, the second fig.
should be shown
Text to be displayed in the working area (DT)
• The original image
• The resulting image after Gaussian smoothing is done

• The text in DT should appear in parallel to • The filter mask used for smoothing is of size 7x7
the figures

5
 Step 20: 7x7 Mask, Sigma 8
1

3
4 Instruction for the animator
• The first fig. should appear and then when
the slider points at 8, the second fig.
should be shown
Text to be displayed in the working area (DT)
• The original image
• The resulting image after Gaussian smoothing is done

• The text in DT should appear in parallel to • The filter mask used for smoothing is of size 7x7
the figures

5
 Step 21: 7x7 Mask, Sigma 10
1

3
4 Instruction for the animator
• The first fig. should appear and then when
the slider points at 10, the second fig.
should be shown
Text to be displayed in the working area (DT)
• The original image
• The resulting image after Gaussian smoothing is done

• The text in DT should appear in parallel to • The filter mask used for smoothing is of size 7x7
the figures

5
Electrical Engineering
Slide Slide Slide Slide
1 3 28,29 30
Test your understanding Want to know more…
Introduction Definitions Analogy Lets Sum up (summary)
(questionnaire) (Further Reading)

Interactivity:
Try it yourself

 Select any one of the

figures
a b
c d

 Select the value of

sigma

27
Credits
1 Questionnaire
1. If there are two values of Sigma and and
then which sigma value makes the image more blurred?
2
Answers: a) b)

4
5
 Questionnaire
1 2. What is the mask value for =1?
Hint: Take x and y values from the grid provided

2 Answers: a) b)
0.36 0.6 0.36 0.6 0.36 0.6

0.6 1 0.6 0.36 1 0.36

3 0.36 0.6 0.36 0.6 0.36 0.6

c) d)
0.09 0.05 0.09 0.05 0.09 0.05

4 0.05

0.09
1

0.05
0.05

0.09
0.09

0.05
1

0.09
0.09

0.05

5
 Links for further reading
Reference websites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaussian_blur
http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/rbf/HIPR2/gsmooth.htm
http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/rbf/HIPR2/gaussiandemo.htm

Books:
Digital Image Processing – Rafael C. Gonzalez,
Richard E. Woods, Third edition, Prentice Hall