# Smoothing and Sampling

The operator allows you to subsample the image after smoothing, producing an output image with fewer pixels. Subsampled images can generally be processed more quickly by other vision tools. The image can be sampled at any rate below the smoothing value without loss of information. In general, Cognex recommends you never specify a subsampling rate equal or greater than the smoothing value.

You can specify independent x- and y-axis sampling factors for the Gaussian Sampling tool.