Intelligent smoothing effects that blur or blend smooth gradient sections of an image while at the same time preserving sharp edges can be very useful. They can be used to create cartoon stylings, or to remove noise artifacts, or to clean up an image prior to subsequent processing. Today’s post will show off a new way to build this kind of effect using the Rank MultiScale Filter ip op.
When people think about building intelligent smoothing effects they typically go to the Simplify or Smooth image operation effects. Both are capable of generating intelligent smoothing effects that preserve edges.
An alternative approach that many people might find a little obscure is to use the Rank MultiScale Filter image operation effect. This particular ip op is capable of a wide range of different visual effects. The Rank MultiScale Filter ip op parameter settings shown below work really well to create an intelligent smoothing effect.