[Numpy-discussion] Optimized half-sizing of images?

[Zachary Pincus]

> We have a need to to generate half-size version of RGB images as  
> quickly
> as possible.

How good do these need to look? You could just throw away every other  
pixel... image[::2, ::2].

Failing that, you could also try using ndimage's convolve routines to  
run a 2x2 box filter over the image, and then throw away half of the  
pixels. But this would be slower than optimal, because the kernel  
would be convolved over every pixel, not just the ones you intend to  
keep.

Really though, I'd just bite the bullet and write a C extension (or  
cython, whatever, an extension to work for a defined-dimensionality,  
defined-dtype array is pretty simple), or as suggested before, do it  
on the GPU. (Though I find that readback from the GPU can be slow  
enough that C code can beat it in some cases.)

Zach