12. An image processing method; the method operating on image data, the image data defining an image that includes a number of locations, the image having an image characteristic relative to each of the locations; the method comprising: two or more steps of obtaining sample result data, each step of obtaining sample result data comprising substeps of: randomly or pseudorandomly producing respective location data indicating a respective location in the image; the location data being randomly or pseudorandomly obtained in a way that can obtain data indicating any of the locations in the image and that would, over a sufficiently large group of locations, indicate locations evenly distributed among the locations in the image; and operating on the image data to obtain respective sample result data measuring the image characteristic relative to the respective location indicated by the respective location data; the sample result data indicating a measurement in a direction extending from the location; the direction being the same for each step of obtaining sample result data; and a step of combining the respective sample result data of the respective locations to obtain combined result data for the direction.
12. An image processing method; the method operating on image data, the image data defining an image that includes a number of locations, the image having an image characteristic relative to each of the locations; the method comprising: two or more steps of obtaining sample result data, each step of obtaining sample result data comprising substeps of: randomly or pseudorandomly producing respective location data indicating a respective location in the image; the location data being randomly or pseudorandomly obtained in a way that can obtain data indicating any of the locations in the image and that would, over a sufficiently large group of locations, indicate locations evenly distributed among the locations in the image; and operating on the image data to obtain respective sample result data measuring the image characteristic relative to the respective location indicated by the respective location data; the sample result data indicating a measurement in a direction extending from the location; the direction being the same for each step of obtaining sample result data; and a step of combining the respective sample result data of the respective locations to obtain combined result data for the direction. 16. The method of claim 12 in which each step of obtaining sample result data further comprises a substep of applying a criterion to the image data to determine whether to obtain respective sample result data for the respective location indicated by the respective location data.