When I blur an object in Inkscape by let's say 10%, it get's a filter with a feGaussionBlur with a stdDeviation of 10% * size / 2.
However the filter has a size of 124% (it is actually that big, Inkscape doesn't add a bit just to be on the safe-side).
Where does this number come from? My guess would be 100% + 2.4 * (2*stdDeviation/size), but then where does this 2.4 come from?
From the SVG 1.1 spec:
This filter primitive performs a Gaussian blur on the input image.
The Gaussian blur kernel is an approximation of the normalized convolution:
G(x,y) = H(x)I(y)
where
H(x) = exp(-x2/ (2s2)) / sqrt(2* pi*s2)
and
I(y) = exp(-y2/ (2t2)) / sqrt(2* pi*t2)
with 's' being the standard deviation in the x direction and 't' being the standard deviation in the y direction, as specified by ‘stdDeviation’.
The value of ‘stdDeviation’ can be either one or two numbers. If two numbers are provided, the first number represents a standard deviation value along the x-axis of the current coordinate system and the second value represents a standard deviation in Y. If one number is provided, then that value is used for both X and Y.
Even if only one value is provided for ‘stdDeviation’, this can be implemented as a separable convolution.
For larger values of 's' (s >= 2.0), an approximation can be used: Three successive box-blurs build a piece-wise quadratic convolution kernel, which approximates the Gaussian kernel to within roughly 3%.
let d = floor(s * 3*sqrt(2*pi)/4 + 0.5)
... if d is odd, use three box-blurs of size 'd', centered on the output pixel. ... if d is even, two box-blurs of size 'd' (the first one centered on the pixel boundary between the output pixel and the one to the left, the second one centered on the pixel boundary between the output pixel and the one to the right) and one box blur of size 'd+1' centered on the output pixel.
Note: the approximation formula also applies correspondingly to 't'.*