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What is the purpose of the processing step that Vuforia does when uploading a target?

Why does the Vuforia Target Manager not report the Tracking Rating until the target has finished processing, while the VWS API can report it immediately after uploading the target? What is the purpose of the processing step that happens when uploading a target? I thought that it was Vuforia determining how good of a tracking rating it has and the features the image had, but as I just stated, they don't necessarily seem to be related.