How did Lucretius explain how people gain knowledge through the senses?

In his work De rerum natura (On the Nature of Things), Lucretius explains that humans gain knowledge primarily through sense perception. He posits that the senses are infallible, though he acknowledges that reason can sometimes draw false inferences from the information they provide.1

According to his theory, objects are perceived because they constantly discharge representative films from their surfaces; these films strike the eye in a manner similar to how smells strike the nose. While the senses are capable of perceiving the properties and accidents of bodies, individual atoms remain imperceptible because they lack dischargeable parts. Consequently, Lucretius argues that reason must be used to infer the existence of atoms and the void, the latter of which is necessary to explain the movement of bodies that we observe through our senses.1