This is because FXAA uses luma or contrast-based edge detection (AA is applied wherever the luma difference is higher than a certain threshold). They work by blending neighboring pixels (applying a blur filter) to the scene, making the image smoother but at the same time reducing the sharpness:įXAA is a good example of how shader-based AA gets rid of aliasing but reduces the level of detail as well. Shader-based AA techniques: are more efficient and don’t bring down the performance by much. In the case of fragments, you’re usually calculating it on a fragment basis which generally corresponds to the target output resolution. This saves a lot of performance as applying lighting on a vertex basis would mean calculating it for several millions of polygons. Deferred lighting or rendering basically delays the calculation of the lighting from the vertex shader to the fragment shader.

One drawback of MSAA is that it can’t be used with deferred lighting techniques which are quite popular in modern games. Essentially, it “multi-samples” around the triangle edges using the coverage and depth tests, thereby smoothening out the edges in the process. While SSAA applies the pixel shader to each pixel 2x or 4x, MSAA only executes the pixel shader once every pixel. The key difference between MSAA and SSAA arises in the latter half of the pipeline. This includes coverage and occlusion tests (checking which triangles are visible to the viewer/player) which are done at 2x/4x/8x. The depth (buffer) sample of each pixel is rendered at Nx where N is the sampling rate. The rasterization stage of both SSAA and MSAA are identical. Like SSAA, the amount of additional sampling varies from 2x to 8x. MSAA or multi-sampling is very similar to SSAA, except it does the sampling only along the triangle edge. 4x SSAA: Four-color and depth samples per pixel 4x MSAA: One color sample and four depth pixels On the downside, it’s extremely expensive as you’re essentially rendering the image at 2x or 4x the native resolution. This significantly improves image quality and almost entirely removes the jaggies. The final color of the pixel is determined by taking the average of the four samples. The most commonly used variations of SSAA are 2x and 4x, although 8x and 16 are also technically possible. The image can be rendered at a higher resolution along both the x and y-axis or one of them. You are essentially sampling the color and depth samples four times per pixel (refer to the above and below images). Super Sampling renders the entire image at a higher resolution and then scales it down to fit the target resolution. Here’s an example: No Anti-aliasing: One sample per pixel This essentially makes the entire image sharper and more detailed, scaling down the rough edges in the process but not removing them entirely. They work by rendering the image at a higher resolution and then scaling it down to fit the native resolution. They produce the best image quality (broadly speaking) but the performance hit is severe. Traditional sampling-based methods: These include MSAA (Multi-sampling AA) and SSAA (Super Sampling AA) which were popular last-gen and for good reason. There are two main types of anti-aliasing techniques: It gets rid of the aliasing, without blurring the texture detail. However, unlike FXAA, SMAA isn’t too strong. The buntings and the vegetation also get the same treatment.

They lose the teeth on the edges when SMAA is turned on. The differences are subtle but exist across the entire image. Below you can see SMAA in action: No AA SMAA Here’s a comparison of how AA impacts your game. Enlarge the images and see how the second one is notably smoother. So, what does anti-aliasing do? In short, it gives the image a cleaner look by removing the rough or jagged edges around objects.Ībove’s an example of how FXAA (fast approximate anti-aliasing) improves the image quality by reducing the jaggies. You’ve got the traditional MSAA, SSAA, FXAA, and the newer shader-based SMAA and temporal techniques (TAA) that have become the norm. It’s one of the primary graphics settings you’ll find in games. Anti-Aliasing: MSAA vs FXAA vs SMAA vs TAA Note: You can open the images in another tab by clicking on them to get a better look. What do all these graphics settings do, and more importantly how do they impact the visual fidelity in your favorite games? Let’s find out! Other than Anti-Aliasing (AA), you’ve got Ambient Occlusion, Screen Space Reflections, Shadows, Texture Filtering, Post-Processing, and much more. Modern games include a slew of graphics settings to choose from, in order to get the best performance for your hardware. TAA, SMAA, FXAA, MSAA, MLAA, or SSAA, which one should you choose? Four options and this is just anti-aliasing we’re talking about here.

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