Antialiasing VS HD

[eloic]

Hello everyone.

What do you prefer, more antialiasing or more resolution? Of course, I know that some games have both, but in the most of the cases, we find those two elements into a technical struggle.

I personally prefer to have more antialiasing. I mean, I've always seen real life SD content (for instance, a TV movie) and it could look great because real life is 'antialiased'.

I try to point out that it looks more natural to the eye when you see a scene without jaggies, even if it is at a lower resolution than the nowadays pretended HD standard.

Please share your personal preferences.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

More AA. Crawling Jaggies will detract from a game far more than just about anything else for me. At least in the PC space the first thing I do is start lowering graphics options (starting with turning off shadows) until the game reaches a playable level with AA. Thankfully with the video card I have, virtually all games are playing with AA with high to very high level of options.

On consoles though. I'd MUCH rather have say a 720p game with good AA than a 1080p game with no AA. There's is just absolutely no comparison. For me... Crawling jaggies just immediately draw my eye to them. Although it's not as bad when sitting a fair distance from the TV as it is on PC where it's right in front of you. It's still a major distraction.

Regards,
SB

 

[zed]

of course its dependant on the AA vs resolution, though I generally prefer higher resolution as everything is improved (not just edges)

1280x720x2xAA vs 1920x1080noAA = 1920x1080 easily better option
1280x720x4xAA vs 1440x1080noAA = 1280x720 better

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I'd pick 300 dpi with no antialiasing over any antialiasing option

 

[eloic]

I'd pick 300 dpi with no antialiasing over any antialiasing option

'/thread'?

 

[eloic]

'/thread'?

Hm, just thinking... How many years do you reckon it will take to AA to become unnecessary?

I mean, behind Shifty's funny comment we all know that higher resolutions reduce visible jaggies, so.... 5 years, maybe?

 

[MfA]

No, definitely not.

Also 300 dpi regular grid without any type of AA (remember mipmapping _is_ anti-aliasing) is not going to look that hot.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Hm, just thinking... How many years do you reckon it will take to AA to become unnecessary?

I mean, behind Shifty's funny comment we all know that higher resolutions reduce visible jaggies, so.... 5 years, maybe?

Higher resolutions on their own do absolutely nothing to reduce jaggies.

2560x1600 on a 30" display will have pretty much the exact same sized jaggies as 1600x1200 on a 20" display.

Shifty was refering to higher DPI. For example if we could get a 2560x1600 resolution on a 20" display that would reduce the size of jaggies, but wouldn't help much with crawling/shimmering jaggies. At least until each pixel was far smaller than the eye could resolve.

So yes, if someday we could have a 24" display with something greater than 5120x3200 resolution then I may be happy with no AA.

I don't see that happening within the next decade however.

Regards,
SB

 

[Strange]

Higher resolutions on their own do absolutely nothing to reduce jaggies.

2560x1600 on a 30" display will have pretty much the exact same sized jaggies as 1600x1200 on a 20" display.

Shifty was refering to higher DPI. For example if we could get a 2560x1600 resolution on a 20" display that would reduce the size of jaggies, but wouldn't help much with crawling/shimmering jaggies. At least until each pixel was far smaller than the eye could resolve.

So yes, if someday we could have a 24" display with something greater than 5120x3200 resolution then I may be happy with no AA.

I don't see that happening within the next decade however.

Regards,
SB

It actually comes down to samples per unit of arc, not dots per inch. You can have a extremely huge (1km by 1 km )1 dpi screen viewed from 1 km away with no AA and that would look gorgeous, if not extremely idiotic.

 

[eloic]

Higher resolutions on their own do absolutely nothing to reduce jaggies.

2560x1600 on a 30" display will have pretty much the exact same sized jaggies as 1600x1200 on a 20" display.

Shifty was refering to higher DPI. For example if we could get a 2560x1600 resolution on a 20" display that would reduce the size of jaggies, but wouldn't help much with crawling/shimmering jaggies. At least until each pixel was far smaller than the eye could resolve.

So yes, if someday we could have a 24" display with something greater than 5120x3200 resolution then I may be happy with no AA.

I don't see that happening within the next decade however.

Regards,
SB

Hm, I understand.

I think that AA will be necessary in any case, to give the image its finishing touch.

 

[Strange]

Hm, I understand.

I think that AA will be necessary in any case, to give the image its finishing touch.

I don't think AA is ever necessary, just preferred...

AA sometimes makes too large an impact on the frame rate, and I'll take jaggies over Frame drops any time.

 

[Neb]

I'll take AA anytime. UT3 on a 20" at 1680x1050 looks nowhere as cleans as same res with 4xAA. Also AA +TSAA or bust. Also min 8xAF or bust.

 

[Neb]

I don't think AA is ever necessary, just preferred...

AA sometimes makes too large an impact on the frame rate, and I'll take jaggies over Frame drops any time.

Well not to enjoy the gameplay but for the eyesight it is a must. Reason why people fap all over bullshots with clean edges but final ingame is atrocious/disappointing for the eye.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Well not to enjoy the gameplay but for the eyesight it is a must. Reason why people fap all over bullshots with clean edges but final ingame is atrocious/disappointing for the eye.

It depends on the person. You and I can barely stand a game without AA (I refuse to play pretty much any PC game that won't work AA). But there's just as many people who either don't notice crawling jaggies or aren't bothered by it as much.

I not sure why, but I think it may be that I'm so peripheral vision oriented. So anything out of the ordinary (crawling jaggies) immediate draws my attention away from whatever else I may have been looking at. Making them hugely distracting and ruining whatever game I happen to be trying. Been like that ever since the first 3D games I tried back in the early 90's. I just thought it was a necessary evil that had to be lived with until AA started appearing on video cards. My god was that a wonderful godsend.

Meanwhile a close friend of mine couldn't possibly care less if AA was on or off.

Regards,
SB

 

[Sc4freak]

Increasing resolution and DPI is essentially the same as using SSAA. Lower resolution + MSAA will always be preferred over higher resolution/DPI because lower-res + MSAA is significantly cheaper.

 

[Neb]

It depends on the person. You and I can barely stand a game without AA (I refuse to play pretty much any PC game that won't work AA). But there's just as many people who either don't notice crawling jaggies or aren't bothered by it as much.

I not sure why, but I think it may be that I'm so peripheral vision oriented. So anything out of the ordinary (crawling jaggies) immediate draws my attention away from whatever else I may have been looking at. Making them hugely distracting and ruining whatever game I happen to be trying. Been like that ever since the first 3D games I tried back in the early 90's. I just thought it was a necessary evil that had to be lived with until AA started appearing on video cards. My god was that a wonderful godsend.

Meanwhile a close friend of mine couldn't possibly care less if AA was on or off.

Regards,
SB

True. I remember the first time I was introduced to AA in games. Was a brand new Geforce2 GTS. I was playing with the settings in Kingpin and saw 'AA' setting and switched it on. My god was it beauthiful and with that said I was for the first time introduced to the "AAholic" club.

 

[zed]

it all depends on your tastes, like I say I prefer higher res since details stand out more, ideally of course we'ld like to render scenes with no AA + super high DPI (higher than 300dpi I forget exactly what the human eye can resolve down to) but thats still years away

same scene 1280x720@4xAA vs 1920x1080@noAA

 

[MfA]

The eye's resolution is entirely irrelevant ... moire patterns do not go away just because you use a high enough resolution for instance.

PS. this question belongs in a FAQ.

 

[Lucid_Dreamer]

Resolution is much more important to me.

 

[assen]

The eye's resolution is entirely irrelevant ... moire patterns do not go away just because you use a high enough resolution for instance.

PS. this question belongs in a FAQ.

This.
Jaggies are only one artefact of aliasing, and not the most unpleasant one by far. Shimmering, texture crawling, small geometry "sizzling" are much worse to me.