New AA options in Detonator

[Demirug]

probably for G70.

You can already find this in some of the lasted leaked versions.

- Gamma correct antialiasing

#Enables gamma correct antialiasing (AA).
· On results in a better color calculation, which helps reduce jaggies and maintains the highest level of color reproduction of 3D images.
· Off disables gamma correct antialiasing.

- Transparency antialiasing (Multisampling; Supersampling)

#Transparency antialiasing (AA), an advanced feature, is a technique used to minimize the visible aliasing on the edges of images with transparent textures. This improvement in 3D image quality is most noticeable in objects such as vegetation, chain-link fences, and so on.
To enable this feature, use any of these settings:
Multisampling (superior performance) or
Supersampling (superior quality)

Both option are apparently available in the panel and for game profiles.

 

[digitalwanderer]

Cool, sounds like nVidia is going to finally get into the game....the image quality game, that is.

 

[ondaedg]

when weren't they in it? 8)

 

[Eolirin]

I thought it was impossible to do AA on Alpha textures with multi-sampling? How are they pulling that off?

That being said, finally getting gamma corrected AA is a good move for them. Took em long enough.

 

[digitalwanderer]

when weren't they in it? 8)

With AA quality?

Pffft, when were they in?

Sorry, but nVidia has been seriously trailing ATi in the AA department since the FX.

 

[trinibwoy]

Sorry, but nVidia has been seriously trailing ATi in the AA department since the FX.

I think you mean "only with the FX".

 

[digitalwanderer]

I think you mean "only with the FX".

I was comparing GTA:SA on a 6800 vs X800 today as well as a 5950 vs 9600, I stand by my post as I wrote it.

 

[Blazkowicz]

holy sh.. !
I don't care much about the gamma corrected AA, but we have the graal of AA on alpha textures, at last!

I hope the "Transparency Anti-aliasing" and the supersampling follow a rotated grid pattern, if so there will be at last a card that can match or surpass what my voodoo5 did in CS 1.5 (1024x768 4x FSAA, but in the 40fps range..)

if it's ordered grid, it sucks, but still better than nothing, my next card will still be a geforce 7600

 

[ERK]

Voodoo seriously spanked the Riva 128.

 

[ChrisRay]

The way I read it. Its Nvidia's hybrid AA modes. 4xS, 6xS, 16xS ect.

 

[digitalwanderer]

The way I read it. Its Nvidia's hybrid AA modes. 4xS, 6xS, 16xS ect.

Yeah, but it'll be nice to have 'em officially supported and it is a good thing that both companies are focusing on ways to use the overly excessive video powerhouses they'll be offering.

 

[Mintmaster]

I thought it was impossible to do AA on Alpha textures with multi-sampling? How are they pulling that off?

My guess is alpha blending with a smoothstep function instead of an outright step function. Not sure how you could make it really robust, though.

I think some extra logic in the filtering unit might also work well. I haven't really thought about it very hard, though, so it's hard to tell if it's feasible or not.

 

[trinibwoy]

The way I read it. Its Nvidia's hybrid AA modes. 4xS, 6xS, 16xS ect.

8xS is already officially supported so it can't be just that.

 

[KimB]

Well, alpha blending would not work unless the game orders alpha-tested objects back-to-front, which is contrary to normal rendering, and so is probably not typically done (quick note: in UE1 doing this "just worked," but I doubt it will in most any game today).

Edit:
Worst-case, this is just a marketting name to give to a choice between supersampling and multisampling.

Best-case nVidia has implemented a method to supersample only the alpha-tested surfaces.

 

[bloodbob]

I thought it was impossible to do AA on Alpha textures with multi-sampling? How are they pulling that off?

That being said, finally getting gamma corrected AA is a good move for them. Took em long enough.

Essential it will be a combination AA most likely.

But lets assume its better then a straight 4xmssa+2xssa ( or whatever numbers ).

One possible method is if a MSSA Z test hits a triangle using alpha texturing ( and hopefully if it hits a shader that uses the kill instruction ) then it will do a texture look up to see if it should be transparent or not.

Another possiblity would be enable/disable Super sampling on a per-pixel basis i.e. any pixel that show a alpha textured triangle also get Super sampling.

Here is one more method which is probably better then the above and could be implement by any software on todays hardware. Essentially replace every normal alpha look up with a little shader that does 4 ( or more) alpha test at different locations in the pixel and averages the values its also quite possible the G70 has this in hardware.

 

[aranfell]

FYI, OpenGL has long had a feature called "Alpha to mask". It allows the source alpha value to be converted into a mask that specifies which samples to kill for a multi-sample render target. For example, if the source alpha is 0.5, then half of the samples would be killed. This allows sample-level screen-door transparency effects. It doesn't allow the sort of spatial coherence that one gets with edge-anti-aliasing, since the alpha value only conveys the desired amount of coverage, not the portion of the pixel that should be covered. A sample has to both be within the primitive and not killed by the alpha-mask to be rendered, of course.

Enjoy, Aranfell

 

[ondaedg]

FYI, OpenGL has long had a feature called "Alpha to mask". It allows the source alpha value to be converted into a mask that specifies which samples to kill for a multi-sample render target. For example, if the source alpha is 0.5, then half of the samples would be killed. This allows sample-level screen-door transparency effects. It doesn't allow the sort of spatial coherence that one gets with edge-anti-aliasing, since the alpha value only conveys the desired amount of coverage, not the portion of the pixel that should be covered. A sample has to both be within the primitive and not killed by the alpha-mask to be rendered, of course.

Enjoy, Aranfell

Do you know of any apps that make use of this?

 

[Demirug]

The way I read it. Its Nvidia's hybrid AA modes. 4xS, 6xS, 16xS ect.

No it isn't. You can activate this and your normal AA at the same time.

 

[nAo]

Any word about MSAA on FP render tagets?

 

[ChrisRay]

The way I read it. Its Nvidia's hybrid AA modes. 4xS, 6xS, 16xS ect.

No it isn't. You can activate this and your normal AA at the same time.

May I ask what beta drivers leaked around you can find these in? Not the 77.13 anyway.