What is DST and PCF? No one has explained it.
- Thread starter K.I.L.E.R
- Start date
Its been covered multiple times in multiple threads.
DST = Depth / Stencil Texture.K.I.L.E.R said:
PCF = Percentage Clostest Filtering
DSTs are used in a shadowing method called shadow mapping. Basically, the scene is first rendered from a light's point of view, rendering the frame into the DST. This is then used to render the scene from the camera's POV but with projective texturing used to apply the DST to the frame; during pixel processing the pixel depth value for the ordinary texture is compared to those from the DST. The calculation will either result in the yes-no type of answer, declaring that the pixel is either in shadow or not.
PCF is a form of texture filtering. As the name suggests, the nearest texels to the sample point are taken during the sampling; kinda like with bilinear filtering but the sample patterns are jittered.
Something like that anyway - somebody is going to correct me I know but that's off the top of my head and I'm at the work right now too!
DaveBaumann said:
That was not a particulary helpful answer...
DST = Depth Stencil Texture
There are a number of depth stencil formats. You have a texture. You want to use one of the 12 available formats. You then check to see if your hardware can use the surface format you have chosen as a texture and/or a render target and/or as a depth stencil buffer (the last should be compatible with a render target format). If hardware says okay, you get DST. Basically, DST is depth-based shadow buffer, rendering into depth textures.
PCF = Percentage Closer Filtering (sometimes also called Percentage Closest Filtering)
Helps alleviate aliasing of shadow maps. PCF compares pixel depth to position and neighbouring pixels in the shadow map to set shadow intensity (percentage of shadow map that is actually "shadowed"). PCF is useful for approximating soft shadows but needs some mucking around (basically blurring the shadows, duh).
Hope this is the kind of info you want. If not, too bad coz I gotta rush to the toilet.
There are a number of depth stencil formats. You have a texture. You want to use one of the 12 available formats. You then check to see if your hardware can use the surface format you have chosen as a texture and/or a render target and/or as a depth stencil buffer (the last should be compatible with a render target format). If hardware says okay, you get DST. Basically, DST is depth-based shadow buffer, rendering into depth textures.
PCF = Percentage Closer Filtering (sometimes also called Percentage Closest Filtering)
Helps alleviate aliasing of shadow maps. PCF compares pixel depth to position and neighbouring pixels in the shadow map to set shadow intensity (percentage of shadow map that is actually "shadowed"). PCF is useful for approximating soft shadows but needs some mucking around (basically blurring the shadows, duh).
Hope this is the kind of info you want. If not, too bad coz I gotta rush to the toilet.
digitalwanderer
Legend
Thanks Neeyik and Rev for the explanations, it makes a lot more sense to me now. 
digitalwanderer
Legend
Re: The Big Question
More importantly, how many can dance on the head of a pin? :|Reverend said:
digitalwanderer
Legend
Thanks for that, I was kind of wondering where that came from.Reverend said:
BTW-For me a pixel is .22
digitalwanderer
Legend
Definately maybe.BRiT said:digitalwanderer said:BTW-For me a pixel is .22
Even if it's z-only non-colored or occluded?
