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Forums - Gaming - Anti-Aliasing: A VGC Thread

 

What is your prefered AA method?

SSAA 8 53.33%
 
MSAA 3 20.00%
 
SMAA 2 13.33%
 
FXAA 0 0%
 
TAA 2 13.33%
 
Total:15
caffeinade on 04 December 2017
Normchacho said:
Thanks for making me and that other guy a thread...I guess...Not that I needed someone to explain to me what the different types of AA are or explain that they require resources...but thanks.

Nintendo doesn't use AA to the degree other companies do because they don't prioritize it. That's all. Every developer needs to decide how to best allocate their resources and Nintendo doesn't value AS. For me, as someone who is really sensitive to aliasing, it bugs me.

Nintendo should try to offer their consumers a choice.
SMAA and FXAA are fast enough to not really drag down performance.
Given that they don't seem to want to give users the option I can see the reason they don't use FXAA, not sure about SMAA though.
Maybe we will see change in the future.

Temporal AA can be great, but can also destroy image quality.
For a company that does not like offer choice, I can see why some teams in Nintendo decide not to use it.




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Pemalite on 04 December 2017

The explanations are obviously extremely simplified... And there are far more Anti-Aliasing modes than what was presented in that explanation, Some AA methods are hybrids of several other approaches. (I.E. A mix of both MSAA and FXAA)

Hopefully some users find value in your post going forward.




www.youtube.com/@Pemalite

Kirin_gaming on 04 December 2017

SGSSAA was my preferred choice when I used to game at 1080p, it is hands down the best AA solution I've ever used.



Zkuq on 05 December 2017
caffeinade said:
Zkuq said:

Good thread, I didn't remember all the details anymore (and I'm not sure I ever had enough information on temporal AA anyway).

Anyway, I'm OK with FXAA. As far as I've seen, it doesn't really make the image too blurry but it does eliminate the jaggies well enough. Of course I prefer better methods if I have the processing power, but I'd much rather use the extra power for more noticeable things than better AA. Whenever given the exact choice, I rarely go above 2xAA because it seems to be the biggest help and I don't care about further improvements enough to bother playing with the settings to see if I can go higher. Of course with older games, the choice is easy: I can go higher, period.

SMAA is subjectively better than FXAA, and is only a slight bit slower.
I recommend giving it a shot.
Both methods have almost zero impact on PCs (consoles too, but they don't often get a say in the matter).

Temporal AA is cool, but is has too many downsides in the implementations I have seen.
Hopefully some day in the future we can get a smarter, more accurate method of doing it.
Developers could probably devise a method that uses it only in slower scenes, or on select portions of the screen.

Adaptive Temporal Anti-Aliasing, sounds pretty cool.

I'm not sure I have much choice usually, so there's not much 'giving a shot' to do. I'll try to keep it in mind, though, in case I do get the choice some time.

Adaptive temporal AA crossed my mind as well... It sounds neat and not very difficult, but I'm not sure about performance. It sounds like a really simple idea so if it really isn't common, I'm going to assume low performance is the culprit.



curl-6 on 05 December 2017

I don't believe there's any excuse for a game releasing these days not to use at least some form of AA, unless of course its using 2D pixel art. Even relatively low cost post-process and temporal solutions look better than the nasty crawling jaggies that results from no AA at all.

Last edited by curl-6 - on 05 December 2017

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Skeeuk on 05 December 2017

some games i actually like FXAA any game thats got lots of lines and is basic looking like HIZI using FXAA on nvidia settings makes the game look smoohtr



...not much time to post anymore, used to be awesome on here really good fond memories from VGchartz...

PSN: Skeeuk - XBL: SkeeUK - PC: Skeeuk

really miss the VGCHARTZ of 2008 - 2013...

vivster on 05 December 2017

2025 called through its 16k resolution smartphone and asks what AA is.



If you demand respect or gratitude for your volunteer work, you're doing volunteering wrong.

caffeinade on 05 December 2017
vivster said:
2025 called through its 16k resolution smartphone and asks what AA is.

It is the thing you apply to older PC games, when there is nothing else to max out.

Portal and Portal 2 look very refined at 8k with 8xMSAA.



curl-6 on 05 December 2017

I think you're a bit too harsh on FXAA and Temporal AA, caffeinade.

I've played plenty of games using these methods; many of them have good image quality, and never once did I feel they looked worse than the same resolution without any AA.



pokoko on 05 December 2017

TAA is a vile thing and should be burned from this earth.

I finally figured out that it's the main reason why some games give me terrible headaches. I don't mean the kind that go away with a couple of Tylenol, I mean the kind that make me feel physically sick and destroy me for an entire day. I tried all the other fixes, like POV and turning down settings, but I'm positive it's TAA at this point because everything is fine until I move the camera.

I've been trying to figure out a way to play Skyrim or Fallout 4 again without turning off AA and the world looking like a dirty fish tank.