Anti Aliasing question

[_Phantom]

I know that anti aliasing ist the process to prevent the staircase-effect. It can make graphics a lot better but it can make sharp pictures become unsharp. Is antialiasing worth? It consumes a lot of grafic power and doesnt always give better graphics.

 

[cowboydude99]

I don't know too much about this, but yes.

AA can blur textures.

 

[Lmah]

It's all preference. I know a lot of people who don't use it and enjoy games perfectly fine, I also know people who need to use SSAA (which is very taxing) in order to be happy. Me personally I'm usually happy with 4x MSAA in most games, but there are some games where i just require SSAA (games usually with a lot of foliage).

I do play same games with AA off or MSAA 2x, that require absolute screen clarity, such as FPS games.

 

[huilun02]

The resulting image quality really depends on the type of AA being used.

In most cases you get blurred edges from cheaper AA techniques like FXAA.

Most games give the option to use another type called MSAA that is better but does not cost a lot more than FXAA.

In some cases like running a 4k monitor or viewing from a long distance, the jagged edges are barely visible so AA would be useless.

 

[mouse24]

Pretty sure you're thinking of FXAA which often times looks worse than no AA. I haven't found a situation where I prefer no AA to MSAA.

 

[JamesHeller]

antialiasing is a software technique for diminishing jaggies - stairstep-like lines that should be smooth. Jaggies occur because the output device, the monitor or printer, doesn't have a high enough resolution to represent a smooth line. Antialiasing reduces the prominence of jaggies by surrounding the stairsteps with intermediate shades of gray (for gray-scaling devices) or color (for color devices). Although this reduces the jagged appearance of the lines, it also makes them fuzzier.

 

[maddogfargo]

The higher quality AA modes are also the most taxing on your hardware and have a higher performance hit.

Try different modes until you find a balance between quality and performance that you are happy with.