Difference between revisions of "Antialiasing"

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== About ==
 
"Antialiasing" sounds like a geeky term but its visual effects can be understood easily.
 
First of all, you may know "Anti" is often used as a prefix to mean "against", so why do we need to be against "aliasing"? In computer graphics, "[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/aliasing aliasing]" (and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliasing an expanded technical definition]) refers to the dreaded ''jaggies'' that appear, noticeably on curved edges. If you've wondered why the Second Life Viewer's graphics appear rougher than other 3D experiences you're accustomed to, this is part of the reason.
 
See the difference?
 
 
The good news is this can easily be overcome. If you have a [[graphics card]] that meets or exceeds our [http://secondlife.com/support/sysreqs.php System ''Recommendations''], antialiasing is almost surely supported. On slower graphics cards, you may be able to turn on antialiasing, but it may cause a noticeable performance hit — so you should experiment and see what's best for you.
 
== What use is antialiasing? ==
 
Antialiasing is useful whenever you're looking at Second Life, since it improves image quality.
 
In particular, antialiasing is great if you're making videos or taking product pictures for Xstreet/Marketplace listings, because it makes your goods appear much crisper with fewer "digital artifacts".
 
== Great, so how do I do it? ==
 
# Choose '''Me''' menu > '''Preferences'''.
# Click the '''Graphics''' tab.
# Click the '''Hardware''' button. (If you've never been here before, don't worry, it's fairly un-obvious but you'll wonder how you ever lived without it after!)
# Click the '''Antialiasing''' dropdown and change it from '''Disabled''' to '''2x''' or even '''4x''' (which [[Torley]] prefers as a balance).
#* Related, you may also want to check '''Anisotropic Filtering'''. This makes textures at angles (like rotated signs in the distance) appear sharper.
# Click '''OK'''.
# If you don't notice any difference yet, restart the Second Life Viewer. Now compare. The difference should be subtle yet noticeable.
 
== What antialiasing level is the best? ==
 
Obviously, higher is better but '''16x''' is quite taxing unless you have a very beefy graphics card. Here's why: to antialias, what you see is rendered at a ''higher-resolution multiple'' of itself, then scaled down. This is why the edges look smoother, because there's a higher quality image. But higher multiples require a lot more power.
 
Antialiasing is completely undoable, so again, ''experiment''.
 
== Where can I learn more? ==
 
Antialiasing is a general computer graphics concept, so there's [http://lmgtfy.com/?q=what+is+antialiasing plenty of info on Google] and beyond.

Latest revision as of 14:36, 2 February 2012

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