

By using the colors that it samples, the technology blends away the appearance of jagged edges. However, how does anti-aliasing smooth out the edges? While there are different types of anti-aliasing in general, this technology works by sampling the pixels around the edges of an image. For an even better representation, check out the interactive version of this image on. Here’s a good example of the effect anti-alising can have on the graphics of a game. This is anti-aliasing hard at work to make jagged edges as smooth as possible. That’s why some people notice a slight blurring effect around the edges of images in their games. If you don’t think that the blurred edges look good either, you have to consider that as you zoom further out, the anti-aliased ‘A’ will look sharper than the aliased ‘A’.Īnti-aliasing attempts to solve this problem by smoothing out the edges. The aliased version of ‘A’ has jagged edges, while the anti-aliased version of ‘A’ has blurred edges. This image, from, shows the effect that anti-aliasing has on a graphic. For this reason, curved lines in games tend to have a jagged appearance. As explained above, these smooth curves are hard to render on a monitor that’s made up of rectangular pixels. In the real world, we’re able to see smooth curves.

For others, however, turning off anti-aliasing reminds them of just how disruptive aliasing can be. In fact, that’s why some people don’t notice a difference in how their modern games look when they mess with the anti-aliasing settings. The number of pixels increase to the point that the jagged edges shrink and are virtually unnoticed by the naked eye. As monitors and other output displays receive advancements in resolutions, aliasing is harder to notice. It stands to reason that anti-aliasing technology aims to resolve this jagged-edge problem. When it comes to making lines that curve or are rounded, the rectangles cause jagged edges. Why do jaggies form? The main reason is because the computer screen or output device is made up of a large number of pixels.
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This is what many people in the PC gaming world refer to as “jaggies.” This example from Worcester Polytechnic Institute shows the challenge game developers have in rendering smooth-looking graphics on a square-pixel-based display (which is all modern displays). You may have noticed aliasing in a PC game when a line that’s supposed to curve looks like a set of stairs instead. Before getting into them, it’s important to understand what anti-aliasing does and how it improves gaming graphics.įirst, you need to know what aliasing is. There’s a lot to take in about anti-aliasing. So what is anti-aliasing, and how does it affect how your PC games look? Understanding Anti-Aliasing In fact, you might have messed around with it but couldn’t see a noticeable difference in your game. An example is the “anti-aliasing” setting. While most of these settings are self-explanatory, some might not be if you’re unfamiliar with adjusting computer graphics. Need a quick primer on anti-aliasing? In this guide, we’ve covered what anti-aliasing is and how impacts you and the games you play.ĭo you enjoy playing PC games? If so, you’ve probably found yourself adjusting the graphical settings at one point or another.
