whats the big deal with antialiasing?

[1twelve2]

i hear alot of ppl saying use AAx2 or AAx4 or even NO AA...... what does it do? the higher the AA = better graphics? better performance?

[Gunny Highway]

Re: whats the big deal with antialiasing?

It makes edges smooth so they don't seem jagged.

There are two ways to play IMO. Low resolution and enable AA or play at high resolution and play at low AA or no AA, because at higher resolutions the aliasing isn't noticable, and in games where you take more of a hit from enabling AA it is better to just run at higher resolution.

Take a look at the two diamond shaped figures here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti_aliasing

aliasing is the jagged edges that are clearly visable on the left diamiond, AA makes them straight.

UPDATE: Take a look at this article here, it is probably more gamer friendly: http://www.tweaktown.com/document.ph...review&dId=601

[Valorum]

Re: whats the big deal with antialiasing?

AA smooths out "jaggies" or stair-stepped lines. See http://www.tweaktown.com/document.ph...review&dId=601

Example from that article:



The A on the left is without AA, the one on the right is with.

[slosh]

Re: whats the big deal with antialiasing?

i hear alot of ppl saying use AAx2 or AAx4 or even NO AA...... what does it do? the higher the AA = better graphics? better performance?

Better graphics, slower performance. It takes quite a powerful video card with at least 256mb of ram on the card to be able to crank up the AA.

It's a big deal to me...I wish I had a 7800 so I could see how this game is really supposed to look.

[1twelve2]

Re: whats the big deal with antialiasing?

Better graphics, slower performance. It takes quite a powerful video card with at least 256mb of ram on the card to be able to crank up the AA.

It's a big deal to me...I wish I had a 7800 so I could see how this game is really supposed to look.

well i wish i had a 3GHz processor for the same reason.lol. my 7800 is a beast while playing games like CS:Source, but in BF2 my processor is in fact n00b. so i guess im stuck on medium low settings till i get a high-dollar CPU?