What the Heck Are MSAA, FXAA, SMAA, and TXAA?!

[@matthewe0218]

Petition to have a bottle of Minute Maid juice on his desk in every minute science video, breathe to sign

[@spencerphillips599]

Where do i sign

[@dylanbenz7724]

Cactup what?

[@dylanbenz7724]

oh lol NVM I get....I'm dumb don't hate

[@vincenzoc1711]

Cactup amaa My Ding-a-Ling move tonJ spelling games

[@vincenzoc1711]

uok ml l

[@junilog]

I still can't accept the fact that AAA games aren't games with Anti-Anti-Aliasing

[@pIexagon]

Thats just aliasing then :p

[@CosmicHarmony58]

Ahhhhh I see what you did there

[@enricofermi3471]

Some games have such atrociously bad implementation of temporal AA they actually need that.

[@jokerbeatzholyjesusinspira7581]

@@pIexagon😂

[@Delimon007]

@@pIexagon That's the point 😂 Some games force it to be on (especially TAA) which is why they run like crap.

[@andydecoy1138]

Here's a bit of a recap of the techniques with some of my own opinions. Listed from cheapest to most demanding. *FXAA* : cheap but arguably lowest quality *SMAA 1x* : better than FXAA but does leave quite a bit of aliasing to the image. *SMAA T2x* : this temporal variation applies SMAA 1x to current frame and blends it with previous frame (using velocity weighting). Good candidate for the best quality / performance ratio. *MSAA* : Very nice edges (better than above techniques) thanks to the larger depth buffer. But, costs more memory and computation. Also, does nothing about shading aliasing. *TXAA* : MSAA with temporal filtering (MSAA + remedy to shading aliasing). Achieves very calm image but at high cost. Can also be too blurry for some tastes. *SSAA* : super sampling. Highest cost, highest quality. Not really sensible for latest games that push hardware limits, but good candidate for older games. If you can't choose: my recommendation is SMAA (T2x preferably). Finally, something that was not described in the video: *TSSAA* : temporal super sampling. The motivation is same as in SSAA - use fully shaded samples within pixel and average them. But, unlike in SSAA, the samples are not computed during a single frame. Instead, the main camera is constantly being jittered in the desired sampling pattern, and the AA samples are "stolen" from previous frames with exponential history weighting (older frames contribute less). For this to work, a velocity buffer must be generated in order to know where each pixel was located in the last frame. The beauty: this is same as super sampling when the image is static! The ugly: Lots of tricky stuff when camera/objects start moving... ghosting issues, balancing between blur and aliasing... All in all, surprisingly cheap technique, but comes with caveats. But when implemented well, can give a very nice filmic look (Uncharted 4).

[@sonumistry8577]

And what's taa

[@unoreversecard1224]

@@sonumistry8577 its should be Temporal Anti Aliasing

[@towsif_8_128]

TAA: Almost no cost, gives a slight blur but nice look.

[@steelixion]

What if i turn on everything?

[@andydecoy1138]

@@steelixion Short answer: I highly recommend you stick with a single solution. In my opinion games should not allow for AA mix and matching to avoid confusion. More detailed answer: - SSAA doesn't need anything else to support it. - MSAA does not really benefit from additional post-process AAs like FXAA and SMAA. It might benefit from temporal filtering, but that is essentially the TXAA option. - SMAA does not need FXAA. But it can be combined with TAA/TSSAA. Indeed, idTech offered AA solution called SMAA 1TX that kind of does this (In Crysis 3 and Doom 2016 I think?)

[@bunnybag]

All these comments about 360p n stuff... Comm'on guys its 2017. Its all about 480p now.

[@charlesweber9247]

Nah man, it's all about that 144p 12 fps

[@astrotechstudios228]

No guys, it's 4K 144Hz HDR now.

[@justinwong939]

Nah...

[@Puremindgames]

480? go home with your fancy future tech

[@PrimeVirtualReality]

480p will never go mainsteam, 360p will still reign as the most used resolution ever, 480p is a gimmick. The human eye can't even see above 360p

[@evansyoung]

Hey Salazer, I must say you are the best in this business, you're a champion in explaining, teaching and delineating technology. And yes, you always sit in your chair when making videos...keep sitting in your chair for you are the King!

[@juliantaffa4089]

Thank you so much for doing this, because you clearly read the comments and actually cared about what people wanted to see ;D

[@jameo3606]

I already knew what MSAA and FXAA were but SMAA and TXAA were new ones that suddenly started appearing in my graphic settings in my newer games, great video, very well explained.

[@hassanjamil1099]

Wow I love watching 4 minutes 50 second science

[@tylerweigand8875]

lord and savior gaben at first I read "silence" and got very confused.

[@darknightmike10yearsago]

@@tylerweigand8875 LOL, same

[@jean-pierreraduocallaghan8422]

I was blessed with 4 minutes and 49 seconds for me in this video. I guess I really missed out then....

[@Balomis]

I like how in the first diagram of aliasing with the circles, even the "smooth" ones have clear aliasing! Great video Greg! I'm happy to say I knew a lot of it already, but it did clear up some of the similarities and differences that I have trouble keeping track of between all the AA's :)

[@gaolbreak1090]

Been looking for anyone who can explain these things properly. After trying to read some long ass pages which I struggled to understand, I stumbled upon your video. It's perfect! Short, simple but elaborate. Very nice!

[@Rockerezio1996]

funny how now 720p is regarded as how 480p was regarded when 1080p's were a thing

[@zvxcvxcz]

I know right, 720 is still "HD" guys :P

[@infasis]

@@zvxcvxcz Nowadays, 1080p is often being heralded as not good enough anymore

[@darkwolf1739]

@@infasis 1440p is the new 1080p lol

[@aarondrew4076]

I don't think you hear this enough, Greg. Thank you. I appreciate you taking the time to research, analyze, format(make it easy to understand), and write an entire paper and put it in video form with great visual demonstrations. I love to learn, especially when the subject is something i'm genuinely interested in. I hope all your time and effort is being rewarded with success financially and mentally(knowledge and pride). Thanks again! -Student of Professor Salazar

[@gordonfreeman5958]

If, like me, you can’t stand blur: - SSAA is best for dealing with all aliasing but is the most performance intensive - MSAA is second best, even just 2x makes a big difference in games - SMAA is less effective but still sharp I would avoid FXAA, TXAA, TAA like the plague unless you hate visual clarity.

[@MJ-uk6lu]

SSAA is really taxing. Tired to run Colin McRae Rally 2005 with max settings and SSAA set to 8xEQ and my RX 580 was sometimes running it at less than 60 fps. At least it looked really good.

[@HarryHartkern]

So you are telling me, that an "s" in AA-Methods is good? Nice way to remember it.

[@gordonfreeman5958]

@@HarryHartkern Pretty much. Also, TAA is actually not bad when running at 4K resolution, but at 1080p it's blurry. If playing at 4K, TAA might give the best looking results.

[@HarryHartkern]

@@gordonfreeman5958 1440p here and i hate TAA

[@ahubbard9692]

I've always wondered but have never actually cared enough to look it up and compare the differences. Thanks for doing that for me!

[@astrotechstudios228]

Watching this on a 4K display boys. No AA required

[@coinsagE46m3]

Totally. Love the fact you need zero AA at 4K. Hate it when I see people benchmarking at 4K with some form of AA enabled.

[@David_Quinn_Photography]

for now

[@01Gamemaster10]

With all respect but that is bullshit and you know it ;) Oke, I agree that it also looks great without AA....BUT.....even in 4K (I have a 4K 27inch display) it is needed in my opinion. The very lowest AA settings is enough to do the job....but you can clearly see the difference :)

[@Crittek]

More pixels is the best form of AA =)

[@Kurkkulimu]

+CookieKingGaming Wtf are you talking about?

[@hudsonmeek6728]

Thank you for making this video. These kind of things are probably the hardest part of getting into pc gaming and I will be sharing this video to my friends in the future who are new to pc gaming. I only wish you made this video earlier so I could have gained something. Great work as always.

[@moosedawgatlantaproductions]

I’m currently setting up an epic VR setup for Assetto Corsa through an Alienware laptop and this explanation has improved my experience exponentially! Nice work!

[@johnnyk3788]

Great VIDEO! I'll be checking my game settings tomorrow.... When you buy a game and have a decent setup you try to run the top tier's .... Not knowing what they are ppl assume it's the highest / last setting avail. Knowing what these do, in a quick video like this was great. Heck of a JOB! I've been subscribed for awhile now, but will be forwarding this video to friends, and colleagues who know little about graphic settings. THX!

[@Xx4MuZ3xDaBoSsxX]

You're the Omarisuf of PCs. No bullshit, just the facts. Keep it up Greg!

[@luminesfire7551]

I used TXAA in Titanfall 2 and Battlefield 1 and I really liked their implementation. I noticed that TXAA smoothed out the edges well while being pretty resource friendly (playing these games on a 1070 settings cranked at 1440p). I can't say that it's perfect for every game but it did not negatively impact a fast shooter like Titanfall 2, so I'd say it's worth trying out

[@ZackAttack59]

Can you make a video on TAA? many games, especially current ubisoft games use taa in their ultra settings but TAA seems to make the image look worse. Battlefield 1 and Rainbow Six Siege for example

[@reinbeers5322]

Finally, someone explained this! I just left everything to default or off, but now is a different story!

[@jarrubber]

What about TAA and MFAA (especially TAA since it's one of the most taxing out of all types of AA)?

[@OniMirage]

Morphological AA methods originally came from ATI/AMD just as a note. Where available I will always choose SMAA vs TXAA. If I have the choice or the game allows the use I will choose MSAA at 4x + transparency AA.

[@Near2Future]

0:47 This annoys me quite abit. When shadows & textures pop in my render view. What is this & is there a way to fix it?

[@estebankid10]

this channel is dope, its like PC Master Race for beginners

[@derbiochemiker]

Thank you very much, this is exactly what I was searching for. I was well aware of what Antialiasing is and what it does, but I was confused about the various methods of AA and the differences between them. I personally prefer 4xMSAA, because I can't see a difference in visual quality between 8x and 4x, but there is usually a huge drop in performance. If the game supports it, I also like to mix it with TXAA as for me, using a 75Hz monitor, it makes movement much more smooth. FXAA I only use if the picture tends to be choppy due to great amounts of moving vegetation, as it makes the game look more steady by blurring out the movement a bit.

[@anishkapatel8393]

Well this was something I didn't realize that I didn't know. Now, I atleast have some idea. Keep making videos like these, it helps a lot.

[@virusesloading....3129]

What is the the difference between TXAA and TAA? Also what about Arma's FSAA?

[@thibni_]

Damn son! Okay, you made this 5 years ago, but the depth of details and information considering how compared you made it, was completely worth my time. I was trying to figure out why MSAA and stuff werre affecting FPS and data transfer, but it's mostly in the eyes as well. Interesting! I'll certainly try playing the game in more intensive situations and give it a shot! Thank you!

[@faezlimpbizkit]

You always had the best content among other youtubers, keep it up :)

[@rudyossanchez]

Thank you , finally some useful information from a tech channel, thank you for taking the time to explain this.I can not tell you how much I enjoy this kind of content.

[@Frisky_FTW]

Very clear explanation, sir. Something my kids could understand!

[@GregSalazar]

Thanks, Steve!

[@Frisky_FTW]

Why so negative Fernan?

[@Frisky_FTW]

Fernan Gomez no problems here. No worries!

[@Eminentend]

haha most civil comment thread

[@kafir1337]

What have I just stumbled onto?

[@debarshimullick1184]

shalzar studio is the best it teaches many things

[@BlockyChunk6174]

So, which one should I go for MSAA 8x or TXAA 4x or TXAA 2x

[@zorindvoid2265]

i appreciate things like this. Although its known to many its always a good reminder and a good way to be sure of stuff you already know.

[@doctorboot7191]

just got a 5700 amd sapphire pulse...can you do a video based on the difference in settings for Nvidia vs. AMD...basically which handles what better

[@Aries0098]

Suggestions: Downsampling, OGSSAA, SSAA, NVIDIA DSR for next videos. Great vid btw.

[@lehappy3087]

hi Salazar can u plz doing video about overclocking ? i know that ther alot of resource out there. im look forward for this video on this channel. sorry for my english

[@JR-zw2vb]

So fast shooters FPS disable AA, and slow ones (MMO)RPG, enable AA. Correct?

[@luigiymario2xd]

Thank you for explaining these! I really didn't know what those meant!

[@TheAwesonymous]

i suggested you make more of these videos about this stuff and you did! Thanks!

[@damiancherubini]

I thought that MSAA was one of the less expensive methods! I learned something new today...

[@TheShadowang1s]

Just watched an ad for the 2k17 prelude. Why is that ad still playing?

[@misterinfinity4076]

Yes! Finally after 5 years of Pc gaming I finally found a video explaining all of them! (too bad I can't use them)

[@silvestrocalta8977]

Yeah.. So happy you've made this video.. Thanks Greg 👍

[@SzajKornik]

Finally someone who tells us to thumbs down if we disliked something, i respect that, it oddly enough makes me want to like the video more than just usual begging for likes

[@MrRubberduck645]

I've been wondering this for ages. Thank you!

[@brandonbennett7865]

My big question is, what does anisotropic filtering do?

[@gfawkes9568]

Holy shit this channel is animator heaven THIS IS SO COOL

[@BeastGamersKill]

You should do a video on downscaling, like playing 4K on a 1080p monitor

[@joebones1]

Yasssss...more of these so I know what to turn on and off for my graphical performance benefits!

[@CoolJoe330]

I would like to see how these compare to Extended Resolution Scaling. Both in visual quality and performance.

[@jasonlisonbee]

Why not just super res where the edges are and then down scale to match the output resolution?

[@frozenturbo8623]

Huge performance loss, You basically render the game Let's say at 4k to output it in 1080p.

[@Dseated]

txaa was a must in black flag I use it when it's available. do you ever go into the nvidia control panel and apply enhancements to your aa?

[@holdenford7786]

the amount of times he said aa almost made me an alcoholic

[@dustinjames1268]

Would you be able to make a video on the topic of 60fps+ gaming? For some reason above 60fps the motion feels weird to me, and even creates nausea depending on the FOV

[@PlayRiteProductions]

Thanks man! Was waiting on a video like this from you on this topic!

[@burakbasduzen]

Im waiting a video, about vsync, free-sync, nsync, triple buffer difference..

[@Kabutomar]

I started seeing this on games like Crysis 1, lot of years ago. I never understood what the heck was it. With your video, many years before I finally understood.

[@brendinventer6407]

This format of video is amazing! Love learning with you haha

[@GregSalazar]

Thanks for watching, Brendin!

[@virusesloading....3129]

Could you do Ansiotropic Filtering next?

[@twoalphasix4332]

Love these videos. Keep em coming

[@Malidictus]

Old video, but still very good. There seems to be very limited information on SMAA out there, and Google constantly redirects me to MSAA articles, instead. Why? Thank you for making this.

[@knelson3145]

So am I right in just leaving AA off with uhd?

[@Jaybux87]

Great video, finally someone can and is explaining all these graphic options!!!

[@joeklose8581]

more stuff like this. Been gaming for 15 years, building for 8, and even worked at a few tech places and still haven't gotten a explanation as good as this for subtle nuances like this. Tho I suppose this knowledge will be less required as time goes on with hdr 4k devices coming to market... it's still good stuff to know.

[@muradali237]

360p? Think we need some aa for this video

[@GregSalazar]

Refresh.

[@muradali237]

Salazar Studio Cheers it's at 1080p 60fps now

[@beyblade_ftw]

Salazar Studio can u plz explain the difference between Anastropical Filtering Quality and High Perfomence

[@Crittek]

Always have the highest Anisotropic Filtering quality that you can choose, it helps with texture quality at distance and at angles. The performance impact is nearly 0, and this has been the case for a decade or more.

[@Admer456]

BlazarK We will see about that on my almost-10-year-old laptop.

[@SpiralNovax]

what about downsampling? is it not better ?

[@techtosterone9997]

very informative. now I know what aa,s to turn down/off

[@TopiasSalakka]

So what's the best one and why is it SMAA?

[@sonsoffishes1]

Thanks! Just got Red Dead 2 for PC and this explained these settings for me!!!

[@dkf2711]

This video is gold! Thank you, Sir!

[@Avedis1999]

Thanx to you I’m playing my fav simulators in 4K and still staying under 70 c :)) thank you!!!!

[@angelfury16]

This is why I liked your channel! Please continue teaching us things like this. I hope to see more videos like this in your channel very informative! 👍 Do you have a video now about strange science? I love to hear something like the pyramids and deep ocean creatures. 😂

[@King_WhiteWolf]

Would you do a video explaining how raising the resolution could reduce CPU load? I'm having a hard time grasping this concept but I've been told several times that going up to 1440p would reduce CPU load by increasing GPU load. In my uneducated head it seems like it should increase the load on both, if anything.

[@colinleung6150]

Tldr: Higher resolution = lower frames per second = less draw calls = less CPU usage. In other words if 120fps uses 100%cpu usage 60fps in higher res will be 50% CPU usage. (Approx)

[@eikewiddau8986]

a thing I find way more important than any kind of AA is anisotropic filtering, because it makes much more of a difference in visuals if you don't have clear textures at shallow angles than when you have some (often hard to notice) jagged edges on an object.

[@prashantpatil9872]

Hi dear can you please make comparison on anti aliasing vs FPS, it's pros and cons in pubg mobile, like spoting moving objects, distant objects and FPS count side by side

[@rockspringswoodturner4502]

Hey Greg love your short videos on different subjects. An idea for a video I would be interested in would be an explanation of different monitor connections. DVI display port and so forth. I haven't seen these explained with benefits, pros and cons.

[@lucadangelo4645]

how much vram memory do you need for msaa? I'm undecided between a 3060 or a 4060... thanks

[@ccleorina]

Can you make a ASIC Quality vid... kinda wanna know what it is about... too bad gtx 10 series dont have any ASIC Quality in gpuz

[@dolcenerdgagalipa956]

I have a question: MSI RX 580 CFX is compatible with MSAA X8/ TXAA?

[@youngprince024]

So..? If computer power wasn't an issue is the best aa the MSAA? for best clear crisp image??

[@youngprince024]

Is it better than MSAA in image quality?

[@youngprince024]

Oh yeah DSR/VSR seems also a good choice. Thanks, But how would the pixels be when you double the resolution from your monitor?? i didn't understand that. If my monitor is 1080p and the image is 1080p are the pixels 1 to 1?? and if i upscale it to 4k on my 1080p monitor how does the pixels work?? or is it nothing like this?

[@youngprince024]

Yes it's very easy to see the difference with the example. Thanks man you have been awesome explaining it. I saw on NVIDIA's channel they also have MFAA is that also demanding?

[@coverdrave7812]

I believe SSAA is the best and most demanding.

[@DeltaSierra426]

Super-Sampling Anti-Aliasing I suspect.

[@giantant97]

Would that also explain why cell phone towers rendering like 20 feet 200 feet out when you're flying in the jet or fly past the Maze Bank west in GTA and you just see it render in after not being there for some reason

[@Aquarius61]

Good to know... So which version of AA works best for Radeon GPU's? AND Does the Motion Blur option cost any FPS or gain any if disabled?

[@weasle2904]

Aquarius61 It'll reduce performance similarly to Nvidia. Unless it's some Nvidia software. Nvidia seems to make their stuff purposely run shitty on Radeon GPUs i.e. Hairworks, Gameworks ( *cough* Shitworks), and TXAA

[@Aquarius61]

LOL!!!! Don't get me started on Nvidia sabotaging Radeon with their last minute additions to API they refuse to share with AMD. I hear ya Bro! One day, the Gaming Companies will see their way clear to creating a level playing field. MANTLE & Vulcan was supposed to lead to that. But until Vulcan becomes the defacto DX12 API and gaming companies make it a point to make things fair, it won't matter. Nvidia has influenced $$$o many of them for the last 7 years and I think they won't care unless the taps get turned off. It should be an illegal practice. Gaming companies are shooting themselves in the foot doing so.

[@weasle2904]

Aquarius61 Yep I completely agree. Most of the GPUs I've owned were Nvidia, but I don't think I'll be buying another again. AMD will be getting my money as long as they continue not doing Nvidia's bad business practices. And yeah, I was hoping on Vulkan becoming much more popular.

[@witchdoctorteepo]

Another helpful, rad video! Thanks big dog!

[@Aurummorituri]

MA: Andromeda gives the options of only FXAA or TAA. The TAA does create some blur and involves some other post processing that makes it rather resource intensive, especially at 4K. FXAA looks like no AA with noticeable temporal aliasing and shimmering on fine meshes. A nice SMAA option would have been nice along with optimizing that stupid blue haze alpha on the Tempest that kills my framerate, but that is a rant for another time.

[@muradali237]

Got to love these videos

[@johncapone8843]

I'm sorry I still dont understand this stuff but if I'm gaming on a 3440x1440 ultrawide monitor with a 2080 ti what settings should I use?

[@youssefakenkar459]

Maybe increasing the resolution to 1440p and disabling all of that may run and look better ?

[@Anvilshock]

I wonder what AA you used on your video to give you a skin complexity that waxen, hahaha. Anyway, appreciate the shortness, though I wish you had continued using the rasterised circle at the beginning (or equivalent) to explain how the different AA methods actually compose their results. The image examples alone may have demonstrated the effects, but not always obvious enough to spot them within the time they were on screen.

[@Mr.Ditkovich.]

Are you related to Resident Evil 4's villain Ramon Salazar?

[@TourmalineFilms]

Sick video bro! By the way has anyone ever told you, your voice sounds a bit like Lester from GTA 5?

[@efjayadi]

I just need this image, 1:40 Thanks 🙏

[@Spfinator]

Woot! Now I understand this a lot better. Thank you

[@Cat-gt5fl]

Me: *Watches video* *Nods head to everything* Brain: What the hell is he talking about

[@Syphious64]

I rarely ever like playing games with any kind of Anti-Aliasing on, Makes a buttload of games just look like crap and are super blurry with any kind of AA provided. Although some games look amazing with AA, and I cant stand to play without AA in a game like that where everything looks sharp were it should with the AA still doing its job elsewhere.. Its always just been weird to me, Ive understood the concept but until haven't bothered to learn the difference in AA and just what exactly each different AA is doing. Awesome video, I enjoyed it

[@wingman99ful]

Salazar thanks for doing the AA sampling video.

[@hasanwibowo580]

i really love this series

[@WellBeSerious12]

Future display idea: instead of using pixels, mix of hardware and software that works together to 'emulate' or approximate their locations. Since light is more fluid, might also make it harder to 'emulate' sharp corners. Hardware: use precision parts to very accurately approximate and use distinguished 'pixel zones' (areas where any allowed/determined light(s) can enter to display image(s). Software: do same thing but with translating that to software. Just need ultra-precise hardware and maybe much higher density for good-enough fidelity versus pixel display counterparts. Most likely prototypes/early models will be far thicker. But theoretically is the next future of displays.