Posted May 19, 2011
Lehti: Ok, I think I got it. Is there a more common term for the algorithm other than "übersampling"?
cjrgreen: It used to be called "full-screen anti-aliasing" (FSAA). It was dropped by GPU makers because it is so inefficient, then reinstated in recent GPUs because they have enough computing power to do it (Fermi and Northern Islands GPUs have it). It's pretty inefficient to compute, because you need to render every frame 2 to 4 times, rather than traditional AA, which applies a more capable filter only to the edges in the frame designated for AA. Also, its performance is that of a simple first-order moving-average filter, which does little except soften the image's focus.