SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ENHANCED MULTI-SAMPLE ANTI-ALIASING

• US 20140354675A1
• Filed: 06/04/2013
• Published: 12/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
• Original Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
• Inventors: LOTTES, Timothy Paul
• Granted Patent: US 9,710,894 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/591
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/001 Texturing; Colouring; Generation of texture or colour inpainting G06T5/77
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/40 Filling a planar surface by adding surface attributes, e.g. colour or texture
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10024 Color image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/20 using local operators
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/70 Denoising; Smoothing

Abstract

A system and method for enhanced multi-sample anti-aliasing. The method includes determining a sampling pattern corresponding to a pixel and adjusting the sampling pattern based on a visual effect (e.g., post-processing visual effect). The method further includes accessing a first plurality of samples based on the sampling pattern. The first plurality of samples may comprise a second plurality of samples within the pixel and a third plurality of pixels outside of the pixel. The method further includes performing anti-aliasing filtering of the pixel based on the first plurality of samples and the sampling pattern.

Claims

1. A method of performing anti-aliasing, said method comprising:

determining a sampling pattern corresponding to a pixel;

adjusting said sampling pattern based on a visual effect;

accessing a first plurality of samples based on said sampling pattern, wherein said first plurality of samples comprises a second plurality of samples within said pixel and a third plurality of samples outside of said pixel; and

performing anti-aliasing filtering of said pixel based on said first plurality of samples and said sampling pattern.

2. The method as described in claim 1 wherein said anti-aliasing filtering comprises resolving said pixel in a linear high dynamic range (HDR) color-space.

3. The method as described in claim 1 wherein said anti-aliasing filtering comprises cubic filtering.

4. The method as described in claim 2 wherein said resolving said pixel in a linear high dynamic range (HDR) color-space comprises blending of colors between background and foreground post-processed samples.

5. The method as described in claim 1 further comprising:

converting said pixel to a low dynamic range (LDR) display color-space.

6. The method as described in claim 1 wherein said visual effect comprises filtering operable to be performed during post-processing.

7. The method as described in claim 1 wherein said visual effect comprises at least one of motion blur and depth of field.

8. A method for increasing visual quality, said method comprising:

accessing a current frame;

accessing a prior frame;

accessing a motion vector operable for mapping said prior frame to said current frame;

determining a portion of said prior frame corresponding to a portion of said current frame based on said motion vector; and

performing multi-sample anti-aliasing of said portion of said current frame based on said portion of said prior frame and said portion of said current frame.

9. The method as described in claim 8 wherein said portion of said prior frame comprises a pixel.

10. The method as described in claim 8 wherein said portion of said prior frame comprises a plurality of samples.

11. The method as described in claim 8 further comprising:

blending a prior filtered color sample with said portion of said current frame prior to said multi-sample anti-aliasing.

12. The method as described in claim 8 further comprising:

reducing said portion of said prior frame in proportion to an amount that said portion of said prior frame is out of the color range of said portion of said current frame.

13. The method as described in claim 8 wherein said anti-aliasing is operable to reduce flicker.

14. A system for graphics processing, said system comprising:

a sampling pattern module operable to determine a sampling pattern of a plurality of samples corresponding to a pixel;

a sampling pattern adjustment module operable to adjust said sampling pattern based on a filter;

a sample access module operable to access said plurality of samples based on said sampling pattern;

a multi-sample anti-aliasing module operable to perform multi-sample anti-aliasing of said pixel based on said plurality of samples and said sampling pattern.

15. The system as described in claim 14 wherein said multi-sample anti-aliasing module is operable to resolve said pixel in a linear high dynamic range (HDR) color-space.

16. The system as described in claim 14 wherein said multi-sample anti-aliasing comprises cubic filtering.

17. The system as described in claim 14 further comprising:

a temporal multi-sample anti-aliasing module operable to perform multi-sample anti-aliasing resolve based on a portion of a current frame and a portion of a prior frame.

18. The system as described in claim 14 further comprising:

a color space conversion module operable to convert said pixel to a low dynamic range (LDR) display color-space.

19. The system as described in claim 14 wherein said filter is a motion blur filter.

20. The system as described in claim 14 further wherein said multi-sample anti-aliasing module is operable to perform multi-sample anti-aliasing of said pixel based on said plurality of samples of a current frame and a plurality of samples of a prior frame.