Z-Buffer Antialiasing

Hi there…

A while ago I was apple to antialias the Z-Buffer which makes 2D-Effects better. But I can’t find out anymore how it worked… So, HELP!!!

robert

i always thought the z buffer shouldnt be antialiased as it would then generate incorrect depth values for edge pixels

Actually, you can get an antialiased Z by 2 ways.

1) Render it at x2 resolution. You’ll get a lovely mipmap, then. Thats not so painfull if you render only Z without shadows, maps, etc…

or

2) Render it via a white fog applied on black objects or with a fallof set to “Distance blend”…

The second option will let you keep your opacity maps into some slots to avoid the “Z square panel effect” on sprites. :slight_smile: (the same bad effect than the one you get with atmospheres applying to the whole square and not only on the parts with alpha >0)

Good news, vray is able to export an image with 16bits per channel when the scanline outputs only 13 and fake 16… So you’ll get a very precise Z. Try to output RGB for you Z via 3 falloff (one per color, ranged in depth) and you’ll get a Z coded in 48 bit. Gorgeous!!

Vlado, you have you a comment about that …? :slight_smile:

I went to the recent Discreet confrence & the Combustion guy had a RLA File with Z-Depth, he check anAA setting on the Zdepth. havent figured this out myself but it would be worth having a look at.

Well, nice but actually it should work with some area filter… It’s possible believe me I had this many times, but it don’t work anymore…

going to write Vlado an Email…

robert