Because when it comes to jaggy edges, MSAA, CFAA, CSAA and SSAA sometimes isn't enough.
MLAA is a new technique of full scene anti-aliasing which boasts exceptionally small performance costs for a large jump in image quality.
The process works on locating high-contrast edges, which is usually a sign of anti-aliasing, and blends the colours to smooth the overall image. This affects textures as well, like SSAA. This technique helps in reducing aliasing, while maintaining some of the crispness of the image with a low performance cost to boot.
This also requires no application modification to work; all DirectX 9 and above applications will work with MLAA. Meaning, titles which cannot use MSAA can now use this technique to improve image quality.
The low performance cost is the real gem of this technique, providing AA on lesser powered GPUs. The recent PS3 title, God of War 3 used MLAA, which allowed for both crisp and beautiful graphics on the limited hardware.
Quality wise, it isn't up to scratch as MSAA goes, but compared to CFAA and other EdgeAA techniques which work on blurring edges, it is a vast improvement. However, as not just polygons are subjected to this, it has a habit of deforming GUI elements, most noticeable on text.
It's a feature touted for the upcoming 6x series GPUs, but can be enabled in 5x series GPUs. You'll need to use some modified 10.10a drivers, check out the Geeks3D link below to see how.
Further Reading:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-6870-radeon-hd-6850-barts,2776-4.html
http://www.geeks3d.com/20101023/tips-what-is-the-morphological-anti-aliasing-mlaa/
http://www.iryokufx.com/mlaa/
http://www.realtimerendering.com/blog/morphological-antialiasing/
---------- Post added at 07:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:01 PM ----------
Here's hoping nVidia coughs up some competition to this, as apart from CSAA, nVidia pales in comparison the work AMD are putting into Anti-aliasing.
No doubt i'm contemplating a 6x series for an upcoming upgrade.
MLAA is a new technique of full scene anti-aliasing which boasts exceptionally small performance costs for a large jump in image quality.
The process works on locating high-contrast edges, which is usually a sign of anti-aliasing, and blends the colours to smooth the overall image. This affects textures as well, like SSAA. This technique helps in reducing aliasing, while maintaining some of the crispness of the image with a low performance cost to boot.
This also requires no application modification to work; all DirectX 9 and above applications will work with MLAA. Meaning, titles which cannot use MSAA can now use this technique to improve image quality.
The low performance cost is the real gem of this technique, providing AA on lesser powered GPUs. The recent PS3 title, God of War 3 used MLAA, which allowed for both crisp and beautiful graphics on the limited hardware.
Quality wise, it isn't up to scratch as MSAA goes, but compared to CFAA and other EdgeAA techniques which work on blurring edges, it is a vast improvement. However, as not just polygons are subjected to this, it has a habit of deforming GUI elements, most noticeable on text.
It's a feature touted for the upcoming 6x series GPUs, but can be enabled in 5x series GPUs. You'll need to use some modified 10.10a drivers, check out the Geeks3D link below to see how.
Further Reading:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-6870-radeon-hd-6850-barts,2776-4.html
http://www.geeks3d.com/20101023/tips-what-is-the-morphological-anti-aliasing-mlaa/
http://www.iryokufx.com/mlaa/
http://www.realtimerendering.com/blog/morphological-antialiasing/
---------- Post added at 07:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:01 PM ----------
Here's hoping nVidia coughs up some competition to this, as apart from CSAA, nVidia pales in comparison the work AMD are putting into Anti-aliasing.
No doubt i'm contemplating a 6x series for an upcoming upgrade.