Using Temporal AA to achieve effective 8x AA in Oblivion

[Polish3d]

As I understand it (and I'm not sure I do correctly hence this post) if I set 4xAA, and then enable Temporal AA, it gives the appearance of double the anti-aliasing level of what is currently set. So 2xAA + TAA = 4xAA, or 4xAA + TAA = 8xAA

Anyway, on system below I have oblivion + mods at 1680x1050, 4xAA+TAA, 16HQAF, Cat AI High, everything else high and I get 30fps even in the forests which makes me supremely pleased with my XTX as usual.

It looks utterly fantastic but I'm not sure if I understand the TAA feature correctly. If I do, then its a great feature for games like Oblivion where you wont be going over 60fps anyway and don't really need to

 

[unfalliblekrutch]

is there a question in there? I believe you're correct!

 

[josh6079]

You have to be above the minimum refresh rate of the monitor in order for it to work from what I understand. You also have to have Vsync enabled for it to work, making it a very limited function for those with LCD's.

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

Actually, temporal AA only works when the frame rate is above 60 fps, so youre out of luck

 

[Avalon]

TAA is only in effect when you have vsynch enabled and are above your monitor's refresh rate. I'm pretty sure it dynamically turns itself off when you drop below that said rate, so you're just getting regular 4xAA.

 

[redbox]

But it should provide 8xAA when those limits are met correct?

 

[Polish3d]

So does it cap itself at the monitor's refresh rate then? And the refresh rate has to allow a framerate above 60 then?

So for an LCD with 60hz you basically cannot use it? Now ATI Tray Tools lets you set the "Frame Threshold" for TAA... I set it to 40 to see if that does anything, brb to try it

 

[josh6079]

It's kind of a tougne and cheek feature, only useful in limited situations. Here is a more indepth look at it though: Click

In practice, temporal AA is nifty, but not perfect. With the right game and the right frame rates, 2X temporal AA looks for all the world like 4X AA. The difference is more subtle with higher AA modes, as one might expect, but temporal AA can be very effective. However, the 60 FPS cutoff seemed a little low on the Trinitron CRT I used for testing. I could see discernible flicker on high-contrast edges from time to time, and I didn't like it. Also, the 60 fps cutoff causes temporal AA to switch on and off periodically during gameplay. The difference between 2X "regular" and 2X temporal (or 4X effective) AA is large enough that I was distracted by the transition.

Personally, I don't use it.

 

[Polish3d]

Yeah but I think ATI Tray Tool lets you set the cutoff framerate. I set it for 30fps so assumingly 4xAA+TAA should look like 8xAA anytime I'm above 30fps which is most of the time.

 

[TanisHalfElven]

i think your gonna take a FPS hit by enabling TRAA so if you really want it you should set the minimum to 20

 

[BFG10K]

Yeah but I think ATI Tray Tool lets you set the cutoff framerate

The problem is if you drop it below 60 FPS you can start seeing flickering.

 

[Dribble]

Originally posted by: tanishalfelven
i think your gonna take a FPS hit by enabling TRAA so if you really want it you should set the minimum to 20

It does it by flicking between two 4*aa images. If you set it to 20 then it's flicking between the two images 20 times a second, not very good