Hi, Im wondering what settings you guys have for aa: gamma correction in nvidia control panel? it seems to be set to ON by default. I've looked online at what exactly it does and i have to say its left me confused at best on whether its a good idea to have it turned on or not? Just asking as i built a new pc and honestly can't remember whether i had it turned on or off previously before!
http://www.tweakguides.com/NVFORCE_5.html http://www.anandtech.com/show/2116/12 Might help in explaining what the NV CP settings do.
Only affects MSAA or CSAA. So it will do nothing if you aren't using those AA methods. I leave it off globally
A method for thin dimensional objects to have variating light when intersecting an object of similar or larger size. Like 2 electrical wires passing over each other. It increases/decreases the gamma of an object based on its surroundings. Better-Looking Anti-Aliased Lines With Simple Trick Half-Life 2 AA gamma correction
Thank you - so I'd say enable Line Gamma to make things appear "wider" than they are (so good in games) and disable AA Gamma Correction as that makes things slimmer than they are.
It's more of that you'd be able to better distinguish the difference in color between two anti-aliased surfaces smoothingly. Like if there is a bright sky against dark power lines, the gamma of the dark object can take on a gradient from gamma correction to smoothly transfer colors between each other. If using AA, i would keep this option enabled so when it multisamples, it takes this change into account.
It's more or less the same function (that i was referring to). I assume you might have been looking at the setting from within NVinspector?
Yep, I am. From anandtech: "We can see the antenna decrease in clarity due to the fact that each of the brighter subsamples has a disproportionately higher weight than the darker subsamples. As far as the roof line is concerned, our options are to see the roof blurring out into the sky, or watching the sky cut into the roof." Which means Gamma Correct AA decreases clarity but from: http://jet.ro/2011/06/04/better-looking-anti-aliased-lines-with-simple-tric "Perhaps one of the most annoying side effects of this technique is the fact that now the lines look fatter than normal 1 pix wide lines." Which means Line Gamma(?) might be a feature to use, as it increases objects' (players') width
It might seem like it decreases clarity, but it doesn't remove any pixel information (or add anything for that matter). It just changes the pixel's gamma/color weight to have a smoother gradation of color to the objects/background surrounding it. When you multisample, you add additional duplicate information of the original pixel around itself to smooth its transition to the next pixel, but only confined within the object itself (edges). Supersampling does this to the whole object, thats why LOD Bias must be adjusted to offset blurring (but thats another topic). Simply AA gamma correction (line gamma in NVinspector) adjusts the gamma of the anti-aliased edges for its surroundings.
That all depends on the art style of the game. If everything is very bright or dark in the majority of it, maybe. But it's worth evaluating if it makes a noticeable impact in that regard to keep it enabled for not. I personally have not run into a situation where it is noticeably harder to play a game.
I've noticed a sharpness or clarity difference between Nvidia and AMD, and I think this is a good contender to be responsible for it. Good that anandtech confirms this. Also, you contradict yourself in saying it "might seem" like it decreases clarity but it doesn't "add" anything, yet it changes it. Firstly, a change is obviously not neutral, and secondly the "change" is almost literally to make it less sharp. Imagine that over the whole picture (without it actually "adding" anything to the AA quality or principle, which is what you might mean, not sharpness). Regardless, there is no reason to assume that it is either perfect or universally to be recommended. Meaning it is inessential, and purely accidental if it helps.
It doesn't decrease clarity because its a correction to what already decreases clarity. Anti-aliasing adds information that isn't intended to be there originally and can't fix differences with overlapping objects, only edges. That is why Line Gamma/ AA gamma correction alters the intersection of edges to distinguish the different distance of the objects, using the anti-aliased edges as a guide.
