Transparency anti-aliasing?

Energize · 12 Mar 2006 at 21:31

Whats the difference between transparency, adaptive and normal AA, does it make a difference? My friend is wondering wether to get oblivion on the pc or 360 and this is probably going to be a factor because his gfx card is capable of it but the 360 can only do 4x normal AA but it can do hdr at the same time as AA wheras the pc can't. Which do you think gives a better picture?

locutus12 · 12 Mar 2006 at 21:52

AA + HDR can be done at the same time with pc graphics cards as far as i am aware...

Energize · 12 Mar 2006 at 21:55

Not with oblivion.

Naffa · 12 Mar 2006 at 21:56

wwwhhhaaaattttt? i play css at 8xAA with HDR on full! why do people think it cant be done?

Phil99 · 12 Mar 2006 at 22:02

Because on games that use SM3.0 HDR, it can't on 6 series nVidia cards.

Not sure why there'd be a game limitation for running the two together though :confused:

fullfat · 12 Mar 2006 at 22:07

i didnt think the 7800 series nvidia card could do it?
werent ati pimping that only the x1800 series could do it for a bit

/edit, hdr+AA at the same time, or is it AF?

Goksly · 12 Mar 2006 at 22:15

Only ATI can do it. Apparently, its not "proper" as to do it properly you need to apply HDR at object level which would require a lot of video ram.
Either way, most the time it will work. Cat AI might disable it on programs where it will produce artifacts.

locutus12 · 12 Mar 2006 at 22:26

makes me even more happy that i went for an X1800XT instead of a 7800GT

juno_first · 12 Mar 2006 at 22:29

Judging by my Farcry HDR performance i'd not want to burden it with AA too, though I think theres a patch to give HDR + AA in Farcry.

Goksly · 12 Mar 2006 at 23:38

I'd rather have the choice.... but what ever floats thy boat

Energize · 13 Mar 2006 at 00:02

naffa said:
wwwhhhaaaattttt? i play css at 8xAA with HDR on full! why do people think it cant be done?

The developers said it wont work.

Can the 7900gt do it?

yoinkF · 13 Mar 2006 at 01:32

locutus12 said:
makes me even more happy that i went for an X1800XT instead of a 7800GT

Glad you're happy it's a great card, oblivion still cannot do HDR and AA at the same time though with either nVidia or ATi

. I get the feeling they didn't allow HDR + AA on any of the cards for the PC as the nvidia couldn't do fp16HDR and AA at the same time, only one or the other. This has left a slight bitter taste in my mouth considering I have just shelled out the money for a new X1900XTX to use AA and HDR for this very game!!!

OV3RCLOCK3R · 13 Mar 2006 at 02:26

juno_first said:
Judging by my Farcry HDR performance i'd not want to burden it with AA too, though I think theres a patch to give HDR + AA in Farcry.

Farcry 1.4 patch is being released soon which allows HDR+AA on ati cards

The $6m Dan · 13 Mar 2006 at 09:39

Seeing as the card inside the 360 is an X1900 derivative ( please correct me if I'm worng

) I don't see why a PC with an X1900 shouldn't be able to do it.
I just wonder if the decision to prevent the PC from using HDR and AA had anything to do with microsoft . . . . maybe I'm just being cynical.

Fx-Overlord · 13 Mar 2006 at 10:11

The $6m Dan said:
Seeing as the card inside the 360 is an X1900 derivative ( please correct me if I'm worng ) I don't see why a PC with an X1900 shouldn't be able to do it.
I just wonder if the decision to prevent the PC from using HDR and AA had anything to do with microsoft . . . . maybe I'm just being cynical.

Nah it's not really like an X1900. Architecture wise, it will be probably end up closer to the r600 family rather than the r580 family e.g unified shaders.

If you are technically minded i refer you to

http://www.beyond3d.com/articles/xenos/

Dutch Guy · 13 Mar 2006 at 10:44

I think it depends on what HDR technique is used.

HL Lost Coast can run AA + HDR on nVidia hardware but Far Cry can't

nO}{8 · 13 Mar 2006 at 10:53

presuming everyone here is getting Oblivion on the PC, what will everyone prefare....HDR or AA, its a tough choice but id say HDR wins out for me as I can run at a high res (1680x1050), but if the jaggies become too distracting I might have to put AA on.

00fil00 · 13 Mar 2006 at 11:09

god i dunno thats a hard one. im still trying to choose xt or xtx. are they both the same heat and noise? ill try HDR with high res but itll just feel wrong inmy mind without AA. but i just spent £900 -video card just to play oblivion at max.

nO}{8 · 13 Mar 2006 at 11:15

00fil00 said:
god i dunno thats a hard one. im still trying to choose xt or xtx. are they both the same heat and noise? ill try HDR with high res but itll just feel wrong inmy mind without AA. but i just spent £900 -video card just to play oblivion at max.

good on you, hope you know its not going to be perfect (not to have your hopes too high) but you wont regret spending the dough. what monitor do you have?

00fil00 · 13 Mar 2006 at 11:25

got a compaq p1220 on ebay for £75!

up to 2000+ res! glee
http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,101954,00.asp

just got a torrent of the pc gamer review. only thing bad im scared about is the characters talking to themselfs stupidly (maybe fixed in patch?) and having no emotions or facials like robots but i mean i expect it to be like morrowind without the "im watching you! im watching you! im watching you! move along, move along" everytime u pass someone and standing motionless in middle of room for no reason. so hopefully itll be perfect