The effect descriptions on this page refer to the default effects found within the post-processing stack.
The Anti-aliasing effect offers a set of algorithms designed to prevent aliasing and give a smoother appearance to graphics. Aliasing is an effect where lines appear jagged or have a “staircase” appearance (as displayed in the left-hand image below). This can happen if the graphics output device does not have a high enough resolution to display a straight line.
Anti-aliasing reduces the prominence of these jagged lines by surrounding them with intermediate shades of color. Although this reduces the jagged appearance of the lines, it also makes them blurrier.
The Anti-aliasing algorithms are image-based. This is very useful when traditional multisampling (as used in the Editor’s Quality window) is not properly supported, such as:
When using deferred rendering
When using HDRhigh dymanic range
See in Glossary in the forward renderingA rendering path that renders each object in one or more passes, depending on lights that affect the object. Lights themselves are also treated differently by Forward Rendering, depending on their settings and intensity. More info
See in Glossary path in Unity 5.5 or earlier
The algorithms supplied in the post-processing stack are:
Fast Approximate Anti-aliasing (FXAA)
Temporal Anti-aliasing (TAA)
FXAA is the cheapest technique and is recommended for mobile and other platforms that don’t support motion vectors, which are required for TAA. However it contains multiple quality presets and as such is also suitable as a fallback solution for slower desktop and console hardware.
Property: | Function: |
---|---|
Preset | The quality preset to be used. Provides a trade-off between performance and edge quality. |
See the Graphics Hardware Capabilities and Emulation page for further details and a list of compliant hardware.
Temporal Anti-aliasing is a more advanced anti-aliasing technique where frames are accumulated over time in a history buffer to be used to smooth edges more effectively. It is substantially better at smoothing edges in motion but requires motion vectors and is more expensive than FXAA. Due to this it is recommended for desktop and console platforms.
Property: | Function: |
---|---|
Jitter - Spread | The diameter (in texels) inside which jitter samples are spread. Smaller values result in crisper but more aliased output, whilst larger values result in more stable but blurrier output. |
Blending - Stationary | The blend coefficient for stationary fragments. Controls the percentage of history sample blended into final color for fragments with minimal active motion. |
Blending - Motion | The blending coefficient for moving fragments. Controls the percentage of history sample blended into the final color for fragments with significant active motion. |
Sharpen | TAA can induce a slight loss of details in high frequency regions. Sharpening alleviates this issue. |
Motion vectors
Depth texture
Shader model 3
See the Graphics Hardware Capabilities and Emulation page for further details and a list of compliant hardware.
2017–05–24 Page published with no editorial review
New feature in 5.6
Did you find this page useful? Please give it a rating:
Thanks for rating this page!
What kind of problem would you like to report?
Is something described here not working as you expect it to? It might be a Known Issue. Please check with the Issue Tracker at issuetracker.unity3d.com.
Thanks for letting us know! This page has been marked for review based on your feedback.
If you have time, you can provide more information to help us fix the problem faster.
Provide more information
You've told us this page needs code samples. If you'd like to help us further, you could provide a code sample, or tell us about what kind of code sample you'd like to see:
You've told us there are code samples on this page which don't work. If you know how to fix it, or have something better we could use instead, please let us know:
You've told us there is information missing from this page. Please tell us more about what's missing:
You've told us there is incorrect information on this page. If you know what we should change to make it correct, please tell us:
You've told us this page has unclear or confusing information. Please tell us more about what you found unclear or confusing, or let us know how we could make it clearer:
You've told us there is a spelling or grammar error on this page. Please tell us what's wrong:
You've told us this page has a problem. Please tell us more about what's wrong:
Thanks for helping to make the Unity documentation better!
When you visit any website, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. This information might be about you, your preferences or your device and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to. The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can give you a more personalized web experience. Because we respect your right to privacy, you can choose not to allow some types of cookies. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings. However, blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer.
More information
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising. Some 3rd party video providers do not allow video views without targeting cookies. If you are experiencing difficulty viewing a video, you will need to set your cookie preferences for targeting to yes if you wish to view videos from these providers. Unity does not control this.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.