PSX-SCENE Forum Discussion for Sony PlayStation/PsOne/PS2/PS3/PSP/PS VITA
  • FXAA Anti-Aliasing Support for PS3 Games

    A clever gamer, who goes by Durante, has devised a way to improve the picture quality of PlayStation 3 titles by utilizing some ingenious methods. The process requires a HD video capture card, a decent PC, and some free software. The process works by filtering the PlayStation 3 games through the attached PC (which is connected through the HD video capture card) and processed through the custom software. Durante's software utilizes recently released code from nVidia's post processing method, FXAA (Fast Approximate Anti-aliasing). Most gamers should already be familiar with anti-aliasing, but for those of you who are not, it is a process which reduces the jagged edges seen in images and video games. NVidia's FXAA works better than most post-processing methods and works well at anti-aliasing long edges.


    Download: http://ptbi.metaclassofnil.com/PtBi798.zip

    Some PC gamers (myself included) like to go on about the huge image quality advantages of playing on PCs. Now, your PC can actually improve the visual quality of console-exclusive games! (outside of emulation)

    I’ve previously posted about the small program PtBi that I use to display 360 and PS3 games. Today I added the ability to use NVidia’s FXAA — thanks to them for releasing the code to the public domain and making it easy to integrate.

    For those that are unaware, FXAA is a post-processing method that tries to reduce the amount of aliasing artifacts (think pixel staircase) in an image. It’s similar to MLAA in that aspect. Like all post-processing methods that act purely on image data, it has some drawbacks:
    - It can’t handle subpixel aliasing well. (Unlike most similar methods, it at least tries to reduce it though)
    - Sometimes aliasing may be detected incorrectly, resulting in an overblurring of the image. PtBi can mitigate this by adaptive sharpening after the FXAA pass.
    - Particularly when used as a post-filter external to a game, it’s impossible to distinguish between UI and rendered 3D elements. This results in some UI distortion.

    Advantages are that it can be used on any image data, it is really good at smoothing the edges it detects and it’s very fast. On my system, with YUV decoding, FXAA and adaptive scaling on, it still only takes less than 5 ms for a frame to be completely processed. Another nice point is that it can be used on top of images generated with eg. 2xMSAA (like many modern console games) and still achieve an improvement in edge quality.

    [More pictures/comparison screenshots]

    Source: PS3Hax via NeoGaf
    tthousand, Clapmaster and aha360 like this.
    Comments 41 Comments
    1. Clapmaster's Avatar
      Clapmaster -
      This is awesome! Wish I had a capture card, I'd probably use it for racing games like Forza 3 and GT5 more than anything. I hate how aliasing looks on cars.
    1. runo's Avatar
      runo -
      imo not worth the investment and the hassle of hooking it up to a pc. But great appreciation for the will of sharing tho.
    1. Pretzel729's Avatar
      Pretzel729 -
      I honestly do not see a difference in the two pictures
    1. runo's Avatar
      runo -
      Quote Originally Posted by Pretzel729 View Post
      I honestly do not see a difference in the two pictures
      look at the hair...you'll see the difference
    1. Dr3w92's Avatar
      Dr3w92 -
      i see no big difference this is a waste of time
    1. damox's Avatar
      damox -
      Quote Originally Posted by Dr3w92 View Post
      i see no big difference this is a waste of time
      If you really don't see a difference you either don't know what AA is or you're blind

      Also, try openning the full image - the hair makes it quite obvious where the difference is.

      Although - no 3.6x keys here - so thats why it might be a waste of time for you.
    1. core2kid's Avatar
      core2kid -
      It's a noticeable difference, when I'm 2 feet away from a 21" computer monitor but how big of a difference would it be on a 40+ inch display from 4+ feet away?
    1. Stormeah's Avatar
      Stormeah -
      Quote Originally Posted by core2kid View Post
      It's a noticeable difference, when I'm 2 feet away from a 21" computer monitor but how big of a difference would it be on a 40+ inch display from 4+ feet away?
      Any difference wouldn't be worth the hassle.
    1. mushbert's Avatar
      mushbert -
      1. If you're judging by the thumbnail... Click for the full-sized image.
      2. Some games will obviously benefit from this far more than others.

      It's not a very convenient setup, but interesting nonetheless. I am surprised there's no mention of timing issues (or lack thereof).
    1. Perseid's Avatar
      Perseid -
      Forget the PS3 and 360, I want to see an Atari 2600 run through this thing. I bet Adventure would look epic.
    1. viper44's Avatar
      viper44 -
      Quote Originally Posted by Pretzel729 View Post
      I honestly do not see a difference in the two pictures
      look at his neck and the edge of his ear really close and you will notice that the second picture has smoother edges and not pix-elated
    1. xPreatorianx's Avatar
      xPreatorianx -
      You guys should check out the image gallery linked in the original post. There's a lot of good screenshots with noticeable differences. Nice way around AA though. .
    1. itzViolence's Avatar
      itzViolence -
      i have one, if I find some time I will try it and share the results

      EDIT
      ah damn as I can see you need a Black intensity Pro or something like that ..
    1. Dr3w92's Avatar
      Dr3w92 -
      I really see no big difference i have my cpu hooked up to my 3D tv via hdmi and notice i said (NO BIG) difference not No difference at all &your 3.6* keys post i have a cfw kmeaw ps3 500gb & a OFW ps3 soooo somebody wants them wont say any names tho
      Read b4 u post thank you
    1. Spazkid's Avatar
      Spazkid -
      "high-end PC required" Lmao **** that.
    1. Captin's Avatar
      Captin -
      I dont think the difference warrants the extra expence, you could buy a second PS3 with what it would cost to set this up properly. Besides if you read the insert it states that "Moving pictures do not benefit as much", don't most video games involve movement, so when are you going to sit there and admire the graphics instead of playing the game. Props to the OP and Durante for the effort and post, but just not that useful.
    1. grandy's Avatar
      grandy -
      It's more of something to try if you already have the hardware, not something you'd go out and purchase exclusively for this.
    1. Deathray75's Avatar
      Deathray75 -
      meh its good but i dont see the massive use for it
    1. xipi's Avatar
      xipi -
      this could lead to a full aa ingame pretty cool
    1. itzViolence's Avatar
      itzViolence -
      I would want to know how to get it to work?evertime i start it it say runtime-whatever on line 36 + crash