# bilinear vs trilinear vs anisotropic



## Crag

hi all simple question............while setting some graphics i saw this setting box to choose the texture filtering (bilinear, trilinear ,anisotropic)

...... what do they mean?and what should i select?


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## RandomPerson

the best is anisotropic filtering, that I know
As for an explanation I'll try, but hopefully someone else can offer a better explanation
Bilinear filtering smoothes out textures that are a different resolution than your screen. If something is pixelated but your screen can handle a higher res, bilinear filtering will make a gradient between the pixels to make it smoother.
Trilinear filtering does the same thing, but the colour gradient will determined by more than one mipmap. Mipmaps are the saved versions of the texture atvarious sizes. Trilinear filtering will do bilinear filtering on multiple mipmaps and then take the average of that to perform the colour gradient.
Anisotropic filtering takes into account angled textures as they get farther away. A texture an an angled surface can be very detailed when it is close to the viewer, but as it gets farther, only less detailed resolutions can be shown. Anisotropic filtering helps with keeping texture that are far away and angled stay sharper.
Hope this helps a little


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## Crag

A big thanks friend
that actually helped but as you mentioned it seems to be very complicated thing not as i expected and needs a Pro to explain more about them (like when we use them and why)'
as i said a BIG thanks RandomPerson

more posts are welcome


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## Interpolation

Just to help elaborate on what RandomPerson has stated already here is an article you may find helpful.
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2136961,00.asp

.


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## Crag

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Interpolation;13208300*
> Just to help elaborate on what RandomPerson has stated already here is an article you may find helpful.
> http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2136961,00.asp.


thanks this is great the link given is Very useful
i can say that this picture shows the real difference

http://www.extremetech.com/image_popup/0,,iid=176086&aID=208360&sID=1017,00.asp

and the nice thing is this title
Trilinear is Better, Anisotropic is Best


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## Skoltnik

always wondered this too. thanks guys


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## Crag

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Skoltnik;13208674*
> always wondered this too. thanks guys


will me too i personally know 10 friends that use PC for like 10 years or so and still the don't know what does it mean

so just if we can make this thread shared or sticky or any thing along side with maybe another Graphic settings that people don't know anything about it ,i dont know i`m just wondering


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## esocid

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2005/07/04/aliasing_filtering/1

This I think is a better explanation. Sort of gets into the basic math behind each one.

Edit, nevermind. It doesn't mention Bilinear vs Tri, or Aniso.


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## P.Johnston

heh. . .
I cannot see a significant difference between the four images.

*EDIT* other than the floor. . .

the question: is the increased load on the GPU worth it?

Perhaps the difference is more visible in-game and while in motion. . .

-p
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Crag;13208642*
> thanks this is great the link given is Very useful
> i can say that this picture shows the real difference
> 
> http://www.extremetech.com/image_popup/0,,iid=176086&aID=208360&sID=1017,00.asp
> 
> and the nice thing is this title
> Trilinear is Better, Anisotropic is Best


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## Crag

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *esocid;13208935*
> http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2005/07/04/aliasing_filtering/1.


nice one:thumb:


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