Hi All. I’ve been experimenting with small scale projection mapping using VDMX (only). I often experience a graphical issue that I can only describe as ‘pixel stepping’, particularly along straight edges of projected media when using the Quad tool in the output’s ‘Composition Mode’ settings. I’ve also experienced this issue with larger projection mapping projects, but it seems more pronounced with small scale projections.
I understand that this is likely a resolution issue between my media and VDMX’s , layer- & output settings. However, between these factors I’m not quite sure how to achieve smoother straight-edges in mapped projections.
Has anyone else experienced this issue? Are there any effective strategies to best minimise or eliminate this phenomenon?
If you increase the layer and canvas resolution does it resolve your issue? Or if you add any sort of FXAA anti-aliasing to the final output, does it help?
Curious if you experience the same aliasing when using Madmapper with the same media resolution.
Thanx to you, I’ve discovered some settings in the rendering options of VDMX’s Preferences menu. Ticking “Antialiasing OpenGL composition modes?” and increasing the “Antialiasing amount” reduces the annoying pixel stepping quite a bit.
‘Antialiasing’ was the term that slipped my mind and you helped me to articulate my issue a bit better by mentioning this. Here’s a screenshot of the antialiasing settings in preferences:
I would like to explore this issue further to see what is possible. I tried your suggestion of bumping up the Canvas/Main Output rez, but it didn’t seem to make any difference to my issue.
Is it possible to edit Layer size/rez for video/still files? I understood that layer sizes are generally fixed & take on the size of the source media within it. According to the VDMX manual only QC or CI generators (for example) can be edited wrt layer size. Can u elaborate what you meant by “increase the layer […] resolution” ?
I also looked for “FXAA” in the Assets/FX menu, but coudln’t find anything. I would like to know where I could find this.
Cool, looks like you solved it! FXAA is a type of anti-aliasing. So if using the built in AA is doing the trick, then you won’t have to worry about using another AA FX.
As for the layer size, you can set it to whatever you want (so example 4K), if you put a smaller video in that layer, VDMX will scale it up. It’s more processing intensive than using a native resolution, but allows for more resolution adjustments (in theory). If the output is less, the image is essential being expanded, then contracted for the output.
