Virtual reality (VR) has become very popular over the last couple of years.
People often ask, what is Supersampling VR? Let’s find out!
What Is Supersampling VR?
Supersampling is a technique used to improve the quality of virtual reality (VR) experiences by increasing the resolution of the display without actually increasing the number of pixels on your screen. This can be done in two ways:
- Increasing the pixel density of the display
- Using multiple displays to create one large high-resolution display.
The first method is called “pixel doubling” and it involves using an LCD panel with twice as many pixels as you would normally use. The second method is called “multi-display”.
It uses several monitors that are all connected together to form one larger monitor. You can read more about this here.
Pixel Doubling
Pixel doubling is the most common way to increase the resolution of a display. It works by simply duplicating each individual pixel on the original display.
So if you have a 1920×1080 display, then you could double the resolution by creating 2x1920x1080 screens.
However, there are some downsides to this approach. For example, when you look at the image from different angles, the doubled resolution will cause aliasing artifacts. Also, the increased resolution means that the frame rate will decrease.
Multi-Display
Multi-display is another way to increase the resolution. It works by connecting several monitors together into one big screen.
Each monitor has its own resolution but they are all combined into one bigger display. If you connect 4 1080p monitors together, you’ll get a single 1080p display.
There are also other resolutions available such as 1440p or even higher.
How Does Supersampling Work?
When you’re playing a game in VR, your eyes naturally focus on certain areas of the screen. When you move your head around, your eyes follow along.
But because your eyes aren’t focused on every part of the screen, you miss parts of the scene. That’s why we call it the “screen door effect.”
To fix this problem, developers add extra information to the video feed so that your brain fills in the missing details. This process is known as “supersampling.”
Supersampling increases the resolution of the display while keeping the same amount of pixels. This allows you to see everything on the screen, including the edges.
Why Do Developers Use Supersampling?
There are three main reasons for using supersampling:
- To make games feel better
- To reduce motion sickness
- To avoid blurry images
Making Games Feel Better
If you play a lot of games, you know how important it is to have a good graphics card. A powerful GPU makes games run smoothly and looks great. Unfortunately, not everyone has access to a gaming PC. And even if you do, sometimes the graphics settings don’t work properly.
That’s where supersampling comes in. By adding extra information to the video stream, you can trick your brain into thinking that the screen is much higher resolution than it really is. As a result, the game feels smoother and less jittery.
Reducing Motion Sickness
If you’ve ever played a racing game, you probably noticed that the cars seem to be moving faster than they actually are. That’s because the game doesn’t update the position of the car until after the previous frame was rendered. In other words, the game only updates the position once per frame.
This causes problems because our eyes are constantly tracking objects. Because the game isn’t updating the position of the object, our eyes never catch up. That’s why we experience motion sickness.
With supersampling, the game updates the position of the car more frequently. This helps us keep track of the car and reduces motion sickness.
Avoiding Blurry Images
One of the biggest issues with VR is that the field of view (FOV) is very narrow. The FOV is the angle between the center of your eye and the edge of the screen. For example, when you look at something straight ahead, the FOV is 90 degrees.
The narrower the FOV, the smaller the area that you can see. So, if you want to see what’s behind you, you need to turn your head. If you turn too far, though, you might lose sight of the things in front of you.
The solution is to use multiple displays. You can put two screens side by side, or you can put them next to each other. Either way, you get an increased FOV.
But there’s a downside to having multiple displays. They take up space. And since most people already have a computer, they don’t always have room for a second display.
So, instead of putting two monitors together, some developers use supersampling to increase the apparent resolution of one monitor.
Improving Performance
As I mentioned earlier, the rendering process takes time, especially when you’re using high-resolution textures. When you’re playing a game, you usually want to see as many frames as possible.
To achieve this goal, the game needs to finish its rendering as quickly as possible.
That means minimizing the amount of time spent rendering the background. With supersampling, the background is captured from multiple angles. As a result, the game can skip rendering the background entirely.
Reducing Motion Sickness
If you’ve ever been sick while riding a roller coaster, you know how unpleasant it can be. Your body reacts to the sudden movement of the vehicle.
In virtual reality, you feel even worse. The lack of visual feedback makes it difficult to tell where the car is going.
Motion sickness is caused by a mismatch between the brain’s expectations and the actual sensory input. In virtual reality, the brain expects the environment to move smoothly. But the headset doesn’t provide enough information about the movement of the car.
This problem is exacerbated by the fact that the headset only provides limited information about the position of the car.
With supersampling, the headset captures the car from multiple angles. That allows the game to predict the motion of the car. As a result, you won’t experience any motion sickness.
Making Games Look Better
One of the best parts of virtual reality is being able to immerse yourself in a completely different world.
However, if your eyes are tired after staring at a computer screen all day, it can be hard to enjoy the experience.
The reason is simple: Virtual reality games look terrible.
You might think that you’d need a powerful graphics card to make a game look good. But that isn’t true.
Conclusion
Supersampling is a technique used to improve performance on low-end devices. It also improves the appearance of games.
We hope that this article was helpful. If you have any queries feel free to reach out in the comments section below.