supersampled

Supersampled is a term commonly used in computer graphics and digital imaging to describe a rendering technique. It is a form of anti-aliasing, which is a method used to reduce jagged edges, or "jaggies," that appear on diagonal lines and curves in digital images.

In essence, supersampling works by rendering an image at a higher resolution than the final output resolution. For example, to create a 1080p image using supersampling, the rendering process might internally create a 4K (2160p) image. This higher-resolution image contains more pixels.

Once the image is rendered at the higher resolution, it is then downscaled to the target resolution. During this downscaling process, multiple pixels from the high-resolution source are averaged together to create a single pixel in the final output image. This averaging process effectively smooths out the jagged edges, making the image appear sharper and cleaner.

While supersampling produces high-quality results, it is computationally expensive. Rendering at a higher resolution requires significantly more processing power and time compared to rendering at the target resolution. Therefore, it is often used in scenarios where visual fidelity is paramount and performance is less of a constraint, such as in video games or professional rendering applications. Variations of supersampling exist, such as multisample anti-aliasing (MSAA), which aims to achieve similar results with less computational overhead by only supersampling certain parts of the scene.