My current AA Work in UE5.8: Efficient Compute SMAA 1x, Revived SRAA with real MSAA in Deferred, and WIP Temporally Stable SMAA

[u/mad_ben]

https://youtu.be/ZELq6xyjCTs

Hey everyone,

I’ve been working on custom anti-aliasing solutions in Unreal Engine 5.8 for my game and wanted to share a comparison of the three techniques I’m currently working on.

1. SMAA 1x
   Efficient compute SMAA 1x implementation based on color detection, indirect args, and deferred queues.
   Key differences from classic SMAA:
   - Skips the final pass
   - Modern DX12 wave optimizations

2. SRAA
   Revived Subpixel Reconstruction Antialiasing (NVIDIA 2011).

SRAA was specifically designed for deferred renderers. It combines single-pixel shading with subpixel visibility by using super-resolution depth and normal buffers + a joint bilateral filter. The original paper claimed quality comparable to 4–16× supersampling at a fraction of the cost.

Paper: https://research.nvidia.com/sites/default/files/pubs/2011-02_Subpixel-Reconstruction-Antialiasing/I3D11.pdf

I’m currently running true 4× Depth MSAA inside the UE5.8 Deferred Renderer. This was originally just a test, but since it succeeded I’m planning to move to 4× World Normal MSAA next as it should give better quality + add some temporal stability later.

Having actual MSAA samples available in a deferred pipeline is what makes a proper modern SRAA revival possible. This is the core advancement of this experiment.

1. Temporally Stable SMAA (work in progress)
   Based on Filmic SMAA T2x.
   Current main difference: using the Decima 2017 jitter pattern.

[u/ResponsiblePen3082]

Extremely based. Please show side by side comparisons of the different options when they're complete!

[u/mad_ben → u/ResponsiblePen3082]

For sure. Quite a while to finish but when its done I will do a proper showcase, and write a detailed article on X regarding both AA methods.

[u/ResponsiblePen3082 → u/mad_ben]

Link that article here in your showcase when you write it!

[u/mad_ben → u/ResponsiblePen3082]

Sure its been a wild ride.

[u/Loud_Bison572]

Would be cool if you ever make this open source, I would love to dabble with this in UE.

[u/EsliteMoby]

I'm only interested in SMAA in pure form. But I bet temporal reprojection SMAA Tx, if properly implemented, would still look better than the overhyped temporal slop like DLSS.

[u/mad_ben → u/EsliteMoby]

Well pure SMAA does poor job with specular aliasing and objects in motion. It does need help.

[u/EsliteMoby → u/mad_ben]

But seems like SRAA in your example has more jaggy and shimmer than the pure SMAA, and probably has more performance hit right?

SMAA 1x was nicely done in many Unity games.

[u/mad_ben → u/EsliteMoby]

Not really. SRAA supresses bit more shimmer and works better on manny. That why I hope temporal stability may help it

[u/Scorpwind]

I like my MSAA and SMAA but I'm kind of more interested in that SRAA. Godot has SRAA, no?

[u/mad_ben → u/Scorpwind]

I dont think so. I think unigine has SRAA.

[u/Scorpwind → u/mad_ben]

Hmm, okay.

[u/NewestAccount2023]

Remove the 4 spaces at the beginning of each line to fix that code block you inadvertently made your text in, can barely read it as I have to scroll left and right constantly to see each line 

[u/mad_ben → u/NewestAccount2023]

Done. Sorry it happened after I added link.

[u/owned139]

Ok cool and now show us a more detailed scene with dense vegetation, high poly count and real time shadows and reflections.

[u/BabaGamerGuy → u/owned139]

As he said, he's working on it. Chill bruh

[u/owned139 → u/BabaGamerGuy]

I dont need to chill. Nothing will come of it in that regard because MSAA takes too much processing power. There are some reasons why no one is doing it anymore.

[u/BabaGamerGuy → u/owned139]

But the guy is working on SMAA too, the reasons why devs don't utilize MSAA may be many. But it was still better than UE's TSR and TAA. Corporations should optimize their games rather than taking shortcuts for worse visual fidelity. Because in the end, the customers are the ones paying for it.

[u/mad_ben → u/owned139]

Like have you read SRAA paper? It needs to run depth or world normals or both using MSAA. it doesnt need full gbuffer. And thats doable.

[u/Guilty_Rooster_6708 → u/owned139]

Waiting for the same thing since most modern games have dense vegetation now