Why does screen resolution effect texture appeal?

[Cali3350]

Ok, i have a 19 inch monitor that can do 100hrtz @1024*768 and 75hrtz @1280*1024. Now, i like those extra hertz when im playing games (even though my desktop is 1280) so my question is - why does 1280*1024 make tetures look sharper? Ive always heard this argument and never got it, unless textures are applied on a per pixel basis and having more simply applies more textures. If thats the case it seems id notice it more then i do, and i imagine that could seriously degrade looks by playing at anything outside the target resolution the game makers intended. Can anyone shed some light?

 

[Vermicious Knid]

try looking at it this way:

say your favorite pr0--- *ahem* movie trailer clip is recorded at a resolution of 256x256 or someting low rez, what happens when you blow that sucker up full screen on your 1200x1000 desktop?... it looks like ass of course, but the smaller you make the window it runs in the better it looks right?

thats in effect what your doing to the textures in games, running at a high resolution, you are in effect 'zooming out' on said textures, so for any given texture of a given size you will notice less 'blurryness'

or i could just be talking out my ass... its been known to happen

 

[rancor]

Ok, i have a 19 inch monitor that can do 100hrtz @1024*768 and 75hrtz @1280*1024. Now, i like those extra hertz when im playing games (even though my desktop is 1280) so my question is - why does 1280*1024 make tetures look sharper? Ive always heard this argument and never got it, unless textures are applied on a per pixel basis and having more simply applies more textures. If thats the case it seems id notice it more then i do, and i imagine that could seriously degrade looks by playing at anything outside the target resolution the game makers intended. Can anyone shed some light?

yes up to a certain point it will, but there will be a performance hit, try some AF that should help out too. the res changing decreases your pixel size so it makes your image look sharper.

 

[burningrave101]

A higher resolution will have less aliasing as well. Its best to play at the highest resolution your monitor will support at a good refresh in order to achieve the best IQ.

In DOOM 3 for example, its better to play at a higher resolution and no AA then a lower resolution with AA.

That said, i play all my games at 1600x1200.

 

[Cali3350]

I understand resolution and everything for image and jaggies etc.
Im just wondering specifically how Textures are improved.

 

[Whatsisname]

you said the opposite of what you were trying to say. try again.

try looking at it this way:

say your favorite pr0--- *ahem* movie trailer clip is recorded at a resolution of 256x256 or someting low rez, what happens when you blow that sucker up full screen on your 1200x1000 desktop?... it looks like ass of course, but the smaller you make the window it runs in the better it looks right?

thats in effect what your doing to the textures in games, running at a high resolution, you are in effect 'zooming out' on said textures, so for any given texture of a given size you will notice less 'blurryness'

or i could just be talking out my ass... its been known to happen

 

[Vermicious Knid]

you said the opposite of what you were trying to say. try again.

We have so much time and so little to see... wait a minute, strike that, reverse it, thank you.

 

[Silverghost]

Run Doom3 at 640x480, then 1600x1200.

Higher DPI. More dots per inch.

What's there to not understand?

 

[Chicken Penni Pasta]

I think it's because the image is being displayed at a good % of the original.

He knows about the dot pitch thing, he wants to know why it looks sharper.

 

[Cali3350]

I understand more pixels, DPI etc. I must wondering why textures themselves look sharper. The general consensus ive gotten here is simply because more textures fit on the same wall as texture size is by pixel. That doesnt make completel sense however, as then playing in a out resolution should mess everything up, and it doesnt.

 

[RVE]

Look at regular TV and HDTV. HDTV is higher resolution, thus the greater image quality.

Higher resolutions pack more pixels into the image and are closer together. Higher resolutions pack in greater visual quality within the same space on your monitor. I have a 21" CRT, when I use 1024x768 games look like crap because it spaces out the picture to fit my screen. But 1024x768 on a 17" monitor may look great.

A 15" monitor has about a 270mm wide and 202mm high image area. At 640x480 the display contains about 2.37 pixels per millimeter. At 1024x768 the display shows 3.8 pixels per millimeter. Now crank it to 2048x1536 you get 7.58 pixels per millimeter. More than 3 times the pixels of the 640x480 res.

The more pixels per millimeter the more detail can be displayed. Just like regular TV vs HDTV. Just like low-end 1 megapixel digital cameras and the nice 5 megapixel cameras. They pack more visual information with which to create the image making a picture with greater detail.

 

[Cali3350]

Look at regular TV and HDTV. HDTV is higher resolution, thus the greater image quality.

Higher resolutions pack more pixels into the image and are closer together. Higher resolutions pack in greater visual quality within the same space on your monitor. I have a 21" CRT, when I use 1024x768 games look like crap because it spaces out the picture to fit my screen. But 1024x768 on a 17" monitor may look great.

A 15" monitor has about a 270mm wide and 202mm high image area. At 640x480 the display contains about 2.37 pixels per millimeter. At 1024x768 the display shows 3.8 pixels per millimeter. Now crank it to 2048x1536 you get 7.58 pixels per millimeter. More than 3 times the pixels of the 640x480 res.

The more pixels per millimeter the more detail can be displayed. Just like regular TV vs HDTV. Just like low-end 1 megapixel digital cameras and the nice 5 megapixel cameras. They pack more visual information with which to create the image making a picture with greater detail.

Perfect thanks. Its not that textures are spaced differently, simply more of the texture is displayed.

 

[Whatsisname]

negative. The distance one textel covers across a polygon is the same regardless the resolution. The reason it looks better is because as you get a larger resulotion you at first remove any artifacts produced from downscaling the texture.

I understand more pixels, DPI etc. I must wondering why textures themselves look sharper. The general consensus ive gotten here is simply because more textures fit on the same wall as texture size is by pixel. That doesnt make completel sense however, as then playing in a out resolution should mess everything up, and it doesnt.