Graphics Options

TechGrappler · April 13, 2015

Can someone tell me what Post-FX, Soft Shadows and Tesselation do in PC games?

I looked around online and couldn't find a definitive answer for them and messing around with them didn't yield any noticeable results.

Also, how does turning up these options affect performance?

moderategamer · April 13, 2015

Tessellation is a form of sub dividing which means dividing the polygons on a model to increase or decrease the overall polygon count so higher tessellation = greater detail. Soft shadow is I think just the setting for the resolution of shadows aka higher res makes the shadows outline appear less jagged. as for post FX not sure how to describe it but it's basically how the image renders quality wise aka post FX give you better looking lighting/shading.

as for performance just have a play with the settings and see what gives you best trade off between looks and performance. Using fraps will give you a good idea of what's demanding if you go through one at a time.

Samfisher · April 13, 2015

Post-FX is usually stuff like Bloom, FXAA, HDR-like effects. Soft Shadows shade the edges of shadows so they don't look too harsh. Shadows don't show the exact shape as the main object, they taper off as they get closer to the light. Soft shadows simulate this effect.

Tesselation is a programming technique to add detail to surfaces and can result in very realistic surfaces.

Casperian · April 13, 2015

Tessellation is a form of sub dividing which means dividing the polygons on a model to increase or decrease the overall polygon count so higher tessellation = greater detail. Soft shadow is I think just the setting for the resolution of shadows aka higher res makes the shadows outline appear less jagged. as for post FX not sure how to describe it but it's basically how the image renders quality wise aka post FX give you better looking lighting/shading.

Also worth nothing that ingame Tessellation is adding geometry to an object based on a world displacement map. Tessellation actually does what Parallax Mapping fakes.

Parallax Mapping obscures geometry to give the impression of more detail when the object has less. Tessellation actually adds that detail.

Post-FX stands for Post Processed Effects, which is any effect added after the image is rendered. These include, as Samfisher said, Bloom, Anti-Aliasing,Anisotropic Filtering and Depth of Field.