anti-aliasing
<graphics> A technique used on a grey-scale or colour bitmap display to
make diagonal edges appear smoother by setting pixels near the edge to
intermediate colours according to where the edge crosses them.
The most common example is black characters on a white background. Without
anti-aliasing, diagonal edges appear jagged, like staircases, which may be
noticeable on a low resolution display. If the display can show intermediate
greys then anti-aliasing can be applied. A pixel will be black if it is
completely within the black area, or white if it is completely outside the black
area, or an intermediate shade of grey according to the proportions of it which
overlap the black and white areas. The technique works similarly with other
foreground and background colours.
"Aliasing" refers to the fact that many points (which would differ in the real
image) are mapped or "aliased" to the same pixel (with a single value) in the
digital representation.
(1998-03-13)
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anti-aliasing
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