[Voidmonster]

Maybe I've just missed where people were talking about it, but I'd just like to say that I'm very happy to have texture filtering at long last!

This will definitely make life easier.

[martgreg]

what is texture filtering ?

[def4d]

a sort of blur for high constrast beetween pixels?

[tom]

In computer graphics, texture filtering is the method used to determine the texture color for a texture mapped pixel, using the colors of nearby texels (pixels of the texture). In short, it blends the texture pixels together by breaking them up into tinier pixels. Another term for texture filtering is called texture smoothing. There are many methods of texture filtering, which make different tradeoffs between computational complexity and image quality. Since texture filtering is an attempt to find a value at some point given a set of discrete samples at nearby points, it is a form of interpolation.

Maxwell offers Quadratic Interpolation between pixels, which is quite high in quality and computationally less expensive than similar methods.

[Eric Lagman]

What would be a good example situation to use this in?

[Daniel Hruby]

I would think for most materials you would want to NOT use this. In case of Diffuse maps especially. You might loose the crispness of the texture. I think it is more useful for Bump and Displacement maps. Tom?

[Bubbaloo]

I have never used it. Didn't know what it was for. I guess if you wanted to use your diffuse texture for bump, you could turn it on there, and only have to use a single map?

[Fernando Tella]

It's amazing how a conversation can be stopped and resumed a year after without noticing the time gap.

Let's say that texture filtering interpolates texture pixels so you can't see the square of the pixel on render when you come too close to the texture or it is too low-res (when the pixel of the texture is noticeable in render).

[Bubbaloo]

Wow, I didn't even notice the time gap.

[itsallgoode9]

I agree with Daniel's comment. If you are using lower res texture maps then filtering can help , but keep in mind it will soften the texture. When using high res textures, I wouldn't really recommend it, based on my personal preferences. You can use it, but in a high res map, there is generally enough pixel info/density to not really need it. ....having said all of that, try it out and see what you prefer

[RichG]

It also helps with high frequency textures. If you have a complex pattern and you're looking at it at an extreme angle, you can get nasty moire patterns if it's unfiltered.