Anti-Aliasing

=__**Definition**__=

toc //-"Elements on an interactive screen are much like actors on a stage—they are frequently brought on or taken off, or moved around. That's why they need to be created as independent objects. But when one of these objects is placed in front of another, a clearly visible "aliased" edge sets it apart."//

-How anti-aliasing is applied to an object depends on how the object is produced. If it's a computer-rendered image, the rendering software can often anti-alias the edges against the background as the object is being created.

-If it's a scanned object, the original background has to be removed from the scanned image, which may require substantial manual retouching. Then the anti-aliasing may be done by composing the object together with its new background and blending its edges using the imaging software.

-Anti-aliasing can be both a blessing and a curse. By blending the edge colors of an object with the colors of its background, anti-aliasing creates a fringe of color that becomes visible when the object is placed over any other background. This means that you need to create a custom version of the object for each of its anticipated backgrounds.

=**__Visuals__**= -This ilustrates the antialiasing concept. It shows an array of pixels that has been partitioned into two regions by a selection edge. However, due to the slope of the selection and the finite area of the pixels, some pixels are on both sides of the selection edge. That is, these pixels are only partially selected. What happens to this set of partially selected pixels is important for the aesthetic presentation of the selection's edge.

-Here, we can see how anti-aliasing blends the edges of colors of an object with the colors of its background.

-This page shows how anti-aliasing creates a fringe of color that becomes visible when the object is placed over any other background.

=__**Websites**__=

[|http://www.widearea.co.uk/designer/anti.html] -This website is helpful in giving a clear and concise definition of anti-aliasing. It gives a good illustration showing two letters of "a". We can see as we zoom in ( as seen in Photoshop) the pixels become apparent, this is an un-anti-aliased example

http://www.fractalus.com/info/antialias.htm -This website goes into detail how anti-aliasing works. The illustrations were helpful in helping me to understand the term more.

=__Sources__=

Laurel, Brenda. //Computers As Theatre.// New York, Reading, Mass: Addison-Wesley Publishing, 1991.

Kristof, Ray. //Interactivity By Design: Creating & Communicating With New Media.// California: Adobe Press, 1995.