Checkerboard rendering or sparse rendering, also known as checkerboarding for short, is a

3D computer graphics 3D computer graphics, or “3D graphics,” sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for t ...

rendering technique, intended primarily to assist

graphics processing unit A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a specialized electronic circuit designed to manipulate and alter memory to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display device. GPUs are used in embedded systems, m ...

s with rendering images at high resolutions. It is different from

tiled rendering Tiled rendering is the process of subdividing a computer graphics image by a regular grid in optical space and rendering each section of the grid, or ''tile'', separately. The advantage to this design is that the amount of memory and bandwidth is re ...

, a method of subdividing images in order to render them more efficiently, and from the "checkerboard" method of

alternate frame rendering Alternate Frame Rendering (AFR) is a technique of graphics rendering in personal computers which combines the work output of two or more graphics processing units (GPU) for a single monitor, in order to improve image quality, or to accelerate the ...

Description

While exact implementations tend to vary between developers, the technique generally involves rendering only 50% of any given scene, often rendering it in a grid of 2×2 pixels. A

reconstruction filter In a mixed-signal system ( analog and digital), a reconstruction filter, sometimes called an anti-imaging filter, is used to construct a smooth analog signal from a digital input, as in the case of a digital to analog converter ( DAC) or other samp ...

is then employed to extrapolate the appearance of the unrendered parts of the scene, with the final image then being presented to the viewer as (theoretically) the same as if it had been rendered natively at the target resolution. In some implementations the checkerboard grid will be alternated between frames, with the previous frame's image data being held in memory, and then used to aid with reconstructing the scene. A similar technique was used in the 1993 video game ''

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'', which had a "low detail" mode that only rendered every other column of pixels to improve performance. Checkerboarding also bears a resemblance to

interlaced video Interlaced video (also known as interlaced scan) is a technique for doubling the perceived frame rate of a video display without consuming extra bandwidth. The interlaced signal contains two fields of a video frame captured consecutively. Thi ...

, where every frame is split into two fields, also halving the amount of pixels that has to be rendered or transferred. Checkboard rendering differs by splitting the image using the checkboard pattern instead of splitting it by alternate line. The reconstruction filter used in checkboard rendering is often more complex than the typical

deinterlacing Deinterlacing is the process of converting interlaced video into a non-interlaced or Progressive scan, progressive form. Interlaced video signals are commonly found in analog television, digital television (HDTV) when in the 1080i format, some D ...

process. Though the technique is usually employed with the goal of reducing the computational resources required to render a scene at higher resolutions, it can also be used as a form of

anti-aliasing Anti-aliasing may refer to any of a number of techniques to combat the problems of aliasing in a sampled signal such as a digital image or digital audio recording. Specific topics in anti-aliasing include: * Anti-aliasing filter, a filter used be ...

, with '' Rainbow Six: Siege'' being one of the games to use it in this manner.

Implementation

Video games first started making use of the technique in the mid-

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, often with the goal of making it easier for games to achieve 4K resolution at acceptable framerates. Though the technique does not require any specific hardware support outside of the normal for games produced in this era, the

PlayStation 4 Pro The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in E ...

included specialised hardware to enable checkerboard rendering to be carried out with much less of a performance loss than might otherwise be the case.Blow: Checkerboard Rendering on PS4Pro Isn’t Completely Free, There Might Be Better Uses of the Power
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Checkerboard Rendering 3D rendering

Description

Implementation

See also

References