FXAA Shader Anti-aliasing in XNA 4.0 Winforms

I had the challenge of trying to get some type of anti-aliasing in a project that uses the winforms method of XNA 4 that was being run on a laptop in REACH mode.

My first step was figuring out a method to use. I found quite a few shader based methods available, but I could get none of them to work. FXAA written by a engineer at NVIDIA seemed like the best option, so I went with that. I wrote up a question on Stack Overflow to see if anyone could help.

Eventually with enough research and …playing around… with the code I have it functioning. Here is an example to help anyone who might be interested in doing the same thing.

—————————————————-

I’m using this example project’s XNA 4.0 form control in an application I’m writing: http://creators.xna.com/en-US/sample/winforms_series1

If you are unfamiliar with FXAA, check out the creator’s site: http://timothylottes.blogspot.com/2011/03/nvidia-fxaa.html

I’ve spent quite a bit of time so far trying to figure out to use it without any luck (so far…). It’s true I don’t have much experience at all with graphics programming, but I do currently have a nice application running, it just looks really really poor with the jagged lines. I know about the built-in method for AA, but doesn’t work for me and my laptop computer. So my request is about using FXAA and not the built-in methods.

At this point: I have FXAA 3.11 header file in my Content project. I have a generic FX file generated by visual studio with a few things like:

#define FXAA_PC_CONSOLE 1
#define FXAA_HLSL_5 1
#define FXAA_QUALITY__PRESET 12
#include “Includes/Fxaa3_11.h”

I’m just asking here to see if anyone could provide some XNA 4.0 examples, specifically with using that custom windows forms method.

I appreciate any help someone might be able to provide.

Forums for the win!

Edit 3: I’ve been trying to work out how to get FXAA working since I posted this message. I found this: http://www.gamedev.net/topic/609638-fxaa-help/page_st_20 and this: http://fxaa-pp-inject.assembla.me/trunk/DirectX9/shader.fx

I striped down FXAA to bare bones FXAA_PC_CONSOLE type and it compiles. I just need to figure out the parameter fxaaConsolePosPos that is the top left and bottom right position of each pixel. Anyways, it looks like FXAA_PC_CONSOLE might work with shader model 2.0 that I need to use with REACH and winforms based XNA.

—————————————–

So I figured it out, at least using the lesser version of FXAA designed for consoles and low-end PCs. I can’t guarantee my parameters to the shader code are correct, but I do see a noticeable difference when it is running.

Here is the complete solution with my chopped up shader and pieces of the C# XNA 4.0 code:

The shader code first (put that in a .fx file in your Content sub-project): note that I replaced tex2Dlod with tex2D as per a suggestion that SM2.0 doesn’t support the first type

#define FxaaBool bool
#define FxaaDiscard clip(-1)
#define FxaaFloat float
#define FxaaFloat2 float2
#define FxaaFloat3 float3
#define FxaaFloat4 float4
#define FxaaHalf half
#define FxaaHalf2 half2
#define FxaaHalf3 half3
#define FxaaHalf4 half4
#define FxaaSat(x) saturate(x)
#define FxaaInt2 float2
#define FxaaTex sampler2D
#define FxaaTexTop(t, p) tex2D(t, float4(p, 0.0, 0.0))
#define FxaaTexOff(t, p, o, r) tex2D(t, float4(p + (o * r), 0, 0))

FxaaFloat FxaaLuma(FxaaFloat4 rgba) {
    rgba.w = dot(rgba.rgb, FxaaFloat3(0.299, 0.587, 0.114));
    return rgba.w;
}

/*============================================================================
                         FXAA3 CONSOLE - PC VERSION
============================================================================*/
FxaaFloat4 FxaaPixelShader(
    FxaaFloat2 pos,
    FxaaFloat4 fxaaConsolePosPos,
    FxaaTex tex,
    FxaaFloat4 fxaaConsoleRcpFrameOpt,
    FxaaFloat4 fxaaConsoleRcpFrameOpt2,
    FxaaFloat fxaaConsoleEdgeSharpness,
    FxaaFloat fxaaConsoleEdgeThreshold,
    FxaaFloat fxaaConsoleEdgeThresholdMin
) {
    FxaaFloat lumaNw = FxaaLuma(FxaaTexTop(tex, fxaaConsolePosPos.xy));
    FxaaFloat lumaSw = FxaaLuma(FxaaTexTop(tex, fxaaConsolePosPos.xw));
    FxaaFloat lumaNe = FxaaLuma(FxaaTexTop(tex, fxaaConsolePosPos.zy));
    FxaaFloat lumaSe = FxaaLuma(FxaaTexTop(tex, fxaaConsolePosPos.zw));
    FxaaFloat4 rgbyM = FxaaTexTop(tex, pos.xy);

    #if (FXAA_GREEN_AS_LUMA == 0)
        FxaaFloat lumaM = rgbyM.w;
    #else
        FxaaFloat lumaM = rgbyM.y;
    #endif

    FxaaFloat lumaMaxNwSw = max(lumaNw, lumaSw);
    lumaNe += 1.0 / 384.0;
    FxaaFloat lumaMinNwSw = min(lumaNw, lumaSw);
    FxaaFloat lumaMaxNeSe = max(lumaNe, lumaSe);
    FxaaFloat lumaMinNeSe = min(lumaNe, lumaSe);
    FxaaFloat lumaMax = max(lumaMaxNeSe, lumaMaxNwSw);
    FxaaFloat lumaMin = min(lumaMinNeSe, lumaMinNwSw);
    FxaaFloat lumaMaxScaled = lumaMax * fxaaConsoleEdgeThreshold;
    FxaaFloat lumaMinM = min(lumaMin, lumaM);
    FxaaFloat lumaMaxScaledClamped = max(fxaaConsoleEdgeThresholdMin, lumaMaxScaled);
    FxaaFloat lumaMaxM = max(lumaMax, lumaM);
    FxaaFloat dirSwMinusNe = lumaSw - lumaNe;
    FxaaFloat lumaMaxSubMinM = lumaMaxM - lumaMinM;
    FxaaFloat dirSeMinusNw = lumaSe - lumaNw;

    if (lumaMaxSubMinM < lumaMaxScaledClamped)
        return rgbyM;

    FxaaFloat2 dir;
    dir.x = dirSwMinusNe + dirSeMinusNw;
    dir.y = dirSwMinusNe - dirSeMinusNw;
    FxaaFloat2 dir1 = normalize(dir.xy);

    FxaaFloat4 rgbyN1 = FxaaTexTop(tex, pos.xy - dir1 * fxaaConsoleRcpFrameOpt.zw);
    FxaaFloat4 rgbyP1 = FxaaTexTop(tex, pos.xy + dir1 * fxaaConsoleRcpFrameOpt.zw);

    FxaaFloat dirAbsMinTimesC = min(abs(dir1.x), abs(dir1.y)) * fxaaConsoleEdgeSharpness;
    FxaaFloat2 dir2 = clamp(dir1.xy / dirAbsMinTimesC, -2.0, 2.0);

    FxaaFloat4 rgbyN2 = FxaaTexTop(tex, pos.xy - dir2 * fxaaConsoleRcpFrameOpt2.zw);
    FxaaFloat4 rgbyP2 = FxaaTexTop(tex, pos.xy + dir2 * fxaaConsoleRcpFrameOpt2.zw);

    FxaaFloat4 rgbyA = rgbyN1 + rgbyP1;
    FxaaFloat4 rgbyB = ((rgbyN2 + rgbyP2) * 0.25) + (rgbyA * 0.25);

    #if (FXAA_GREEN_AS_LUMA == 0)
        FxaaBool twoTap = (rgbyB.w < lumaMin) || (rgbyB.w > lumaMax);
    #else
        FxaaBool twoTap = (rgbyB.y < lumaMin) || (rgbyB.y > lumaMax);
    #endif

    if (twoTap)
        rgbyB.xyz = rgbyA.xyz * 0.5;

    return rgbyB;
}

/*==========================================================================*/
uniform extern float SCREEN_WIDTH;
uniform extern float SCREEN_HEIGHT;
uniform extern texture gScreenTexture;

sampler screenSampler = sampler_state {
    Texture = <gScreenTexture>;
    /*MinFilter = LINEAR;
    MagFilter = LINEAR;
    MipFilter = LINEAR;
    AddressU = Clamp;
    AddressV = Clamp;*/
};

float4 PixelShaderFunction(float2 tc : TEXCOORD0) : COLOR0 {
    float pixelWidth = (1 / SCREEN_WIDTH);
    float pixelHeight = (1 / SCREEN_HEIGHT);
    float2 pixelCenter = float2(tc.x - pixelWidth, tc.y - pixelHeight);
    float4 fxaaConsolePosPos = float4(tc.x, tc.y, tc.x + pixelWidth, tc.y + pixelHeight);

    return FxaaPixelShader(
        pixelCenter,
        fxaaConsolePosPos,
        screenSampler,
        float4(-0.50 / SCREEN_WIDTH, -0.50 / SCREEN_HEIGHT, 0.50 / SCREEN_WIDTH, 0.50 / SCREEN_HEIGHT),
        float4(-2.0 / SCREEN_WIDTH, -2.0 / SCREEN_HEIGHT, 2.0 / SCREEN_WIDTH, 2.0 / SCREEN_HEIGHT),
        8.0,
        0.125,
        0.05
    );
}

technique ppfxaa {
    pass Pass1 {
        PixelShader = compile ps_2_0 PixelShaderFunction();
    }
}

Here is a snippet of C-sharp code to apply the shader:

// These objects are used in managing the FXAA operation
// FXAA objects (anti-aliasing)
RenderTarget2D renderTarget;
SpriteBatch spriteBatch;
Effect fxaaAntialiasing;

// Initialize the render target and set effect parameters
// Code to handle final anti-aliasing using a pixel shader
renderTarget = new RenderTarget2D(
    GraphicsDevice,
    GraphicsDevice.PresentationParameters.BackBufferWidth,
    GraphicsDevice.PresentationParameters.BackBufferHeight,
    false,
    GraphicsDevice.PresentationParameters.BackBufferFormat,
    DepthFormat.Depth24);

spriteBatch = new SpriteBatch(GraphicsDevice);
fxaaAntialiasing = content.Load<Effect>("sfxaa");
fxaaAntialiasing.CurrentTechnique = fxaaAntialiasing.Techniques["ppfxaa"];
fxaaAntialiasing.Parameters["SCREEN_WIDTH"].SetValue(renderTarget.Width);
fxaaAntialiasing.Parameters["SCREEN_HEIGHT"].SetValue(renderTarget.Height);
fxaaAntialiasing.Parameters["gScreenTexture"].SetValue(renderTarget as Texture2D);

// This should happen in your Draw() method
// Change to our offscreen render target
GraphicsDevice.SetRenderTarget(renderTarget);
GraphicsDevice.Clear(Color.CornflowerBlue);

// Draw all of your models and such here...
// ...

GraphicsDevice.SetRenderTarget(null);
GraphicsDevice.Clear(Color.Black);

// This is where the shader anti-aliasing happens to the frame we just filled with contents
spriteBatch.Begin(SpriteSortMode.Immediate, BlendState.AlphaBlend,
    SamplerState.LinearClamp, DepthStencilState.Default,
    RasterizerState.CullNone, fxaaAntialiasing);

// Draw the buffer we made to the screen
spriteBatch.Draw(renderTarget as Texture2D,
    new Rectangle(0, 0, renderTarget.Width, renderTarget.Height),
    Color.White);

spriteBatch.End();