Sampling and Aliasing

Kurt Akeley
CS248 Lecture 3
2 October 2007

http://graphics.stanford.edu/courses/cs248-07/
 Aliasing

Aliases are low frequencies in a rendered

image that are due to higher frequencies
in the original image.

CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007

 Jaggies

Original:

Rendered:

Are jaggies due to aliasing? How?

CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007

 Demo

CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007

 What is a point sample (aka sample)?

An evaluation
 At an infinitesimal point (2-D)
 Or along a ray (3-D)
What is evaluated
 Inclusion (2-D) or intersection (3-D)
 Attributes such as distance and color

CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007

 Why point samples?

Clear and unambiguous semantics

Matches theory well (as we’ll see)
Supports image assembly in the framebuffer
 will need to resolve visibility based on distance,
and this works well with point samples
Anything else just puts the problem off
 Exchange one large, complex scene for many
small, complex scenes

CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007

 Fourier theory

“Fourier’s theorem is not only one of the most

beautiful results of modern analysis, but it
may be said to furnish an indispensable
instrument in the treatment of nearly every
recondite question in modern physics.”

-- Lord Kelvin

CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007

 Reference sources

Marc Levoy’s notes

Ronald N. Bracewell, The Fourier Transform and its
Applications, Second Edition, McGraw-Hill, Inc.,
1978.
Private conversations with Pat Hanrahan
MATLAB

CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007

 Ground rules

You don’t have to be an engineer to get this

 We’re looking to develop instinct / understanding
 Not to be able to do the mathematics
We’ll make minimal use of equations
 No integral equations
 No complex numbers
Plots will be consistent
 Tick marks at unit distances
 Signal on left, Fourier transform on the right

CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007

 Dimensions

1-D
 Audio signal (time)
 Generic examples (x)
2-D
 Image (x and y)
3-D
 Animation (x, y, and time)

All examples in this presentation are 1-D

CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007

 Fourier series

Any periodic function can be exactly

represented by a (typically infinite) sum
of harmonic sine and cosine functions.

Harmonics are integer multiples of the

fundamental frequency

CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007

 Fourier series example: sawtooth wave

… …
-1 1

n+ 1
2 ¥
(- 1)
f ( x) = å sin (np x )
p n= 1 n

CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007

 Sawtooth wave summation

n Harmonics Harmonic sums

CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007
 Sawtooth wave summation (continued)

10

50

n Harmonics Harmonic sums

CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007
 Fourier integral

Any function (that matters in graphics)

can be exactly represented by an
integration of sine and cosine functions.

Continuous, not harmonic

But the notion of harmonics will

continue to be useful

CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007

 Basic Fourier transform pairs

1 d(s)

cos (p x ) II(s)

f(x) F(s)
CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007
 Reciprocal property

d(s) 1

Swapped
left/right from
previous slide
II(s) cos (p x )

f(x) F(s)
CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007
 Scaling theorem
æp x ö÷
cos çç ÷ II(2s)
çè 2 ø÷

cos (2p x) II(s/2)

f(x) F(s)
CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007
 Band-limited transform pairs

sin (p x)
sinc(x) Õ (s)
px

sinc2(x) Ù( s )

f(x) F(s)
CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007
 Finite / infinite extent

If one member of the transform pair is finite, the other

is infinite
 Band-limited  infinite spatial extent
 Finite spatial extent  infinite spectral extent

CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007

 Convolution

f ( x)* g ( x) = ò f (u )g ( x - u ) du
- ¥

CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007

 Convolution example

CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007

 Convolution theorem

Let f and g be the transforms of f and g. Then

f * g = f ×g f * g = f ×g

f ×g = f * g f ×g = f * g

Something difficult to do in one domain

(e.g., convolution) may be easy to do in
the other (e.g., multiplication)

CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007

 Sampling theory

x
*
Spectrum is
replicated an

= =
infinite number
of times

f(x) F(s)
CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007
 Reconstruction theory

x
* sinc

= =

f(x) F(s)
CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007
 Sampling at the Nyquist rate

x
*

= =

f(x) F(s)
CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007
 Reconstruction at the Nyquist rate

x
*

= =

f(x) F(s)
CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007
 Sampling below the Nyquist rate

x
*

= =

f(x) F(s)
CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007
 Reconstruction below the Nyquist rate

x
*

= =

f(x) F(s)
CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007
 Reconstruction error

Original Signal

Undersampled
Reconstruction
CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007
 Reconstruction with a triangle function

x
*

= =

f(x) F(s)
CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007
 Reconstruction error

Original Signal

Triangle
Reconstruction
CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007
 Reconstruction with a rectangle function

x
*

= =

f(x) F(s)
CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007
 Reconstruction error

Original Signal

Rectangle
Reconstruction
CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007
 Sampling a rectangle

x
*

= =

f(x) F(s)
CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007
 Reconstructing a rectangle (jaggies)

x
*

= =

f(x) F(s)
CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007
 Sampling and reconstruction

Aliasing is caused by
 Sampling below the Nyquist rate,
 Improper reconstruction, or
 Both

We can distinguish between

 Aliasing of fundamentals (demo)
 Aliasing of harmonics (jaggies)

CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007

 Summary

Jaggies matter
 Create false cues
 Violate rule 1
Sampling is done at points (2-D) or along rays (3-D)
 Sufficient for depth sorting
 Matches theory
Fourier theory explains jaggies as aliasing. For correct
reconstruction:
 Signal must be band-limited
 Sampling must be at or above Nyquist rate
 Reconstruction must be done with a sinc function

CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007

 Assignments

Before Thursday’s class, read

 FvD 3.17 Antialiasing
Project 1:
 Breakout: a simple interactive game
 Demos Wednesday 10 October

CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007

 End

CS248 Lecture 3 Kurt Akeley, Fall 2007