Texture filter

This page describes texture filters.

In addition to the standard texture filters, this section also describes texture filters that use mipmaps.

For details on texture filters and mipmaps, see the separate document Introduction to CTR Graphics.

Filtering Methods

The texture filter includes two filtering methods.

Filtering Methods Description
Point sampling With this method, the corresponding pixels are referenced strictly during pixel color determination. This causes each texel to be displayed boldly.
Bi-linear filtering. With this method, the neighboring texel colors are interpolated during pixel color determination. This causes the texture image to be displayed smoothly.

Figure 1 Image of the Nearest and Linear Filtering Methods

Texture filter

Filtering Using a Mipmap Texture

If a texture uses mipmaps and is displayed on the screen in enlarged/reduced fashion, you can also specify texture filters that span multiple mipmap levels.

List of Filtering Methods Selectable When Using Mipmaps

Filtering Methods Description
Nearest - mipmap - nearest Performs point sampling within the texture image, with no interpolation between mipmap levels.
Nearest - mipmap - linear Performs point sampling on the texture image, with interpolation between mipmap levels.
Linear - mipmap - nearest Performs bilinear filtering on the texture image, with no interpolation between mipmap levels.
Linear - mipmap - linear Performs bilinear sampling on the texture image, with interpolation between mipmap levels.

Differences in Appearance Based on the Filtering Method

Figure 2 Differences in Appearance Among Filtering Methods Using MipMaps

Mipmap Filtering

Note: When using mipmaps, textures are displayed on-screen at a resolution appropriate to the surface area being displayed. You can therefore reduce the load from processing texels, such as when applying a large texture to small screen area. That said, there is still a load incurred even when using mipmaps when the mipmap level filtering method is configured for smooth interpolation.


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