<font color=skyblue>I am getting into messing around with this video card stuff, but I cannot figure out what these terms mean...

Also, Open GL.

Also, do I want my card set to High performance or High quality?</font>

Anti aliasing means blurring edged of an graphic object in 2d or 3d to make the edges look less jagged.

I know Anisotropic from 3d Studio Max, If I remember correctly it's a algorithm for calculating the way light shines on an object.

Open GL is a graphics driver like Direct X... I think... [img]smile.gif[/img] Some one must have a better explanation

And you should set it up somewhere in between, no fun having lightning fast graphics if it's just blocks, and no point in having ultra cool graphix that go slower than a dead turtle.

[ 01-10-2004, 03:00 AM: Message edited by: Jorath Calar ]

OpenGL is a graphics API. Basicaly, its a language that the application can speak and that can be translated into something the card can understand. DirectX is another API. Which one you use depends on the game in question and which ones your card likes - experiment with it if you have the option.

I always go for performance. Beautiful graphics never won anyone anything. If you can set for quality and still get good performance, go for it. But don't compromise performance for quality.

Yeah I've done some programming in OpenGL - it's what andrewas said - basically a set of functions that you can use to create 3D graphics for you and do nice stuff like light sources, reflective surfaces etc. There are versions of OpenGL for programming in C, python and probably others that I don't know of.

<font color=gold>
Ani and AA have been around quite some time in games now. But the most you got out of it was a major drop in FPS, unless you imported your PC from the future.
BUT! Go and check out KoToR and play with and withouth both settings and behold the difference! Really, If KoToR has paed the way for future games, then I'm excited I'll tell ya!!
</font>