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This page provides information on the Image sampler rollout in the Settings tab of the Render Settings.

Overview

In V-Ray GPU, an image sampler refers to an algorithm for calculating a pixel's color based on the colors within and around it.

Each pixel in a rendering can have only one color. To get the color of a pixel, V-Ray calculates it based on the object's material, direct light striking the object, and indirect lighting in the scene. But within a single pixel there might be multiple colors, which may come from multiple objects whose edge intersect at the same pixel, or even difference in brightness on the same object due to changes in object shape or falloff and/or shadowing of light sources.

To determine the right color for such a pixel, V-Ray looks at (or samples) colors from different parts of the pixel itself as well as the pixels around it. This process is called image sampling.

V-Ray for 3ds Max > GPU Image Sampler > maya2016_33001_ImageSampler_SubpixelRaspberry.png
^{Image courtesy of Tuna Unalan}

Multiple colors within a single pixel. What color should the pixel be?

UI Path

||Render Setup window|| > Settings tab > Image sampler rollout

Parameters

Image filter – Enables sub-pixel filtering. When this option is disabled, an internal 1x1 pixel box filter is used. Using image filters may slightly increase rendering times.

Size – Specifies the size of the image filter.

Type – Specifies the filter type: Area, Blend, VRayLancsozFilter and VRayBoxFilter ¹. For more information, see The Anti-aliasing Filters example.

Render mask – Enables the use of a render mask to determine which pixels of the image are calculated. The rest of the pixels are left intact.

None – A render mask is not used.
Texture – Render mask is a texture. Black values in the map define pixels which are not rendered. Pixels with any other values are rendered. The texture should use the screen mapping type.
Selected – Only pixels that belong to the currently selected object(s) are rendered. V-Ray still calculates the entire image, but only renders parts that belong to the selected object(s). This mode is useful if you want to isolate or re-render just some objects from the scene.
Include/Exclude list – Same as Selected, but objects are selected by list.
Layers – Renders only objects that belong to the currently selected layer.
Object IDs – Renders only objects with specified Object IDs. Separate Object IDs with a comma (,).
Clear previous render – Removes the previous frame for the VFB.

For more information on how to use the Render mask feature, see the Render Mask tutorial.

Example: Anti-aliasing Filters

Here is an example briefly demonstrating the effect of different anti-aliasing filters on the final result.

Note that rendering with a particular filter is not the same as rendering without a filter and then blurring the image in a post-processing program like Adobe Photoshop. Filters are applied on a sub-pixel level, over the individual sub-pixel samples. Therefore, applying the filter at render time produces a much more accurate and subtle result than applying it as a post effect.

Filter	Image	Zoomed-in image	Comments
Area filter, size 1.5 (default setting)			Slightly blurs the image, visually more pleasing than the box filter.
Area filter, size 4.0			More blurring.
Blend filter			Combination of a sharp and a soft filter, kind of dreamy effect.

Footnotes

For full list of supported Image sample filters by V-Ray and V-Ray GPU render engines, see the V-Ray GPU Supported Features page.