Improved alpha-tested magnification for vector textures and special effects

Abstract

A simple and efficient method is presented which allows improved rendering of glyphs composed of curved and linear elements. A distance field is generated from a high resolution image, and then stored into a channel of a lower-resolution texture. In the simplest case, this texture can then be rendered simply by using the alpha-testing and alpha-thresholding feature of modern GPUs, without a custom shader. This allows the technique to be used on even the lowest-end 3D graphics hardware. With the use of programmable shading, the technique is extended to perform various special effect renderings, including soft edges, outlining, drop shadows, multi-colored images, and sharp corners.