<p>I don't know about other contexts, but for DirectX resolving a texture means blending multi-sampled texture into a non-multisampled one. For simple scenarios this is usually done automatically by the output merger, but is often needed to be done explicitly (e.g. <a href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/d3d11/nf-d3d11-id3d11devicecontext-resolvesubresource" rel="nofollow noreferrer">ResolveSubresource</a>) when using multi-sampled render target as an input for a next render pass (e.g. post-processing). Reasons being both performance and lower complexity of the following pass shaders.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-10-22T11:02:20.180Z
2019-11-04T23:19:25.093Z
2019-11-04T23:19:25.093Z
ivokabel
<p>Perhaps some example usage from graphics papers might be helpful - it basically refers to computing a 'pixel' value potentially from multiple fragments...</p>

<p><strong>RealityEngine Graphics  (Akeley. 1993)</strong> </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Thus the image is complete as soon as the last primitive
  has been rendered; there is no need for a final framebuffer operation
  to <em>resolve</em> the multiple color samples at each pixel location to a
  single displayable color.</p>
</blockquote>

<p><strong>Hardware Accelerated Rendering Of Antialiasing Using A Modified A-buffer Algorithm. (Winner et al, 1997)</strong></p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Pixels which are completely covered by opaque objects are <em>resolved</em>
  in a single pass.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>or </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Otherwise multiple passes are required to <em>resolve</em> the final color
  for each pixel in the scene.
  <br/></p>
</blockquote>

<p><strong>A Directionally Adaptive Edge Anti-Aliasing Filter. (Iourcha et al, 2009)</strong></p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Downsampling is performed by a <em>resolve</em>, which is the aggregation of the samples with filtering.</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-10-22T16:11:34.400Z
2019-10-23T07:42:53.330Z
2019-10-23T07:42:53.330Z
Simon F
<p>In the context of render targets or textures, what does "resolve" mean?
For example: To resolve a color texture.</p>

<p>From my understanding, it seems to mean, "copy but process/convert at the same time", but I can't seem to find a good definition for it anywhere.</p>

<texture><image-processing><sampling>
What does texture resolve mean?
Todd
# What does texture resolve mean?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-10-17)

In the context of render targets or textures, what does "resolve" mean?
For example: To resolve a color texture.

From my understanding, it seems to mean, "copy but process/convert at the same time", but I can't seem to find a good definition for it anywhere.

**Tags:** texture, image-processing, sampling


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2019-10-22. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

I don't know about other contexts, but for DirectX resolving a texture means blending multi-sampled texture into a non-multisampled one. For simple scenarios this is usually done automatically by the output merger, but is often needed to be done explicitly (e.g. [ResolveSubresource](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/d3d11/nf-d3d11-id3d11devicecontext-resolvesubresource)) when using multi-sampled render target as an input for a next render pass (e.g. post-processing). Reasons being both performance and lower complexity of the following pass shaders.


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### Answer by username_2 on 2019-10-22. Score: 2

Perhaps some example usage from graphics papers might be helpful - it basically refers to computing a 'pixel' value potentially from multiple fragments...

**RealityEngine Graphics (Akeley. 1993)**

> Thus the image is complete as soon as the last primitive
> has been rendered; there is no need for a final framebuffer operation
> to *resolve* the multiple color samples at each pixel location to a
> single displayable color.

**Hardware Accelerated Rendering Of Antialiasing Using A Modified A-buffer Algorithm. (Winner et al, 1997)**

> Pixels which are completely covered by opaque objects are *resolved*
> in a single pass.

or

> Otherwise multiple passes are required to *resolve* the final color
> for each pixel in the scene.

**A Directionally Adaptive Edge Anti-Aliasing Filter. (Iourcha et al, 2009)**

> Downsampling is performed by a *resolve*, which is the aggregation of the samples with filtering.


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