Pre-multiplied Alpha for drawing particles in one pass

[Riven]

I can't stress highly enough how WRONG using glBlendFunc(GL_SRC_ALPHA, GL_ONE_MINUS_SRC_ALPHA) is. NEVER USE IT. Just about every example ever on the internet and in books uses this blend function, and it is wrong wrong wrong.

As you point at additive blending for everything, how exactly do you subtract color from the framebuffer, like you do with regular blending...?

glBlendFunc(GL_SRC_ALPHA, GL_ONE_MINUS_SRC_ALPHA) has its uses...

[Orangy Tang]

Oops, missed your bit about doing the multiply at upload time, yeah that's a nice way of handling it. But it still doesn't produce any tangible benefits that I can see.

[princec]

@Riven - to be sure it's got a use but just not the use that everyone thinks it has.
@OrangyTang - basically why muck around with bleeding pixels and other hax when you can just use the correct blending mode and fix the edge artifacts automatically and get your glow and transparent particles done using the same shader/ffpipeline functions?

Cas

Games published by our own members! Check 'em out!

[Riven]

Oops, missed your bit about doing the multiply at upload time, yeah that's a nice way of handling it. But it still doesn't produce any tangible benefits that I can see.

The problem with regular blending is terrible color banding issues (see my YUNPM library, where I abuse it to create a blur)

[Orangy Tang]

@Riven - to be sure it's got a use but just not the use that everyone thinks it has.
@OrangyTang - basically why muck around with bleeding pixels and other hax when you can just use the correct blending mode and fix the edge artifacts automatically and get your glow and transparent particles done using the same shader/ffpipeline functions?

Cas

Meh. Now we're back to hand-wavey arguments about what's more 'correct'. Yet by colour bleeding I've maintained the orthogonality of the colour and alpha data, which is important as soon as you're doing anything other than straight blitting. Which is why I see this as firmly in swings-and-roundabouts territory, rather than "you must use pre-multiplied alpha".

[princec]

Don't get me wrong, this is for straight blitting. If you're doing something fancypants that is not sprite/particle related then assuredly you might have other uses for the other blending mode. But my guess is you are doing sprites and glowy particles, and if that's the case, you want to do it right.

Cas

[nsigma]

Image composition and filtering were what did it for me.

Composition was in particular key for me.  If you're ever doing layered composition, rendering to a transparent texture first, then pre-multiplied is essential to get the right result.

Some other useful blend modes are not possible (shy of shaders) without pre-multiplied data as well - Multiply in particular.

Just realised that one of the posts I read a while back that I found useful was the TomF one in the OP's post - just his link was broken by the forum!

As you point at additive blending for everything, how exactly do you subtract color from the framebuffer, like you do with regular blending...?

What exactly do you mean by subtract?  Actually, I think that question is the nub of why people don't get this - standard blending should be an additive / accumulative process, and there's a reason all blend modes (PorterDuff, etc.) are expressed in terms of pre-multiplied alpha.  The blend function you give isn't an Add blend though - if you draw fully opaque black on white you'll end up with black (GL_ONE_MINUS_SRC_ALPHA on dst).

[Riven]

As you point at additive blending for everything, how exactly do you subtract color from the framebuffer, like you do with regular blending...?

What exactly do you mean by subtract?  Actually, I think that question is the nub of why people don't get this

If that isn't a flamebait, I don't know what is...

[princec]

Colour "subtraction" is still being performed on the framebuffer - the destination factor is still the same GL_ONE_MINUS_SRC_ALPHA as you might have used before. The alpha component of the texture is still the same as it was; it is now describing effectively how much of the framebuffer to show through the sprite. So at 255, that's none; the existing pixels will have no bearing on the final colour.

Cas

[nsigma]

@riven - definitely not my intention. I'm sorry that you feel everything I'm saying atm is a criticism. It's honestly not meant that way.

Games published by our own members! Check 'em out!

[princec]

Time of the month

Cas