This is an interesting open source project! vkBasalt is a new Vulkan post processing layer that currently supports Contrast Adaptive Sharpening.
Unlike Radeon Image Sharpening, vkBasalt supports Linux and works with both NVIDIA and AMD. This isn't entirely reinventing the wheel though, as it's partly based upon the ReShade port of AMD's CAS. Still, it's fun to see what hackers are able to do with little layers like this, especially when we don't have official support.
Want to see the difference it makes? The developer included a comparison shot of Skyrim:
See a bigger comparison on this dedicated page.
Seems like a really fun idea, although the result might not be to everyone's tastes it's very much personal preference. It does make it look quite a lot sharper to my eyes.
It's already seeing plenty of activity on GitHub with others helping out, in time this could be quite an interesting Vulkan layer if more options get added in.
You can find it on GitHub.
Hat tip to RTheren.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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The comments on this article are closed.
I wonder if it's just me, but I really don't like the artificial sharpening. Never have on any medium and for any game that offers the option I turn it off. It just feels harsh and unnatural.
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Quoting: EhvisI wonder if it's just me, but I really don't like the artificial sharpening. Never have on any medium and for any game that offers the option I turn it off. It just feels harsh and unnatural.
Well, I'm quite amazed how good it looks in the example without adding excessive noise.
Would use it.
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Doc Angelo Oct 21, 2019
These filters don't make the image actual sharp (as in making blurry things sharp), they make it appear sharper to the human eye.
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Quoting: EhvisI wonder if it's just me, but I really don't like the artificial sharpening. Never have on any medium and for any game that offers the option I turn it off. It just feels harsh and unnatural.I know what you mean and in general I agree, but in that example (and, as far as I recall, The Witcher 3 with some slight sharpening; not too much), I think it works.
Edit: Heh. It's in the AUR already. Sometimes the Arch community just amazes me.
Last edited by Dunc on 21 October 2019 at 1:53 pm UTC
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I like this example and would totally use it in Skyrim at least. I'd test it on many games. I think the clarity makes the image look a little more real rather than artificial.
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Great job on that sliding preview, it really works well for side-by-side. You are very good at this Liam.
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Quoting: EhvisI wonder if it's just me, but I really don't like the artificial sharpening. Never have on any medium and for any game that offers the option I turn it off. It just feels harsh and unnatural.I don't get why people use it like that either, but the main selling point of AMD CAS is that it can upscale lower resolutions quite well and provide a decent performance boost in games. Unfortunately this port doesn't work for me, it just crashes in every wine game I try with a page fault error
Last edited by __xdbc on 21 October 2019 at 3:27 pm UTC
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Quoting: NeoTheFoxGreat job on that sliding preview, it really works well for side-by-side. You are very good at this Liam.Can't take all credit. I implemented it using https://github.com/koenoe/cocoen, no point reinventing the wheel :)
Last edited by Liam Dawe on 21 October 2019 at 3:58 pm UTC
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The only issue I see about those layers is the effect it has on text. Don´t really like it, cool tho.
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Quoting: 14I like this example and would totally use it in Skyrim at least. I'd test it on many games.I think that's wise. I've quickly tested it on a few; in most, the effect seems more subtle than it appears in that Skyrim shot above: it either just made everything look a bit clearer (the best way I can describe it is that it's as if I'm using higher resolution textures; the road surface in the Skyrim shot is a good demonstration of what I mean), or had so little effect that I'm not even sure if it's working at all. But it definitely gives Elite Dangerous that unpleasant artificial over-sharpened look (maybe it already uses a sharpening filter?).
So, yeah: try it out. Even if you don't like it in one game, you might be surprised by others.
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Interesting effect. I get the feeling that it looks better but makes my eyes work harder somehow.
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DOOM 2016 totally rocks with this enabled on maxed out settings.
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So it's aliasing. Seems easier to just turn off anti-aliasing.
I'm waiting for displays with enough pixel density that we don't need any of these post processing features.
I'm waiting for displays with enough pixel density that we don't need any of these post processing features.
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Quoting: Liam DaweQuoting: NeoTheFoxGreat job on that sliding preview, it really works well for side-by-side. You are very good at this Liam.Can't take all credit. I implemented it using https://github.com/koenoe/cocoen, no point reinventing the wheel :)
Nice feature, Liam.
Do you notice a slight misalignment between the two pictures?
I wonder if this is due to the source material slightly shifted,
the post-processing or the implementation of the new feature?
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This is a really sweet tip, thanks Liam! :D
Make some of the rather lackluster parts of FFXIV much nicer to look at.
Combination of in-game filters and vkbasalt.
Last edited by nox on 21 October 2019 at 8:41 pm UTC
Make some of the rather lackluster parts of FFXIV much nicer to look at.
Spoiler, click me
Combination of in-game filters and vkbasalt.
Last edited by nox on 21 October 2019 at 8:41 pm UTC
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Quoting: subI don't see any misalignment? Can you point it out?Quoting: Liam DaweQuoting: NeoTheFoxGreat job on that sliding preview, it really works well for side-by-side. You are very good at this Liam.Can't take all credit. I implemented it using https://github.com/koenoe/cocoen, no point reinventing the wheel :)
Nice feature, Liam.
Do you notice a slight misalignment between the two pictures?
I wonder if this is due to the source material slightly shifted,
the post-processing or the implementation of the new feature?
0 Likes
Quoting: Liam DaweQuoting: subI don't see any misalignment? Can you point it out?Quoting: Liam DaweQuoting: NeoTheFoxGreat job on that sliding preview, it really works well for side-by-side. You are very good at this Liam.Can't take all credit. I implemented it using https://github.com/koenoe/cocoen, no point reinventing the wheel :)
Nice feature, Liam.
Do you notice a slight misalignment between the two pictures?
I wonder if this is due to the source material slightly shifted,
the post-processing or the implementation of the new feature?
Here it's just a pixel or so.
If I quickly move the slider, so that it's like swapping the images,
it clearly looks like the post-processed image is slightly shifted downwards.
Wait, this is strange. :)
When I freshly open the page, it looks fine.
Once I go to another comment page this misalignment occurs and stays until I freshly open the article,
say in another tab.
Firefox on Fedora.
Yet, it's really not a big thing.
Can you reproduce that?
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Quoting: subQuoting: Liam DaweQuoting: subI don't see any misalignment? Can you point it out?Quoting: Liam DaweQuoting: NeoTheFoxGreat job on that sliding preview, it really works well for side-by-side. You are very good at this Liam.Can't take all credit. I implemented it using https://github.com/koenoe/cocoen, no point reinventing the wheel :)
Nice feature, Liam.
Do you notice a slight misalignment between the two pictures?
I wonder if this is due to the source material slightly shifted,
the post-processing or the implementation of the new feature?
Here it's just a pixel or so.
If I quickly move the slider, so that it's like swapping the images,
it clearly looks like the post-processed image is slightly shifted downwards.
Wait, this is strange. :)
When I freshly open the page, it looks fine.
Once I go to another comment page this misalignment occurs and stays until I freshly open the article,
say in another tab.
Firefox on Fedora.
Yet, it's really not a big thing.
Can you reproduce that?
I'm getting this consistently. Seems like the post-processed image is ~2 pixels further down, but it's barely noticeable.
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Quoting: noxQuoting: subQuoting: Liam DaweQuoting: subI don't see any misalignment? Can you point it out?Quoting: Liam DaweQuoting: NeoTheFoxGreat job on that sliding preview, it really works well for side-by-side. You are very good at this Liam.Can't take all credit. I implemented it using https://github.com/koenoe/cocoen, no point reinventing the wheel :)
Nice feature, Liam.
Do you notice a slight misalignment between the two pictures?
I wonder if this is due to the source material slightly shifted,
the post-processing or the implementation of the new feature?
Here it's just a pixel or so.
If I quickly move the slider, so that it's like swapping the images,
it clearly looks like the post-processed image is slightly shifted downwards.
Wait, this is strange. :)
When I freshly open the page, it looks fine.
Once I go to another comment page this misalignment occurs and stays until I freshly open the article,
say in another tab.
Firefox on Fedora.
Yet, it's really not a big thing.
Can you reproduce that?
I'm getting this consistently. Seems like the post-processed image is ~2 pixels further down, but it's barely noticeable.
It looks like a minor scaling issue.
It's not a plain shift.
The effect gets more noticeable the farther down and right I focus (in particular in the bigger comparison it's very noticeable). Yet, in the upper left corner it always looks perfect also in cases where the issue is present in other parts.
I don't have a consistent way at hand to reproduce the issue and cases where it doesn't happen.
Most of the time it's bugged, but then sometimes it looks like it was intended.
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It's like putting glasses on for the first time or something. That looks so amazing.
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