Bilinear interpolation - DirectX vs. GDI+
- by holtavolt
I have a C# app for which I've written GDI+ code that uses Bitmap/TextureBrush rendering to present 2D images, which can have various image processing functions applied. This code is a new path in an application that mimics existing DX9 code, and they share a common library to perform all vector and matrix (e.g. ViewToWorld/WorldToView) operations. My test bed consists of DX9 output images that I compare against the output of the new GDI+ code.
A simple test case that renders to a viewport that matches the Bitmap dimensions (i.e. no zoom or pan) does match pixel-perfect (no binary diff) - but as soon as the image is zoomed up (magnified), I get very minor differences in 5-10% of the pixels. The magnitude of the difference is 1 (occasionally 2)/256. I suspect this is due to interpolation differences.
Question: For a DX9 ortho projection (and identity world space), with a camera perpendicular and centered on a textured quad, is it reasonable to expect DirectX.Direct3D.TextureFilter.Linear to generate identical output to a GDI+ TextureBrush filled rectangle/polygon when using the System.Drawing.Drawing2D.InterpolationMode.Bilinear setting?
For this (magnification) case, the DX9 code is using this (MinFilter,MipFilter set similarly):
Device.SetSamplerState(0, SamplerStageStates.MagFilter, (int)TextureFilter.Linear);
and the GDI+ path is using:
g.InterpolationMode = InterpolationMode.Bilinear;
I thought that "Bilinear Interpolation" was a fairly specific filter definition, but then I noticed that there is another option in GDI+ for "HighQualityBilinear" (which I've tried, with no difference - which makes sense given the description of "added prefiltering for shrinking")
Followup Question: Is it reasonable to expect pixel-perfect output matching between DirectX and GDI+ (assuming all external coordinates passed in are equal)? If not, why not?
Finally, there are a number of other APIs I could be using (Direct2D, WPF, GDI, etc.) - and this question generally applies to comparing the output of "equivalent" bilinear interpolated output images across any two of these. Thanks!
