In 3D computer graphics, anisotropic filtering (abbreviated AF ) is a
method of enhancing the image quality of textures on surfaces of computer
graphics that are at oblique viewing angles with respect to the camera where
the projection of the texture (not the polygon or other primitive on which it
is rendered) appears to be non-orthogonal (thus the origin of the word: "an"
for not , "iso" for same , and "tropic" from tropism, relating to
direction; anisotropic filtering does not filter the same in every direction).
Like bilinear and trilinear filtering, anisotropic filtering eliminates
aliasing effects, but improves on these other techniques by reducing blur and
preserving detail at extreme viewing angles.