A method and apparatus for creating motion blur, depth of field, and screen door
effects when rendering three-dimensional graphics data are disclosed. A graphics
system configured with a graphics processor, a super-sampled sample buffer, and
a sample-to-pixel calculation unit is disclosed. The graphics processor may be
configured to use a sample mask to select different subsets of sample coordinates
to be rendered for a particular frame. Each subset may be rendered applying a different
set of attributes, and the resulting samples may then be stored together in the
sample buffer. The sample-to-pixel calculation unit may be configured to filter
the samples into output pixels that are provided to a display device. The attributes
that may be changed from subset to subset include the viewpoint, the time at which
objects in the data are rendered, which objects or geometric primitives in the
data are rendered, the position of objects in the data, the color of objects in
the data, the transparency of objects in the data, and the shape of objects in
the data.