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sample_c (sm4 - asm)

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Performs a comparison filter.

sample_c[_aoffimmi(u,v,w)] dest[.mask], srcAddress[.swizzle], srcResource.r, srcSampler, srcReferenceValue
Item Description
dest
 [in] The address of the results of the operation.
srcAddress
 [in] A set of texture coordinates. For more information see the sample instruction.
srcResource
 [in] A texture register. For more information see the sample instruction. Must be .r swizzle.
srcSampler
 [in] A sampler register. For more information see the sample instruction.
srcReferenceValue
 [in] A register with a single component selected, which is used in the comparison.

Remarks

The primary purpose for this instruction is to provide a building-block for Percentage-Closer Depth filtering. The "c" in sample_c stands for Comparison.

The operands to sample_c are identical to the sample instruction, except that there is an additional float32 source operand, srcReferenceValue, which must be a register with single-component selected, or a scalar literal.

The srcResource parameter must have a .r (red) swizzle. sample_c operates exclusively on the red component, and returns a single value. The .r swizzle on srcResource indicates that the scalar result is replicated to all components.

The order of operations is srcReferenceValue {ComparisonFunction} texel.R.

When a Depth Buffer is set as an input texture, the depth value shows up in the red component.

If this instruction is used with a Resource that is not a Texture1D/2D/2DArray/Cube/CubeArray, it produces undefined results.

When this instruction is executed, the sampling hardware uses the current Sampler's ComparisonFunction to compare srcReferenceValue against the Red component value for the source Resource at each filter "tap" location (texel) that the currently configured texture filter covers, based on the provided coordinates in srcAddress.

The comparison occurs after srcReferenceValue has been quantized to the precision of the texture format, in exactly the same way that z is quantized to depth buffer precision before Depth Comparison at the Output Merger visibility test. This includes a clamp to the format range (e.g. [0..1] for a UNORM format).

The source texel's Red component is compared against the quantized srcReferenceValue. For texels that fall off the Resource, the Red component value is determined by applying the Address Modes (and BorderColorR if in Border mode) from the Sampler. The comparison honors all D3D11 floating point comparison rules, in the case the texture format is floating point.

Each comparison that passes returns 1.0f as the Red component value for the texel, and each comparison that fails returns 0.0f as the Red value for the texture. Filtering then occurs exactly as specified by the Sampler states, operating only in the Red component, and returning a single scalar filter result back to the Shader, replicated to all masked dest components.

The use of sample_c is orthogonal to all other general purpose filtering controls. sample_c works seamlessly with the other general purpose filter modes. sample_c changes the behavior of the general purpose filters such that the values being filtered all become 1.0f or 0.0f due to comparison results.

Fetching from an input slot that has nothing bound to it returns 0 for all components.

For more information, see the sample instruction.

This instruction applies to the following shader stages:

Vertex Shader Geometry Shader Pixel Shader
x

Minimum Shader Model

This function is supported in the following shader models.

Shader Model Supported
Shader Model 5 yes
Shader Model 4.1 yes
Shader Model 4 yes
Shader Model 3 (DirectX HLSL) no
Shader Model 2 (DirectX HLSL) no
Shader Model 1 (DirectX HLSL) no

Shader Model 4 Assembly (DirectX HLSL)