Adding antialiasing

Question

I am trying to using antialiasing but I don't why it isn't working:

Pen pen = new Pen(Color.Black, 3);
Pen r = new Pen(Color.YellowGreen, 3);
Graphics b = panel2.CreateGraphics();
b.DrawEllipse(pen, 6, 0, 90, 90);
b.SmoothingMode = SmoothingMode.AntiAlias;
b.DrawLine(r, new Point(50, 90), new Point(50, 0));

Answer 1

First it should be noted that the Graphics object does not contain any graphics; it is a tool that lets you draw onto a related bitmap, including a control's surface. Therefore changing any of its properties, like the SmoothingMode only influences graphics you draw from then on, not anything you have drawn before..

The circle certainly would have antialised pixels if you would draw it after setting the SmoothingMode from its default None to AntiAlias.

The Line is vertical, so it doesn't need antialiasing except at its ends, where there is some. But if you tilt it or move it to a non-integer position anti-aliasing will show!

Let's modify your code a little and look closely at the result:

Pen pen = new Pen(Color.Black, 3);
Pen r = new Pen(Color.YellowGreen, 3);
Graphics b = panel2.CreateGraphics();
b.DrawEllipse(pen, 6, 6, 90, 90);
b.SmoothingMode = SmoothingMode.AntiAlias;
b.DrawLine(r, new Point(50, 90), new Point(50, 0));

b.DrawLine(r, new Point(60, 90), new Point(70, 0));
b.DrawLine(r, new PointF(40.5f, 90), new PointF(40.5f, 0));
b.DrawEllipse(pen, 6, 6, 30, 30);

The smaller circle has many gray pixels and even the original green line has a lighter top end. The two new lines are fully anti-aliased now, one because it is tilted, the other because it sits 'between' pixels.

Btw: If it is turned on you will also see anti-alising when your Pen.Width is even or when it is a non-integer number. The reason for the latter should be obvious; the former comes from the PenAlignment property. Its default Center tries to center the pen, but not at the pixel boundary but at the center of the coordinate pixels. Therefore only an uneven width will completely fill the pixels and not cause anti-aliasing. For closed shapes you can change this behaviour by changing the Pen.Alignment to Inset:

This property determines how the Pen draws closed curves and polygons. The PenAlignment enumeration specifies five values; however, only two values—Center and Inset—will change the appearance of a drawn line. Center is the default value for this property and specifies that the width of the pen is centered on the outline of the curve or polygon. A value of Inset for this property specifies that the width of the pen is inside the outline of the curve or polygon. The other three values, Right, Left, and Outset, will result in a pen that is centered.

A Pen that has its alignment set to Inset will yield unreliable results, sometimes drawing in the inset position and sometimes in the centered position.Also, an inset pen cannot be used to draw compound lines and cannot draw dashed lines with Triangle dash caps.

PS: The question was not about how to draw properly, so let me just note that you never ought to do it using control.CreateGraphics as this will always only result in non-persistent graphics. Instead you need to use the Paint event and its e.Graphics object..