Sampling

The quality of the renders can be adjusted by changing the Anti-Aliasing method. A different one can be selected for the 3D Viewport, viewport rendering and for final rendering.

The setting for the 3D Viewport is a user preference to specify the anti-aliasing method that runs best on the used system. The setting for viewport rendering and final rendering is saved per scene.

Reference

Panel:

Render ‣ Sampling Preferences ‣ Viewport

No Anti-Aliasing

With this option selected no anti-aliasing will be applied.

Single Pass Anti-Aliasing

Scene will be rendered with a post-process anti-aliasing pass.

Multisample

The scene will be rendered multiple times with a slight offset. The anti-aliasing will be gathered from the multiple renders. The number of samples are predefined so it uses the best distribution of the samples.

5, 8, 11, 16, 32

Tip

Multisample anti-aliasing is well suited for rendering small details like hair.

Progressive Viewport Rendering

For the 3D Viewport, one sample is rendered at a time. When there are no changes to the scene or viewport the next sample will be rendered.