You may have seen the video settings “Chromatic Aberration’ pop up in more and more of the games you play these days. Usually the explanation in game of what the setting actually does, isn’t all that great. In this article we are going to explain what Chromatic Aberration is in your favorite videos games.
Should you turn it on? Does it affect performance on your console or computer? Why exactly is it there? Let’s jump in and find out.
What Is Chromatic Aberration?
Chromatic Aberration, otherwise known as CA, is a term that comes from the photography world. Chromatic Aberration is an effect caused by the refraction of light into a camera lens. The lens fails to focus on the colors in a single point which causes a very slight shift on the edges of some objects, depending on the brightness of the object.
Generally in photography this effect will happen naturally depending on the lens/quality of lens you are using. Obviously as games are a computer render they do not have this effect so game developers added it as a feature that you can turn on.
In most games this doesn’t really make sense as your character isn’t running around with a camera on their head. In a first person game you are viewing the world from the point of the character. Therefore there would be no Chromatic Aberration as you are not viewing the world through a lens.
However developers add this feature in as they feel that in certain game Chromatic Aberration makes it look more cinematic and engaging, pulling you into the world. It makes it appear that the production quality is higher than it actually is.
Does Chromatic Aberration Affect Performance
Chromatic Aberration does not noticeably affect performance on your console or PC. By turning the effect off it may give you, at most an extra frame in your game. It won’t make any major impact.
Should I Turn Chromatic Aberration On?
Ultimately it is up to you whether or not you want to turn the effect on. If you prefer a more cinematic look in your games, you may prefer to keep it on. Most gamers prefer to turn the feature off though as it makes the game ultimately look worse in my personal opinion.
Wrapping Up
So you can now make the decision on whether or not to turn off Chromatic Aberration. It really depends on your own personal preference. The main takeaway here is that having it on or off won’t really affect the performance in your games. It’s up to you whether or not you like the look chromatic aberration provides.
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