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 an anti-aliasing post processing pass.

Multisample

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 predefine so it uses the best distribution of the samples.

5, 8, 11, 16, 32

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.