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In V-Ray, an image sampler refers to an algorithm for calculating a pixel's color based on the colors within and around it.

Each pixel in a rendering can have only one color. To get the color of a pixel, V-Ray calculates it based on the object's material, direct light striking the object, and indirect lighting in the scene. This calculation might seem straightforward, but But within a single pixel there might be multiple colors, which may come from various objects or parts of a detailed texturemultiple objects whose edge intersect at the same pixel, or even different brightnesses difference in brightness on the same object due to changes in object shape or falloff and/or shadowing of light sources. The differences between these colors might be subtle or abrupt. If a pixel consists of multiple colors at the sub-pixel level, some work has to be done to determine the best color for that particular pixel in the rendered image.

To determine the best right color for an individual such a pixel, V-Ray can look looks at (or samplesamples) colors from different parts of the pixel and itself as well as the pixels around it. This process is called image sampling.

For more information on how antialiasing works in V-Ray, see the Antialiasing in V-Ray page.

^{Image courtesy of Tuna Unalan}

Multiple colors within a single pixel. What color should the pixel be?