System, method and article of manufacture for anisotropic texture sampling

A system, method and article of manufacture are provided for anisotropic filtering during texture sampling. A description of a region, e.g. pixel footprint in a source image, to be texture sampled is initially received. Thereafter, the region is subdivided based on the description into a plurality of samples with a predetermined shape for mapping textures onto the samples. By subdividing the region in the source image into a plurality of samples having a predetermined shape, the region may be covered by samples that may be configured to be more suitable for an underlying process such as MIP mapping, thus allowing efficient texture sampling while reducing blurring, aliasing and other visual artifacts.