1. A method for space variant texture filtering, the method comprises the steps of: a) obtaining texture coordinates for a given pixel of an object being rendered; b) determining a first axis derivative and a second axis derivative based on the texture coordinates; c) when the first and second axis derivatives have differing degrees of magnitude, determining whether the first axis derivative or the second axis derivative corresponds to a major axis; d) determining a number of samples along the major axis based on a logarithmic function of a ratio between the first and second axis derivatives; e) determining separation between the samples based on derivatives along the major axis; f) referencing one of a plurality of related texture maps based on derivatives along a minor axis to obtain the samples; and g) filtering the samples based on the number of samples to obtain a filtered texel for the given pixel.