CompuServe Messages

There are several differences in 3DS from an IPAS viewpoint when rendering in fields or frames, but it basically all boils down to one difference. When rendering in fields mode, 3DS will actually render say frame 1 at the even scan-lines, then reposition all the meshes in the keyframer and then make a second pass rendering at frame 1.5 for the odd scan-lines. These two images will be composited into one final frame. This is why if you look at one image rendered in field mode it will actually look a little offset from line to line. And when you do a freeze frame on a VCR that is playing a field recorded animation it will "jiggle". The theory goes that field rendering is smoother than frame rendering because video will make two passes for each image, one the even scanlines and one the odd scanlines. However, using video output devices that can operate more quickly than PAR, you actually get 60 fields instead of 30 fields, and thereby reduces the jitter. It's really all a matter of personal preference and what output hardware you have available to you. But if you can work with 60 fields, rendering to frames, it will look better. Aaron