CompuServe Messages

Brent: NTSC video does NOT operate at 512 x 486! That is the basic confusion! As opposed to computer graphics, which operates in the digital domain, a TV signal is analog! The simple explanation is this: You still get 486 (plus or minus) lines down the screen, (interlaced, of course) but your horizontal is where th differences lie. Imagine your TV taking _whatever_ is fed into it horizontally and stretching it to fit the screen! I know – it makes no sense in the digital world we computer-types live in, but this was around much longer than computers were! Therefore, by putting 756 dots across the screen digitally, you are giving the signal more information when it goes analog. Assuming you correct for the proper aspect ratio, this will result in a much greater (33%) amount of information on the TV set, which translates into a higher quality image! 3D Studio will happily output to this higher format, but it turns out that the FIELD rendering mode is just as clear in 512 x 482 mode as 756 x 486 due to some internal filtering in the program (accidental, I am told <g>) that kicks in better at the lower resolution. And remember, when something is moving, you can't tell! That is why I commented in my previous posting that we do all animations in 512 x 486 but all NTSC stills at 756 x 486. Greg Pyros