What is the human eye? How do we see? How do we perceive the image of the world around us? It seems that not everyone remembers their school anatomy lessons well, so let’s remember a little about how the human organs of vision work.
So, how many frames per second does the human eye see?
Structure
The human eye perceives visual information using the cones and rods that make up the retina. These cones and rods perceive video in different ways, but have the ability to combine disparate information into a single picture. Rods do not detect color differences, but are able to detect changing images. Cones, on the other hand, are excellent at distinguishing colors. In general, the combination of cones and rods are the photoreceptors of the human eye, responsible for making the image being viewed look holistic.
How many frames per second does a person see? This is a common question. On the retina of the eyes, photoreceptors are located relatively unevenly; in the center there are approximately the same number of them, but closer to the edge of the retina, rods make up the majority. This is exactly what has a very logical explanation from the point of view of nature. In those days, when a person hunted a mammoth, his peripheral vision had to be adapted to catch the slightest movement on the right or left side. Otherwise, having missed everything in the world, he risked remaining hungry, or even dead, so this eye structure is the most natural. Thus, the structure of the human eye is such that it sees not individual frames, as in a storyboard for a cartoon, but a set of pictures as a whole.
How many frames per second does the human eye see?
If you show a person one frame per second over a long period of time, over time he will begin to perceive not the individual images, but the overall pattern of movement. However, demonstrating a video image at such a rhythm is uncomfortable for a person. Back in the days of silent films, the frame rate reached 16 per second. When comparing silent film footage and modern films, one is left with the feeling that they were filmed in slow motion in the early 20th century. When watching, you just want to hurry up the on-screen characters a little. Currently, the standard for shooting is 24 frames at a frequency that is comfortable for human vision. But is this the limit, what is beyond this range?
Now you know how many frames per second a person sees.
If you increase the frame rate, what will happen?
The term frame rate (fps) was first used by photographer Eadweard Muybridge. And since then, filmmakers have been tirelessly experimenting with this indicator. From the point of view of practicality, it may seem that it is unreasonable to change the number of frames per second, because a different number will not be visible to the human eye.
How many fps does the eye perceive? We know that 24. Does it make sense to change anything? It turns out that all these efforts are paying off. Modern gamers, and just people who use computers, can say this with confidence.
Scientific background
Scientists have proven that at a 24-fold frame rate, a person perceives not only the overall picture on the monitor, but also individual frames on a subconscious level. For game developers, this information became an incentive to conduct further research into the capabilities of the human visual organs. Amazingly, the human eye can perceive video at a speed of 60 frames per second or more. The ability to perceive more images increases when you concentrate on something. In this case, a person is able to perceive up to one hundred frames per second without losing the semantic thread of the video image. And in the case when attention is scattered, the speed of perception can drop to 10 frames per second.
When answering the question of how many fps the human eye sees, we can safely name the number 100.
How is research carried out?
Experiments in the field of identifying the capabilities of the human visual organs are constantly being carried out, and scientists are not going to stop there. For example, they conduct the following testing: a control group of people watches the proposed videos at different frame rates. Frames with some kind of defect are inserted into certain fragments at different periods of time. They depict some kind of extra object that does not fit into the general outline. It could be a fast moving flying object. In all groups, more than 50% of subjects notice a flying object. This circumstance would not be so surprising if it were not for knowing that this video was shown at a frequency of 220 frames per second. Of course, no one was able to examine the image in detail, but even the fact that people were simply able to notice flickering on the screen at such a frame rate speaks for itself.
Many people are interested in how many frames per second a person sees. Let's look at more interesting details below.
Unexpected facts
Not everyone knows about this interesting fact: experiments with displaying video images at different frequencies began more than a hundred years ago in the era of silent films. To show the first films, film projectors were equipped with a manual speed control. That is, the film was shown at the speed with which the mechanic turned the handle, and he, in turn, was guided by the reaction of the audience. The original speed of silent film was 16 frames per second.
But when watching a comedy, when the audience was highly active, up to 30 frames per second. But this ability to arbitrarily regulate the display speed could also have negative consequences. When the cinema owner wanted to earn more, he, accordingly, reduced the showing time of one session, but increased the number of sessions themselves. This led to the fact that the film production was not perceived by the human eye, and the viewer remained dissatisfied. As a result, in many countries, at the legislative level, the demonstration of films at an accelerated frequency was prohibited and the standard in accordance with which projectionists worked was determined. In general, why are fps and the human eye studied? Let's talk about it.
What is it for?
The practical benefit of these studies is as follows: increasing the speed at which frames flicker on the screen smooths out the image, creating the effect of continuous movement. For watching standard video, the most optimal speed is 24 frames per second, this is how we watch movies in cinemas. But the new IMAX widescreen format uses a frame rate of 48 frames per second. This creates the effect of immersion in virtual reality with maximum approximation to reality. This feeling can be further enhanced by the use of 3D technology. When creating computer games, developers use a cycle of 50 frames per second. This is done to achieve maximum realistic gaming reality. But Internet speed also plays a role here, so the frame rate can change down or up.
We looked at how many frames per second a person sees.
There is an opinion among many players that the more FPS (frames per seconds) the better. There was once a debate about the introduction of 60 FPS, but now progress has moved forward and modern gaming machines can produce all 120, or even 400. But are we really seeing all 120 FPS?
The answer to this question is quite controversial. Some people think that 60 FPS is enough, others say that the difference between 120 and 60 is obvious. Counter-Strike fans turn up their noses if the computer produces less than 300 FPS. Is this really true?
An important factor in image presentation, of course, is the monitor. The video card’s power can be enough for 120 FPS, 240, and even 400 FPS. But can your monitor do this?
The number of frames per second is given by the video card - it is the source of the image. The number of frames that the video card produces may not match the frame refresh rate on the monitor. Most monitors only support 60Hz.
Thus, if the video card allows you to output 120 FPS, and your monitor frequency is 60 Hz, then these 60 frames become redundant, and you will not see the difference. It may also damage the monitor.
Let's check this with an example.
The website frames-per-second.appspot.com allows you to test images at different FPS.
We are given two balls that are constantly bouncing. You can set a specific FPS for each animation.
Let's put 120 FPS on the first ball and 60 FPS on the second, respectively. If your monitor's maximum refresh rate is 60Hz, then you won't see a difference.
Try checking it out for yourself.
You should first make sure what frequency your monitor supports. For this purpose in Windows 7 Right-click on your desktop and click "Screen Resolution". Next - the "Advanced parameters" button, and there click on the "Monitor" tab.
If you are the happy owner of a 120 Hz monitor and powerful hardware, then I can congratulate you. After all, 120 and 60 FPS are really different when you have a 120 Hz monitor.
Agree, it is better when the response to action occurs 120 times per second, and not 60. High FPS will allow you to react faster to what is happening in the game and make the gameplay more comfortable.
Last year, the hardware.info portal conducted an interesting experiment, the purpose of which was to prove that the difference between 60 and 120 FPS is visible to the naked eye. To do this, they invited 50 people who played Call of Duty on a PC with powerful hardware. The so-called blind testing was carried out - for each gaming session, a certain refresh rate of the monitor screen was set - 60 or 120 Hz, and the player had to distinguish one from the other.
The result is this - 86% of players completed this task, and those who saw the difference every time they switched the screen refresh rate received a monitor as a gift.
For owners of monitors with a frequency of 60 Hz and a powerful video card, I can advise setting a limit of 60 FPS in games.
Result: There is a difference between 60 and 120 FPS, but it can only be seen on a 120 Hz monitor.
For Counter-Strike fans who like to achieve frame update rates of 300 and 400 per second, we can only recommend sitting down again to physics textbooks. Train your reaction and don’t attribute failures to the equipment!
If you compare two processors i3 7300 and i5 7400, the difference in FPS will differ slightly, and sometimes i3 has a higher frame rate than i5. Nevertheless, in practice it feels like the difference is extremely significant in favor of the i5. In other words, the FPS counter is not an indicator of smoothness in games. This is a problem because... We are all used to judging by FPS.
FPS (Frames Per Second)— this is the number of frames completely rendered in 1 second. FPS = frames per second. Let's assume that 50 frames were drawn. Using a simple formula, we can calculate that each frame was drawn for 20 ms (1 sec/50 frames). This value is easier to call frame time, i.e. the time during which the frame is displayed. The problem is that, for example, if within a second, 5 frames are shown in 100 ms, and the remaining 45 frames with a time of 11.1 ms, then within a second the same 50 frames will be shown. The frame counter will show 50 FPS.
Naturally, 50 frames that are output uniformly and 50 frames with periodic long frames feel dramatically different. This is completely invisible from the FPS counter.
So that there are consistently 5 times per second drops in frame time, it usually doesn’t happen. But when the processor is working at 100%, then any third-party tasks (antivirus, open browser, etc.) can cause problems in operation. For example, the total frame rate is 50 frames, but every few seconds there are 100 ms freezes. Which consumes only 4 frames per second according to the counter, but makes the game completely unplayable and it is better to have a good 25 frames than those 46 with microfreezes. In such conditions, it will be very clear how the game freezes and becomes very uncomfortable.
In reality it might look like this. For example, you have 50 FPS, but half the frames may be closer to 30 ms, and the other half closer to 10 ms. On average, it turns out to be 20 ms and 50 FPS, but it doesn’t feel like 50 FPS. This applies most to dual-core processors.
To describe in words the operation of a processor that provides a comfortable level of smoothness, you should pay less attention to numbers, and more to such criteria as smoothness, uniformity of frame time, presence of microfreezes and overall comfort.
Frame Time better reflects the smoothness of games than FPS. In practice, this can be seen in the program. Below are three graphs of average frame time and FPS. The top one is the Pentiuum G4560, the middle i5 7400 and the bottom i7 7700 with a frequency of 4.9 GHz. The graphs show the same segment of the game Watch Dogs 2, this is an exit along the central road in the city - this is the most processor-demanding place that we could find.
When is the schedule frame time sharply creeps up - this is a decrease in the smoothness of the game. When it creeps down, it is an increase in smoothness.
When the game does not have enough processor and the game needs, for example, to load the next blocks in the city, then drawdowns begin on insufficient processors. This can be seen in the graphs - i5 and i7 are enough for the game, frame time falls smoothly and grows smoothly depending on what is happening. On a four-threaded Pentium, the situation is completely different - something is constantly jumping somewhere, thereby forcing you to pay attention to it. That is, the problem is not that the frame rate (FPS) is low, but the problem is that it is constantly changing. This behavior in games is called uneven frame rate.
The second effect that FPS numbers do not reflect is the distribution of frame times per second. Let's call it Frame time unevenness. That is, the frame time constantly jumps and when certain amplitudes are reached, it appears in the form of microfreezes. This phenomenon occurs on all three processors, but on i5 and i7 much less frequently than on Pentium.
conclusions
FPS is not an indicator of smoothness in games, and to better understand how smooth and comfortable the game will be on a particular processor, you need to look less towards FPS and more towards the distribution of frame time per second. Since in practice it may be that for the same money one processor will show fewer frames in the FPS counter than another processor, but the distribution of frame time will be uniform, unlike the second processor, then despite the lower FPS, the first processor for games will be more comfortable.
Peter Jackson used HFR (High Frame Rate) technology for the first time in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Thanks to the new format, motion blur, flickering and darkening at the edges of the screen that are familiar to the viewer have disappeared, and crystal clarity and smooth playback have appeared. Director James Cameron uses HFR in the new film Avatar 2.
3D cinema has become a window into reality, and HFR eliminates the glass in it.
James Cameron
The merits of HFR remain questionable for many people, but every film fan should try the technology for themselves.
How to Add HFR Effect to Any Video
SmoothVideo Project is available for Windows, Linux and macOS.
Windows
The version has paid and free distribution options. At the same time, you don’t have to buy the full version - you will have access to basic functions, without advertising and a limited period of use. The free version of SmoothVideo Project for Windows supports Media Player Classic, Windows Media Player, Stereoscopic Player, Daum PotPlayer and other players.
Linux
For Linux there is only a free version without restrictions on use, which supports mvp, SMplayer, Plex Media Player and VLC players. Installation instructions
MacOS
The version is distributed on a paid basis and supports mpv players, Plex Media Player and VLC. Installation instructions are available in English.
SmoothVideo Project Pro offers:
- Fine-tuning additional parameters.
- Additional module SVPtube, which allows you to watch videos from YouTube with SVP functions enabled.
- An additional SVPlight module, with which you can configure LED backlighting using Ambilight technology to expand the light coverage of your monitor or TV.
SmoothVideo Project Settings
For evaluation purposes, it is easier to install the program in default mode. The installer will supply pre-configured Media Player Classic, the necessary drivers and software. If you are satisfied with this player, then you will not need to change anything.
SmoothVideo Project is a resource-intensive program. It loads the computer's video card and uses processor power. When you first launch the program, it will conduct a system performance test, after which it will automatically set the necessary parameters for watching the video. To improve test performance, you can disable all programs that do not run continuously.
The free version of SmoothVideo Project has a functional, minimalistic interface.
- The slider indicates the desired ratio between quality and playback speed.
- There is a quick switch between optimization for films and animation.
- You can set the level of artifact suppression. This function is needed if the video blurs during playback.
Most often, the appearance of artifacts means that your system cannot cope with the flow of data. In this case, check your system for compatibility with the program or change the settings.
The full version of the program provides greater freedom of action: you can set the desired frame rate in the video and select shaders.
All versions of SmoothVideo Project have a switchable field highlighting feature that removes black bars when viewing video in a format that is not suitable for your TV.
Film screening at high frame rates 48, 60 frames per second
Why is 24 fps obsolete? Story
In fact, the shooting and display speed of 24 frames per second dates back to the first half of the 20th century. It was at the moment of the transition from the silent film format to the sound film that such a need arose. Silent films were shot at 16 frames per second. The viewer received an increase of 8 frames per second not from the kindness of film equipment manufacturers, this was purely due to technical problems. It was simply impossible to record an audio track of acceptable quality at a shooting rate of 16 frames per second. Both 16 and 24 frames per second do not provide the necessary smoothness of movement. Why didn't producers offer higher speeds for filming and showing films from the very beginning? There are no mysteries here, it’s just that film is expensive, and at the dawn of cinema it was almost the main expense item. A film copy of a modern film would require 10,000-13,000 meters of film (instead of 5,000). For these reasons, we have been watching movies in 24 frames per second for almost a century. Those. 24 frames per second is a compromise between image smoothness and film consumption.
The need to move to 48, 60 frames per second
It is no secret that when viewing a dynamic scene on a large screen, the viewer can observe the effect of image strobing; objects on the movie screen move jerkily. This effect is due to the low frame rate in modern cinema, only 24 frames per second. The effect is very noticeable in both 3D and 2D paintings. A simple proof that our brain perceives information much faster is the demonstration of 3D content in triple flash mode (each frame is shown alternately three times for the left and right eyes). This is the standard for modern cinemas and has essentially been tested on millions of viewers. It has been experimentally proven that it is the demonstration of 3D 24 frames per second with a breakdown of 2x72 Hz that can almost completely reduce fatigue for the vast majority of viewers. Unfortunately, this mode only relieves the fatigue of switching between images for the left and right eyes, but does not make movements smooth.
Hidden reasons for moving to 48, 60 frames per second
Naturally, the strobing effect would be fully manifested if the filmmakers did not know about it. It’s just that during film production, unwanted shooting modes are avoided (or minimized) in which this effect is especially noticeable. This is not a faculty of cinematographers and we will not delve into this topic. We just need to accept it as a fact that 24 frames per second does not allow us to enjoy the smoothness and clarity of movements in a dynamic scene, and does not allow the filmmaker to fully realize his plans.
A good example.
Modern equipment for demonstration at 48, 60 fps
So, the main reason for using 24 frames per second is film. In the world of digital cinema there are practically no such restrictions. Already today, the world's leading manufacturers of film equipment, both for film production and for film distribution, are able to provide high-quality film screening at a frequency of 60 frames per second for 2D and 3D content. All Barco Series 2 digital cinema projectors can be upgraded for high frame rate presentation. Also, modern GDC and DoReMi servers provide this opportunity. In fact, for a mass transition to high frame rate demonstration, a strong hand is needed, and it looks like such a hand has already been found.
Exactly James Cameron is a driving force in the technological advancement of cinema, it was after his film Avatar in 3D that the era of showing films in 3D began, he can be compared to an icebreaker that everyone follows, and he is not afraid to experiment. His film Avatar became the highest grossing film of all time cinema.
Avatar 2 in 3D 60 fps
In his interview with Wall St. Journal James Cameron said: "I will push for radical changes in film projection. First of all, we will shoot our film at a frequency of 48, and maybe 60 frames per second. This will finally get rid of the artifacts that irritate the eyes, which cause painful the feeling of many viewers. This is all because of the notorious 24 frames per second, 3D has nothing to do with this." Cameron's team is currently actively promoting the idea of moving to a high frame rate demo. Presentations of new technology are being held all over the world. To do this, videos were shot in studio conditions at a frequency of 24, 48, 60 and 120 frames per second. Professional actors took part in the filming. Everything was done as if on the set of a real movie. These demonstration materials clearly demonstrate the advantages and disadvantages of a particular technology. Considering the seriousness of this company, we can confidently predict that Avatar 2 will be released in 2014 in 60 frames per second format.
Example: fragment of the film Avatar 48.60 FPS
The film has already been shown Hobbit with frame rate 48 fps, it was not perceived unambiguously by some, which is understandable, because everyone is accustomed to certain standards and something new always seems unusual and unusual, however, a high frame rate allows you to increase the smoothness and clarity of the picture, especially in dynamic scenes, also in 3D, films about nature and sports programs where every detail is important look simply amazing.
If showing Avatra 2 with a higher frame rate will be received as well as showing the first Avatra V 3D then perhaps cinematography will make a qualitative leap in technology.
