There are still some people that believe that 30 fps is the maximum limitation of the human eye. This is not true at all. The eye does not see in frames per second.
Tweakguides had a good article explaining frame rates: http://www.tweakguides.com/Graphics_5.html
There is a program called FPS Compare that lets you runs 30 fps and 60 fps in a split screen.
http://www.mediafire.com/?q3152228e1ilwjf
Most people will see that 60 fps is much smoother than 30 fps.
Tweakguides had a good article explaining frame rates: http://www.tweakguides.com/Graphics_5.html
Quote:
Maximum FPS
The concept that there is a maximum possible FPS beyond which the human eye can't distinguish any real difference is not entirely accurate. For more details, see this article and this article among the many which refute this claim. In particular the common claim that "The human eye can't see more than 24 (or 25 or 30 or 60) FPS" is completely false, and is partly borne of the misconception that TV or movie FPS is the same as PC game FPS, and partly possibly borne out of a need to justify lower framerates.
Click to enlarge Click to enlarge
It's true that movies and TV only use around 24, 25 or 30 FPS, depending on which part of the world you're in. But there are three important differences between Movies, TV and PC games:
1. Movies and TV use Motion Blur, so that if at any time you freeze a movie scene on your DVD player for example, a large part of the scene may consist of blurred objects. Furthermore, the images in a movie or on TV do not have crisp detailed outlines. In a PC game on the other hand, if you take a screenshot or pause the game at any time, you will notice that everything is usually extremely sharp and distinct regardless of how fast it was moving when the shot was taken. Take a look at the screenshot comparison above: on the left is a fast motion shot of an alien from the movie Alien vs. Predator, on the right a fast motion shot of an alien from the old game Alien vs. Predator 2. Thus 24 often-blurred frames from a movie wind up looking much smoother to the human eye than 24 or even 30 distinct frames from a fast-moving PC game. So why can't games use motion blur? Well indeed most recent games have started incorporating blur effects. This can definitely help to reduce the visible impact of lower framerates, but aside from the fact that not all games have motion blur, the next point addresses why this doesn't always work. Even with motion blur, the graphics in PC games may still have very sharp outlines which only settings like Antialiasing can smooth out, but ironically this usually come at the expense of further lowering FPS.
2. Control responsiveness steps in again to further differentiate between a movie and a game. In a movie or TV show, the viewpoint is not under your control; it is typically a static or smoothly panning camera. In a game however, your control over the viewpoint means that in a rapidly moving gaming at 24 or even 30FPS you will notice the general choppiness due to a lack of responsiveness. The variability of control responsiveness based on variable framerate also helps highlight the next point below.
3. PC games do not have a rock-solid unchanging framerate, while TV and movies do. While some games have a framerate cap of 30 or 60 FPS, very few if any PC games can be locked down to consistently show exactly 24 or 30 FPS - their FPS will vary, sometimes significantly. Movies and TV on the other hand always show exactly the same number of frames per second and do not vary one bit. Therefore the variability in framerate in games also works to exaggerate the impact of lower framerates, making them more noticeable. In Crysis for example, if you walk out of an indoor area which has 60 FPS into a outdoor area with 25 FPS, you will notice the difference, partly due to a change in control responsiveness, and partly because your eyes detect the relative change in framerate.
The concept that there is a maximum possible FPS beyond which the human eye can't distinguish any real difference is not entirely accurate. For more details, see this article and this article among the many which refute this claim. In particular the common claim that "The human eye can't see more than 24 (or 25 or 30 or 60) FPS" is completely false, and is partly borne of the misconception that TV or movie FPS is the same as PC game FPS, and partly possibly borne out of a need to justify lower framerates.
Click to enlarge Click to enlarge
It's true that movies and TV only use around 24, 25 or 30 FPS, depending on which part of the world you're in. But there are three important differences between Movies, TV and PC games:
1. Movies and TV use Motion Blur, so that if at any time you freeze a movie scene on your DVD player for example, a large part of the scene may consist of blurred objects. Furthermore, the images in a movie or on TV do not have crisp detailed outlines. In a PC game on the other hand, if you take a screenshot or pause the game at any time, you will notice that everything is usually extremely sharp and distinct regardless of how fast it was moving when the shot was taken. Take a look at the screenshot comparison above: on the left is a fast motion shot of an alien from the movie Alien vs. Predator, on the right a fast motion shot of an alien from the old game Alien vs. Predator 2. Thus 24 often-blurred frames from a movie wind up looking much smoother to the human eye than 24 or even 30 distinct frames from a fast-moving PC game. So why can't games use motion blur? Well indeed most recent games have started incorporating blur effects. This can definitely help to reduce the visible impact of lower framerates, but aside from the fact that not all games have motion blur, the next point addresses why this doesn't always work. Even with motion blur, the graphics in PC games may still have very sharp outlines which only settings like Antialiasing can smooth out, but ironically this usually come at the expense of further lowering FPS.
2. Control responsiveness steps in again to further differentiate between a movie and a game. In a movie or TV show, the viewpoint is not under your control; it is typically a static or smoothly panning camera. In a game however, your control over the viewpoint means that in a rapidly moving gaming at 24 or even 30FPS you will notice the general choppiness due to a lack of responsiveness. The variability of control responsiveness based on variable framerate also helps highlight the next point below.
3. PC games do not have a rock-solid unchanging framerate, while TV and movies do. While some games have a framerate cap of 30 or 60 FPS, very few if any PC games can be locked down to consistently show exactly 24 or 30 FPS - their FPS will vary, sometimes significantly. Movies and TV on the other hand always show exactly the same number of frames per second and do not vary one bit. Therefore the variability in framerate in games also works to exaggerate the impact of lower framerates, making them more noticeable. In Crysis for example, if you walk out of an indoor area which has 60 FPS into a outdoor area with 25 FPS, you will notice the difference, partly due to a change in control responsiveness, and partly because your eyes detect the relative change in framerate.
There is a program called FPS Compare that lets you runs 30 fps and 60 fps in a split screen.
http://www.mediafire.com/?q3152228e1ilwjf
Quote:
One way to demonstrate that the human eye can actually detect differences above 30FPS is to use a small program called FPS Compare (11KB) by Andreas Gustafsson (used here with his permission). To use it, simply extract and launch the FPSCompare.exe file. Make sure to read the instructions in the Readme.txt file, and note that this utility is still in beta form. You may need to force VSync to Off in your graphics card's control panel for it to work properly, but if it doesn't work properly for you, you can try the more basic version of it from here: FPS Compare (old) (106KB).
FPS Compare shows the same scene rendered side by side in a split-screen arrangement, but each side is running at a different frame rate. When launching the new FPS Compare program, I recommend pressing F2 to change the scene to one more familiar to gaming. Now by staring at the middle of your screen, you should be able to detect that the portion on the left (at ~60FPS) appears smoother than the portion on the right (at ~30FPS). Even if the difference is not major to your eyes, many people do notice that there is at least some difference - something which refutes the fact that human eyes cannot notice differences in smoothness at an FPS over 30.
FPS Compare shows the same scene rendered side by side in a split-screen arrangement, but each side is running at a different frame rate. When launching the new FPS Compare program, I recommend pressing F2 to change the scene to one more familiar to gaming. Now by staring at the middle of your screen, you should be able to detect that the portion on the left (at ~60FPS) appears smoother than the portion on the right (at ~30FPS). Even if the difference is not major to your eyes, many people do notice that there is at least some difference - something which refutes the fact that human eyes cannot notice differences in smoothness at an FPS over 30.
Most people will see that 60 fps is much smoother than 30 fps.












