Sensory memory

Konflict · March 27, 2019, 12:03am

I’ve been wondering today why am i keep seeing annoying patterns of repetitions on the screen while turning the editor camera around. Because it is very annoying indeed, makes it difficult for me to focus on the actual content on the screen while i’m moving the camera around. It feels totally like turning up the motion blur to extremely pervert ranges - where no man should ever go. Except, that i usually look at the scene in unlit mode, which means no post-processing is enabled for me.

Here, check this:

That’s pretty much what i see with my eyes when i rotate the camera (right image)! Well, what is heck wrong with my monitor, just put this question up! Or maybe it has something to do with the computer settings!

This is a 1070 gtx and Dell u2412m model i use here, which comes with a panel titled as e-IPS (which is made by LG i think). Then i have this monitor hooked up via the DisplayPort cable that allows me 8bpc and proper 60hz (60 fps) truly magnificent colors and image sharpness. And i also purchased this monitor with the sole promise that i will get a quick response time of 8msec (gray to gray). Actually what the heck is this gray to gray response time, never heard of it?!

With a super quick google lecturing myself, i had to realize that my monitor isn’t going to show me pixel refreshing from black-to-white at 8msec, but instead it will be somewhere waaaay above 8msec+. Thank you lovely marketing peeps, you got me once again!

But… this actually made me wonder, how “numb” these wonderous pixels in my display monitor actually can be?! It is for sure not going to show me clear images at 120 fps, especially because the VSYNC is stuck on.

That thing look to me like that on my screen!!

Just drop this #000 black 1200p image on the background and started rotating my mouse pointer counter-clockwise. No matter which direction i turn the pointer i will always see 8-10 pointers simultaneously. Man, they scammed me with this monitor purchase, it is 8msec response time my back! More like 250-ish.

Then i found this setting on my camera (Samsung S7 - pro camera mode), the Shutter Speed which i can use to instruct the camera how long it is supposed to gather data for the image. So i just set this to 1/60 and adjusted an another propery called the ISO in order to get a decent amount of light with this short shutter.

Ok Scotty, you got me totally confused at this point. With this short shutter speed it turns out my monitor is actually quite fast to burn those pixels. That’s only 3 pointers for me at a given moment. Or is it? Since i’m not sure how am i supposed to turn the vsync off in windows desktop, but i’m pretty sure my camera hardware is not in sync with that monitor vsync, i just decided to adjust the shutter rate against this problem and go much faster with a 1/180 setting, which is a damned fast capture speed indeed. Also had to pull the ISO property up to the sky (800) high to get to see anything on the image at all.

That’s better. Since i’m always rotating the pointer counter clockwise (not sure why, it’s a bad habit i guess) i can read the following from these images. Lighting up of the pixels on my monitor must be taking somewhere around 30-40 msec, so to get a properly lit image of the pointer. These captures are showing the ~50% stage of this event, which is why the upper version of the pointer (left) and the left version of the pointer (right) are only gray, while the other pointer is rather white. Which means my monitor’s actual refresh rate that is capable of displaying clear images for me would be something like 30 hz actually, and that translates to 33msec black to white response time in reality.

Well, it’s not 8msec after all. And maybe i am reading this “response time” information wrong, but i would actually expect it to be a number telling me how long the pixels in my monitor takes to display a fully lit image frame. But maybe it’s not the purpose of it after all. Whatever.

There is still something left in my mind, why am i keep seeing 8 to 10 pointers on my screen, whereas the smarter-than-me technology already proved me that those pointers are just not there!

Turns out this is because of a thing in my brain, called the sensory memory, which has a shutter gate of 250 msec, and while my eye is gathering images on a rate of around 1000 fps, those images gets mixed up in my brain and i keep seeing those mishmassed blurry images for a maximum of 1/4 of a second until they are finally gone. Alright then. I must conclude that human brain is just not suited for looking at video games. But at least, according to this studythe older i get, i will be getting better in fps gaming too! … Or am i?

Nawrot · March 28, 2019, 8:27am

Nope, your reflexes will be at best fast enough to play Civilization games. Also coordination, ie. aiming and only non moving objects (because of your reflex response time) will be enough for card games not fps. That is why old people play solitaire. But at some point you forget how that awesome game was called, so no more solitaire for you.

Around 2000 i was at some big lan party, competing team had some father with 9 years old son (who loved UT1999). Father barely could keep up to son. This kid was constantly aiming at enemy, i mean his crosshair followed enemy player all the time, every jump and dodge. He just choose when to shoot. Kid was playing like with aimbot. His father barely could keep up with timing all powerups on map.

Konflict · March 30, 2019, 9:32pm

Hehe agreed; it was only meant to be a bit ironic actually. Hence the “or am i?” question at the end.

Sure i can get the name tatooed on my arms, for the ‘memento’ - you know the movie!

You mean literally, he did used an aimbot? That would ruin the experience. If not, then i must say it’s quite a feat, considering the kid had to filter thru twice an many blurred visual information compared to my experiences. But how does one do something like that? Depending on the scene setup it is kinda easy for me to not even see someone at the corner, not because i’m not looking at there, but it’s the visual in my head is already smashed and blurred (because of the quick movement) he all just blends in with the environment. Unless he is wearing very pronounced colors for the clothing, the enemy get’s invisible for me.

I’m having similar problems in editor too as well, trying to find an object but because i’m moving and rotating the camera around, it all get’s messed up in my head, and i cannot spot a smaller object unless i stop and start examining the viewport thoroughly - which is slow and therefore a bit annoying waste of time.

Nawrot · April 9, 2019, 6:56pm

Nope kidss aim was like with aimbot. I seen his monitor while he was playing, he used shock rifle, keeping crosshair almost all the time on opponent, and choosing when to shoot, almost never missed. But his father was top player here for unreal and quake at the time, kid had great teacher, and great coordination.

Also that was era of ut1999 and quake, much cleaner geometry than now.