Topic summary

Pre-rendering

Pre-rendering

Process in which video footage is not rendered in real-time Low-poly characters are rendered in real time and composited on top of higher-poly, pre-rendered backgrounds in 3D Movie Maker. In computer graphics, pre-rendering or offline rendering is the technique of rendering images before playing them back at a later time, often on another computer system. It is contrasted with real-time rendering, where images are rendered and displayed within a time constraint, usually quickly enough to produce the illusion of motion. Since rendering is more computationally expensive than playing back pre-rendered images, pre-rendering can be used where real-time rendering is not computationally feasible. More powerful computer systems, or more rendering time, can be used to render images or video for playback on less powerful computer systems, or when time constraints are tighter. As a result, pre-rendering has applications in interactive computer graphics, such as in video games and in 3D animation software. Pros and Cons The advantage of pre-rendering is the ability to use graphic models that are more complex and computationally intensive than those that can be rendered in real-time, due to the