I recently experimented with implementing certain pointer-controlled effects on a <canvas>, and was discouraged by the jerky feeling caused by latency.
But I noticed that if I rendered the effect with motion blur, it suddenly started to feel much smoother, and the perception of jerkiness was mostly gone. I felt that it completely restored my sense of control of the motion.
It’s surprising considering that motion blur actually adds one half frame of extra latency.
Since trying this, I’m bothered by how jerky fast mouse movement always feels in MacOS. 60 fps leaves these enormous, ugly gaps between the pointer at each frame, and makes it hard to perceive the motion correctly. I can’t unsee these gaps now! I’m convinced that system-wide motion blur just for the pointer would be a simple way to make the whole OS feel much smoother and more responsive.
But I noticed that if I rendered the effect with motion blur, it suddenly started to feel much smoother, and the perception of jerkiness was mostly gone. I felt that it completely restored my sense of control of the motion.
It’s surprising considering that motion blur actually adds one half frame of extra latency.
Since trying this, I’m bothered by how jerky fast mouse movement always feels in MacOS. 60 fps leaves these enormous, ugly gaps between the pointer at each frame, and makes it hard to perceive the motion correctly. I can’t unsee these gaps now! I’m convinced that system-wide motion blur just for the pointer would be a simple way to make the whole OS feel much smoother and more responsive.