Director 3D > Peformance and Optimization

The frame rate of your movie and the general fluidity of motion depends partly on what 3D hardware acceleration your system provides, if any.

Director 8.5 supports OpenGL and Direct3D but also includes a software renderer, in case no hardware rendering is available. The 3D engine and resultant Shockwave movies are smart enough to modify the degree of the detail depending on the resident hardware setup.