Cinematic rendering in DirectX 8 and 9 requires that the models be built with millions of polygons and then rendered with High Dynamic Range. These models are used to create bump maps, reflection maps, luminosity maps, light map, 3D transformations, per-pixel lighting and Projective Texturing for hardware rendering. Thes are the things that will let a Pentium 4 render images in real time that look alotbertter than pixars work in "Finding Nemo".
http://www.apple.com/trailers/disney...emo/large.html