DPS PAR?
Martin,
>> Can someone who has used the PAR please tell me what limitations, if any,
the PAR has. <<
Many of the limitations are a result of the disk technology available. You may
see "edge artifacts" in high contrast areas. I can in my animations. However,
most clients probably would not notice. The edge artifacts look a bit like a
"cloudiness" or lack of definition at sharp edges. When capturing video (with
the optional TBCIV) you will not be able to achieve as high data rates as for
recording and playing animations. However, live video is usually more organic
looking and doesn't suffer too much from artifacts. If you are going to use the
captured video as a texture map smaller than screen size then you should have
no problem. As new hard drive technology becomes available (very soon
apparently) you should be able to achieve better results with much less
artifacting.
>> Do I need my frame-by-frame soloution anymore? <<
Probably not. If you need better quality than the PAR, then take your convert
your .tga files to .yuv and go to a place with an Abekas or Accom Digital Disk
Recorder (DDR).
>> Can one have the PAR on another computer and netrender, from inside 3DS, to
it through a network? We have a WFW 3.11 network! <<
Yes, but only with the assistance of a program like NDUMP. Maybe Greg Pyros can
explain this program since he sells it – I don't use it. Basically one machine
must check for the next frame in a network rendered sequence to be rendered.
When it is rendered that one machine copies it to PAR, and optionally deletes
the .tga file to save disk space.
>> Is it possible to sync sound through a parrallel soundcard with the DPS? <<
Yes, I think you can, or will soon be able to, sync .wav files to PAR files
with the Windows media player. Coming soon is a complete .avi file ability
which would allow you to use non-linear editing software like Razor and Adobe
Premiere.
>> how do TARGA2000 and the DPS PAR compare? <<
I prefer to compare the Matrox MAX with the PAR. Download the thread that Jonas
Ruikus mentioned for a long debate on the 2. Since that debate I have seen the
MAX at Siggraph and the output was cleaner and had less artifacts than the PAR.
I think this is purely to do with the faster data rate of the Seagate Barracuda
hard drive the MAX was using. In a month or two there will be new drives
available for the PAR which will offset this performance advantage. If you have
money to burn then buy a MAX, if not then buy a PAR.
Martin