#AGA Anim Player ?
24 messages in this thread
Would appreciate any advice about commercial or shareware anim player that can
reliably play 256-color Hi-res maximum overscan animations. DPaint 4.5 is a
bug farm and I need something readily available that will actually work NOW
until Director is updated. TIA.
Bill…
AmigaVision Professional will play AGA anims, no problem.
Jim
Thanks, don't have it. Need it now. Found VT is the libs and it looks like it
will fulfill immediate need.
Bill…
Yep. If playing anims is all you need, then VT is a great solution. In fact,
the anim7 support is really great. Does wonders for speeding up AGA animations
especially. It can convert anim5 to anim7 as well. It's something else!
Jim
> It's something else!
Jim, nice to see that you feel better. :^)
<<< Tony D. Tracer >>>
No, playing anims isn't all I need. What I need is ability to write a script
that will let me dump a series of multi-part anims to videotape, with exact
repeatability. So once I log SMPTE TC on the A roll, I can find matching
segments on B roll by just adding an offset. In other words, I need an AGA
Director. But VT will do for now and appears to be a rock-solid professional
program, in contrast to DPaint and a number of other so-called commercial
programs. Anyhow, deadline has past and everything's done, but I spent quite a
few $ more in post production than I would have if Director were available.
>> VT Does wonders for speeding up AGA animations
I've been using Hi-Res Laced Max Overscan 256-colors and they appear to be
running 30 fps even in DPaint (with some bonus flash frames thrown in). Haven't
figured out how to get DPaint to animate S-Hi-Res, and it seems to be pretty
unfriendly in that resolution with stills.
I've noticed VT, in addition to being a lot more stable, loads anims much
quicker — but I'm curious what type of anim you're using to demonstrate its
superior playback speed?
Bill…
The latest verison of VT can play Anim7 type animations. (The types of
animation that Dpaint produces is Anim5). VT also comes with a converter that
will convert an Anim5 into Anim7 format.
For my applications, I typically don't go to video. In such a case, I need
the highest quality display possible. For that, I need mode promotion turned on
so that I get scan doubling. This automatically cuts the bandwidth of the
custom chips in half, because they are working twice as hard to give you your
display. They all of a sudden can't pump out animation as fast. That's where
Anim7 is such a saviour.
Try taking an animation that maxes out your AGA chips, 736x482xHam8 for
example. Convert it to Anim7. You should see a quite noticeable improvement in
the playback speed. Just for fun, try turning on mode promotion, if you are
having a hard time finding an animation that won't play as fast as you like. I
guarantee mode promotion will slow things down nicely, so that you can truly
see Anim7 work it's magic. 🙂
Have fun!
Jim
Everything I do goes to video. I'm using 1084s plus a couple of NTSC monitors,
so no way to use mode promotion. Haven't tried Ham-8, or anything other than
Hi Res 256. Have had the 4000 less than 2 weeks and been under deadline
pressure until today. Just d/l'd the new VT, so will take a look at Anim7, and
maybe even at the Amiga docs <g>. Is your application commercial or personal?
Bill…
My application is for a centerpiece in a multimedia exhibit. I'm not
actually getting paid for it, but it will hopefully build business in the
future.
Jim
Ah. Most of what I do is live action; use the Amiga for occasional
supplementary graphics. So, your needs are no doubt a lot more heavy-duty than
mine.
I just tryed Viewtek 1.04. On my 4000 it showed various picture formats
fine. But when I tryed to view an anim (either Anim5 or converted to
Anim7) the anim would load, the first frame displayed, and the system
locked up! Now these were DCTV anims. Maybe that was the problem? But VT
1.03 played DCTV anims fine. Anyone out there having success with VT 1.04
on there 4000?
…AutoPilot Engaged…
-Paul-
Paul..
That happened to me at first as well. For the life of me, I can't remember
how I went about correcting the problem though. It might have had something to
do with the overscan preferences. Do your overscan preferences currently match
your animations' overscan?
Jim
Jim,
Thanks for the info. I'll try playing with the screen modes and
overscan prefs.
…AutoPilot Engaged…
-Paul-
"In other words, I need an AGA Director."
Isn't it a shame that Director bombs under 3.0? Well, if you think
that's a shame, you should call Right Answers up and hear their response
to the AGA upgrade question. "Oh, you mean the _Amiga_??"
-Chris
Actually, I didn't know Director bombs under 3.0 until I was told so by RA last
week. Hadn't tried it on the 4000 since I knew it wouldn't support Hi Res
256-colors. I got the impression they were planning an upgrade to work with
the new resolutions, chip set, operating system RSN. However, they did seem
vague about supporting new 4000 features — not sure it's a question of when
but whether.
Do they have a product for another platform?
ASDG's new Anim-8 format sounds like just the ticket. I sent my $50 for
Upgrading Adrpo out a few minutes ago in fact. They are also including a
new Version of VIEW that supports AGA graphics too I believe tho I also
understand that version 3.4 of VIEW handles AGA anims
Thanks, Peter.
Glad to help.
View 3.4 does support AGA anims but it has a few bugs. Have you tried
Anim7? That looks like a winner. I was able to play back an anim that in
anim5 was playing at 12 fps (DCTV-3) but in anim7 was playing at 28 fps. I
haven't tryied it yet but I would think you can get respectable playback
at DCTV-4 with small deltas.
<<< Tony D. Tracer >>>
I just got Viewtek that includes the Anim-7 converter but haven't tried it
yet, een a bit busy rendering anims for "We Were Not Afraid" for a gent
named Matt Schmitt for his Student Film.
I saw in the catalogs the file that you u/l'ed from the Student Film and I
will d/l it now (Mirage.jpg).
If you are having ANY kind of slow playback with Anim-5 try converting
those to Anim-7 and then KICK yourself for not trying it before. :^)
<<< Tony D. Tracer >>>
Actually Tony, that Mirgae.JPG image is nothing special. It's a Strait
forward Starship with USS Mirage and a FOG Cone for Exhaust. Nice but
nothing Earth Shattering. At the end of the Film it goes Boom!!!!!
I got Viewtek off Genie the otjher day but haven't yet tried using the
Anim-7 format. Actually there's some Anims I need to SLOW down on my 3000
something I NEVER thought I'd see. When I use Amigavision for playback it
slows em down nicely tho. View 3.2 Flys, I can't imagine what
Anim-7/Viewtek combo is goimng to be like!!!!
Guess I can get more objects onscreen now with Anim-7 ,right now I try to
limit it to 2 or 3 objects moving onscreen at any one time and Most are a
Single object in motion.
>Guess I can get more objects onscreen now with Anim-7 ,right now I try to
>limit it to 2 or 3 objects moving onscreen at any one time and Most are a
>Single object in motion.
With Anim-7, or Anim-8 I assume, you will be able to play back full-screen
deltas at a respectable rate.
Try it, you'll like it.
<<< Tony D. Tracer >>>
I get a decent rate now, the Secret is making the Delta's small, I use
ALOT of frames to move along whateve Distace and it runs very smoothly.
I'm more concerned with Smoothness than Frame rate.
in the words of Darkwing Duck "LEts get Dangerous" I'm going to go hog
wild on my next "TEST" anim once "We Were Not Afraid" is in the Can.