CompuServe Thread

#DraCo at NAB info

5 messages in this thread
#189116From: john bennettMar 15, 1995 10:48 AM
Ron, Is there really any sence in developing an Amiga clone based video graphics workstation that Won't run a Video Toaster? Toaster/Flyer workstaions main asset is ease of use. So far that can't be said about the VLAB-M. ….John
#189260From: Paul GerhardtMar 16, 1995 4:06 PM
John, >So far that can't be said about the VLAB-M. (ease of use) Well I'm not sure. With VLM you use VCR like controls to record clips. Refine your clips with the clips editor. Drag your clips and any transition effects down to the timeline to assemble the project. Pretty easy for me! The Flyer's GUI s is much prettier with the little color stamps representing the clips, but some would actually prefer the very accurate time-code timeline. VLM's docs ARE terrible. But both this and improving the GUI of VLM are relatively easily addressed since they seem to have gotten the functionality down. It works great!! 🙂 * Note: for clarity I used the term "clips". The MovieShop software uses the term scenes. …Warp Engine Engaged… -Paul-
#189437From: john bennettMar 18, 1995 12:02 AM
Paul, I'm feeding video through my Toaster 2000 system into my VLM 3000 system :^) I've only had the VLAB about a week or so, so I'm just starting to get the hang of it. Every time I play with it I manage to get the quality up a little and learn new functions. They got a way to go with the s/w before you could call it 'Friendly'. But it is quite functional now and I hope it gets better. While I got ya, How about a few ???s Do you ever export images for use in other s/w for doing SFX? I tried exporting some Frames but the interlase looked bad cause theres lots of motion. I'm not sure how to handle the Field info yet. Can I capture Frames instead of fields? I got all the s/w I need, just not the know how yet. Perhaps you can e-mail me a Settings Archive thats been working good for you. Do I need a Gig drive just to do backups? Hopefully soon we'll be able to Backup to SCSI tape drives easily. Maybe I'll try TapeWorm to Export to my Exabyte. I went with an all new A3000/040 VLAB-M sys partially due to yours and Eds recommendations. I don't regret it a bit. The VLAB-M is an outstanding h/w deal. But I wouldn't want to have to depend on they're s/w to run my whole video graphics workstaion yet :^) I gotta go so maybe I can get some answers:^) Later, ….John
#189474From: Paul GerhardtMar 18, 1995 8:54 AM
John, >They got a way to go with the s/w before youcould call it 'Friendly'. Agreed. Having mastered both Imagine and Imagemaster certainly provided good training before tackling VLM! 😉 But this go around is much better than the first release and I would imagine that development is continuing since the VLM is also an important of the DraCo. Besides there is just NO other system that can do what VLM does at anywhere near the price. Feeding your toaster into the VLM is a great idea. Since both the toaster and the VLM suport a full Arexx command set some REALLY clever person could write a nice attractive, user friendly, front end that would intergrate both. >Can I capture Frames instead of fields? Good question! I know that while importing you can choose either frames or fields, and that the original V-LAB also gave that choice when grabbing, but I'll have to check out the VLM. >Perhaps you can e-mail me a Settings Archive Well there are not that many settings. I am now using a jpeg quality setting of 75% with a an audio setting of 16bit/48000hz. (BTW I've found I NEED to use this full quality audio setting if I want to if I want to mix multiple audio tracks on the timeline.) I enable auto smoothing in the video settings with one notch of both vertical and horizotal smoothing. I've set 10 megs for the video buffer and 1 meg for the audio buffer. All other settings are left with their defaults. >The VLAB-M is an outstanding h/w deal. But I wouldn't want to have to dependon they're s/w to run my whole video graphics workstaion yet :^) At a professional level – agreed. But right in the manual they state that the developers consider this a "prosumer" product and that they are working on a true "pro" version. We'll just have to see what develops in the future. The very fact that MacroSystem is creating their own Amiga clone is a good sign that they intend on pushing AMIGA VLM forward rather jumping ship and developing for another platform. …Warp Engine Engaged… -Paul-
#189366From: Ron LegroMar 17, 1995 1:07 PM
No doubt the DraCo *would* run Lightwave 3D, which while not a Video Toaster is probably at least as popular. But you're right; the custom chips are what make the Toaster. I heard the docs and software for VLAB-M had improved the second time a round. No?