#DPS-PAR/TBC-IV
6 messages in this thread
Anyone…
I've purchased the DPS-PAR and the TBC-IV. The PAR works great! Grabbing video
with the TBC-IV works great also.
but……………
I'm unable to map an animation onto an object. I've tried creating a material
using roto*.tga (which is in my map path)… and when I render out I only get
the 1st frame over and over. I initialize the PAR via the PXP, use convert to
.TGA for the file format, increment frame number and output frame and I'm in
animation mode. Am I doing something wrong here????
A friend tried using the .IFL files and got the same result. I haven't tried it
myself, But I believe him (^.^)
I'm gonna be NOT HAPPY if I can't make this work.
Has anyone successfully mapped an animation onto an object using the PAR and
the TBC-IV (EXCLUSIVELY)?????
If one of you "big-time" guys want to write me a tutorial I'd be grateful.
I'd be more than willing to call someone also if they can walk me though this.
Just send me a private e-mail with your number (if anyone is willing to talk to
me, I'll gladly call…)
I'm open to any and ALL suggestions, comments, anything.
One desperate dude…..
Patrick Malone 70461,3646
Patrick,
I had the same problem, but got it working. There's a few catches,
first you have to set the pardrv options at the DOS command line, for some
reason the 3ds pxp will not set things properly. You also HAVE to use an IFL
and set the 'filename' option on the driver instead of 'increment'. For some
reason 3ds reads images twice for each frame (I was using the par anim as a
background, so I'm not sure if the same holds true for maps), so if you've got
things set for 'increment', you'll only get every other frame of the map.
So if you set the PAR for TGA and Filename at the command line and use
an IFL in 3ds, you should be fine.
David
David,
call me stupid, but… I still can't make it work.
I'm using PARDRV /T /F in my batchfile. Do I need to specify ther file name?
Does it matter where the .IFL is located as long as it's in the map path? I
need some more detailed instruction…. It seems I'm doing what you and the
manual say but I'm still getting the same frame over and over….
Patrick
Patrick,
>>I'm using PARDRV /T /F in my batchfile…
Try this in your batch file,
PARDRV /t
PARDRV /i:file
Note that I'm pretty sure you can only enter one option at a time with
pardrv. Also, the /f option is for a single frame only, and is usually followed
by a specific framenumber. let me know if this works.
David
Ok, ok, ok….
First of all, where are the DPS guys? All this stuff should be in the docs. I
don't have them (shame on me) so I don't know if it is or not.
If you type PARDRV -? you will get a list of all available commands with a
brief description of what they do. PARDRV will accept "all" commands at once
in the command line if you want to. It is not true you can only enter one
option at a time.
In order to import frames out of animation (rotoscoping), you need to set
PARDRV to Targa mode (-T) and, if using IFL's, set the Increment Flag to
"File" (-I:FILE). By the way, you can use either "-" or "/".
A note about IFL files. They cannot contain path names nor drive letters. Just
the filename and extension. The images and the IFL should be in a directory
mapped to your "IMAGE PATH".
So, here is a list of PARDRV options and what they mean:
-A[nimation] Set input to Animation Mode. As opposed to "Still" mode.
Every frame sent to the PAR will become an animation. If
the filename matches an existing animation file, it will
be added to that animation. If the name is unique, a new
animation will be created. If the given name matches that
of an existing "Still" file, an error will be returned.
-B[uffer]:xxxx Set input buffer size (in kbytes). If operating from the
command line (i.e. using dos COPY command) PARDRV will
dynamically allocate the necessary memory to convert the
images. When running from Windows, 3D Studio, or any
other application that allocates all available memory,
these buffers must be preallocated. The default size is
good enough for 752x480x24. If larger images are used or
32 bit images are used, you have to specify a greater
buffer.
-E[xport]:F/0/1 Export mode (Frame, field 0, or field 1). When copying a
file out of the PAR to your hard disk, use this option to
specify if you want both fields (the default), just field
0 or just field 1 (if only a single field is exported, it
is duplicated in order to keep the resolution). This is
necessary for images with movement as the fields are
going to be different.
-F[rame]:xxxx Set frame number. When exporting images and the
"Increment flag" (below) is set to "On", there must be a
way of telling PARDRV which frame will be the next one to
go out if you want something different. It defaults to
Zero when it starts and goes up as the frames are
incremented. When the number reaches the number of frames
present in the animation, the count wraps around back to
zero and starts to go up again.
-I[nc]:ON/OFF/FILE Increment frame number. This will determine which frame
of an animation is sent out when you copy a "Targa" file
out of the PAR to your hard disk. If set to "Off", you
will always get the first frame (or frame zero). If set
to "On", you will get the current frame (starts at zero)
and a counter gets incremented for every subsequent read
of that animation. If set to "FILE", PARDRV will use the
number embedded in the file name as the frame number
desired for export. This is what's used for IFL's files.
-O[RDER]:x Field Order (1/0). Determines the order of the fields in
the incoming image.
-P[AR] Set output to PAR format. As opposed to "Targa" format.
This is the native format used by the PAR hardware. You
will notice two types of file. .ANI (for animations) and
.STI (for stills). The size reflects the real size of the
files (as opposed to Targa mode where the size reflects
the size of a single frame). This is (normally) only used
for archival purposes as there is nothing out there that
will read these things.
-Q[FACTOR]:xx Set QFactor (0..23). Self explanatory.
-S[till] Set input to Still Mode. As opposed to "Animation" mode
as described above.
-T[arga] Set output to TARGA format. As opposed to "PAR" format
described above. The frames will be converted to Targa on
the fly as they are copied out of the PAR drive.
-U[nload] Remove driver from memory. Self explanatory.
-V[erbose] Display additional status. Use this to find out what is
the current setting being used.
Notes: "xx's" above must be replaced by a numeric value. It is incorrect to
use one of those options without a numeric value.
Gus,
Thanks for the details. (yes, the PARDRV options are in the docs) The
manual states "Only one option can be typed in on each line with PARDRV." I
took this literally, but I guess their definition of "line" is a slash (/)
meaning only one option after every slash?? Who knows? Also there's two pages
in the manual on how to export frames from the par directly to 3ds, but they
missed the every other frame problem that 3ds has when trying to import
incremental frames. I still find it odd that nobody caught this by the time the
1.2 version of the docs were printed. Didn't anybody test it before they wrote
the chapter on how to do it? Strange… BTW, the /O option is undocumented.
That one's new to me.
David