CompuServe Thread

Unless you want to record video and edit from 2 decks to one, you can get away cheeper than buying a Toaster. The Toaster functions as a switcher to do transitions from one video deck to another. It also comes with a 3D rendering program, a Character Generator program and a IMHO not so good paint prigram. To do what you want as inexspensively as possible, I recommendd a 4000/040 with DCTV. DCTV can digitize images in 10 seconds (not real time off of a tape or camera but can grab still objects off a camera). It also has a great paint program. It can also animate pretty well. The cost of a 4000/040 is around $2400., DCTV is $300 plus an additional $200 for optional RGB converter. If you still want a Toaster, you will also need a TBC for each video deck, if you want to do transitions. The Toaster can be had for around $2000 (mailorder). TBC's are around $800. each. Jim R. Ollick Using AP from Bergenfield, NJ

Peggy, if you're doing it for your own fun, I feel you don't need to go full 24-bit. The new AGA machines, the 1200 and 4000, feature improved HAM modes at any resolution, right up to overscan superhires interlaced. on these machines, HAM fringing is a thing of the past. A 1200 with hard disk can be had for what, $700? Add to that one of the low-cost, high-flexibility image processing programs like ImageMaster R/T or ImageFX, and you're well on your way to morphing, colorizing, composing, and generally mutilate any image at will. Image processing is fun, but it requires a lot of system resources; you may want to add the following, depending on your budget: 1) Memory. These programs convert images to 24-bit when processing, for maximum quality; the down side is, a standard 640 x 400 24-bit image needs 768K, and that's not counting the undo buffer or the area selection buffer. If you have 2M RAM, forget it. 2) Storage. A detailed, 16-color hi-res IFF picture takes about 100K of disk space. A 24-bit image of the same size is about 600K. You can use JPEG format to save images, in which case they come back down to 50-100K, but you'll get some compression artifacts ("noise") which hampers repeated use of previously created images. So, a bigger hard disk may be in the cards. 3) Speed. Morphing your sister's face into a Rottweiler requires serious effort on the part of your Amiga, and it won't be long before you get intimately acquainted with the progress bar. (You know, "0% #####——— 100% complete") An accelerator will go a long way towards ensuring your image processing experience is more pleasurable than annoying, especially in the early stages when you experiment a lot more and make a lot more errors than when you've got a year of ImageMaster under your belt. So, for under a grand you can get a starter 1200 system with ImageMaster R/T or ImageFX and get your feet wet; you may want to increase your system's memory, storage or speed later on. Simple and inexpensive. Don't you just love the Amiga? [ MORE ]