Morph-Madness!
24 messages in this thread
If you're into animation, or you just like "flash", go to DL6 of the Amiga
Vendor forum and D/L "mph.lzh".
This is a 20 frame animation (small – archive is about 50k) which you can
view in DPaint.
It shows you Imagemaster's new MORPHing capabilities. Black Belt Systems
has brought studio-quality, infinite frame, total-control, 24-bit morph
capability to the Amiga.
Go on… take a look. See one more reason why we say Imagemaster is the
power tool you must have if you're into high-color image manipulation. And
keep in mind that as fantastic as this looks, it's just a tiny sample of
what can be done. Be sure to read the "ReadMe" file; it explains a little
bit about the process.
–Ben
Ben!Barry!Others!- Dualib.lzh is *Fantuckingtastic*!! I *must* run out
and buy some more memory for my 2500. Now you're really cooking!
Is that technology available on any other platform (i.e. Mac, IBM) that you
are aware of?
Michael
Not on the desktop. it isn't – not commercially where we could find out
about it, anyway.
Thanks for the kind wurdz. :^)
We like to think we've got a good product.
–Ben
Ben,
Just curious… How long did DualID take to process/render?
On a 25 mhz 2630 based machine with both caches on, in 24-bit and the
spatial resolution you see (160×100), it took about 4 hours for 20 frames.
We're working on the code, though, and hope to reduce that considerably. In
any case, sine your "other" choice is from Pixar and costs considerably
more than Imagemaster, we think it's tolerable. :^)
You can do a preview anim, say 80×50 in about 30 minutes on the same class
of machine.
You can do a single 80×50 frame in 1/20th the time, or about a minute. Note
that 20 is a totally arbitrary number… we are using 20 frames in the
anims because it seems to be the minimum number, played at 15-30 fps, that
look smooth to the eye for some of the more "gross" transforms like the
frog. The more frames, the better, of course.
–Ben
That's actually faster than I expected, given the fact that the
intermediate frames are also processed in 24-bit. I can't wait to see what
somebody does with one of these morphs, a Firecracker, and a single-frame
recorder. 🙂
Denny, I set up a morph tonite and timed it using todays version of the
code. At 160×100, over a period of 20 frames on the same setup as before,
it ran in 6.6 minutes/frame, which is a considerable improvement. We hope
for a bit more tomorrow; the rest of it is completely ready to go, and
we're definitely going to be shipping it on Wedensday. :^)
I'm just about as interested as you are… I'm no artist, and coming up
with these "things" to do is stretching my meager talents in this area to
the limit (and maybe past it). The potential here for new scope in
animation and art, considering the penetration of the Amiga into video, is
huge.
These images look marvelous on my GVP PVA (better than they do on the FC24,
in fact… slightly lower pixel resolution horizontally, but being
deinterlaced makes the image look like it is on stained glass in strong
sunlight). I'm really glad the FC24 isn't on my machine anymore.
One capability you haven't mentioned in your 'morphing' that I'm curious
about….
*moving* images.
Aside from the actual morphing, one thing that makes the Michael Jackson
video so spectacular is that the characters are moving (shaking their
heads, turning around, singing, etc) while the morph takes place.
Will/could there be the capability in IM to specify 100 'source images' and
100 'target images' and have the morph proceed, while using sequential
images?
To do this correct *each* individual source/target image should have its
own set of controls (ie. mapping features to one another). These controls
would change with each image. I do have some concrete suggestions on how
to accomplish this, if you're interested.
Anyway, I was just curious about this, or if it's already included in the
morphing capability?
Our morphing is fully capable of doing this, no problem at all.
Wonderful, as usual 🙂
–jp–seattle–
I'm glad Compute reviewed CD Remix. It is the one CDTV title that
really interested me however the review really didn't tell me much. How
does the remix work? Does it play stored samples from memory or does it
redirect the laser to quickly skip and repeat sections of the CD? Why
doesn't it save remixes to the memory card? Are the files too big or is
this thoughtless programming? Will it work in a Xetec drive hooked up to a
"regular" Amiga? Can these remixes be recorded on cassette and if so, how
is the quality?
I know that space in a consideration in the Amiga section but the only
new information I got from the review was that int manual was the size of a
CD and the program needs "polish."
Actually, the other "choice" is from SGI, not Pixar….at least the
software that was used to make things like the Michael Jackson video.
In any event, it's not $199.95, is it now? <grin>
"In any event, it's not $199.95, is it now? <grin>"
Or FREE for HAME folks! <bigger grin>
Nick
It's not free for HAME owners – they paid for it a long time ago as part of
what they bought into when they bought the unit.
Same thing for someone who bought Imagemaster earlier; we didn't say
anything about "morphs", we just said "we'll support the product" (which is
the same thing we said to the HAME owners.
I will say that our upgrade policy is quite nice. :^)
–Ben
Yeah thats what I ment pretty much. The upgrade policy is nice.
Nick
Ben:
Speaking of upgrades, was anything ever decided regarding subscription
upgrades? (pay now for next 10 major upgrades, or something like that)
-Mike Schiller
In sunny Fort Lauderdale
Yes – we've got the paperwork on order, I'll be posting details in vendor
(probably) within a week.
–Ben
Ben,
Your upgrade policy is not "nice", it is wonderful. I recently upgraded
Imagemaster, and was literally floored by all the extra features you folks
added on in the span of a few weeks. Keep up the good work an Black Belt
will get a continued share of my paycheck!
-Ken
We'll keep it up – I promise. :^) And thanks!
–Ben
Ben –
If I got ImageMaster for use on my plain-jane machine with no 24-bit board
or HAM-E, and later got a FireCracker or a GVP IV-24, would I need to get
(or profit from getting, in terms of improved performance) a different
version of IM? Am I right that there are versions for HAM-E and FC/24 that
are distinct from the "all Amigas" version?
. . . . . JimDoc
There are distinct versions, yes. The two that would be of interest to you
are Imagemaster (IM) and Imagemaster F/c (IMFC).
IM can write to the FC24 using a function-key driven command; in other
words, you just press the key and select some options (resolution, etc) and
out it goes to the Firecracker 24. IM operates in std Amiga modes for all
editing etc of images.
IMFC works directly on the FC24 for all editing. It also _requires_ that
you run the FC24 using the Impulse-supplied genlock cable. It can render to
Amiga mode images easily, but won't work (edit) in those modes.
If you get one (Imagemaster, for instance), you can upgrade to the other
for 99.95 directly from us, which saves $100 over the purchase of the two
products independantly. If you feel the need to upgrade.
There is no difference in the quality of the work you can perform between
the two versions.
–Ben
I agree! And Ben, thanks for putting the Hanim.anim in showanim format so
those of us w/o DPIII can see it. Dynamite stuff. I just showed it to a
friend of mine visiting from Moscow (a C programmer… has only been in the
US a few days) and he went nuts!
regards,
Michael
You're quite welcome. I just had to re-dig up the CRYO utilities for
building animations. DPaint III was, shall we say, handy.
–Ben