#3DS To Tape
6 messages in this thread
After lurking around here for a while I have finally called my Autodesk dealer
and ordered 3DS (none in stock right now, I have to wait till friday :-(). I
was wondering what the best way to get animations to tape might be. I have had
several suggestions and thought someone here might assist me in making a
decision…
1)Sony EVO-9650 should connect directly to PC serial port. I have
heard that it is not a good choice if I ever want to do post
production/editing on the pc as well. Do I need any additional
software or hardware to use this deck?
2) Sony SVO-9600 with some sort of animation controller
hardware/software. Is this the deck to do this with? What do I need
to get a working system out of this or another deck… A suggestion
has been Videomedia ANIMAX system. Will this work. As I understand
it going this route will allow me to to editing on my PC later w/ a
hardware upgrade.
3) Let someonle else transfer to tape. Is this expensive and how do I
find someone who can do this for me?
I am fairly price sensitive (cheap?) but do not really want to get
left completely in the cold if I have problems. Is used equipment a
viable option? I have seen several used decks offered for sale. Do
I need anything additional? I have a Local Bus SVGA card
(640x480x16M) and a means of converting the SVGA signal to Y/C NTSC
(S-Vhs), 8MB of ram (will upgrade to 16M soon), 200MB free HDisk
space, Syquest 88MB removable cartrige drive, CD-ROM, 486DX66.
Thanks for the input!
–Nat'n
I have recently been creating "ADs" with 3DS for a School Project, and I
have Used "Telev-Eyes" by Digital Vision, Inc. to transfer my Animations to
tape. The "Telev-Eyes" hooks between the VGA cable and the computer and uses a
small TSR to activate itself. The Quality of output is fairly good, and it
supports up to SVGA 640x480x256. Actually, the lack of resolution on the
output HELPS the images, but removing from them the "Pixelated" look.
I used AAPLAY to play the video while my VCR recorded the playback. I was
limeted by the quality of my Cheep-o VCR, but otherwise the Image was 1000
times better than anything I coudl have done otherwise, at greater exspense to
me.. think that "Telev-Eyes" runs about $150
Welcome aboard! Hopefully, one of our video gurus, such as Martin
Foster or Greg Pyros will chime in with some specific suggestions on
this. I'm not heavily into hardware, but I can make a few comments.
First, see if your dealer can help you in this area. It's VERY
important that your dealer is \ knowledgeable in 3D Studio–worth
paying extra for the package to get a 3ds-aware dealer. In addition
to a frame-accurate tape deck, you need some form of controller. The
two I see mentioned most on this forum are Diaquest, which is a
hardward solution, and Soft-VTR, which is a software solution. Because
of the nature of single-frame recording, I don't recommend that you
purchase used hardware. It's a little like buying a used Highway
Patrol car. I think the idea of using a service bureau–at least at
the start–is a good one. There are several people on line who offer
this service and can give you some rates. This would give you an
opportunity to concentrate on learning 3D Studio and animation
without taking time on the hardware side of it. After you get going,
you can always move up to in-house recording. The cheapest solution
is recording flics directly from your computer, but I don't recommend
it, except for draft animations. You're limited to 8 bits of color,
you can't effectively edit, and the animation speeds vary with the
number of pixels being moved, frame by frame.
Hope this helps somewhat.
– Jack
Thanks for the input… My dealer seems to be very competent in 3DS.
I am also considering renting the equipment for the final transfer to
tape. I just need to make sure that the rental company knows enough
to make sure that I can do what I need to… I am intending to rent
studio time for post as well, but if I decide to purchase the
hardware I will want the flexibility of upgrading to an editing
system that can be run on my PC. Videomedia seems to have a solution
that seem to fit this description. I'm sure that many companies have
similar options/systems. If someone can direct me to a decent service
buearu for an immediate solution, that would be great. I live in St.
Paul so if by chance there is someone local I can use that would be
best….
Thanks Again,
–Nat'n
If you are just getting started and are not experienced in 3DS or animation
peroid, I can tell you that paying someone to output your stuff is going to be
costly. Especially, as a beginner I can almost garantee you that your
animation is not going to be perfect the first time it is dumped out to tape
unless it is a very simple animation. My suggestion is that you look at the
Video Media Animax and the Sony SVO 9600. Thought not as tough as the other Pro
SVHS decks out there, I have found mine to get the job done very well. As to
how long it will hold up over time is anyones guess at this time. But for the
price, around 3k less than the others, it can definetly start a business. Most
places charge around $.70 a frame to dump to tape. One other thing is that you
are going to need a targa or similar stable output card.
I just went through about 5 months of looking at controllers and
equipment before I bought mine. I have never been more pleased with
the Video Media stuff. My last job was working as an engineer for a
animation systems company selling and setting up this stuff. I was
very skeptical of the Sony, so I only bought it as a player in my
system, but it has been easier to use and set up than my more
expensive unit. Lighter, but it works.
Nathan,
I've been freelancing using 3ds and aapro for 2 years and still use
service bureaus or post production houses for "broadcast" work. The
advantage of the former is that they are already set up and no
hooking-up and syncing of equipment is necessary. In the latter case
you would need a framebuffer (Truevision targa+ or vista, Matrox
Illuminator pro etc) and a vtr controller (diaquest, softvtr, v-lan
or animax etc) and then need to hook-up get synced etc. which can
take along time (15 mins on a good day to several hours on a bad). A
framebuffer is still a necessity for broadcast animations so you can
quality control your images (one at a time) before you go to the
service bureau. A vga to ntsc converter is also important to be able
to give clients motion preview tapes of 8-bit .flc animations. I have
a targa+ 16/32 which is a framebuffer and can play animations to tape
in real-time using aapro and a driver – the quality is not very good
but suffices for previews.
Questions to ask a service bureau would be: price per frame for
dumping .tgas only OR rendering your .3ds files then dumping to tape,
what media can they accept your images on (in the case of you
rendering your .tga files to disk), what formats of video tape can
they offer you, what framebuffer do they have, what resolution can
they handle (756×486 is probably best, but 512×486 is fine).
Here is my definition of an ideal service bureau. Good price 25 cents
or less per frame to lay .tgas to BetacamSP; 50 cents or less per
frame for rendering your .3ds files; have BetacamSP, SVHS, Hi-8, VHS
tape formats available preferably in-house; can handle 756x486x32 bit
.tga files via a Vista or Matrox Illuminator Pro framebuffer; have
multiple methods of accepting files (data tape like Colorado 120/250,
Exabyte; ethernet; SCSI etc); can be trusted not to use your stuff on
their demo-tape <g>.
The above is my ideal wishlist service bureau and doesn't actually
exist, that I know of <g>.