Sony LVR3000 Control?
9 messages in this thread
All the responses implying that the 3000 programming is easy is true,
but it is not trivial to write the ADI driver so that you can operate
it from within 3DS and Anipro with Flitape. By the time you read the
manuals (hardware and software), find a cable, program and debug, you
will more than likely invest more that the animation controllers
cost. I know that Greg has some utilities (but I'm not sure if they
are in the form of an ADI). Also, you might consider SoftVTR. Not
only does it have an ADI driver for 3DS and AniPro, but it also has
everything you need for rotoscoping (requires frame grabbing software
for Targa, Targa+, ATVIsta and IllPro .. which would require frame
buffer programming on your part), the required cables, etc. It even
has a VTR windows controller program .. all for under $1000.
I have found thru hard experience (and we have 2 add-ons for ACAD)
that it VERY RARELY pays to do it yourself when it comes to
programming.
Angelo,
I agree with you on some points but not others. The ADI driver
programming is sure to be more involved and difficult (and expensive
since you need to buy specific compilers) than just a straight
command line program written with just about any simple, inexpensive
interpreter / compiler / batch language but it will probably be quite
a bit slower, similar to the way the diaquest and disk-to-vtr method
with the LVR is much slower than the command line or DOS program
methods I've seen. When time is money shaving a second or two off per
frame to LVR can be significant in cost savings. Therefore, I think a
lot of people may be happy to use the faster command line or dos
utility.
My next point is maybe one more of personal philosophy. I like to write my own
utilities and may not save that much money by doing it but certainly get a lot
of satisfaction from it. Consequently I like to pass on that philosphy to
others and let them do with it as they choose. They can take the easy (and
often expensive) route of buying custom software or they can study the manuals
and come up with their own custom solution.
Martin
Martin,
I wouldn't disagree with any of your points. The point that I wanted to make
was that when you are comparing programming it yourself to a packaged product,
you aren't comparing apples and apples. In the SoftVTR case, you get the
Windows program AND the ADI driver AND the batch file generator for putting to
tape AND a batch file generator for digitizing sequencial frames from tape AND
the frame buffer programs for digitizing (which would require you to purchase
the develper's toolkit for the Targa+ or the IllPro) … well that it is hard
to compare that with the basic functions that you would get with a "do it
yourself" version.
The second point I was trying to make that doing it yourself isn't always less
expensive. If you consider that you could be charging $75+/hr for your
animation serivces, it doesn't take long to spend more doing it yourself … or
atleast spend nearly as much and not have nearly as much.
Of course if you love to program and your just looking for an excuse to write
something (and strange as that sounds, I like to sink my teeth into a program
from time to time) .. well go for it and all that I said doesn't matter a'bit.
Ang
Ang,
>> If you consider that you could be charging $75+/hr for your animation
serivces, it doesn't take long to spend more doing it yourself … or atleast
spend nearly as much and not have nearly as much. >>
Teehee, if I had plenty of $75+/hr work happening all the time you are right I
probably wouldn't be messing with programming utilities and fixing my own
hardware problems <g>! Wow, that would be a great situation but the sad fact is
that isn't the case and probably won't be for a couple more years (or ever?)
It's not that I can't make that kind of hourly rate it's just that there's not
that much work around even if you do have really good contacts and are known by
lots of people.
Just recently something happened that may illustrate my point. One of my 486/33
systems locked up and refused to boot on power up. A dealer told me just to buy
a new motherboard to replace the old one since "the time you spend trying to
diagnose the problem you could have a new motherboard for price of your time".
Being a hands-on kinda guy, and not willing to give up that easily, and also
not having any $75+/hr work pending anyway <g>, I decided to try to diagnose
the system problem. To cut a long story short I had the system working again by
removing and correctly reinstalling the m/board and it took me about 2 hours
which is probably the price of a new m/board (if I scavenged the cpu). Was this
time well spent? I think so, but not so according to my dealer. What do you
think?
PMJI Hooooray for you, Martin! Reading this thread I felt so
inadequate at having never even gotton close to the common income of
you gurus at $75+ per hr. ($156,000 per yr) doing animation. I was
about to take my modem back on the other side of the tracks when I
read your response. I do just like you, Martin. I tinker and solve
my own problems between those <$75/hr jobs. My dealer doesn't like
it either and he feels my time would be better spent if I just let
him service my equipment. BTW he only charges $40.00/hr. An
associate of mine used to brag about all those $6-10K animation jobs
he landed. Why then did the finance company repo all his equipment
last winter?
PMJI on your PMJI, but IMHO $75 an hour is not high in this market.
As a matter of fact if our company used that as a basis we would be
broke in less than three months. Working cheaper may be possible for
one or two man firms but for those companies, including ourselves,
who have to make a payroll for 10 or more people, plus run large
networks to compete with our workstation based competition, we have
to maintain our rates above that level.
There are consultants in this area who consistently get $250+ an hour
for consulting alone! Angelo has one working in his area, and this
particular guy constantly turns business away. A $6000 to $10000
animation is not that hard to find! Of course you need to have the
tools and personnel to complete the project, but hey!
I once gave animations away, but I found that most of the large
clients weren't seriously considering our work because we were so far
under the competition, They figured that we weren't delivering the
same level of work.. So I raised our prices, got ALOT of work and
ended up buying new equipment and hiring a staff.
And as to the finance company mentality, I'm happy to say that our
company is 100% privately held and we pay cash for EVERYTHING!
This market is extremely alive and there are lots of clients, I have a
local competitor who gets more than $100 an hour and he has another
full time job, no real overhead, etc.
Now as a final note/disclaimer for the random user, It makes a
tremendous difference as to how well versed both you and your staff
are in 3D animation. Obviously if it takes us a quarter of the time
to do the same animation, and we match your final price, then we're
making 4 times as much per hour. Additionally, we NEVER base any
work on a per hour basis, it causes one to purposely work slow, not
good for business. We do however have a per week $ amount that has to
be maintained and in the end our animation work rarely if ever goes
for under $75/hour.
Also Angelo and I sorta overlap in the geographical sense, we're both
in the golden mean of the corporate/government haven of the U.S.
Just thought I'd throw in my two cents worth!
I'm also involved with a local research group based at a local
University and very shortly we will be publishing a paper on
animation work in the government and private sectors, its impact,
average prices, and forcast for the next five years.(Did I mention
that my graduate work is in Economics?<g>) I had to find someway to
finish out my graduate work and generate something useful for my
company.(Big<g> 🙂
Wow!! I am extremely long winded!
Paul
.
sounds like I'm in the wrong geographic area or something. They do say
that SoCal is in a bigger recession than the rest of the states so
maybe that accounts for the problems of not finding much $75+/hr
work. I can often make that kind of hourly rate on the projects I do
but there just isn't that much work around anyway.
>> time well spent?
Martin,
Well since you fixed the problem in 2 hr's, I guess it was. The flip
side is when you spend 8 hrs and its still broke … then was the
time well spend. Now I'm not suggesting to buy a new car when the
ash tray gets full or anything <g> … just wanted to point out that
you want to beware of false economies and that when possible you
don't want to compare apples and oranges .. or even oranges and
tangereens <sp?>
Ang
Ang,
re: fixing my system in 2 hrs
OK, it worked out for the best in that case but I don't think I would have felt
too bad if I hadn't fixed it and had to spend money on a replacement. I think I
would have stopped before 8 hrs – I'm not a masochist <g>.